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Earthquakes are tremors or vibrations in the Earth's crust that are caused by the build up or accumulation of pressure (more correctly termed stress).
This accumulation of stress causes the rocks that make up the crust to deform elastically. This is very similar to what happens when you squash or stretch a spring and causes a form of energy to be stored in the rocks of the crust - technically described as elastic potential energy.
When this stress gets to large, it exceeds the strength of the rocks in the crust and causes a brittle failure. Brittle failures are failures where fractures form through the material.
This sudden brittle failure causes all of the elastic potential energy to be released at one time in the form of seismic waves, just as if a spring or elastic band that was being stretched suddenly snapped.
These seismic waves cause the tremors that people feel on the surface and which can cause damage to buildings and other structures.
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How does happen after a earthquake?
a earthquake happens whaen a plate moves that what happen when we had the christchurch earthquake happened.
Where is the least common place for an earthquake to happen?
In a place that has had no earthquakes in the past.
Is it possible to have an event that causes more than one hazardous process to occur?
It is possible to have an event that causes more than one hazardous process to occur. An example is the landslide in Myanmar. Because of the heavy rains, a flood and landslide can both occur. Another example can be seen in the game Sim City. If there is an earthquake in the town, the earthquake can cause fires by the power lines.
What is quantitative evidence?
Quantitive evidence is evidence that has to do with numbers. For example. the magnitude of an earthquake the time the earthquake occurred and the length of the earthquake are all types of quantitive evidence
What is earthquake putty?
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