What Causes Earthquakes for Dummies

All about earthquakes

Our research staff all seem to be convinced that scientific illiteracy is on the upswing. It amazes them – or at least some of them – that so many people have attended at least some college, but so many of them seem to have skipped any classes considered remotely scientific. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, almost 60% of U. S. citizens have attended some college, but our staffers maintain that you can't tell it from the freelancers out there... Whatever the case, today's DotD nominee isn't American (he's Thai), but he does claim to be "an online leading expert in education." We beg to differ, however, based on what Kum Martin posted in "What Causes an Earthquake?" for EzineArticles.com.

We won't belittle Martin for multiple grammatical mistakes because he's not writing in his native language (no duh...), but that doesn't mean we won't take him to task for the scientific inaccuracy of his words. Take, for instance, his claim that

"The first thing to know is that the Earth's crust is made up of solid core, molten magma mantle and the tectonic plates. All this constitutes the Earth's crust."

No, all that constitutes the earth's internal structure, not its "crust." Saying that is akin to saying, "The human body is made of bone, muscle and skin, all of which constitute the skin." Next, Kum informs his readers, erroneously, that

"[The] plates are moving continuously because of the convection currents of the molten lava in the deep layers of the Earth." Nope, sorry: first, there is no lava in "deep layers," because lava is – by definition – only found on the surface. More to the point, there are indeed convection currents, but they churn away within the lower mantle or asthenosphere, which is slightly plastic because of the temperature and pressure at depth. It can not, however, be considered "molten." Further, Martin would have his readers believe that "...such massive movements inside the Earth's crust are felt by the living organisms, including humans..."

...which is utter bull: even the fastest plate movements are on the order of centimeters per year. Feel that, Kum! When it comes to an actual earthquake, Kum thinks that

"There is a meeting point which is basically a point of friction between two plates. This meeting point, in geological terminology, is referred to as earthquake fault line. Sometimes these are also referred to as fractures on the Earth's crust. Once the plates start moving, the potential energy, also referred to as the stored energy, is let loose from the point of intersection, called hypocenter. This results in earthquakes."

And we have to stop there because we're running out of patience. But let's unpack that last rubbish before we go: 1) plates meet along a 3-dimensional boundary, not at "a meeting point"; 2) a point has no dimensions, a line has one dimension – they aren't the same thing (not to mention that a fault is a plane, not a line); 3) the plates are always in motion. What Kum may be trying to say is that sometimes the two sides of a fault are temporarily locked – it is the release of the built-up energy that causes the shock we feel as an earthquake. As for the hypocenter? it's not the "point of intersection," it's the center of the release of energy when movement on a fault occurs.

A little knowledge in the wrong hands can be worse than no knowledge at all. Who knows how many people have ended up confused by the misinformation in articles like this, penned solely to make money, poorly-researched and -written. We think it's too many, which is why every day we name someone like Kum Martin the Dumbass of the Day.

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SI - EARTHQUAKES