- In the past 3 million years, the San Andreas Fault has moved at about the rate your fingernails grow - 2 inches per year!
- The largest earthquake recorded in the world was a 9.5 magnitude quake in Chile on May 22, 1960.
- Most earthquake waves carry a frequency of less than 20 Hertz. Humans can only hear sounds in the frequency range of 20-10,000 Hertz. Therefore, most of the rumbling heard during an earthquake is actually buildings and other structures shaking, not the waves themselves.
- Moonquakes and icequakes do exist! Moonquakes are simply earthquakes on the Moon. Tidal stresses and the varying distance between the Earth and the Moon seem to be related to the occurrence of moonquakes. Antarctica experiences frequent, but small icequakes. These shakings take place directly in the ice sheets instead of in the ground underneath.
- The largest earthquake recorded in the US was a 9.2 magnitude quake that shook Prince William Sound, Alaska on March 28, 1964.
- A tsunami is a result from an underwater earthquake that displace a great amount of water.
- Tectonic plates created the world's greatest land mountain range, the Himalaya-Karakoram located in Asia. It houses 96 of the world's 109 peaks over 24,000 feet.
- Around 500,000 earthquakes are detected in the world each year. Only 100,000 can even be felt and only 100 of those quakes cause damage.
- The intensity of an earthquake measures the shaking caused by the quake in relation to location. The magnitude, or measured value of earthquake size, does not vary with location.
- There is no such thing as "earthquake weather".
- Alaska is one of the most active earthquake spots in the world.
- From 2000-2009, the USGS recorded 6 earthquakes with a magnitude between 7.0-7.9 in the United States.
- About 90% of the world's earthquakes occur in the "Ring of Fire". This is an earthquake-prone zone surrounding the Pacific Ocean.
13 interesting facts about Earthquakes
