what are the causes of earthquake

Dear Student,

An earthquake is a vibration or tremor produced in the Earth’s crust. It is caused by the disturbances originating deep inside the Earth’s crust.

What causes an earthquake?

We know that tremors are produced by the disturbances taking place deep down in the uppermost layer of the Earth known as the crust.

his exterior portion of the Earth is not continuous, and is broken into many pieces known as plates. These plates move constantly. They can slide past one another, or move into each other because of the collisions taking place between them.

When this happens, disturbances are produced in the earth’s crust, which lead to an earthquake on the surface of the Earth. However, this is not the only reason which can give rise to an earthquake.

Earthquakes can also be caused by the following:

Volcanic eruption
Meteors falling on the Earth’s surface
Underground explosions. For example, underground nuclear tests.
Collapsing structures such as mines etc.

Hope this helps,

Cheers !!

View Full Answer

Anearthquake(also known as aquake,tremorortemblor) is the result of a sudden release of energy in theEarth'scrustthat createsseismic waves. Theseismicity,seismismorseismic activityof an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time.

Earthquakes are measured using observations fromseismometers. Themoment magnitudeis the most common scale on which earthquakes larger than approximately 5 are reported for the entire globe. The more numerous earthquakes smaller than magnitude 5 reported by national seismological observatories are measured mostly on the local magnitude scale, also referred to as theRichterscale. These two scales are numerically similar over their range of validity. Magnitude 3 or lower earthquakes are mostly almost imperceptible or weak and magnitude 7 and over potentially cause serious damage over larger areas, depending on their depth. The largest earthquakes in historic times have been of magnitude slightly over 9, although there is no limit to the possible magnitude. The most recent large earthquake of magnitude 9.0 or larger was a9.0 magnitude earthquake in Japan in 2011(as of October 2012), and it was the largest Japanese earthquake since records began. Intensity of shaking is measured on the modifiedMercalli scale. The shallower an earthquake, the more damage to structures it causes, all else being equal.^[1]

At the Earth's surface, earthquakes manifest themselves by shaking and sometimes displacement of the ground. When theepicenterof a large earthquake is located offshore, the seabed may be displaced sufficiently to cause atsunami. Earthquakes can also trigger landslides, and occasionally volcanic activity.

In its most general sense, the wordearthquakeis used to describe any seismic event — whether natural or caused by humans — that generates seismic waves. Earthquakes are caused mostly by rupture of geologicalfaults, but also by other events such as volcanic activity, landslides, mine blasts, andnuclear tests. An earthquake's point of initial rupture is called itsfocusorhypocenter. Theepicenteris the point at ground level directly above the hypocenter.

hope this helps you plzzzzzzzz thumps up!!!!