The Process of an Earthquake

Have you ever wondered what has to happen to make the footing quake? British engineer John Michell did. He was one of the number 1 fathers of seismology and was excessively the first to correctly state what the cause of temblors was. In 1960, Michell say that earthquakes and the waves of sinew that they make atomic number 18 caused by shifting masses of oscillate, miles to a lower place the surface in a scientific memoir (USGS, 32). In coif for you to completely meet the process of an earthquake you must first understand the process of how an earthquake is measured.An earthquake may not be equal to be predicted at the moment plainly the intensity and order of magnitude of the earthquake puke be measured and categorized. This is done using the Richter magnitude measure. The Richter magnitude scale was developed as a mathematical instrument to match the size of earthquakes in 1935 by Charles Francis Richter. He was able to recognize that the unstable waves radiated by all earthquakes whoremaster provide good estimates of their magnitude (Richter). A seismograph is what is used to measure the amount of heftiness that an earthquake releases as easy as the magnitude of the earthquake.It is a logarithmic scale, which means that the numbers on the scale measures factors of 10, so each whole number unit represents a tenfold increase in amplitude. The energy that is measure is just about 32 quantify greater than the next smaller whole number. Using this scale, a magnitude 5 earthquake would result in ten times the level of ground shiver as magnitude 4 earthquakes. presuppose of it in relation to the energy that is released by explosives. A magnitude 1 seismic wave releases as much energy as blowing up 1 ounce of TNT, which is the equivalent of slamming a large rock onto a table.A magnitude 8 earthquake releases as much energy as detonating 1 one thousand thousand tons of TNT (Richter). An earthquake measuring more than than 6. 0 can cause detri mental damage (see fig. 1). The biggest quake in the reality since 1900 scored a 9. 5 on the Richter scale in whitethorn of 1960. More than 2,000 people were killed, 3,000 injured, 2,000,000 were left homeless, and there was over $500 cardinal worth of damages to southern Chili (Pararas). Whenever there is an earthquake, the layers of the earth squash past one an different causing the ground all virtually to rumble and shake, resulting in severe damage.The Earth is forged of four important layers the inner core, the outer core, the mantle and the crust. The crust and the mantle are unless the skin to the earths surface. This skin is un uniform our skin, though. It consists of many other(prenominal) pieces that can slowly move past one another. These puzzle-like pieces are called architectonic plates. The edges of the tectonic plates are known as plate boundaries. Plate boundaries guard many breakouts with very rough and jagged edges that can get stuck together. The majori ty of the worlds earthquakes occur on these faults.When the plates continue to try to move, the edges of the plate boundaries violently unstick, resulting in the sudden release of energy in all directions. This energy becomes seismic waves, which act like ripples on a pond. The Earth shakes as these seismic waves move through it, and when the waves rip through the earths surface, the ground and anything on it shakes terribly (USGS, Science). This can be felt for miles away. The protracted earthquake ever recorded originated from the center of the Indian Ocean in December of 2004.It was reported as a 9. 5 on the Richter scale after 3 months, and was measured at a whopping 800 miles, which is about the distance from Houston, Texas to Atlanta, Georgia (Longest). It created the biggest gash in the Earths seabed ever. That same earthquake also created horrible conditions such as the Tsunami at Sumatra which caused 61 deaths, and $75 one thousand thousand in damages in Hawaii. at that place are three different attributes of plate boundaries impact partition offs, cattle farm zones, and move zones.Furthermore, there are twain different kinds of impact zones. One type is when oceanic crust hits Continental crust causing a margin deduction to happen. With the oceanic crust being denser than the continental crust, it withdraws beneath the continental crust. The oceanic crust then melts as it goes under the continental crusts collect to the friction of the crusts rubbing against one another. The pressure of the heat causes the melted rock to rise up through faults in the continental crust. This is what causes a blowhole to erupt.Another type of impact zone is where one crust is pushed upwards when two continental crusts collide. Mountain ranges are formed this way. The worlds great land mountain range, the Himalaya-Karakorum in Asia is the spawn of two continental crusts colliding (USGS, 11). When two plates are abject apart along mid-ocean extends, a spre ading zone occurs. This is when two tectonic plates are moving away from each other and is forming a new crust from the rising magma that is released from the Earths core.An oceanographer at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations Seattle lab, Edward T Baker says, A spreading zone can be considered as a linear vent-hole with vent holes occurring at various points along its meandering crest. (Raloff). Earths mid-ocean ridge is one near-continuous zone of spreading seafloor. When one plate grinds past another plate it is known as a slipping zone. Slips along the faults in the crust allow stress from the grinding to be released. These fault slips are what cause earthquakes. Just when you might believe that an earthquake is over, you could be mistaken.Earthquakes are capable of having aftershocks that can last several years. The New Madrid fault quake of December 16, 1811 in the get together States had reported ground shaking for 24 hours. Occasional severe shaking and di sruptions lasted for weeks and aftershocks were felt up until 1817 (USGS, Historic). An aftershock is a smaller earthquake that happens in the same area of the original earthquake. As the crust around the displaced fault plane adjusts to the changes that occurred, aftershocks will follow, until the Earth has colonised back in place.The final piece of the process of an earthquake is the consequence. The aftermath is the devastation that an earthquake or any other type of possibility can leave in its wake. When the ground ruptures from the shaking caused by an earthquake, it can result in damage to bridges, dams, roads, railroad tracks, and the foundation of buildings. They can also cause landslides and avalanches as well. Another major cause of damage is when index lines are ripped down and gas lines rupture this can most credibly cause fires.Also, soil liquefaction is very common in earthquakes. It occurs when water-saturated granular material, like sand, momentarily loses its strength and turns from a solid to a liquid. In the 1964 Alaskan earthquake soil liquefaction was the cause of many buildings and bridges sinking to the ground, little by little collapsing upon one another (Dubner). Even undersea earthquakes can create tsunamis that have the possibility to cause extreme damage along the coast. 75 million Americans are in significant danger of being a dupe to an earthquake.According to the United States Geological Survey, there have been over 2 million deaths attributed to earthquakes since 1900. The USGS pinpoints 20,000 earthquakes a year that is about 50 earthquakes a day (USGS, Earthquakes). In conclusion, the movement of the earths crust has shaped the earth for hundreds of millions of years, moving the sharp and stony edges over, under, and past one another. Sometimes the movements and the release of energy caused by an earthquake are smooth and gradual other times, the plates sojourn locked together.That is when the stockpiled energy that ha s been storing in between the plates grows strong enough to break apart. That is what makes the earthquake. The Richter scale can tell us the intensity and magnitude of an earthquake but cannot predict one. Works Cited The Longest EarthQuake Ever Recorded. World to the highest degree RSS. N. p. , 6 Sept. 2011. Web. 11 Apr. 2013. Pararas-Caryannis, George. Index. html. Index. html. N. p. , n. d. Web. 11 Apr. 2013. Richter Scale. Science in the Early ordinal Century An Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara ABC-CLIO, 2005. Credo Reference. 0 June 2008. Web. 11 Apr. 2013. Raloff, Janet. Pearson Science News. Pearson Science News. N. p. , n. d. Web. 21 Mar. 2013. United States Geological Survey. Earthquake Facts. N. p. , 24 July 2012. Web. 11 Apr. 2013. Line 32 United States Geological Survey. Earthquakes with 1,000 or More Deaths since 1900. N. p. , 30 Nov. 2012. Web. 11 Apr. 2013. United States Geological Survey. Historic Earthquakes. N. p. , 01 Nov. 2012. Web. 11 Apr. 2013. United State s Geological Survey. The Science of Earthquakes. By Lisa Wald. N. p. , 24 July 2012. Web. 09 Apr. 2013.