Earthquake what is it like

Just as there are safer and less safe places to be on the surface of the earth during an earthquake, there are also various characteristics inside caves that make some cave locations safer or less safe than others. First of all, whether or not you What is liquefaction? Liquefaction takes place when loosely packed, water-logged sediments at or near the ground surface lose their strength in response to strong ground shaking.

Liquefaction occurring beneath buildings and other structures can cause major damage during earthquakes. For example, the Niigata earthquake caused widespread liquefaction in Niigata, Where can I find photographs of earthquake damage? Geological Survey Photographic Library see 'earthquakes' in the categories left column.

Why do earthquakes in other countries seem to cause more damage and casualties than earthquakes in the U. There is more damage and more deaths from earthquakes in other parts of the world primarily because of buildings which are poorly designed and constructed for earthquake regions, and population density.

How can an earthquake affect groundwater or changes in wells? Groundwater levels in wells may oscillate up and down while seismic waves pass, and in some cases, the water level may remain higher or lower for a period of time after the seismic wavetrain has ended.

What are those booms I sometimes hear before or during an earthquake? Of course, most "booms" that people hear or experience are actually some type of cultural noise, such as some type of explosion, a large vehicle going by, or sometimes a sonic boom, but there have been many reports of "booms" At what magnitude does damage begin to occur in an earthquake? It isn't that simple. There is not one magnitude above which damage will occur. It depends on other variables, such as the distance from the earthquake, what type of soil you are on, etc.

That being said, damage does not usually occur until the earthquake magnitude reaches somewhere above 4 or 5. Learn more: Earthquake Magnitude, Energy Release, Filter Total Items: 5. Year Published: Shaking intensity from injection-induced versus tectonic earthquakes in the central-eastern United States Although instrumental recordings of earthquakes in the central and eastern United States CEUS remain sparse, the U.

Hough, Susan E. View Citation. Year Published: The ShakeOut Scenario This is the initial publication of the results of a cooperative project to examine the implications of a major earthquake in southern California. Jones, Lucile M.

Year Published: Did you feel it? Wald, David J. Did you feel it? Boatwright, J. Posted on June 4, October 15, Posted on April 21, October 15, Posted on April 15, October 15, An earthquake can feel like: A Sharp jolt — a sharp jolt is the first thing you will feel when a large earthquake is nearby. Perspectives from the past Famous accounts from luminaries like Mark Twain , Charles Darwin , and John Muir provide valuable perspectives from the past. What Affects Earthquake Intensity?

Earthquakes Nearby Feel Stronger Distance from the epicenter also strongly influences how an earthquake feels. Shallow Earthquakes Feel Stronger Depth comes next. Soil Type Affects How an Earthquake Feels Local geology—the soil and rocks—of a location can also greatly influence how an earthquake feels.

Reviewed by Victoria Chames. Original publish date January 7, Fortunately for us, they don't move fast. Geologists estimate the fastest plate might shift 6 inches a year 15 centimeters. That's about as fast as your hair grows. Earthquakes happen when a plate scrapes, bumps, or drags along another plate.

When does this happen? About a half-million quakes rock the Earth every day. That's millions a year. People don't feel most of them because the quake is too small, too far below the surface, or deep in the sea.

Deep mining can cause small to moderate quakes and nuclear testing has caused small earthquakes in the immediate area surrounding the test site, but other human activities have not been shown to trigger subsequent earthquakes.

Within the central and eastern United States, the number of earthquakes has increased dramatically over the past few years.

Between the years , there was an average of 21 earthquakes of magnitude three and larger in the central and eastern United States. In , alone, there were M3 and larger earthquakes. Most of these earthquakes are in the magnitude 3? There were reports of damage from some of the larger events, including the M5. The increase in seismicity has been found to coincide with the injection of wastewater in deep disposal wells in several locations, including Colorado, Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Ohio.

Much of this wastewater is a byproduct of oil and gas production and is routinely disposed of by injection into wells specifically designed and approved for this purpose. However, we can significantly mitigate their effects by characterizing the hazard e. There are many things being done now by the USGS and other agencies to protect people and property in the United States in the event of a major earthquake.

Scientists agree that even large nuclear explosions have little effect on seismicity outside the area of the blast itself. The largest underground thermonuclear tests conducted by the United States were detonated in Amchitka at the western end of the Aleutian Islands, and the largest of these was the 5 megaton test code-named Cannikin that occurred on November 6, that did not trigger any earthquakes in the seismically active Aleutian Islands.

On January 19, , a thermonuclear test, code-named Faultless, took place in central Nevada. The code-name turned out to be a poor choice because a fresh fault rupture some 4, feet long was produced.

Seismograph records showed that the seismic waves produced by the fault movement were much less energetic than those produced directly by the nuclear explosion. Locally, there were some minor earthquakes surrounding the blasts that released small amounts of energy. Scientists looked at the rate of earthquake occurrence in northern California, not far from the test site, at the times of the tests and found nothing to connect the testing with earthquakes in the area.

Seismologists have observed that for every magnitude 6 earthquake there are about 10 of magnitude 5, of magnitude 4, 1, of magnitude 3, and so forth as the events get smaller and smaller. This sounds like a lot of small earthquakes, but there are never enough small ones to eliminate the occasional large event. It would take 32 magnitude 5's, magnitude 4's, OR 32, magnitude 3's to equal the energy of one magnitude 6 event.

So, even though we always record many more small events than large ones, there are far too few to eliminate the need for the occasional large earthquake. Injecting high-pressure fluids deep into the ground is known to be able to trigger earthquakes—to cause them to occur sooner than would have been the case without the injection. This would be a dangerous pursuit in any populated area, as one might trigger a damaging earthquake.

Red indicates the highest hazard, and gray indicates the lowest hazard. There is no scientifically plausible way of predicting the occurrence of a particular earthquake. The USGS can and does make statements about earthquake rates, describing the places most likely to produce earthquakes in the long term.

It is important to note that prediction, as people expect it, requires predicting the magnitude, timing, and location of the future earthquake, which is not currently possible. The USGS and other science organizations are working to better understand earthquakes in the hope of eventually being able to predict the size, location and time that an earthquake will happen.

The USGS does produce aftershock forecasts that give the probability and expected number of aftershocks in the region following large earthquakes. Changes in animal behavior cannot be used to predict earthquakes. Even though there have been documented cases of unusual animal behavior prior to earthquakes, a reproducible connection between a specific behavior and the occurrence of an earthquake has not been made.

Because of their finely tuned senses, animals can often feel the earthquake at its earliest stages before the humans around it can. This feeds the myth that the animal knew the earthquake was coming. But animals also change their behavior for many reasons, and given that an earthquake can shake millions of people, it is likely that a few of their pets will, by chance, be acting strangely before an earthquake.

There is no scientific explanation for the symptoms some people claim to have preceding an earthquake, and more often than not there is no earthquake following the symptoms. Many people believe that earthquakes are more common in certain kinds of weather.

In fact, no correlation with weather has been found. Earthquakes begin many kilometers miles below the region affected by surface weather. People tend to notice earthquakes that fit the pattern and forget the ones that don't. Also, every region of the world has a story about earthquake weather, but the type of weather is whatever they had for their most memorable earthquake.