Courses
Courses for Kids
Free study material
Offline Centres
More
Store Icon
Store
seo-qna
SearchIcon
banner

What is the focus of an earthquake?

Answer
VerifiedVerified
457.5k+ views
like imagedislike image
Hint: Earthquake is an event in which the Earth suddenly shakes, trembles or rocks resulting in release of the energy in Earth’s Lithosphere that create seismic waves. It can be caused naturally or human made. Like by volcanic activity, mining blasting, nuclear tests or due to any natural phenomenon like convection currents.

Complete step-by-step solution:
Earthquakes happen due to the top layer of the Earth called crust and mantle broken into large pieces or plates. The places where these plates or pieces meet are called faults and where most Earthquakes occur. This is because the Tectonic plates move very slowly about 1 – 2 inches per year. When one plate is pushed beneath another or two plates move alongside of one another, fiction can cause them to be stuck together. When the force that moves the plates is enough to overcome the force holding them together the plates can break apart suddenly sending shockwaves through the Earth the place where the Earthquake is actually generated is often hundreds of feet below the surface and it’s called the quakes focus. The point on the surface of the Earth directly above the focus is called its Epicenter. Epicenter is the place where the Earthquake occurs stronger and contains more damage. Earthquakes can also be caused by nuclear tests and mining blasts that we call an artificial Earthquake.

Note: Around 900,000 earthquakes happen worldwide every year. The point at which the Earthquake happens below the Earth's Surface is the Focus of the Earthquake. At the focus the waves generated and that waves moved in a large area to spread the damage of Earthquake.