Earthquakes

Earthquakes are the shaking or rolling of Еarth’s surface, caused by the release of tension built up in its constantly moving crust. Some can be big enough to flatten entire cities, while others are so small that they pass by unnoticed.

This story was created for the Google Expeditions project by Vida Systems, now available on Google Arts & Culture.

Introduction to Earthquakes

More than a million earthquakes rumble the Earth every year, but thankfully most of them are too small to feel below our feet. Some of the most earthquake-prone zones on the planet are Japan, Nepal, and India.

Earthquakes Around the World

Earthquakes happen all over the world; this has been going on for as long as Earth existed and will continue to occur for billions of years.

Earthquake Zones

Earthquakes are most prevalent along the Earth’s fault lines. These are areas where the plate tectonic movements are most likely to cause earthquakes. Some of the biggest fault lines can be found in Southeast Asia, Central Africa, Gulf of Alaska/Kamchatka, and Peru/Chile. 

Causes of Earthquakes

The thin crust of rock covering the Earth is not 1 solid piece but more like 12 puzzle pieces called tectonic plates. Even though the ground feels like it isn’t moving, the Earth’s crust creeps along on a slow-moving liquid layer underneath, the mantle. 

While it moves, the edges of the tectonic plates move towards each other, away from each other, or slide against each other. When this happens, pressure builds up far below the Earth’s surface, causing the ground to rumble and shake, an earthquake. 

Crust

The crust is relatively thin, around 25 miles deep under the continents. Beneath the crust is the mantle, a semi-liquid layer of melted rocks.

Ring of Fire

The Ring of Fire is where 81% of the world’s largest earthquakes occur. It is also called the circum-Pacific rim as it extends from the Western side of the Americas to the Eastern side of Asia and Oceania. 

Epicenter

The hypocenter is where the earthquake begins deep below the crust and the location directly above it on the surface of the earth is called the epicenter. The effect of the earthquake then spreads out in a seismic wave. 

Types of Earthquakes

The direction in which the tectonic plates are moving determines what kind of earthquake happens. 

Convergent earthquakes

Convergent earthquakes happen when the tectonic plates move towards each other and over time result in incredible mountains like the Himalayas.

Divergent earthquakes

Divergent earthquakes occur when the tectonic plates move away from each other. These can create giant cracks in the earth’s crust, which often happen under the ocean to generate deep ocean chasms. 

Transform fault earthquakes

Transform fault earthquakes are when the plates are sliding along each other. The San Andreas Fault is a famous example of a transform fault.

How Scientists Record Earthquakes

Scientists use an instrument called the seismograph to record and measure earthquakes. While scientists can measure the magnitude of an earthquake, there is no way to predict when an earthquake will happen. 

All we know is that if there is a fault line, the likelihood is that an earthquake will happen in that area at some point, although we don’t know when or where exactly.

Seismograph

This heavy instrument stays fixed to the ground and has a weight that hangs from it. During an earthquake, as the ground shakes, so does the heavy base in relation to it. The motion of the earthquake is then recorded onto paper.

Richter Scale

The Richter scale measures how powerful an earthquake is, using a range of 1 to 10. Because it is a logarithmic scale, each increase is 10 times more powerful. Earthquakes of Richter scale 1 and 2 happen daily, but a Richter scale 9 earthquake luckily happens only every few hundred years.

Devastating Earthquakes

Earthquakes themselves generally don’t harm people, but they may cause damage to structures used by people. Furthermore, earthquakes that happen under the sea can cause tremendous tsunamis, gigantic waves that form and can destroy coastal towns and cities.

2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake

One of the most devastating earthquakes in recent history was the Indian Ocean earthquake in 2004. It measured 9.1 on the Richter scale and triggered many subsequent earthquakes all over the world. It even went as far as Alaska, which is 6400 miles away.

Tsunami

The tsunamis that resulted from this underwater earthquake killed at least 230,000 people in 12 different countries in Southeast Asia.

Earth Rotation

The tremors from this earthquake were so strong that the Earth wobbled in its rotation on its axis by almost an inch.

Earthquakes on other planets

As earthquakes are named specifically for the earth, no other planet can have earthquakes. However Mars has marsquakes. On the first moonwalk Buzz Aldrin placed a seismometer in the Sea of Tranquility. We discovered that the moon has a lot of seismic activity. 

Unlike the earth where quakes will last for about half a minute, the moon does not have a molten core and is solid, so quakes can just keep on going, like a resonating tuning fork.

Marsquakes

Quakes on Mars are called Marsquakes.

Moonquakes

The Moon also has seismic activities. Even though they are weaker than the average earthquakes, due to the lack of water to dampen the vibrations, moonquakes could go on for up to an hour.

Ancient Beliefs about Earthquakes

Different cultures had different explanations for earthquakes. As you can imagine, most ancient beliefs about earthquakes involved a very angry god rumbling the earth in all his wrath. 

Maimas of Peru

The Maimas of Peru believed that when an earthquake happened, it was their God walking around the Earth, counting his true believers. During an earthquake, people would run outside and shout “Here I am, here I am,” so that they would be included in the headcount.

India

An old Hindu belief held that Earth was resting on 4 elephants atop a turtle that was balanced on a cobra. The earth quaked when any of these animals made a tiny movement.

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