Are you curious to learn more about earthquakes? What causes earthquakes? Here is a brief explanation.
The earth’s lithosphere, or crust, is cut through by fractures. These fractures create sections of crust called plates. These tectonic plates are resting on top of the earth’s mantle, made of hot, molten rock. Because of this, these plates are moving very, very slowly- less than an inch every year. The places where tectonic plates meet are called fault lines. At some fault lines, the plates are slowly drifting away from one another, like in California’s death valley, where the elevation is below sea level. At other places, like the San Andreas Fault Line, the plates are pressing together, creating pressure. The sudden release of that pressure is what causes an earthquake.
