What causes earthquakes?
Chosen Answer:
Ok I’ll try to answer this as simply as I can:
The earth’s crust is made up of several different plates (tectonic plates) which cover the hot mass of magma known as the mantle. Earthquakes usually happen around where the edges of these plates meet (plate boundaries). Earthquakes often happen when two or more plates rub together at the boundaries.
Some of the more severe earthquakes happen when the edge of a plate at a ‘destructive’ plate boundary snaps. Destructive plate boundaries are where the edge of one plate is very, very, very slowly moving under another, melting into the mantle as it goes. As it is a huge mass of rock actually bending and moving under another one, it is under an immense amount of pressure. Sometimes this pressure is too much for the bending plate to bear, and the bending part of it snaps. This causes an enormous earthquake on both plates. An example of this happening is the earthquake that happened in the Andes a while back (sorry but I’m not sure exactly when or where, look it up if you like).
I hope this answers your question.
by: eewawoowa
on: 10th April 09
