Earthquake facts | Mental floss

According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), there are approximately 500,000 detectable earthquakes occurring each year – which means that at least a few will strike by the time you finish reading this article. However, out of that sheer number, only about 100,000 are intense enough for a human to feel the effects, and only 100 or so of these actually cause any damage. In other words, the Earth shakes a lot, whether we realize it or not. So why do earthquakes happen, when do they happen, and can you avoid them by moving to the moon? These questions and more are covered below.

1. You can blame earthquakes on Earth’s inner core.

Understanding earthquakes requires a short trip to the center of the Earth, which is a solid ball of iron and other minerals that can reach temperatures of up to 10,800 degrees Fahrenheit. The intense heat is emitted from this inner core through the layers around it – first through the outer core, which is mostly liquid iron and nickel, and then to the mostly solid rocky layer called the mantle. This heating process causes a continuous movement in the mantle, causing the Earth’s crust above it to move as well.

The crust is a mixture of giant single rock plates called tectonic plates. Sometimes, when two boards slide against each other, the friction between their jagged edges causes them to temporarily get stuck. The pressure builds until it can finally overcome the friction, and the lamellae eventually go their separate way. At this point, all of the pent-up energy is released into ripples – or seismic waves – that shake the Earth’s crust.

2. Scientists cannot predict earthquakes, but they can predict them from time to time.

Unfortunately, there is no fictional device to warn us when an earthquake strikes. But while scientists cannot predict exactly when or where an earthquake will occur, they can sometimes predict the likelihood that a person will hit a certain area at some point soon (and if this seems a bit mysterious, it is because it is). For example, we know where tectonic plates border each other, and this is where severe earthquakes occur. The Ring of Fire, for example, is a region along the edge of the Pacific Ocean where roughly 81 percent of the world’s largest earthquakes occur. We also know that particularly large earthquakes are sometimes preceded by small earthquakes called frontal tremors (although they cannot be identified as earthquakes unless a larger earthquake actually occurs – if not, they are just regular small earthquakes). When small earthquakes near plate boundaries coincide with other geological changes, this could indicate an upcoming large earthquake.

In February 1975, for example, the Chinese city of Haicheng was hit by potential tremors after months of shifts in land elevation and water levels, so officials ordered its 1 million residents to evacuate immediately. The next day, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck the area. Although there were 2,000 casualties, it is estimated that 150,000 would have been killed or injured had no one fled.

3. There is a very small chance that “The Big One” will happen next year.

However, successful predictions like Haicheng’s are rare, and scientists spend a lot of time observing known fault lines – the boundaries between the plates – to try to determine how much pressure builds up and when it might cause a problem. It is not an exact science.

One of the fickle predictions is “The Big One,” a massive earthquake expected to hit the San Andreas Fault Zone, an 800-mile network of fault lines running from north to southern California, sometime in the future. For now, the US Geological Survey predicts that there will be a 31 percent chance that a 7.5 magnitude earthquake will strike Los Angeles in the next 30 years and a 20 percent chance of such an earthquake in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The likelihood of “The Big One” depends in part on other earthquakes in that fault zone. After two successive earthquakes in Ridgecrest, California in 2019, seismologists have observed pressure changes in surrounding fault lines, and a study published in July 2020 indicated that the chances of a “great earthquake” in the next year could have risen to 1.15 percent – more likely. Three to five times than previously thought.

4. Underwater earthquakes can cause tsunamis.

Since much of the Earth’s surface is covered by water, many earthquakes do not touch the ground at all, but that does not mean that they do not affect people. As the plates move across the ocean floor, energy displaces water over them, causing them to rise exponentially. Then gravity pulls this water down, causing the surrounding water to form a huge wave, or tsunami.

Earthquakes can indirectly cause tsunamis by altering landscapes. On July 9, 1958, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Lituya Bay in northeast Alaska, causing a rockslide on an adjacent cliff. With an estimated 40 million cubic yards of rock rushing into the bay, the force created an estimated 1,720 feet – the largest tsunami of all time.

5. Alaska also holds the record for the largest earthquake in the United States

The borders between North America and the Pacific Plate pass through and around Alaska, which means that Alaskans are no strangers to earthquakes; According to the Alaska Earthquake Center, one is detected in the state approximately every 15 minutes.

On March 28, 1964, a 9.2 magnitude earthquake – the largest earthquake ever recorded in the United States – struck Prince William Sound, a body of water on the border of the Gulf of Alaska. Not only were the buildings and elementary homes at a level of strength, but they also caused a series of landslides, tsunamis and other earthquakes (called aftershocks) that affected communities as far as Oregon and California.

Scientists discovered that the earthquake occurred because the Pacific Plate was not only rubbing the North American plate – it was actually sliding under it. The region where these plates meet is known as the “subduction zone”. Occasionally, the pressure builds up and causes a lot of movement, or great confidence, when it is finally liberated. Although experts still cannot predict these movements, studying the damage has helped Alaskans bolster their defenses against future earthquakes. Officials passed better building codes, and the town of Valdez, which was located on unstable land, was moved four miles east.

6- The largest earthquake on record in the world occurred in Chile.

The 1960 earthquake near Valdivia, Chile, was larger than the Alaska earthquake four years later, but the conditions that caused it were similar. The Nazca Plate, which extends under the Pacific Ocean along the western coast of South America, slides under the South American Plate (which is located under the continent itself). On May 22, 1960, there was a major shift along the Nazca Plate from 560 to 620 miles, causing a catastrophic, record-breaking earthquake with a magnitude of 9.5. Just like in Alaska, this earthquake triggered a series of tsunamis and aftershocks that devastated entire towns. The extent of the damage is difficult to quantify, but it is estimated that at least 1,655 people died and 2 million people ended up homeless.

7. An earthquake can leave genetic scars on a species.

Nearly 800 years ago, an earthquake near Dunedin, New Zealand, struck part of its coast upward and wiped out the kelp that used to live there. Soon a new kelp began to settle in the area, and today its offspring seem indistinguishable from the neighboring kelp, which has never migrated. In July 2020, scientists published a study in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B showing that the two kelp groups do indeed have different genetic makeup. Their findings suggest that earthquakes – and similar geological disasters – can have a very long-lasting impact on the biodiversity of an affected area.

8. Richter seismographs are not always accurate.

In 1935, Charles Richter created a scale to determine the magnitude of an earthquake by measuring the magnitude of its seismic waves with a seismograph. Basically, a seismograph is an instrument with a block attached to a fixed base; The base is moving during an earthquake while the block is not moving. The motion is converted into electrical voltage, which is recorded by a moving needle on the paper in a wave pattern. The variable height of the waves is called amplitude. The higher the amplitude, the higher the earthquake scores on the Richter scale (which goes from 1 to 10). Since the scale is logarithmic, each point is ten times greater than the point below it.

But the amplitude of the seismic wave in a specific region is a finite measure, especially for larger earthquakes affecting very large areas. So, in the 1970s, seismologists Hiro Kanamori and Thomas C. Hanks came up with a measurement called a “moment”, which was found by multiplying three variables: the distance the plates move; The length of the fault line between them; And the hardness of the rock itself. This moment is basically the amount of energy released in an earthquake, and it is a more comprehensive measure than just how much the Earth is shaking.

To put it in terms that the general public can comprehend, they created the Momentum Scale, where the moment is converted to a numerical value between one and 10. The values ​​increase logarithmically, just as they do on the Richter scale, so it is not uncommon for newscasters or journalists to mention about Via the Richter scale wrong when they are actually talking about the temporal force scale.

9. The moon has earthquakes, too.

These seismic shifts, called lunar earthquakes, can occur for several reasons (we know them so far). Deep earthquakes are usually due to Earth’s gravitational force manipulating the moon’s inner structures. On the other hand, an earthquake at surface level is sometimes the result of a meteor collision or a dramatic change in temperature between night and day. But in May 2019, scientists suggested a fourth possible cause for the shallow vibrations: The moon is shrinking as its core cools, and this process causes shifts in its crust. As the crust shifts, the bumps – or bumps – we see on the moon’s surface may change as well.

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