 | Term | Definition |
| |
base-isolated building |
building mounted on bearings designed to obsorb the energy of an earthquake |
| |
tsunami |
a giant wave caused by an earthquake on the ocean floor |
| |
creep meters |
measures horizontal movement |
| |
laser-ranging device |
device that bounces laser beams off a reflector to detect fault movements |
| |
tiltmeter |
device that measures vertical movements |
| |
S waves |
type of seismic wave that moves the ground up and down or side to side |
| |
tension |
stress that stretches rock so that it becomes thinner in the middle |
| |
shearing |
stress that pushes a mass of rock in opposite directions |
| |
compression |
stress that squeezes rock until it folds or breaks |
| |
deformation |
a change in 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 |
type of fault where rocks on either side move past each other side ways in a little up and down motion |
| |
normal fault |
type of fault where the hanging wall slides downwards caused by tension |
| |
reverse fault |
type of fault where the hanging wall slides upward |
| |
footwall |
block of rock that forms the lower half of the fault |
| |
fault-block mountain |
mountain that forms where a normal fault uplifts a block of rock |
| |
stress |
force that acts on rock to change its shape or volume |
| |
magnitude |
measurement of an earthquake's strength based on seismic waves and movement along faults |
| |
seismograph |
device that records ground movemetns caused by seismic waves as they move through Earth |
| |
moment-magnitude scale |
scale that rates earthquakes by estimating the total energy released by an earthquake |
| |
P waves |
type of seismic wave that compresses and expands the ground |
| |
hanging wall |
block of rock that forms the upper half of a fault |
| |
Mercalli Scale |
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 ype of mechanical seismograph |
| |
epicenter |
the point on Earth's surface directly above an earthquake's focus |
| |
focus |
point beneath EArth's surface where rock breaks under stress and causes an earthquake |
| |
earthquakes |
the shaking of the earth's crust |
| |
liquefaction |
process by which an earthquake's violent movement suddenly turns into liquid mud |
| |
fold |
bend in rock that forms where part of Earth's crust is compressed |
| |
anticline |
upward fold in rock formed by compression of Earth's crust |
| |
syncline |
downward fold in rock formed by compression in Earth's crust |
| |
plateau |
landform that has a more or less level surface and is elevated high above sea level |
| |
satellite monitors |
takes pictures of faults by using the radar |
| |
aftershock |
an earthquake that occurs after an larger earthquake in the same area |
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace