The Faults from within Earth

This document discusses faults and earthquakes. It describes how faults are fractures in the Earth's crust where earthquakes occur. There are different types of stresses that can cause faults, such as tensional, compressional, and shear stresses. Active faults have generated earthquakes within the last 10,000 years and may continue to do so, while inactive faults are not likely to produce future quakes. When rocks break along a fault, stored elastic energy is released as seismic energy in the form of seismic waves, causing earthquakes. Earthquakes are recorded by modern seismographs that detect seismic waves and produce seismograms. Earthquake preparedness is important, as described in the final section.