Earthquakes

Earthquakes

How many earthquakes are expected each year?

• Millions - Most are too weak to be recorded.

• The NEIC (National Earthquake Information Center) records about 20,000 a year.

• That's about 50 recorded earthquakes a day!

Multiple Choice

Millions of earthquakes happen every year.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

What aren't all earthquakes recorded?

• happen too far underground

• happen too often

• too weak to be felt

• happen under the mantle

What are earthquakes?

• Shaking of the Ground

• A sudden, violent shaking of the Earth caused by a shifting of the Earth's crust

Multiple Choice

What is caused by the shifting of Earth's crust?

• thunder

• shaking

• lightning

• clouds

Multiple Choice

What event happens when there is a sudden, violent shaking of the earth?

• earthquake

• deposition

• construction

• flowing rivers

Where do earthquakes happen?

• Plate Boundaries or Faults (any place Earth's crust can move)

• Plates are sheets of rock that make up the Earth's outer crust.

Multiple Choice

Very few earthquakes happen along plate boundaries.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

When scientists map the location of earthquakes, where do they find that most earthquakes happen?

• middle of plates

• in the core of the earth

• near the sun

• plate boundaries

How do earthquakes happen?

• Release Energy

• Focus (hypocenter) - place where starts, energy is released

• Epicenter - location on surface directly above the focus

• Seismic waves are the shaking movement sent out from an earthquake.

Multiple Choice

What gets released when plates move that causes the ground to shake?

• energy

• seeds

• light

• soil

Multiple Choice

What type of energy waves do earthquakes produce?

• sound

• light

• heat

• seismic

Multiple Choice

The focus is the place where an earthquake starts and energy is released.

• True

• False

How are earthquakes studied?

• Seismologists - scientists who study earthquakes

• Seismometer - device that measures the intensity of earthquakes

• Intensity is the strength of the shaking motion of an earthquake.

• Richter Scale measures the magnitude, or size, of an earthquake.

Multiple Choice

What do we call scientists who study earthquakes?

• quakers

• seismologists

• shakeologists

• waveologists

Multiple Choice

Which scale measures the magnitude, or size, of an earthquake?

• Mercalli

• fish

• Richter

• weight

Multiple Choice

The strength of the shaking from an earthquake is called it's intensity.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

What device is used to measure the intensity of an earthquake?

• seismometer

• shakemometer

• wavemometer

• movemeter