Understanding earthquakes

Understanding earthquakes
By the end of the end of the lesson you should
be able to:
• Define the terms: earthquake, seismic wave, focus,
epicentre, seismometer, magnitude, Richter scale.

• Explain what causes an earthquake and why everything

shakes.

• Discover what the Richter scale is and how an

earthquake’s power can be measured.

• Give examples of damage caused by earthquakes

What are earthquakes? What are plate margins?
Destructive
Earthquakes are vibrations
caused by earth movements
at plate margins and at
major fault lines (cracks in
the earth’s surface).

Conservative

They can occur at all

major plate margins but
the most severe
earthquakes are normally
found at Conservative and
Destructive margins.
 Why do earthquakes happen?
1. The two plates at a plate margin
cannot move past each other easily.

2.The two plates

lock together.
Friction causes
pressure to build up.

3. Suddenly the pressure

is released and the plates
jolt into a new position. 4. This causes seismic waves.
The vibrations they cause
are called an earthquake.
 Anatomy of an Earthquake
An Earthquake is the shaking of the ground
caused by sudden motions along faults, or
fractures in the Earth’s crust.

Fault
Plates
A fracture in the rocks that
make up the Earth’s crust. Massive rocks that
make up the outer
layer of the Earth’s
surface and whose
Epicentre movement along faults
trigger earthquakes.
The point at the Earth’s
surface directly above
the focus.
Seismic Waves
Waves that
Focus
transmit the
The point within the Earth energy released by
where an Earthquake an earthquake.
rupture starts.
 A
Forest
Town

Epicentre Focus

An earthquake has occurred along this fault line. Match the

letter with the correct label.
 How are earthquakes measured?

1
The Richter Scale measures the magnitude of a
2
tremor (how powerful it is) using an instrument
3
called a seismometer
4
5
6
The Richter Scale is measured 7
on a scale from 1 to 10. 8
9
10
It is a logarithmic scale which means
that a size ‘6’ on the Richter Scale is 10 Richter
times more powerful than a size ’5’ and Scale
100 times more powerful than a size ‘4’. The largest earthquake
ever recorded was in
Chile. It measured 8.9
on the Richter Scale.
 1
2
The Japanese 3
earthquake in Kobe 4
(September 1995) 5
measured 7.2 on the 6
7
Richter Scale.
8
9
10
The Greek earthquake
Richter (June 1995) measured
Scale 6.2 on the Richter
Scale.

How many times greater was the Japanese earthquake?

Damage caused by Earthquakes
WATCH……
https://youtu.be/e7ho6z32yy
Videos to Refer

• https://youtu.be/_r_nFT2m-Vg -
Earthquake
• https://youtu.be/_oPb_9gOdn4 -
Tsunami
 Show what you have learned

1. Explain what causes an earthquake.

2. Define the terms epicentre, focus and seismic waves.

3. Explain what a seismometer is used for and how the magnitude

of an earthquake can be measured.

4. Describe the damages caused by earthquakes.

Tsunami, wave of destruction
What is a Tsunami? A Tsunami is a series of
waves (called a ‘wave train’)
made in a body of water by
a sudden disturbance.

The term Tsunami comes

from the Japanese language
meaning ‘harbour wave’.
This sudden disturbance
pushes a large column of
water upwards creating a
Tsunami.

Tsunamis are also called

‘seismic sea waves’ or
‘tidal waves’.
 How a Tsunami forms

On 26th December 2004 a Tsunami formed by an underwater

earthquake engulfed Indonesia, Sri Lanka, the Seychelles,
Thailand and India. This is how the Tsunami formed

Before the earthquake the Indian-Australian

Plate pushes itself under the Eurasian Plate.

The plates get caught and

tension develops in the rock.

Indian Ocean

Eurasian Plate
Indian-Australian
Plate
 How a Tsunami forms
During the earthquake the enormous tension at the
edge of the Eurasian Plate becomes too great.

The edge of the plate comes loose and

shoots back to its’ starting position.

The built up tensions suddenly release in an abrupt

movement which can be felt as an earthquake.

Indian Ocean

Eurasian Plate

Indian-Australian
Plate
 How a Tsunami forms
After an earthquake the sea bed
can move several metres up.

The water above the plate’s edge

is displaced in a short time.

The Tsunami that forms, spreads

out in a circular movement

Indian Ocean

Eurasian Plate

Indian-Australian
Plate
 Why did the Tsunami grow in height as it
approached the shore?

• Out in the ocean where the Tsunami formed, the water was deep.
• In deep water the Tsunami ran fast but the wave was small.
• The front of the wave slows down as it approaches the shore.
• The back of the wave still goes its original speed
• So the wave builds in size until it hits the shore.
The Tsunami was caused by
an earthquake, just off the
west coast of Sumatra
 By the end of the day of the 2004 Indian
Ocean tsunami, it had already killed 150,000
people. The final death toll was 283,000.

The Indian Ocean tsunami travelled 3,000

miles to Africa and still arrived with
sufficient force to kill people and destroy
property.
Many people in Indonesia saw animals fleeing
to high ground minutes before the tsunami hit.
Very few animal bodies were found afterward.

The risk of famine and disease was

high following the tsunami – bodies
rotting in the tropical heat,
contaminated food and water.

1.7 million people displaced (had their

homes destroyed) by the Tsunami.
 Show what you have learned

1. Explore what the word Tsunami means and find out

which country it originated from.

2. Explain why a Tsunami grows in height as it approaches

the shore.

3. Describe the destruction caused by the 2004 Boxing

Day Tsunami and list the loss of life in each country
affected by the disaster.