EESA06H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 3: New Idea, Hypocenter, Epicenter
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Chapter 3- Earthquakes:
On February 5th, 1663, a violet earthquake struck the Charlevoix-Kamouraska area of
Quebec
-So strong and felt over entire eastern part of North America
-No loss of life reported
-So violent, and terrifying
-This area of Quebec has experience many seismic events over the past two centuries
and is named the Charlevoix-Kamouraska Seismic zone.
-The October 20th, 1870, Baie-St-Paul earthquake was also in this zone.
-These are among the earliest earthquakes to be documented in North America.
What causes earthquakes?
Earthquake: a trembling or shaking of the ground caused by the sudden release of energy
stored in the rocks beneath Earth’s surface.
-Great forces acting deep in the earth may put a STRESS on the rock which may bend or
change in shape (STRAIN).
-Rock can deform only so far before it breaks when a rock breaks, waves of energy are
released & sent through the Earth SEISMIC WAVES
-Seismic waves the waves of energy produced by an earthquake.
-It is the seismic waves that cause the ground to tremble and shake during an
earthquake.
-Sudden release of energy may cause one huge mass of rock to slide past another mass
of rock into a different relative position.
-The break between 2 rock masses is a FAULT.
Classic explanation of why earthquakes take place is called the elastic rebound theory
Elastic rebound theory involves the sudden release of progressively stored elastic strain
energy in rocks, causing movement along a fault.
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