Question: What causes earthquakes and volcanic eruptions??

Janis Aleksans answered on 14 Nov 2019:

Both are created by what we call plate tectonics. Earth’s crust is actually composed of several plates, like a jigsaw puzzle, that move along each other. Where the two plates come together is is not one solid block, like a weak spot in crust, so it is easier for magma to come up and thus we have volcanoes there. Earthquakes are created as these plates “rub” along each other due to the friction. If you push your hands together hard and try to move palms in different directions you will see that rather than sliding smoothly your palms will “jump”. It is the same with the plates that Earth’s crust is created from. When every one of these “jumps” occurs, lots of energy is released that we feel as earthquakes.