WHERE DO EARTHQUAKES OCCUR? WHAT CAUSES EARTHQUAKES?

 Most take place near the edges of tectonic  Tectonic plates push, pull, or slip past each other,
plates. stress increases along faults near the plates’
edges.
(Tectonic plates move in different directions and at  Stress causes rock in the plates todeform
different speeds. Two plates can push toward or pull (Deformation is the change in the shape of rock in
away from each other. They can also slip slowly past response to stress. )
each other.)  Elastic deformation
(Think of elastically deformed rock as a stretched
 Earthquakes occur along faults because of rubber band. You can stretch a rubber band only so
sliding. far before it breaks. When the rubber band breaks, it
releases energy. Then, the broken pieces return to
their unstretched shape)

FAULTS AT TECTONIC PLATES HOW DO WAVES TRAVEL?

Seismic waves that travel through the Earth’s interior
 A fault is a break in the Earth’s crust along which are called body waves.
blocks of the crust slide relative to one another. 2 types: P waves and S waves.
P-Waves- (pressure waves)
 travel through solids, liquids, and gases
PLATE MOTION MAJOR FAULT TYPE  move back and forth, squeezing and stretching
Transform Strike-Slip rock
Convergent Reverse S –Waves- (shear waves)
Divergent Normal  cannot travel through parts of the Earth that are
liquid
(Sometimes an earthquake can occur in the middle  shear rock side to side
of a fault) Surface waves-
  waves that travel along the Earth’s surfaces
 travel more slowly than body waves and are
more destructive
 produces up and down motion
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