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An aftershock is an earthquake that occurs after a previous earthquake, the mainshock. Rapid changes of stress between rocks, and the stress from the original earthquake are the main causes of these aftershocks, [35] along with the crust around the ruptured fault plane as it adjusts to the effects of the mainshock. [32]
Earthquakes are common on the West Coast, with multiple plate boundaries like the San Andreas fault making geologic activity more likely. They are rarer on the East Coast, but they do happen .
About 55 earthquakes a day – 20,000 a year – are recorded by the National Earthquake Information Center.Most are tiny and barely noticed by people living where they happen. But some are strong ...
A quake is the result when the surface of a planet, moon or star begins to shake, usually as the consequence of a sudden release of energy transmitted as seismic waves, and potentially with great violence. The types of quakes include earthquake, moonquake, marsquake, venusquake, sunquake, starquake, and mercuryquake.
During an earthquake, seismic waves propagates in all directions from the hypocenter. Seismic shadowing occurs on the opposite side of the Earth from the earthquake epicenter because the planet's liquid outer core refracts the longitudinal or compressional while it absorbs the transverse or shear waves . Outside the seismic shadow zone, both ...
In seismology, the depth of focus or focal depth is the depth at which an earthquake occurs. Earthquakes occurring at a depth of less than 70 km (43 mi) are classified as shallow-focus earthquakes, while those with a focal depth between 70 km (43 mi) and 300 km (190 mi) are commonly termed mid-focus or intermediate-depth earthquakes. [1]
Tsunamis can occur when an underwater earthquake rapidly displaces massive amounts of water, leading to a large, long wave that builds in intensity as it crosses the ocean. When it reaches land it ...
Megathrust earthquakes occur at convergent plate boundaries, where one tectonic plate is forced underneath another. The earthquakes are caused by slip along the thrust fault that forms the contact between the two plates. These interplate earthquakes are the planet's most powerful, with moment magnitudes (M w) that can exceed 9.0.