Have you ever tried standing perfectly still? Of course this is perfectly impossible. Not only is your body in constant movement, but the Earth's body is in constant movement. We are on rafts of rock, floating on a ocean of magma. The fiery molten rock is insistent on making its journey to the surface. The Earth fights back, twists and turns, booms and bangs, eventually losing the battle.

Earthquakes have shaken the Earth for billions of years. Most Earthquakes are caused by magma trying to push its way up between the Earths crustal plates, known as tectonic plates. These tectonic plates rub against each other in a rage of upheaval and release.

Earthquakes first erupt deep within the ground. The hypocenter of the quake is where the rocks first break. The hypocenter is usually found less than 45 miles beneath the surface, although some earthquake hypocenters have been nearly 450 miles beneath the surface. The point directly above the hypocenter on the Earth's surface is known as the epicenter of the quake. The epicenter is where the strongest shaking is usually felt.

 

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