Who knew an earthquake which can last for no longer than a minute but can cause so much harm? On April the 18th, 1906 an earthquake struck the coast of Northern California, San Francisco at 5:12 a.m lasting for a minute. But who would think that it was the second most destructive earthquake in the world. So how did this Occur?
Earthquakes develop in the crust of the earth. The inner parts contains a lot of energy. Some of this energy can escape through cracks which can cause volcanic activity, but most of it is stored within the earth’s inner part, contained in the crust.The earth’s outer crust has rough edges and lines making it look a bit like a jigsaw puzzle.The energy stored here causes the pieces to slide, glide, knock and move around each piece. These pieces are also known as tectonic plates. …show more content…
There then becomes massive pressure on the fault lines resulting in the fault lines giving way, and plates move over, against or apart from each other.There is then a earthquake at this point. In the form of seismic waves (like water ripples) the escaping energy radiates outward from the fault in every directions. The seismic waves shake the earth as they move through it. When the waves reach the earth’s surface, it shakes everything on it causing houses to fall and roads to crack.
There are three different types of earthquakes Convergent boundary which is where one plate is forced over another plate during movement creating a thrust fault. A Divergent boundary is when the plates are forced apart from each other, usually forming a Rift Zone. This is common underneath the water on ocean floors.An example is the Mid Atlantic Ridge. The last one is the Transform fault, unlike divergent and convergent, the plates here slip by each other. This is also called