What is an Earthquake?
Why does the earth shake when there is an
An earthquake is the shaking of the surface of the
Earth, resulting from the sudden release of energy in
the Earth’s lithosphere that creates seismic waves.
Earthquakes can range in size from those that are so
weak that they cannot be felt to those violent enough
to toss people around and destroy whole cities. The
seismicity or seismic activity of an area refers to the
frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced
over a period of time.
At the Earth’s surface, earthquakes manifest
themselves by shaking and sometimes displacement of
the ground. When the epicenter of a large earthquake
is located offshore, the seabed may be displaced
sufficiently to cause a tsunami. Earthquakes can also
trigger landslides, and occasionally volcanic activity.
In its most general sense, the word earthquake is used
to describe any seismic event — whether natural or
caused by humans — that generates seismic waves.
Earthquakes are caused mostly by rupture
of geological faults, but also by other events such as
volcanic activity, landslides, mine blasts, and nuclear
tests. An earthquake’s point of initial rupture is called
its focus or hypocenter. The epicenter is the point at
ground level directly above the hypocenter.
A fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume
of rock, across which there has been significant
displacement as a result of rock-mass movement.
What causes earthquakes and where do they
happen?
The earth has four major layers: the inner core, outer
core, mantle and crust. The crust and the top of the
mantle make up a thin skin on the surface of our
planet. But this skin is not all in one piece – it is made
up of many pieces like a puzzle covering the surface
of the earth. Not only that, but these puzzle pieces
keep slowly moving around, sliding past one another
and bumping into each other. We call these puzzle
pieces tectonic plates, and the edges of the plates are
called the plate boundaries. The plate boundaries are
made up of many faults, and most of the earthquakes
around the world occur on these faults. Since the
edges of the plates are rough, they get stuck while the
rest of the plate keeps moving. Finally, when the plate
has moved far enough, the edges unstick on one of
the faults and there is an earthquake.
earthquake?
While the edges of faults are stuck together, and the
rest of the block is moving, the energy that would
normally cause the blocks to slide past one another is
being stored up. When the force of the moving blocks
finally overcomes the friction of the jagged edges of the
fault and it unsticks, all that stored up energy is
released. The energy radiates outward from the fault
in all directions in the form of seismic waves like
ripples on a pond. The seismic waves shake the earth
as they move through it, and when the waves reach the
earth’s surface, they shake the ground and anything on
it, like our houses and us.
How are earthquakes recorded?
Earthquakes are recorded by instruments called
seismographs. The recording they make is called a
seismogram. The seismograph has a base that sets
firmly in the ground, and a heavy weight that hangs
free. When an earthquake causes the ground to shake,
the base of the seismograph shakes too, but the
hanging weight does not. Instead the spring or string
that it is hanging from absorbs all the movement. The
difference in position between the shaking part of the
seismograph and the motionless part is what is
recorded.
How do scientists measure the size of
earthquakes?
The size of an earthquake depends on the size of the
fault and the amount of slip on the fault, but that’s not
something scientists can simply measure with a
measuring tape since faults are many kilometers deep
beneath the earth’s surface. So how do they measure
an earthquake? They use the seismogram recordings
made on the seismographs at the surface of the earth
to determine how large the earthquake was. A short
wiggly line that doesn’t wiggle very much means a
small earthquake, and a long wiggly line that wiggles
a lot means a large earthquake. The length of the
wiggle depends on the size of the fault, and the size of
the wiggle depends on the amount of slip.
The size of the earthquake is called its magnitude.
There is one magnitude for each earthquake. Scientists
also talk about the intensity of shaking from an
earthquake, and this varies depending on where you
are during the earthquake.
 MINERALOGY metal alloy that was stronger and more durable
than copper.
Mineralogy is the study of the chemistry, crystal
 The Iron Age followed the Bronze Age,
structure and physical properties of the mineral
beginning around 1,500 BCE, when the Hittite
constituents of rocks.
society of ancient Anatolia (modern day Turkey)
discovered how to smelt iron. The iron came
 Minerals make up just about everything on our planet
and are important for maintaining our lifestyles. from native iron in meteorites that also
 Minerals in rocks or sediment make up the material we contained small amounts of nickel. Fortuitously,
walk on and form the foundations for buildings and the nickel produced an alloy superior to pure
other structures. iron. So, copper, tin, iron, and nickel were all
 Mineral resources have long been used by people; today important during the early ages of humans.
they are keys to modern agriculture and industry.
They are equally important today. These metals
 The knowledge gained by studying minerals has wide
ranging applications. – and many others – are key parts of a seemingly
 Most minerals are naturally occurring homogeneous infinite number of products we use every day.
geological substances that are stable at Earth-surface The metals come from minerals.
conditions.
 Minerals are inorganic compounds and are crystalline
solids.
 Non-crystalline materials, synthetic minerals, biological
minerals, and anthropogenic minerals are not, in
general, considered to be true materials.
 We generally classify minerals based on their chemical
compositions and atomic arrangements.

What is the Importance of Minerals?

 Minerals are our planet.

 They form the earth and the bedrock that we live
on.
 Earth’s rocks and sediments are made up of
minerals.
 They are the foundation of our lives.
 Since minerals are just found anywhere, they
don’t even notice that all rocks are made of
minerals.
 But, engineers do because building a bridge or
other structure on unstable material, or using
poor ingredients for construction of all sorts,
would lead to disasters.
 farmers care about minerals because healthy
soils produce great crops.
 So, the world’s people rely on minerals. And,
minerals, mineral production, and the study of
minerals are absolutely essential to maintain our
lifestyles.
 The use and processing of minerals goes back
more than 4,000 years.
 in fact, archaeologists and anthropologists
define major periods of early human civilization
based on mineral resources that were used.
 Neolithic Age was followed by Chalcolithic Age
from 4500 to 3500 BCE (Before Common Era) this
where when people started using native copper
to make tools and other artifacts.
 Bronze Age that followed the Chalcolithic Age
began in the Mesopotamian civilization of
Sumeria and lasted from 4,200 to 1,000 BCE.
During this time people combined mineralogical
tin and copper and the result was bronze – a
 MINERAL COMMODITIES

Overall, modern society uses stone, sand, gravel and

other construction materials more than other
mineral commodities. Construction materials are
generally mixtures of different minerals and are
prized for their overall properties, not the properties
of the individual mineral components. We also use
large amounts of what are termed industrial
minerals – resources valued for their mineralogical
properties. Industrial minerals include limestone,
clays, bentonite, silica, barite, gypsum, and talc.