William B. Rice - Earthquakes

Earthquakes — read online for free the complete book (whole text) full work

Below is the text of the book, divided by pages. System saving the place of the last page read, allows you to conveniently read the book "Earthquakes" online for free, without having to search again every time where you left off. Put a bookmark, and you can go to the page where you finished reading at any time.

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

1234

Earthquakes

William B. Rice

Earthquakes

Publishing Credits

Associate Editors

Creative Director

James Anderson

Lee Aucoin

Torrey Maloof

Illustration Manager

Editorial Director

Timothy J. Bradley

Dona Herweck Rice

Publisher

Editor-in-Chief

Rachelle Cracchiolo, M.S.Ed.

Sharon Coan, M.S.Ed.

Science Consultant

Scot Oschman, Ph.D.

Teacher Created Materials

5301 Oceanus Drive

Huntington Beach, CA 92649-1030

http://www.tcmpub.com

ISBN 978-1-4333-0309-8

ePUB ISBN 978-1-5457-1552-9

2010 Teacher Created Materials Publishing, Inc.

Table of

Contents

Always

Changing

Nothing ever stays the same.

People through time have said that

very thing, and it is true. No matter

what something is, in time it will

change. Things that do not seem

to change at all will change. Even

Earth itself changes.

If you were sitting in the same

spot you are now, ten million years

ago, you would see a different world.

Not only would everything people

have built be gone but the land would

also be different. The mountains in

the distance might not be there. The

rocks on the sides of those mountains

might be below ground. Nearby

valleys might be below the ocean.

The earth shifts and changes all

the time. Much of the change is very

slow. But sometimes the changes

come fast, even in an instant.

This valley was created over millions of years.

Sloooowwww

It can take a mountain

range hundreds of millions

of years to form. Most

changes to the planet are

very slow.

What Makes an

Earthquake?

What could possibly happen to make the Earth change fast? One

big factor is an earthquake . An earthquake is the movement of land

caused by plates in the Earths crust rubbing past, into, or against

each other. When this happens, sometimes the plates get stuck.

Pressure builds. When the plates cant take the pressure anymore,

they give way. The pressure must go somewhere. Earthquake!

This crack in the Earths surface was

caused by an earthquake at a fault line.

Earthquakes can have dramatic

effects on people and the land.

Thousands of small earthquakes happen every day around the

planet. They are so small that no one feels them. Only a few dozen

each year can be felt by people on the surface. Of those, a small

few are felt by many people and do a great deal of damage. Large

earthquakes change the land quickly. The land can crack, shift, rise,

or fall. Everything on or near it is affected.

Seismologists

Scientists who study earthquakes
are called seismologists (size
MOL-uh-jists). Seismologists use
machines to sense earthquakes that
people can and cannot feel. The
machines help seismologists learn
about earthquakes and the Earth.

Crusty

Earths crust is about
40 kilometers (25 miles)
thick at the continents.
It is about 7 kilometers
(4 miles) thick under
the oceans.

crust

plate

mantle

A Long

Way to Dig

If you wanted to reach Earths center, you would
have to dig down 6,400 kilometers (4,000 miles).

Plate

Movement

Earths outer layer, the crust , is not one solid,

smooth piece. It is broken up into many large

pieces. Each piece is called a plate . The plates

are made of Earth materials such as rocks and

minerals. Some plates are larger than continents.

Some plates are smaller, like a country. Either

way, plates are huge.

Earth is made of many layers. The crust

is rigid and brittle. It sits on top of the mantle ,

which is more fluid. Earths plates float on top of

the liquid rock beneath them. As the liquid mantle

flows, the plates float along as well. As they float,

they rub against each other in different ways. No

matter which way they meet, earthquakes will

happen.

The surface

that you see

around you is

part of Earths

crust.

The place where plates meet is

called a boundary . There are three

main types of boundaries. They

are convergent (kuhn-VUR-juhnt),

divergent (di-VUR-juhnt), and

transform . The difference among

them is the way in which the plates

move in relation to each other.

A convergent boundary is where

two plates move toward each other.

When they meet, one of the plates

usually moves on top of the other.

A divergent boundary is where

two plates move away from each

other. New crust is made as they

move apart. A transform boundary

is where two plates slide past each

other.

These boundaries have helped

to make many features on Earths

surface. These features are things

such as mountains, valleys, and

islands. New features are being

created all the time.

Growing Earth

The Atlantic Ocean is spreading

about two centimeters ( inch)

per year. That is a growth during

Next page

1234

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

Similar books «Earthquakes»

Look at similar books to Earthquakes. We have selected literature similar in name and meaning in the hope of providing readers with more options to find new, interesting, not yet read works.

Anastasia Suen

Earthquakes

Simon Winchester

When the Earth Shakes: Earthquakes, Volcanoes, and Tsunamis

John L. Casey

Upheaval!: Why Catastrophic Earthquakes Will Soon Strike the United States

Fiona Young-Brown

Plate Tectonics

Linda Crotta Brennan

We Have Earthquakes

Kristy Stark

Predicting Earthquakes

Cy Armour

Earthquakes!

Judy Fradin

Earthquakes

R J S Spence

Why Do Buildings Collapse in Earthquakes? Building for Safety in Seismic Areas

Robinson

Earth-shattering events: earthquakes, nations and civilization

Poundstone

Rock Breaks Scissors: A Practical Guide to Outguessing and Outwitting Almost Everybody

Britannica Educational Publishing

Plate Tectonics, Volcanoes, and Earthquakes

Discussion, reviews of the book Earthquakes and just readers' own opinions. Leave your comments, write what you think about the work, its meaning or the main characters. Specify what exactly you liked and what you didn't like, and why you think so.