| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Fault | a fracture along which blocks of crust on either side have moved relative to one another parallel to the fracture, a break in the earth's crust |
| Normal fault | A rock mass above a fault that moves down during an earthquake, caused by tension forces |
| Reverse fault | If rock above the fault moves upward, caused by compression forces |
| Strike-slip fault | vertical fractures where the rocks have mostly moved horizontally, slide past each other |
| Seismic wave | waves (energy) produced by earthquakes starting at the epicenter |
| Liquefaction | During an earthquake a process by which water-saturated sediment temporarily loses strength and acts as a fluid |
| Tremor | Shaking of the earth before,during and after an earthquake |
| Focus | the point within the earth ( in the ground) where an earthquake rupture starts |
| Primary Wave | First seismic wave,or longitudinal wave, is a seismic wave that shakes the ground back and forth in the same and opposite driection the wave is moving |
| Secondary Wave | Second seismic wave,(transverse wave) is a seismic body wave that shakes the ground back and forth perpendicular to the direction the wave is moving. Also called a shear wave. |
| Surface Wave | a seismic wave that is trapped near the surface of the earth. Also called a Rayleigh or Love wave. |
| Shadow Zone | This area is a result of S waves being stopped entirely by the liquid core and P waves being bent (refracted) by the liquid core. |
| After shock | Earthquakes that follow the largest shock of an earthquake sequence. They are smaller than the mainshock |
| Intensity | A number (written as a Roman numeral) describing the severity of an earthquake in terms of its damage to earth's surface and on humans and their structures (In the Mercalli Scale) |
| Epicenter | The point on the earth's surface vertically above the focus, point in the crust where a seismic rupture begins. |
| Seismologist | A person who studies earthquakes |
| Seismograph | is an instrument used to detect and record earthquakes |
| Magnitude | A number that characterizes the relative size of energy of an earthquake. |
| Mercalli Scale | The SCALE that uses the intensity number a number (written as a Roman numeral) describing the severity of an earthquake in terms of damages (people and buildings) |
| Tsunami | a sea wave of local or distant origin that results from large-scale seafloor displacements associated with large earthquakes, major submarine slides, or exploding volcanic islands |
| Earthquake | vibrations produced when rocks are bent and broken |
| crest | the top of a wave is called a |
| trough | the bottom of a wave is called a |
| wave length | the distance between two wave crests is called a |
| amplitude | the height measured for a wave is called the |
| tension | the force that causes stretching |
| compression | the force that squeezes |
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