Exam 9: Earthquakes and Earth's Interior

What are two major and very useful differences between P- and S-waves?

The study of earthquakes is called ____________________.

Although most aftershocks are smaller than the initial earthquake,an aftershock may be as big and may cause considerable damage.

The opening of large crevasses that open up and swallow people is a significant source of danger created by earthquakes.

What is the highest temperature found on or in Earth,and why is that location so hot?

Landslides and ground liquefaction are significant sources of danger created by earthquakes.

The depth to the Mohorovicic discontinuity is ______ km beneath the continents and between ______ and ______ km beneath the seafloor.

The velocity of S-waves is ____________________ than that of P-waves.S-waves cannot pass through materials that are ____________________ or ____________________.

Why do we know that the geothermal gradient near the surface cannot continue very deeply into Earth?

The increase of temperature with depth is known as the ____________________.

Seismology has produced a great amount of information about ____.

Explain the differences between the magnitude and the intensity of an earthquake,in terms of cause and effect.

The focal depth ranges for shallow focus,intermediate focus,and deep focus earthquakes,respectively is

Why do most earthquakes occur along the circum-Pacific belt?

Compare the continental crust with oceanic crust in terms of composition and thickness.

What evidence do scientists use to estimate the density and composition of the core?

On the Richter Scale,an earthquake of 6.0 releases ten times as much energy as an earthquake of 5.0.

What does the magnitude of an earthquake measure?

What is the purpose of trenching across an active fault?

Explain how geologists calculate the distance between the epicenter of an earthquake and a given seismograph.