Earthquakes

Part of Hall of Planet Earth.

Earthquakes_HERO

Energy Released by Earth
No other natural force compares in sheer power with earthquakes. They represent enormous and nearly instantaneous releases of energy that can tear apart the landscape, leaving fault scarps like the one before you. Inherently unpredictable, earthquakes can rumble to life in areas where none had been known before. The energy released by the earthquakes travels through the Earth in waves. These waves can be destructive, but they also provide essential information about the Earth’s interior.

The San Andreas Fault Zone_ILL
Fault in Crystalline Rock
AMNH/R.Mickens
Which Way Does a Fault Move?
AMNH/R.Mickens
Drum Recorder
AMNH/R.Mickens

In This Section

Exhibit Earthquakes where plates collide Subduction zones are places where two of the Earth’s plates collide, with one descending beneath the other. Exhibit The destructive power of earthquakes The great San Francisco earthquake produced a surface rupture some 300 kilometers long. Exhibit Can we predict earthquakes? Seismologists have long sought ways to predict earthquakes, but so far no reliable methods have been found. Exhibit The San Andreas fault zone The 1,200-kilometer-long San Andreas fault zone is part of the boundary between the Pacific and North American plates. Exhibit Monitoring earthquakes daily Earthquakes happen all the time because of the slow but continuous motion of the lithosphere.