All About Earthquakes

Whether occurring naturally or caused by man, earthquakes most often manifest themselves by a shaking of the ground. Most earthquakes are tectonic and occur when the frictional stress of gliding plate boundaries exceeds a certain value and causes a failure at a fault line, which results in a violent displacement of the Earth’s crust.

At this point, elastic strain energy is released and elastic waves are radiated, leading to an earthquake. Induced earthquakes may happen for a variety of reasons, including extraction of minerals from Earth and the collapse of large buildings.

Visit LiveScience.com for the most relevant earthquake information. Read our news articles and participate in our interactive features, and come to understand why recent earthquakes have occurred. Stay updated on the latest research of earthquakes and fault lines and see where scientists are predicting the next seismic quake to occur.

Click on the links below and begin to learn all there is to know and more about earthquakes.