EARTHQUAKES

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 You are standing in a luscious meadow, filled with a bounty of wildflowers and
vibrant green grass. You see an abundance of ice tipped mountains to your right, and a
calming blue lake to your left. You may feel safe and secure, yet just below you are intensely
active layers that construct the Earth's innermost makings. The rocks underneath this
seemingly steady surface are hit with energy every day, and when this energy is released
suddenly and uncontrollably, a violent shaking occurs. This natural phenomenon is what we
know as earthquakes.
Going into more detail, an earthquake is the trembling of the Earth's surface caused
by an abrupt release of energy in the Earth's outermost layer that creates an elastic surge
know as a seismic wave. These waves can vary in power, thus producing earthquakes that are
so small they cannot be felt, to those that are so ferocious they tear down buildings,
scavenge people, and destroy entire cities. Scientists have discovered that earthquakes
transpire because the Earth’s outermost layer, the lithosphere, is made up of enormous
puzzle piece like shapes called tectonic plates. These plates are regularly shifting and being
displaced as they roam around the layers below them. This constant movement ultimately
causes an excessive amount of stress on the Earth's crust, and when the tension gets too
high, it snaps, creating a break in the crust called faults. This plate movement additionally
produces changes at the fault lines, consequently developing an earthquake. To illustrate
this extensive manner of movement, an American geophysicist named Harry Fielding Reid
used information collected from land surveys that allowed him to measure changes that
transpired on the surface of the Earth. This observation led Reid to discover the Elastic
Rebound Theory. This theory states that fault movements are based on the ability of rocks to
stick together under stress. When the pressure becomes excessive, an earthquake occurs.
Sometimes the movements are so intense that the entire topography of the land is altered.
Earthquakes can occur at three types of active faults: normal, strike-slip, and reverse.
Earthquakes correlated with normal faults, such as in divergence zones, tend to be lower in
energy, and mostly occur in the oceans. Earthquakes connected with strike-slip faults, such
as in transform zones, tend to be average in energy, and usually shallow. Megathrust
earthquakes linked to reverse faults, such as in convergence zones, where oceanic crust is
subducting under the continental plate, construct the most notable earthquakes of all, and
can be shallow or deep. Though Earthquakes are mostly known to be a naturally occurring
phenomenon, mankind can aid in the creation of these shocking trembles. By participating
in destructive actions like the injection of wastewater by the oil industry, mining, large-scale
extraction of groundwater, and Hydraulic fracturing, we trigger earthquakes and make
ourselves more susceptible to harm.

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 Following the idea that seismic waves are constructed from earthquakes, scientists
have invented a way to detect and measure these vibrational flows by using a device called a
seismograph. This device sets firmly in the Earth and has a heavyweight that hovers freely.
When an earthquake occurs, the ground shakes and so does the base of the seismograph.
However, only the spring or string that it is hanging from the heavyweight absorbs the
movement, as the weight acts a balance. The difference between the shaking part of the
seismograph and the firm part is what is recorded. These events are then transferred to a
system that will give scientists the exact magnitude of the earthquake on a logarithmic scale
of zero to ten, known as a Richter Scale. Each notch on this scale is ten times the energy of
its prior level. By using practices like this, we can determine how large an earthquake is.
Furthermore, scientists can also tell the distance of an earthquake by examining its S and P
waves. P waves move faster than S waves and have the ability to move through solids,
liquids, and gases, while S waves only have the capability to move through solids. This
means that P and S waves will travel at different speeds as they have different obstacles, and
we can use this information to determine how far away an earthquake is. To understand how
this works, let’s analyze P and S waves like lightning and thunder. Everybody knows that to
figure out how far away a storm is you time the delay between lightning and thunder. Now,
image the P waves are the lightning, and the S waves are the thunder. The P waves move
faster and shake the ground first, while the S waves follow. The closer you are to the
earthquake, the quicker the P and S waves will come directly after each other; but if you are
far away, there will be a great distance between the two. By evaluating the time between the
P and S waves, scientists can tell how far away an earthquake is from that location. Experts
can then take this information, draw a circle on a map around three different seismographs
and find the epicenter of an earthquake. This strategy is called triangulation, and it guides
us to the exact point of an earthquake. There are various ways in determining how strong an
earthquake is and where it's located, and these systems allow us to discover more about
earthquakes, and sometimes even prepare before the fallout.
The outcomes of earthquakes are devastating to the entire world. The vicious
shaking caused by the tremors, rupture the ground and consequently lead to severe damage
to buildings and other rigid structures. Earthquakes can also produce slope instability
leading to landslides and avalanches. They can cause raging fires by destroying electrical
power or gas lines and burn entire cities and people to ashes. On top of that, if an
Earthquake is strong enough, it can rupture waterways, basically authorizing fires to spread
and avoid being put out. They also have the capability to produce terrorizing tsunamis, that
can travel thousands of kilometers across open ocean and land, wreaking havoc on faraway
shores hours after an earthquake hits. This can then lead to flooding and more landslides, as

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the ground becomes exceedingly delicate and unstable. All of these catastrophes leave the
world behind with pain, loss of life, and sequentially rip away any trace of cities once
standing.
You once again find yourself standing in a meadow, brimming with wildflowers and
lively green grass, encircled by ice-tipped mountains and a tranquil blue lake. You once felt
safe and stable, but now you know an earthquake can abruptly emerge anywhere and
anytime. What will you do to prepare?

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 BIOGRAPHY

“What Is an Earthquake?” British Geological Survey (BGS). Accessed November 10, 2018.
https://www.bgs.ac.uk/discoveringGeology/hazards/earthquakes/whatIs.html

“Effects of Earthquake : Introduction, Causes, Effects, Videos, Questions.” Toppr Bytes.

October 17, 2018. Accessed November 12, 2018.
https://www.toppr.com/guides/evs/when-the-earth-shook/effects-of-earthquake/

“What is an Earthquake.” NASA. Accessed November 12, 2018.

https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/earthquakes/en/.