ISP 203B Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Plate Tectonics, Epicenter, The Crust
22 Sep 2016
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Document Summary
There are 4 main layers of the earth. Outer core: made of liquid metals (iron and nickel) Inner core: made of solid metals (iron and nickel) About 30 km thick on land, and about 6 km thick for oceans. Includes the crust and uppermost part of mantle. Plate tectonics involves the movement of the lithosphere. Plates slide, move away, and towards each other. Most of action occurs at the boundaries between these plates. Slipping of 2 sections of the crust that are under enormous amount of stress. Energy gradually accumulates at the contact between these. 2 sections of crust that result in slow movement of plates. Epicenter: the point at the surface exactly above the focus. Focus: the point at depth where the earthquake happens. Epicenter is the spot that has the most damage. If epicenter is at sea, tsunami can be triggered. Structure that separates 2 sections of the crust.
