Modern Earth Science Chapter 6 Vocabulary

Front 1

Tremor that follows and is smaller than a major earthquake

Back 1

Aftershock

Front 2

Vibration of the Earth’s crust

Back 2

Earthquake

Front 3

Theory that rocks that are strained past a certain point
will fracture and spring back to their original shape.

Back 3

Elastic Rebound Theory

Front 4

Point on the Earth’s surface directly above the focus of an
earthquake.

Back 4

Epicenter

Front 5

Group of interconnected faults

Back 5

Fault Zone

Front 6

Area along a fault at which slippage first occurs, initiating an
earthquake.

Back 6

Focus

Front 7

Amount of damage caused by an earthquake.

Back 7

Intensity

Front 8

A measure of the energy released by an earthquake; described as the
amount of ground motion.

Back 8

Magnitude

Front 9

Scale that expresses the intensity of an earthquake with a Roman
numeral and a description.

Back 9

Mercalli scale

Front 10

Earthquake with a magnitude less than 2.5 on the Richter
scale.

Back 10

Microquake

Front 11

Primary wave; the fastest Wave generated by an earthquake and the first
to be recorded by a seismograph.

Back 11

P Wave

Front 12

Major earthquake zone that forms a ring around the
Pacific Ocean.

Back 12

Pacific Ring of Fire

Front 13

Secondary wave; a wave generated by an earthquake and the second to
be recorded by a seismograph.

Back 13

S Wave

Front 14

Zone of rock in which a fault is locked and unable to move and in
which no major earthquake has occurred for a long period of time.

Back 14

Seismic Gap

Front 15

Instrument used to detect and record seismic waves.

Back 15

Seismograph

Front 16

The slowest moving seismic wave generated by an earthquake and
the last to be recorded by a seismograph.

Back 16

Surface Wave

Front 17

Giant ocean wave that often occurs after a major earthquake with an
epicenter on the ocean floor.

Back 17

Tsunami