What causes earthquakes?
(1 point)
Blocks of crust slide against one another, often at plate boundaries.
O Pressure builds up in the molten rock beneath Earth's crust and causes it to shake.
O Tectonic plates break apart into smaller plates, and the crumbling causes shaking.
O Sudden motions in Earth's mantle cause the crust to shift.
Blocks of crust slide against one another, often at plate boundaries.
The correct answer is:
Blocks of crust slide against one another, often at plate boundaries.
The correct answer is: Blocks of crust slide against one another, often at plate boundaries.
Earthquakes are caused by the sliding of blocks of crust against each other. The surface of the Earth is made up of large, rigid plates called tectonic plates. These plates are in constant motion due to the convection currents in the semi-fluid layer beneath them called the mantle. When two plates meet at a boundary, they can either collide, move apart, or slide alongside each other. It is this sliding motion that often leads to earthquakes.
At plate boundaries where two plates are in contact, stress builds up as the plates are locked together and unable to move smoothly. Over time, the stress becomes too great to withstand, and suddenly the blocks of crust slip, releasing the pent-up energy. This release of energy causes the ground to shake, resulting in an earthquake.
It is important to note that earthquakes can occur at different types of plate boundaries, such as convergent boundaries (where plates collide), divergent boundaries (where plates move apart), and transform boundaries (where plates slide past each other). However, the majority of earthquakes occur along the boundaries where plates are sliding past each other, known as transform boundaries.