What are earthquakes?

Answer by  Princedan03 (7)

An earthquake is the breaking or movement of the crust due to seismic activity usually happening between oceanic and continental plates.

Answer by  lizziebeth (9)

Earthquakes are when the ground moves. They occur when two plates that make up the earth's crust shift and crash against each other, creating shock waves in the earth.

Answer by  Sarah475 (84)

Earthquakes occur when plates under the surface of the earth move. They basically rub against each other which causes the shaking.

Answer by  MTGrandma (405)

All land mass on the earth sits on various tectonic plates. Periodically these plates shift and the resulting damage done to the planet are called earthquakes. If humans didn't exist there really wouldn't be any problem with the land masses shifting themselves around. However, people do exist and problems arise when the earth shifts and disrupts our way of life.

Answer by  KymBerly (447)

Continental plates sitting just below the earths crust cause earth quakes by suddenly moving. They move constantly. The Earthquake happens when a set of plates movies. You can often have after shocks as the plates settle again. California has alot of earth quakes because they are on a active fault line. A fault line is where two plates come together.

Answer by  TMATM (499)

The earths crust is made up of plates (tectonic plates) that are slowly moving in different directions. There is pressure on the plates from other plates pressing against them. The areas where two plates touch are called fault lines. A sudden movement in the plate from the pressure causes earthquakes.

Answer by  moran (5)

Earthquake is a natural disaster shaking the earth surface caused by the energy released from tectonic faulting. Associated with active plate tectonic margins where collision or extension plate movements were giving pressure to the rocks. Then the accumulated energy reaches rock's plasticity limit and break the rock's body creating waves which propagate to the surface.

Answer by  TJenkins602 (656)

Earthquakes are a shaking of the earth due to the stress created by the plates. When the stress is big enough the lithosphere breaks.

Answer by  Kat123 (591)

Earthquakes is the shaking of the earth. They occur because of the platelets in the ground shifting so much that they can no longer hold themselves up.