Earthquakes David Roberts Sr SCI/245 8/16/2011 Kimberly Hall

Earthquakes Introduction In my opinion, to understand how earthquakes happen you need to have a basic understanding of plate margins and how the crust of the earth is formed. The Earth is made up of different layers of rock and minerals. Basically you have a layer of crust called the lithosphere, which floats on top of magma called the asthenosphere. Now because the asthenosphere is always in motion, it constantly move the lithosphere around which caused the lithosphere to break up into small and large pieces called plates. The movement and interaction of these plates is what we'll be focusing on in this paper. Plate tectonics The first thing that I would like to focus on is the interaction between the plates when they come into contact. The ways the plates react to each other when they come into contact varies from plate to plate and are classified into several groups called faults or margins. The first group I would like to talk about is convergent margins. According to chapter 4 in our reading, "Convergent margins occur where two plates move toward each other" (Murke, Skinner, & Mackenzie, 2008). Depending on weather these plates are continental plates or oceanic plates or if it's both different results can happen when the plates interact. When two continental plates converge you end up with a dramatic lowering and rising of the landscape called a collision zone. One example of this would be the Himalayan Mountains. Another form is when one or more of the plates are oceanic. Typically one of the plates will slip underneath the other creating a subduction zone. Our reading describes a subdeuction zone as, "marked by very deep oceanic trenches-the deepest points in the ocean-and, on the surface, by lines of volcanoes formed as a result of melting in the mantle, generated by water released from the subducting plate" (Murke, Skinner, & Mackenzie, 2008). Once the subducting plate reaches a deep enough depth it begins to melt back into magma and completes the cycle. The other margin I wanted to mention is the Divergent Margin. Our reading describes this as, "rifting or spreading centers, occurring where two plates are moving apart. They can occur either in continental or oceanic crust." When this occurs, magma comes up to the top of the crust and then cools forming new land for the crust to expand with. Next you have your faults. This is anywhere along a margin where movement once occurred. The next type is called transform fault. The reading describes this as, "two plates sliding past each other, grinding and abrading their edges as they do so." One example is the San Andreas Fault. Earthquakes This all brings us down to earthquakes. Why do they happen? What is it that causes everything to shake? When a plate moves, weather its subducting, transforming, or diverging, it is releasing pressure that has been building up while it has been trying to move. To us as humans we feel this as the Earth shaking. In a transform fault the two plates are rubbing together causing the earth to shake. In a subducting situation, the quakes are much deeper and mostly you will tend to see more

volcanoes as the subducting plate releases water. Basically all earthquakes whether mild or strong, are cause by the release of energy that has built up between two plates trying to move past each other. The study of this phenomenon is called seismology. Seismic waves A seismologist uses a seismograph to tell the difference between earthquakes and common seismic disturbance like a landslide or other equivalents. According to the reading, "Seismographs use the principle of inertia-the resistance of a heavy mass to motion" (Murke, Skinner, & Mackenzie, 2008). Basically they can tell if it is vertical or horizontal motion. When an earthquake occurs it creates a wave. There are two types of waves, body, and surface. Our reading describes a body wave as, "A seismic wave that travels through earth's interior (Murke, Skinner, & Mackenzie, 2008). There are two types of body waves when you break this down as well, compressional, and shear. Compressional is described as, "A seismic body wave consisting of alternating pulses of compression and expansion in the direction of wave travel; P wave or primary wave (Murke, Skinner, & Mackenzie, 2008). A Shear body wave is described as, "A seismic body wave in which rock is subjected to side to-side or up-and down forces, perpendicular to the wave's direction of travel; S wave or secondary wave (Murke, Skinner, & Mackenzie, 2008). Other types of waves that are covered in the text are called surface waves. The reading describes surface waves as, "waves that travel along or near Earth's surface, like waves along the surface of the ocean. They travel more slowly than P and S waves, and they pass around Earth, rather than through it (Murke, Skinner, & Mackenzie, 2008). Body waves will be detected on a seismograph before surface waves will since surface waves travel slower. Conclusion The area that I would like to pick that is prone to earthquakes is the area in and around the San Andreas Fault in California. Because this margin is a transform fault where the two plates are sliding by each other, the potential for the build up and release of energy is great. This makes this are especially prone to earthquakes. References Murck, B. W., Skinner, B. J., & Mackenzie, D. (2008). Visualizing geology. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.