Earthquakes

An earthquake happens when the tectonic plates which form the Earth’s outer layer suddenly slip past each other, snap or make some other rapid movement, especially along their...

Earthquakes A-Z

Earthquake survival

Thousands of earthquakes occur every year, some of them major ones. But only where these quakes affect densely populated regions is there a great loss of life, usually resulting...

San Andreas Fault

The San Andreas Fault stretches more than 1200 kilometres (750 miles) along the coast of California. It forms the boundary between two plates, the Pacific plate and the North...

Nepal 2015 earthquake

A 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Nepal on 25th April 2015. Its epicentre (the point on the Earth's surface directly above the focus of the quake) was around 80 kilometres (50...

Seismology

Seismology is the study of earthquakes and how their shock waves travel through the Earth. Seismic waves produced by deliberate explosions are one of the main methods of...

Tsunamis

When the epicentre of an earthquake is on the sea bed, a large submarine landslide can result. The sudden movement of the thousands of tonnes of water above it produces a series of...