Earthquakes

Why Earthquakes Happen

          Most of the time, an earthquake happens by rocks breaking along a fault, causing shaking of the earths crust. The crust is the outer layer of the earth, which is also the place earthquakes happen. Another reason an earthquake can happen is from magma flowing into the magma chamber inside a volcano. This is caused by magma flowing up through weak spots in the crust. Also earthquakes can happen by two plates colliding, separating, or sliding past each other.

How we measure earthquakes

          We measure earthquakes on two different scale. The one that measures how big the earthquake is, or the magnitude. This scale is named the Richter Scale and what that does is measure the magnitude of an earthquake. The other way we measure earthquakes is by the level of damage an earthquake has done. this scale is named the Mercalli Scale. This scale can go from I, or not felt, to XII, which is the damage was nearly total.

Random Earthquake Facts

• San Francisco is moving closer to Los Angeles as the two sides of the San Andreas fault slip past each other
• Out of the about 500,000 earthquakes, only about 100,000 can be felt
• There is no such thing as “earthquake weather,” there is an equal distribution of earthquakes in hot, cold, and normal weather
• A city in Chile moved ten feet in a massive 8.8 magnitude earthquake
• The sun and moon can cause tremours because of the pulling between them