Earthquakes Today
Earthquakes Earthquakes happen when vibrations are caused by the movement of rock along a fault, a fracture that exists in Earth’s crust. As the tectonic plates push against, pull away from, grind past or dive under one another, fault zones are created. Sometimes tension builds up along a fault , and further movement can cause the release of energy in the form of seismic waves, or vibrations in Earth’s crust. Those vibrations ripple violently through the crust, causing an earthquake. Faults in Earth’s crust can take different forms, depending on the kind of tectonic stress involved, the strength of the rock, the presence of ground-water along the fault place, and the area of contact between the plates . Movement along faults can be fast or slow. Abrupt movement causes earthquakes; movement so slow as to be imperceptible is called fault creep. A severe earthquake can produce underground movements-forward and back up and down, si...
