8 CAUSES OF EARTHQUAKES
An earthquake is generally the shaking of the surface of the earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the earth’s lithosphere that creates seismic waves, or in simple terms, it can be described as sudden movement along faults within the earth.
Below are some of the causes of earthquakes:
Tectonic Forces
These are processes that result in the structure and properties of the earth’s crust; they contribute to earthquakes as well because they tamper with the earth’s crust. Tectonic earthquakes are caused when the crust becomes subjected to strain and eventually starts moving, hence causing the whole tragic incident.
Induced Forces
These are basically human-based activities that are made by man, thus the tunnel and other numerous fracking projects. By building up such projects, they expose the land to its breaking point, which makes any small force, like a tsunami or wind blowing, lead to an earthquake.
Volcano Activity
These are processes that are related to the volcano; they are very powerful as they are normally felt in the vicinity of the hypocentre. They are triggered when there is an explosion from an explosive volcano. It depends on the volcano.
Collapse Scenarios
These situations can be triggered by natural phenomena as well, such as cave-ins and other areas that are close to the mining areas.
Seismic Waves
These are situations caused by the sudden movement of materials within the earth, such as slipping along a fault during an earthquake. They are usually generated by explosions or landslides. However, surface waves consist of several major types and are known as long waves. These waves then cause heavy disruption when they flow as they are affected by changes in density.
Compression of the earth’s crust
Pushing the earth’s crust together via compression forces will lead to it experiencing folding and faulting processes; this happens by squeezing rocks that cause them to fold and fracture. You can always tell the size or magnitude of earthquakes by measuring the actual amplitude of the seismic waves, which get recorded on a seismograph. Also, anything that will tend to destroy the perfect equilibrium or balance of the globe will likely cause an earthquake.
Large Bodies of Water (Dams)
Just the rupture in the million tons of water would have hastened the earth’s shaking. No geological process can actually come up with such a huge concentration of mass in such a small area, except for a volcano.
Ground Water Extraction
Just the process of digging a borehole to gain access to water leads to earthquakes because what that does is destabilize the fault.
