Exam 16: Earthquakes

The ______ is the most famous example of a right lateral transform fault.

_____ waves tend to be incredibly destructive to buildings because they produce much ground movement and take a long time to pass.

_____ can occur when water-saturated soil turns from a solid to a liquid as a result of an earthquake.

S-waves pass through solid rocks and liquids.

A(n) _____ is a trembling or shaking of the ground caused by the sudden release of energy stored in rocks beneath the Earth's surface.

By studying seismograms of an earthquake on a distant fault, geologists can tell which way rocks moved along that fault.

In the elastic rebound theory, earthquakes are caused by the sudden release of progressively stored _____ in rocks.

Surface waves are the fastest earthquake waves.

Earthquakes occur most commonly in the plate boundaries.

The point within the earth where seismic waves first originate is the _____.

____ -waves are the slowest body waves.

____ are seismic waves that travel through the Earth's interior, spreading out from the focus in all directions.

The paper record of an earthquake is a ____.

Deep rocks behave as _____ material under stress rather than breaking.

A seismogram is a recording device that produces a permanent record of earth motion.

____ are the waves of energy produced by an earthquake.

If the measured amplitude of vibration of a rock is 1 cm for a magnitude 4 earthquake then the rocks will move ______ during a magnitude 5 earthquake.

____ focus earthquakes are the most common.

For most of the 20^th century earthquake magnitude was reported on the _______ scale, a scale that has never exceeded a magnitude 8.6.

A ____ plots seismic-wave arrival time against distance.