What Is The Force That Drives Earthquake Activity?

Earthquakes are the result of sudden movement along faults within the Earth. The movement releases

stored-up ‘elastic strain’ energy in the form of seismic waves

, which propagate through the Earth and cause the ground surface to shake.

What are the forces that drive plate tectonics?

Heat and gravity are fundamental to the process

The energy source for plate tectonics is Earth’s internal heat while the forces moving the plates are the “

ridge push” and “slab pull” gravity forces

. It was once thought that mantle convection could drive plate motions.

What is the main driving force that causes Earth’s tectonic plates to drift?

The force that causes most of the plate movement is

thermal convection

, where heat from the Earth’s interior causes currents of hot rising magma and cooler sinking magma to flow, moving the plates of the crust along with them.

What is the driving force for tectonic plate movement and the formation of geographical features on Earth?

The gravity-controlled sinking of

a cold, denser oceanic slab into the subduction zone, dragging the rest of the plate along with it, is considered to be the driving force of plate tectonics.

How do driving and resisting forces affect the movements?

The result of this thickenning with distance from the ridge is that the lithosphere/asthenosphere boundary slopes away from the ridge. … resisting forces The main effect of the underlying mantle is

to produce a shearing or frictional force resisting the motion of lithospheric plates

.

What causes a tectonic earthquake?

Tectonic earthquakes occur at plate tectonic boundaries. Tectonic plates are constantly moving slowly, but sometimes friction between them causes them lock together and become unable to move. …

The waves of released energy move through the Earth’s crust

and cause the shaking we feel at an earthquake site.

Is drag force a driving force of tectonic plates?

The motion of tectonic plates is driven by convection in the mantle. … viscous drag:

the force opposing motion of the plate and slab past the viscous mantle underneath or

on the side.

How is the process of plate tectonics related to geological events?

These tectonic plates

rest upon the convecting mantle

, which causes them to move. The movements of these plates can account for noticeable geologic events such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and more subtle yet sublime events, like the building of mountains.

What are the four resisting forces?

The four main resistance forces are objects with

mass, inertia, and momentum; friction; gravity; and air resistance

.

What are some resisting forces?

Resisting forces include

the cohesion between similar particles

(like one clay molecule to another) and the adhesion between different or unlike particles (like the boulder to the clay beneath it).

What is the main cause of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions?

Both volcanoes and earthquakes occur due to

movement of the Earth’s tectonic plates

. They are both caused by the heat and energy releasing from the Earth’s core. Earthquakes can trigger volcanic eruptions through severe movement of tectonic plates.

What is the difference between an earthquake and a tectonic force?

Earthquakes are caused by a

sudden fracture of rock masses along a fault line

. Tectonic earthquakes are explained by the so-called elastic rebound theory, formulated by the American geologist Harry Fielding Reid after the San Andreas Fault ruptured in 1906, generating the great San Francisco earthquake.

What are resisting forces?

In physics, resistive force is a force, or the vector sum of numerous forces, whose direction is opposite to the motion of a body, and may refer to:

Friction

, during sliding and/or rolling. Drag (physics), during movement through a fluid (see fluid dynamics)

What’s the main cause of most earthquakes?

An earthquake is caused by

a sudden slip on a fault

. The tectonic plates are always slowly moving, but they get stuck at their edges due to friction. … The primary boundary between these two plates is the San Andreas Fault. The San Andreas Fault is more than 650 miles long and extends to depths of at least 10 miles.

What is tectonic forces and processes?

Tectonic processes mostly

take place at the plate edges

. A plate moves as a single entity along the surface of the Earth over a plastic mantle. … Oceanic plates form at the mid-ocean ridges. They thicken as they move away (at about 1 km for every million years) and have a basaltic composition.

How do forces drive the geological process of Earth?

Plate tectonics

is the fundamental mechanism that drives geological processes in the geosphere. Plate tectonic theory is based on an understanding of the Earth’s internal structure, the different types of tectonic plates and plate boundaries, and the driving forces of plate movements.

How are earthquakes and volcanoes related to plate tectonics?

When these plates move around, they collide, move apart, or slide past each other. The movement of these plates can cause vibrations known as earth- quakes and can create conditions that cause volcanoes to form. and earthquake epicen- ters are related to tectonic plate boundaries. causes Earth’s plates to move.

What is one example of a resistant force?

For example,

a boat moving through still water

experiences the resistive force of water resistance. If the water is moving in the same direction as the boat is moving but at a slower speed, the force of the water resistance is reduced.

What are the three types of resisting force?

We will consider three different models of resistive forces, appropriate for different situations:

friction, viscosity, and drag

. Friction — When two solid objects slide over each other, each exerts a force on the other that is parallel to the interacting surfaces and in a direction to reduce the relative sliding.

What are driving and resisting forces?

Driving forces are those seeking change. Resisting (restraining) forces are

those seeking to maintain the status quo

. The goal for the driving force is to gain equilibrium, or a balance of power. Resisting forces control the status quo, while driving forces seek change.

What is the driving force of mass wasting?

Gravity

. Finally, gravity is the driving force of mass wasting. The force of gravity pulls all things on the planet toward the center of the Earth. But unlike many of the other factors, humans have no influence or control on gravity.

What type of force is resistance?

What is this force at resistance to the motion?

In physics, resistive force is a force whose direction is opposite to the velocity of the body, or of the sum of the other forces, and may refer to:

Friction

.

Is weight a force?

Weight is

a force acting on that matter

. Mass resists any change in the motion of objects. In physics, the term weight has a specific meaning – which is the force that acts on a mass due to gravity. Weight is measured in newtons.

What are the 3 main causes of volcanic eruptions?

Although there are several factors triggering a volcanic eruption, three predominate:

the buoyancy of the magma, the pressure from the exsolved gases in the magma and the injection of a new batch of magma into an already filled magma chamber

. What follows is a brief description of these processes.

Are all earthquake caused by volcanic activity?

Some, but not all,

earthquakes are related to volcanoes

. … However, most earthquakes are caused by the interaction of the plates not the movement of magma. Most earthquakes directly beneath a volcano are caused by the movement of magma. The magma exerts pressure on the rocks until it cracks the rock.

What are the three types of earthquake waves?

There are three major kinds of seismic waves:

P, S, and surface waves

. P and S waves together are sometimes called body waves because they can travel through the body of the earth, and are not trapped near the surface.

What is the 3 types of earthquake?

• Shallow fault earthquakes. A fault is a break in the rock beneath our feet. …
• Subduction zone earthquakes. The largest earthquakes ever recorded are subduction zone earthquakes. …
• Deep earthquakes. Deep earthquakes occur in the subducting ocean slab, deep beneath the continental crust.

What causes earthquakes for kids?

Earthquakes are caused by tectonic movements in the Earth’s crust. The main cause is that

when tectonic plates collide

, one rides over the other, causing orogeny (mountain building), earthquakes and volcanoes. The boundaries between moving plates form the largest fault surfaces on Earth.

How do volcanic eruption and earthquake move and shake the rocks of Earth?

Just as wind energy causes waves in water to move across a lake or ocean,

seismic waves

move through the layers of the Earth. These seismic waves are what produces the destruction that can accompany an earthquake by heaving, shaking, and cracking the ground as they pass through an area.

How does rock type affect earthquakes?

Soft ground

, based mostly on sediments such as those in flood plains, reclaimed land or former landfill, amplifies the effect of the earthquake vibrations, while harder rocks limit the amount of shaking.

What is earthquake Short answer?

An earthquake is

the sudden movement or trembling of the Earth’s tectonic plates

, that creates the shakes of the ground. This shaking can destroy buildings and break the Earth’s surface.