What are earthquakes?

 

Earthquakes are the earth’s natural means of releasing  stress. The earth’s outer surface is broken into pieces called tectonic plates. These plates constantly move away or past each other. Earthquakes also happen when the earth vibrates and shakes at a very fast speed!!! Earthquake vibrations travel very fast up to 14 kilometers per second. To reach the other side of the earth, the fastest seismic waves take less than 20 minutes– that’s a distance of almost 13,000 kilometers!

 

 

How do earthquakes affect the land?

 

Earthquakes can cause landslides and tsunamis. They also have so much energy that they cause seismic waves like ripples on a pond. 

 

 

Why are they important?

 

Earthquakes are important because they keep the earth from exploding! At the end of an earthquake the energy that was built up from inside the earth is finally released.