Data

Copy and paste the text below. It is read-only. Select All

earthquakes a movement or trembling of the ground that is caused by a sudden release of energy when rocks along a fault move fault a break in a body of rock along which one block slides relative to another locked faults an immobile state in which friction prevents faults from moving past each other elastic rebound the sudden return of elastically deformed rock to its undeformed shape focus the location within Earth along a fault at which the first motion of an earthquake occurs epicenter the point on Earth's surface directly above an earthquake's starting point, or focus seismic waves vibrations that occur from rocks that slip along a fault; travels outwards (water ripple effect) body waves; surface waves 2 types of of waves that earthquakes produce body waves a seismic wave that travels through the body of a medium surface wave a seismic wave that travels along the surface of a medium and that has a stronger effect near the surface of the medium than it has in the interior P waves; S waves 2 types of body waves love waves; Rayleigh waves 2 types of surface waves P waves primary waves or compression waves; fastest seismic wave-- first waves to be detected by a seismograph; travel in a back-and-forth direction-- parallel to direction the waves are traveling. S waves secondary waves or shear waves; second-fastest seismic waves; detected after primary waves; moves in a side-by-side direction-- perpendicular to direction the waves are traveling. P waves a type of body wave that travels through liquids, solids, and gases; the more rigid the material is, the faster these waves can travel through it. S waves a type of body wave that can only travel through solid material. Love waves a type of surface wave that causes rock to move side to side and perpendicular to the direction in which the waves are traveling. Rayleigh waves a type of surface wave that causes the ground to move with an elliptical, rolling motion. between the crust and the mantle the location at which the speed of the waves increases shadow zone an area on Earth's surface where no direct seismic waves from a particular earthquake can be detected convergent oceanic environments, divergent oceanic environments, and continental environments 3 main tectonic environments fault zone a region of numerous, closely spaced faults seismology the study of earthquakes and seismic waves seismograph an instrument that records vibrations on the ground seismogram a tracing of earthquake motion that is recorded by a seismograph magnitude a measure of the strength of an earthquake richter scale and the moment magnitude scale 2 scales that measure magnitude Richter scale a scale that rates an earthquake's magnitude based on the size of its seismic waves (measuring the ground motion) Moment magnitude scale Scale used to measure earthquake magnitude—taking into account the size of the fault rupture, the rocks' stiffness, and amount of movement along the fault—using values that can be estimated from the size of several types of seismic waves. Mercalli scale a scale that rates earthquakes according to their intensity and how much damage they cause at a particular place-- expresses this by using roman numerals from I to XII. intensity the amount of damage caused by an earthquake tsunami a giant ocean wave that forms after a volcanic eruption, submarine earthquake, or landslide seismic gap an area along a fault where relatively few earthquakes have occurred recently but where strong earthquakes are known to have occurred in the past foreshocks "little earthquakes" that may precede earthquakes foreshocks, seismic gaps, and changes in rocks 3 factors that may be able to predict earthquakes