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Plate tectonics (from Latin tectonicus, from Ancient Greek τεκτονικός (tektonikós) 'pertaining to building') [1] is the scientific theory that Earth 's lithosphere comprises a number of large tectonic plates, which have been slowly moving since 3–4 billion years ago. [2][3][4] The model builds on the concept of continental drift ...
Ring of Fire. The Ring of Fire (also known as the Pacific Ring of Fire, the Rim of Fire, the Girdle of Fire or the Circum-Pacific belt) [note 1] is a tectonic belt of volcanoes and earthquakes. It is about 40,000 km (25,000 mi) long [1] and up to about 500 km (310 mi) wide, [2] and surrounds most of the Pacific Ocean.
An earthquake is the shaking of the surface of Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes may also be referred to as quakes, tremors, or temblors. The word tremor is also used for non-earthquake seismic rumbling.
v. t. e. A volcano tectonic earthquake or volcano earthquake is caused by the movement of magma beneath the surface of the Earth. [1] The movement results in pressure changes where the rock around the magma has a change in stress. At some point, this stress can cause the rock to break or move. This seismic activity is used by scientists to ...
The Juan de Fuca Plate is a small tectonic plate (microplate) generated from the Juan de Fuca Ridge that is subducting beneath the northerly portion of the western side of the North American Plate at the Cascadia subduction zone. [2] It is named after the explorer of the same name. One of the smallest of Earth's tectonic plates, the Juan de ...
In the Indian Ocean region, the Sunda megathrust is located where the Indo-Australian Plate subucts under the Eurasian Plate along a 5,500 kilometres (3,400 mi) fault off the coasts of Myanmar, Sumatra, Java and Bali, terminating off the northwestern coast of Australia. This subduction zone was responsible for the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake ...
200–2,000 injured [4] The 1971 San Fernando earthquake (also known as the 1971 Sylmar earthquake) occurred in the early morning of February 9 in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains in southern California. The unanticipated thrust earthquake had a magnitude of 6.5 on the Ms scale and 6.6 on the Mw scale, and a maximum Mercalli intensity ...
Fault lines are fractures between blocks of rock in the Earth’s crust, the layer closest to the surface. These lines allow tectonic plates to move and earthquakes occur when two plates slide ...