Why do some earthquakes produce surface rupture while others do not?
Quick Answer
Surface rupture happens when the fault break reaches all the way to the ground, usually in shallow earthquakes. Deeper quakes may be strong but stop below the surface before breaking it open.
The Full Story
An earthquake occurs when stress is suddenly released along a fault, but the effect at the surface depends on depth and fault geometry. Shallow earthquakes are more likely to rupture the ground because the fault plane intersects the Earth's surface. By contrast, many deeper earthquakes happen too far below the surface for the rupture to break through. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake famously produced visible ground rupture along the San Andreas Fault, while many modern deep quakes do not.
Key Facts
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