Earthquakes
What is an earthquake?
Our Earth is actually made up of huge
pieces of flat rock called tectonic
plates. These are always moving
very, very slowly and where these
rocks meet is called a ‘fault’. These
plates can rub and grind together
and when they do, the movement
forces waves of energy to ripple up to
the Earth’s surface – the tremors and
shakes caused by this are what cause
earthquakes.
You can see an animation of an
earthquake here.
Volcanoes
You can also find out all of the basics
of earthquake science with this
downloadable booklet!
Learn more about
earthquakes
USGS Earthquakes
Science Kids
Discovery Kids
Weather WizKids
Earthquake App!
Kids Geo
Quakefeed Earthquake Map
iPad, iPhone – FREE
One Geology
What is a volcano?
Inside the Earth’s core there is a redhot liquid rock, called magma. As the
Earth’s tectonic plates shift around
and are pushed apart, sometimes this
creates openings in the Earth’s crust
allowing this liquid, molten rock to
escape up to the surface, forming
volcanoes. The magma rises to the
surface of the Earth, causing bubbles
of gas to appear within it. This gas
can cause pressure to build up and
eventually explode, bursting the
magma out of the earth. When this
magma reaches the Earth’s surface it
is called Lava.
Watch a great video all about
volcanoes here.
Learn more about
volcanoes
Woodlands Junior
Natural History Museum
Kids Geo
Weather Wiz Kids
Science Kids
One Geology
Volcano App!
Volcanoes – Volcano Map,
Alerts, Info and News
Iphone, iPad - FREE
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