Earthquakes: What are they and what causes them to

happen?

Mrs. Hornsby’s Fifth Grade Class

 Table of Contents
 Georgia Performance Standards
 What is an Earthquake?
 What are Earth’s layers?
 What are Plate Tectonics?
 What Happens When Plates Move?
 Types of Plate Boundaries
 The Theory of Continental Drift
 What is a Fault?
 What Happens when an Earthquake Starts?
 How are Earthquakes Measured?
 The Richter Magnitude Scale
 How Long Does an Earthquake Last?
 How Many Earthquakes Happen Each Year?
 Where Do Earthquakes Occur Most Often in the United States?
 The 25 Largest Earthquakes in the United States
 Famous Earthquakes Around the World
 Photos of Earthquake Damage
 What Have You Learned?
 References
Georgia Performance Standards
 S5Cs4: Students will use ideas of system, model, change, and scale in exploring
scientific and technological matters.

 S5E1: Students will identify surface features of the Earth caused by constructive
and destructive processes.

 S5P1: Students will verify that an object is the sum of its parts.

 M5D1: Students will analyze graphs.

 M5N5: Students will understand the meaning of percentage

 What is an Earthquake?
 An earthquake is a shaking of the ground caused by a
sudden release of energy in the Earth’s crust. More
than a million of them occur each year! However, most
are too small to be felt or to cause damage. Click the
picture below to watch a video about earthquakes.
 What are Earth’s Layers?
 The Earth’s crust is the outer layer
and is made of rock. It is very thin
Outer core Inner Core compared to the other layers.

 The mantle is the very hot layer of

rock beneath the crust. No one
has ever been to the mantle, but
rock from the mantle sometimes
reaches the Earth’s surface
through volcanoes.

 The outer core is made of liquid,

or molten iron.

 The inner core is made of solid

iron. Even though the core is the
hottest layer, great pressure at
the center of the Earth keeps the
inner core solid.
Mantle Crust
What are Plate Tectonics?
 Earth’s surface is made up
of many plates that float on
the soft rock of the mantle.
As the mantle moves, the
plates also move.

 Plates move only a few

centimeters each year.

 When one plate moves, it

affects the other plates.

 As plates move around, they

cause great changes in the
Earth’s surface, such as
mountains, valleys,
volcanoes, and earthquakes!
 What Happens When Plates
Move?

Plate Tectonics

Convergent Plate Divergent Plate Transform

Boundaries Boundaries Boundaries

plates crunch
plates pull apart and plates slide past
together and release
energy
new crust is formed each other

mountains develop, valleys and volcanoes

volcanoes erupt, and develop, earthquakes Lots of earthquakes!
earthquakes can happen can occur
Types of Boundaries

Wegener’s Theory of Continental Drift

 What is a Fault?
 Many earthquakes occur along faults
in the Earth’s crust. A fault is a place
where pieces of the plates move.

 A normal fault is where tension

weakens the crust until the rock
fractures, and one rock moves
downward from another. This occurs
when two plates are pulling apart, as
in a divergent boundary.

 A strike-slip fault is where two blocks

of rock are moving past each other
horizontally, as in a transform
boundary. The famous
San Andreas Fault is a strike-slip fault.

 A Reverse fault is where a fault block

is forced upward, usually during a
collision with another block, as in a
convergent boundary.
What Happens When an
Earthquake Starts?
 The sudden release of energy from an
earthquake sends out several different
shaking movements, or seismic waves.

 Surface waves are ripples of energy

that spread outward when rocks slip
past each other along a fault, just like
throwing a stone into a calm pond.

 Body waves are seismic waves that

travel through material rather than
over its surface. There are two types of
body waves: P-waves and S-waves.

 The P-wave is also known as the sound

wave. It travels through the interior of
the Earth rather than over the surface
as a series of squeezes and stretches.
P-waves reach everywhere around the
Earth after about 20 minutes.

 The S-wave, or shear wave, produces a

shaking motion, like if you tied a rope
to a poll and shook the other end side
to side. S-waves can only travel in solid
material.
 How are Earthquakes
Measured?
 Earthquakes are measured by
instruments called seismographs. It
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 heavy
weight does not. The spring that it is
hanging from absorbs all the
movement. The seismograph records
the difference in position between the
shaking part and the motionless part.

 The recording is called a seismogram.

It is used to determine how large the
earthquake was. A short wiggly line
that wiggles very little means a small
earthquake. A long wiggly line that
wiggles a lot means a large
earthquake.
The Richter Magnitude Scale
Richter
Description Magnitudes Earthquake Effects
Micro Less than 2.0 Microearthquakes, not felt.

Very Minor 2.0-2.9 Usually not felt, but recorded.

Minor 3.0-3.9 Often felt, but rarely causes damage.

Light 4.0-4.9 Noticeable shaking of indoor items,

rattling noises. Significant damage
unlikely.

5.0-5.9 Can cause major damage to poorly

constructed buildings over small regions.
Moderate Slight damage to well-designed
buildings.

Strong 6.0-6.9 Can be destructive in areas up to about

100 miles across in populated areas.

Major 7.0-7.9 Can cause serious damage over larger

areas.

Great 8.0-8.9 Can cause serious damage in areas

several hundred miles across.

Rare Great 9.0 or greater Devastating in areas several thousand

miles across.
 How Do Scientists Know Where an
Earthquake Has Happened?
 The location below the Earth’s surface where the earthquake starts is called the
hypocenter.

 The location directly above the hypocenter on the Earth’s surface is called the
epicenter.

 It take three seismographs to locate an earthquake. Scientists draw a circle on a map

around the three seismographs where the radius of each is the distance from the
station to the earthquake, the intersection of those three circles is the epicenter.
 How Long Does an Earthquake Last?

 Sometimes an earthquake has

foreshocks. These are smaller
earthquakes that happen in
the same place as the larger
earthquake.

 The largest, main earthquake

is called the mainshock.

 Mainshocks always have

aftershocks that follow. These
are smaller earthquakes that
occur afterwards in the same
place as the mainshock.
Depending on the size of the
mainshock, aftershocks can
continue for weeks, months,
or even years after the
mainshock!
 Famous Earthquakes Around the World
 San Francisco, California: April 18, 1906
(Magnitude: About 8)

 Tokyo, Japan: September 1, 1923

(Magnitude: about 8.25)

 Chile: May 22, 1960

(Magnitude: About 9)

 Anchorage, Alaska: March 27, 1964

(Magnitude: About 8.5)
How Many Earthquakes Happen
Each Year?
1,000,000
Number of Earthquakes

100,000

10,000

1,000

100

10

1
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Magnitude of Earthquakes
Where do Earthquakes Occur Most
Often in the United States?

1 1
1
1 Ala ska
C a lifo rn ia
3 11 Misso u ri
Ha w a ii
Ne v a d a
Mo n t a n a
Id a h o

7
Top 25 Earthquakes in the
United States (Percentage)
4%
4%
4%

4% Ala ska
C a lifo rn ia
12% 44% Misso u ri
Ha w a ii
Ne v a d a
Mo n t a n a
Id a h o

28%
Earthquake Damage
What Have You Learned?

Click Here
To review the Brain
Pop video and take
the quiz!

Click Here
To test your
knowledge about
earthquake
vocabulary!
 References
 http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learning/kids.php
 http://www.exploratorium.com/faultline/
 http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/wwatch/earthquak
es/
 http://www.fema.gov/kids/quake.htm
 http://www.ditto.com/default.aspx
 Earthquake Statistics
 The Largest Earthquakes in the United States
 http://www.brainpop.com
 “Mountains, Volcanoes, and Earthquakes” Harcourt Earth
Science Grade 5, p. C14.