Geology / Earthquakes
Earthquakes are the most widely spread evidence that the Earth is still active. It has been active since it was first formed billions of years ago. Just one billion years ago the Earth had somewhat settled down, there were areas of land (continental crust) surrounded by oceans with their thinner, denser oceanic crust deep beneath the waves. The earth's surface became divided into stable areas of crust with mobile unstable margins. As the oceanic crust cooled it became denser and fell back into the semi-liquid (on a geological time scale) vast volume of the Earth's mantle. This thick mantle is itself driven by convection currents that are continually transporting heat energy from the still hot Core to the cold crust.
One of the main causes of earthquakes are the jerky but remoreseful movements of the plates as they slide, crush or descend past each other. These events cause the really big earthquakes. Alternatively the ascent of the hot magma from the mantle can cause earthquakes, but these tend to be not as strong and not as deep. An eruption of a large volcano can cause local earthquakes as the magma rises and stresses the shallow rocks. Human activity can create small earthquakes too, this often happens when a rivers are dammed and the huge weight of the water building up in the lake causes stresses in the underlying rocks.
This site has an archive of earthquakes in recent times both as a list of events and as an animation. Looking at the pattern of earthquakes over the last few months quickly demonstrates the location of the active plate margins around the world.
If you'd like to look at recent earthquakes, we have generated some pages using data supplied by :
U.S. Geological Survey
| Date and Time | Strength, Location | Latitude | Longtitude |
| March 15, 2010 00:42:55 GMT | M 4.9, Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins, Chile | -34.1757 | -71.6970 |
| March 14, 2010 22:42:26 GMT | M 5.2, Flores region, Indonesia | -8.2388 | 122.7156 |
| March 14, 2010 22:33:19 GMT | M 5.4, South Sandwich Islands region | -58.2727 | -23.7362 |
| March 14, 2010 21:17:18 GMT | M 5.3, Mid-Indian Ridge | -7.0636 | 67.9706 |
| March 14, 2010 20:57:04 GMT | M 4.7, Region Metropolitana, Chile | -33.6806 | -71.3279 |
| March 14, 2010 20:33:10 GMT | M 6.0, South Indian Ocean | -2.7634 | 83.6777 |
| March 14, 2010 20:14:24 GMT | M 4.9, Araucania, Chile | -38.4485 | -72.8520 |
| March 14, 2010 20:06:46 GMT | M 2.9, Puerto Rico region | 18.1159 | -65.3720 |
| March 14, 2010 20:04:58 GMT | M 5.6, Araucania, Chile | -38.3789 | -73.4141 |
| March 14, 2010 19:23:31 GMT | M 4.9, Bio-Bio, Chile | -37.7257 | -73.5280 |
| March 14, 2010 19:10:51 GMT | M 5.0, offshore Libertador O'Higgins, Chile | -34.6362 | -72.2381 |
| March 14, 2010 19:09:06 GMT | M 4.5, northwestern Kashmir | 35.2945 | 74.4384 |
| March 14, 2010 18:23:07 GMT | M 5.0, Philippine Islands region | 5.2004 | 127.3165 |
| March 14, 2010 17:20:33 GMT | M 4.9, south of the Kermadec Islands | -34.0287 | -179.1703 |
| March 14, 2010 16:42:53 GMT | M 3.0, Northern California | 38.8188 | -122.7933 |
| March 14, 2010 16:22:37 GMT | M 4.6, Bougainville region, Papua New Guinea | -6.3807 | 155.2667 |
| March 14, 2010 14:01:18 GMT | M 5.0, offshore Araucania, Chile | -38.4338 | -73.6636 |
| March 14, 2010 13:52:24 GMT | M 5.7, offshore Araucania, Chile | -38.4451 | -73.6154 |
| March 14, 2010 11:42:52 GMT | M 3.2, northern Alaska | 67.6969 | -159.6030 |
| March 14, 2010 11:32:31 GMT | M 4.9, Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins, Chile | -34.5358 | -71.8615 |
| March 14, 2010 09:54:18 GMT | M 4.8, Mindanao, Philippines | 8.6464 | 126.4675 |
| March 14, 2010 09:26:15 GMT | M 2.7, Virgin Islands region | 18.4160 | -64.9869 |
| March 14, 2010 09:01:25 GMT | M 4.9, offshore Bio-Bio, Chile | -37.1732 | -73.5137 |
| March 14, 2010 08:46:19 GMT | M 2.9, Southern Alaska | 60.1930 | -152.9436 |
| March 14, 2010 08:08:05 GMT | M 6.6, near the east coast of Honshu, Japan | 37.7802 | 141.5623 |
| March 14, 2010 07:38:00 GMT | M 3.7, Kodiak Island region, Alaska | 56.1420 | -152.3342 |
| March 14, 2010 07:31:25 GMT | M 5.4, Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins, Chile | -34.2077 | -71.7393 |
| March 14, 2010 07:04:15 GMT | M 4.8, Izu Islands, Japan region | 33.3938 | 140.8375 |
| March 14, 2010 06:53:47 GMT | M 2.5, Southern California | 32.7151 | -115.8388 |
| March 14, 2010 06:53:29 GMT | M 4.5, Kashmir-India border region | 32.1336 | 75.7529 |
| March 14, 2010 06:17:15 GMT | M 2.6, Northern California | 38.8382 | -122.8248 |
| March 14, 2010 04:13:13 GMT | M 2.6, Southern Alaska | 59.7739 | -153.0768 |
| March 14, 2010 02:52:54 GMT | M 4.6, offshore El Salvador | 12.8486 | -88.7549 |
| March 14, 2010 02:43:25 GMT | M 4.7, Nicobar Islands, India region | 8.7498 | 92.2741 |
| March 14, 2010 02:21:08 GMT | M 4.8, Bonin Islands, Japan region | 28.5735 | 142.7904 |
| March 14, 2010 01:40:44 GMT | M 4.9, Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins, Chile | -34.5478 | -71.7825 |