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A sudden slip on a fault causes earthquakes. When the sides of a fault are pressed together due to stresses on the earth's outer layer, it slips and releases energy in waves that travel along the earth's crust, which causes the shaking during an earthquake.

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Why don't all faults cause earthquakes?

Faults are the boundaries between tectonic plates and are not the cause of earthquakes. The motion of one plate against another or the subduction of one plate by another can eventually cause a slippage, and it is this slippage that causes earthquakes.


What is the relationship between faults and earthquakes?

Faults are fractures in the Earth's crust where rocks have moved past each other. When the rocks along a fault suddenly shift, it can cause an earthquake. The movement along faults is what generates the energy that produces earthquakes.


Why not all movement along faults produce earthquakes?

Faults DO NOT produce earthquakes, faults are produced by earthquakes. This means that earthquake loci are centered on and along faults. The energy released by an earthquake is the strain energy built up as a result of plate tectonic forces. Some faults move easily and thus no strain energy builds up.


Why do earthquakes occur along faults?

Earthquakes occur along faults because faults are cracks in the Earth's surface where tectonic plates interact. When stress builds up along a fault line and is released suddenly, it causes rocks to break and shift, resulting in an earthquake. The movement of the tectonic plates along faults is what ultimately causes earthquakes to happen.


Why are earthquakes always near faults?

Most earthquakes occur near faults because the interaction of tectonic plates (moving against or away from each other) causes a buildup of stress, which is eventually released in the form of an earthquake. Earthquakes don't necessarily occur along faults though. Volcanic activity and isostatic imbalance (local imbalance from rapid geologic change - for example, ice melting) are two other causes of earthquakes.