Earthquakes

1. Earthquakes By Tyler B.

2. Earthquake Information • An earthquake is when the ground shakes or spreads apart. Earthquakes can destroy buildings and cause many deaths. Earthquakes occur in the Virgin Islands, Northern and Southern California, Northern and Southern Alaska, and the Alaska Peninsula the most. Earthquakes occur in these areas the most because these areas are on tectonic plate boundaries since they are on the edges of tectonic plates. My area has a low risk of experiencing an earthquake because Indiana doesn’t have a lot of earthquake history and it isn’t on a tectonic plate boundary.

3. How Earthquakes Effect People • Besides earthquakes volcanoes can do a lot of damage too. They both can destroy entire cities. Earthquakes and volcanoes can leave survivors homeless. Earthquakes affect people because sometimes people get trapped when buildings are destroyed. After an earthquake or volcano, it takes a lot of work to build new buildings and rescue people.

4. Earthquake Preparedness • Scientists can help you predict earthquakes by giving long-term predictions. You can also prepare for earthquakes by designing buildings that can withstand earthquakes. For example, houses need to have stronger walls and large buildings need to have base isolators to reduce how much they shake.

5. Magnitude Magnitudes are determine by how powerful earthquakes are. Some earthquakes are very minor, but others can cause total destruction. A magnitude that is 1 more than another magnitude releases 32 times as much energy as the lower magnitude.

6. Real-Time System The real-time system can be used to see where earthquakes are occurring all over the world. They show earthquakes everyday when they receive information. The real-time system sometimes predicts earthquakes in an area before they occur. Some real-time systems show the day, time, depth, magnitude of the earthquake, and where it occurred.

7. Conclusion Northern and Southern California, Northern and Southern Alaska, the Alaska Peninsula, and the Virgin Islands are all high-risk earthquake zones. High-risk earthquake zones are where earthquakes occur the most. There are three tectonic plate boundaries, convergent, transform, and divergent, boundaries. These boundaries can slide past each other, push against each other, and spread apart.

8. White House1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Dear Mr. President, What is causing earthquakes? Can you determine what areas are most prone to earthquakes? I am going to answer these questions and your other questions in this letter. The most recent earthquakes are occurring in the Virgin Islands, Northern and Southern California, and in Northern Alaska, and the Alaska Peninsula. Earthquakes are most likely to occur in certain locations because many faults are located along tectonic plate boundaries. Faults are fractures where blocks of rock past each other. Areas where earthquakes occur the most are high-risk earthquake zones. You can determine what parts of the world are most prone to earthquakes because The edges of tectonic plates scrape past each other. The Virgin Islands, Northern and Southern California, Northern Alaska, and the Alaska Peninsula are all on the edges of tectonic plates. This is why these areas are high- risk earthquake zones. These high-risk earthquake zones are located on tectonic plate boundaries, which are in the lithosphere. The lithosphere is a layer of the earth that has many tectonic plates. Earthquakes and volcanoes do have a relationship. The relationship is that tectonic plates can cause earthquakes and volcanoes; volcanoes erupt because divergent plate boundaries spread apart and the magma from the mantle, a layer of the earth, rises up. Divergent boundaries are also called spreading centers. Plates cause earthquakes when they collide together. Tectonic plates are all over the earth. Earthquakes occur all over the earth. In an earthquake, the ground shakes because of the movement of large blocks of rock along a fault. Stress is released and causes earthquakes. Stress is the force that is exerted when an object pull on, presses on, or pushes against another object. Besides divergent boundaries, the other two tectonic plate boundaries are convergent and transform boundaries. Transform boundaries slide past each other and convergent boundaries push against each other. Tyler Barnes

9. Earthquake Preparedness continued A base isolator is placed in the middle of a building and absorbs the ground’s motion to make the building shake more smoothly,and gently. Base isolators are made out of flexible materials.