All About Earthquakes

Earthquakes

Multiple Choice

What event happens when there is a sudden, violent shaking of tectonic plates?

• earthquake

• volcano

• thunderstorm

Multiple Choice

What causes earthquakes?

• Volcanoes Erupting

• Tectonic Plate Movement

• Ocean Waves

• People

What are earthquakes?

• Earthquakes are caused by plate movement

• The waves that carry energy in a earthquake are call seismic waves

Multiple Choice

What is the name of earthquake waves?

• Ocean Waves

• Tectonic Waves

• Catastrophic Waves

• Seismic Waves

Multiple Choice

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

• middle of tectonic plates

• in the core of the earth

• only near mountains

• at plate boundaries

Where do earthquakes happen?

• They happen at plate boundaries or faults

• Most earthquakes occur at convergent or transform boundaries

How many earthquakes are expected each year?

• Millions of earthquakes happen every year. Most are too weak to be felt.

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

• That's about 55 recorded earthquakes a day!

How many major earthquakes are expected each year?

• That includes 15 earthquakes in the magnitude 7 range and one earthquake magnitude 8.0 or greater.

Multiple Choice

Why aren't all earthquakes recorded?

• happen too far underground

• happen too often

• too weak to be felt

• happen under the mantle

How do earthquakes happen?

• Tectonic plates move and release energy

• The focus is the place where the energy is released

• Epicenter - location on surface directly above the focus

• Energy travels as seismic waves out from the focus

Multiple Choice

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

• energy

• light

• soil

Multiple Choice

What is the place where the earthquake starts called?

• seismic wave

• center

• energy

• focus

Multiple Choice

The point directly above the focus is called the ____________.

• seismic wave

• epicenter

• local

• focus

How are earthquakes studied?

• Seismometer - device that measures intensity of earthquakes

• Intensity is the strength of the shaking motion

• Richter scale measures the magnitude or size of an earthquake

Multiple Choice

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

• Mercalli

• Richter

• weight

• density

Multiple Choice

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

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

What tool is used to measure earthquakes?

• Richter scale

• Tectonometer

• Seismometer

• Earthquake Thermometer