3. What are they?
• A vibration in the earth’s crust caused by the
sudden release of stored energy in the rocks
found along fault lines
• Occurs when there is plate movement along
plate boundaries
4. Where do they occur?
• They can occur on
convergent/divergent/transform plate
boundaries
• Occur most on convergent plate
boundaries because the stress builds up
when a plate subducts beneath another
5. How do they form?
• Jagged sides of the plates cause the plates to be
stuck when they try to slide past each other.
• The friction of movement builds up stress in the
rocks. When they continue to move, more stress
builds up.
• When they can no longer withstand the increasing
stress, they can slip many metres,
• releasing massive amounts of stored energy in the
form of seismic waves, which is an earthquake
6. Epicenter: The point on
the earth’s surface
directly above the focus
Focus: The point of
sudden energy release
7. Types of earthquakes
Type of
earthquake
Deep-focus earthquake Shallow-focus earthquake
Location of
focus
• Occurs between 70-700km
below earth’s surface
• Occurs in the upper 70km of
earth’s crust
Impact on land • Smaller impact on land as
vibrations/seismic waves take
a longer time to reach the
surface and would have lost
most energy by then
• Greater impact on land as the
vibrations/seismic waves reach
the land surface more quickly
8. Extent of earthquakes
• Population density
• Level of preparedness
• Distance from the epicentre
• Time of occurrence
• Type of soil