Earthquake's Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Earthquake's - Essay Example The plates interact at their boundaries (margins) or edges. There are various types of plate margins which include; diverging, converging and transform faults (kearey, Klepesis and Vine, 2009). Converging plate boundary Converging occurs when two plates travel towards each other. When the plates converge, different types of margins are formed depending on the boundary; the boundary can either be between two continental plates, oceanic plates or either one of each. One type of convergent margin occurs when a continent meets another continent along the convergent line where they crumple upwards and downwards as the lithosphere thickens in a collision zone. Another type of convergent margin takes place when one or both plates are oceanic where by one plate typically slide underneath the other plate sinking into the asthenosphere where water that is released from the wet rocks of the seafloor advances the formation of the magma (kearey, Klepesis and Vine, 2009). Diverging plate boundary Diverge is also known as rifting or spreading centers. Diverging occurs when two plates move apart from each other and can occur in either continental or oceanic crust. When plates diverge from each other a new ocean may form in the widening rift, an example of this is the Red sea. When oceanic crust diverts (splits apart) the result is known as a midocean ridge (kearey, Klepesis and Vine, 2009). Transform faults plate boundary The transform plate boundaries are the locations where plates slide past each other. A crack zone that normally forms a transform plate boundary is well known as a transform fault. The transform faults are mostly common in the ocean floors (ocean basins) where many of them run perpendicularly to the midocean ridges (Kearey, Klepesis and Vine, 2009). Why earthquakes are common along plate margins Earthquakes occur mostly at the plate margins because under the plates there is much friction and the plates are constantly bouncing off each other. The plate’ s margin material is not as sturdy and is found near the molten part. The earthquakes occur normally near the fault lines (this is where the plates are normally separated). In the fault line two plates confine together until much pressure is formed and they are forced to grind away from each other. The lateral fault line happens frequently and within different magnitudes, an example of a lateral fault line is the San Andreas Fault in California. How the earth moves when it quakes and shakes When the earth quakes and shakes sudden movements on the grounds occur. The quakes are mostly provoked by movements along the faults, landslides, bomb blasts and volcanic eruptions. When a quake occurs, the surface of the earth forms into waves that move across; these waves are considered to be pretty spectacular and extremely destructive. During a quake the seismic waves move about in all directions just like the sound waves (Kusky, 2005). Events that cause the earth to quake and shake Earthquak e is the ground shaking that is caused by an abrupt slip on a fault. When pressure in the earth’s outer layer pushes the sides of the faults together causing stress to build up and the rocks to slip all of a sudden discharging energy in waves that travel through the earth’s crust causing the shaking that is felt during an earthquake. Earthquake measurements Earthquakes are recorded by seismometers up to great distances as the seismic waves are