| Term | Definition |
|---|
| earthquake | The shaking that results from the movement of rock beneath Earth's surface. |
| stress | A force that acts on rock to change its shape or volume. |
| shearing | Stress that pushes a mass of rock in opposite directions. |
| tension | Stress that stretches rock so that it becomes thinner in the middle. |
| compression | Stress that squeezes rock until it folds or breaks. |
| deformation | A change in the volume or shape of Earth's crust. |
| fault | A break in Earth's crust where slabs of rock slip past each other. |
| strike-slip fault | A type of fault where rocks on either side move past each other sideways with little up or down motion. |
| normal fault | A type of fault where the hanging wall slides downward; caused by tension in the crust. |
| hanging wall | The block of rock that forms the upper half of a fault. |
| footwall | The block of rock that forms the lower half of a fault. |
| reverse fault | A type of fault where the hanging wall slides upward. |
| fault-block mountain | A mountain that forms where a normal fault uplifts a block of rock. |
| fold | A bend in rock that forms where part of Earth's crust is compressed. |
| anticline | An upward fold in rock formed by compression of Earth's crust. |
| syncline | A downward fold in rock formed by compression in Earth's crust. |
| plateau | A large area of flat land elevated high above sea level. |
| focus | The point beneath Earth's surface where rock breaks under stress and causes an earthquake. |
| epicenter | The point on Earth's surface directly above an earthquake's focus. |
| seismic wave | A vibration that travels through Earth carrying the energy released during an earthquake. |
| P wave | A type of seismic wave that compresses and expands the ground. |
| S-wave | A type of seismic wave that moves the ground up and down or side to side. |
| surface wave | A type of seismic wave that forms when P waves and S waves reach Earth's surface. |
| seismograph | A device that records ground movements caused by seismic waves as they move through the Earth. |
| magnitude | The measurement of an earthquake's strength based on seismic waves and movement along faults. |
| Mercalli scale | A scale that rates earthquakes according to their intensity and how much damage they cause. |
| Richter scale | A scale that rates seismic waves as measured by a particular type of mechanical seismograph. |
| moment magnitude scale | A scale that rates earthquakes by estimating the total energy released by an earthquake. |
| liquefaction | The process by which an earthquake's violent movement suddenly turns loose soil into liquid mud. |
| aftershock | An earthquake that occurs after a larger earthquake in the same area. |
| tsunamis | A large wave produced by an earthquake on the ocean floor. |
| base-isolated building | A building mounted on bearings designed to absorb the energy of an earthquake. |
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