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An interplate earthquake is an earthquake that occurs at the boundary between two tectonic plates. If one plate is trying to move past the other, they will be locked until sufficient stress builds up to cause the plates to slip relative to each other. The slipping process creates an earthquake with land deformations and resulting seismic waves which travel through the Earth and along the Earth's surface. Relative plate motion can be lateral as along a transform fault boundary or vertical if along a convergent subduction boundary or a rift at a divergent boundary. At a subduction boundary the motion is due to one plate slipping beneath the other plate resulting in an interplate thrust or megathrust earthquake. An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of stored energy in the Earths crust that creates seismic waves. ... The tectonic plates of the world were mapped in the second half of the 20th century. ... Body waves and surface waves Earthquake wave paths p-wave and s-wave from seismograph A seismic wave is a wave that travels through the Earth, most often as the result of a tectonic earthquake, sometimes from an explosion. ... A transform fault is a geological fault that is a special case of strike-slip faulting which terminates abruptly, at both ends, at a major transverse geological feature. ... The Juan de Fuca plate sinks below the North America plate at the Cascadia subduction zone. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Rift valley. ... A megathrust earthquake is an interplate earthquake where one tectonic plate slips beneath (subducts) another. ...
Some areas of the world that are particularly prone to such events include the west coast of North America (especially California and Alaska), the northeastern Mediterranean region (Greece, Italy, and Turkey in particular), Iran, New Zealand, Indonesia, Japan, and parts of China. The frequency (how often) of these large events may be controlled by the Gap Theory and Characteristic earthquakes. North America North America is a continent[1] in the Earths northern hemisphere and (chiefly) western hemisphere. ... Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Largest metro area Greater Los Angeles Area Ranked 3rd - Total 158,302 sq mi (410,000 km²) - Width 250 miles (400 km) - Length 770 miles (1,240 km) - % water 4. ... Official language(s) English[1] Spoken language(s) English 85. ... Geologic picture without a scale Almost all geology is fractal and scale-invariant. ...
Earthquakes occurring at boundaries of tectonic plates are called interplateearthquakes, while the less frequent events that occur in the interior of the lithospheric plates are called intraplate earthquakes.
Earthquakes may also occur in volcanic regions and are caused by the movement of magma in volcanoes.
Such a pattern was observed in the sequence of about a dozen earthquakes that struck the Anatolian Fault in Turkey in the 20th Century, the half dozen large earthquakes in New Madrid in 1811-1812, and has been inferred for older anomalous clusters of large earthquakes in the Middle East and in the Mojave Desert.
Events that occur at plate boundaries are called interplateearthquakes; the less frequent events that occur in the interior of the lithospheric plates are called intraplate earthquakes.
Earthquake effects are described in terms of intensity, a scale which attempts to quantify the severity of shaking at a given location.
Earthquakes such as these, that are caused by human activity, are referred to by the term induced seismicity.
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