How an Earthquake Occur?
The world has encountered a sequence of earthquakes of excessive magnitudes. In 2010 the devastating earthquake were 7. 0 earthquake hitting Haiti in January that took away greater than two lakhs valuable lives, the huge 8.2 magnitude earthquake in Fiji in August, the 7. 5 earthquake in Indonesia in September, and a 7. 9 value earthquake in Fiji during September.
Geographical studies state that several million earthquakes shake the earth each year, however, they go overlooked as most of them arise in sparely populated areas. The destruction, death, and sorrow related to earthquakes often makes us surprise why and how they happen.
How Does an Earthquake Occur?
The earth can be divided into three major layers: the outermost crust, center mantle, and innermost core ( inner and outer core). The crust and the upper mantle collectively form a strong layer known as the lithosphere.This strong lithosphere is further broken down into plates referred to as tectonic plates. Thus, the earth’s crust is not actually one strong layer, instead is like a puzzle, with portions coming together to form one huge picture.The size of these puzzle pieces or plates can vary from a few hundred to thousands of kilometers, while their thickness may range from less than 15 km to two hundred km. When these plates underline the oceans, they are termed as oceanic plates, whereas, when they underline the continents, they are known as continental plates
As the mantle within the earth’s crust moves, the plates also start to move and start pulling away from each other. They encounter one another or may even slide past each other.There are 3 main tectonic actions: extensional, transform, and compressional, all of which result in unique types of earthquakes. The movements of these plates is normally very slow, usually the same pace our fingernails growth. It’s when these plates collide in opposition to each other, that rock layers are forced upwards in the form of mountains.When these plates move away from each other, lava from the mantle fills the gap and forms a new crust. These plates also converge over a period of thousand years by slowly positioning them one under the other.
There is a lot of studies being carried out by scientists in the field of earthquake forecasting, so as to reduce the amount of devastation caused by it. Intimating people before an earthquake and evacuating the area would assist save millions of lives.However, in spite of all the decades of efforts scientists have not been able to predict earthquakes, so, the best thing to do as of today is to update your self about earthquake management.
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