What is liquefaction in an earthquake?
Quick Answer
Liquefaction is when water-saturated soil temporarily behaves like a liquid during strong shaking. This can make buildings tilt, sink, or collapse.
The Full Story
During intense earthquake shaking, loose sandy or silty ground can lose strength as water pressure rises between the grains. The soil then behaves less like a solid and more like a fluid, causing the ground surface to settle unevenly or erupt with sand and water. Liquefaction helped damage neighborhoods in earthquakes such as the 1964 Niigata earthquake in Japan and the 2011 Christchurch earthquake in New Zealand. It is especially dangerous in areas built on reclaimed land, river plains, and coastal sediments.
Key Facts
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Suggested video title for this topic:
"When solid ground suddenly turns to mush"
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