• Question: How does an earthquake occur ?

    Asked by Cheesers77 to Lydia on 21 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Lydia Bach

      Lydia Bach answered on 21 Nov 2014:

      Hey!

      All around the world, but concentrated in certain areas. That is because the earth has a crust, on which oceanic and continental plates move around.

      Most earthquakes occur at the edge of where the continental plates, the plates where the continents rest on and oceanic plates collide and stress builds up over time. Sometimes this energy gets released and can form seismic waves: earthquakes.

      So there are many earth quakes in Chile for example!

      You can see the plates here:

      http://www.bgs.ac.uk/discoveringGeology/hazards/earthquakes/whyWhere.html

      Check out this little clip about earthquakes

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