Question

Can you explain me everything about earthquake, all terminoligies related to it

Answer 1

An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth, resulting from the sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in size from those that are so weak that they cannot be felt to those violent enough to toss people around and destroy whole cities. The seismicity, or seismic activity, of an area is the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time. The word tremor is also used for non-earthquake seismic rumbling.

Terminoligies

1)Epicentre:

It is the point on the (free) surface of the earth vertically above the place of origin (hypocentre) of an eartquake. This point is expressed by its geographical latitude and longitude.

2)Hypocentre or Focus:

It is the point within the earth from where seismic waves orignate. Focal depth is the vertical distance between the hypocentre and epicentre.

3)Magnitude:

It is the quantity to measure the size of an earhquake in terms of its energy and is independent of the place of the observation.

4)Richter Scale:

Magnitude is measured on the basis of ground motion recorded by an instrument and applying standard correction for the epicentral distance from recording station. It is linearly related to the logarithm of amount of energy released by an earthquake and expressed in Richter Scale.


5)Intensity:

It is the rating of the effects of an earthquake at a particular place based on the observations of the affected areas, using a descriptive scale like Modified Mercalli Scale.