The frequency of earthquakes and the distribution of their magnitudes have not changed significantly over long-term records, but technological improvements have enabled scientists to detect more of them as they occur.

Visualize the power and frequency of earthquakes across the moment magnitude scale, where a whole number increase corresponds to about 32 times more energy released.

Earthquakes of identical magnitudes are unlikely to cause equal damage because magnitude only measures energy released, and earthquake severity depends on environmental factors, such as local architecture and geological conditions.

View the 10 largest earthquakes ever recorded as of 2025, led by a 1960 magnitude 9.5 earthquake in Chile, which left about 2 million people unhoused.

Reported earthquake magnitudes often change because initial values are based on limited information, whereas revised magnitudes account for factors such as fault size, rupture duration, and seismic wave behavior.

A magnitude 25 earthquake would release enough energy to destroy the sun, while a particle of dust drifting onto a table would have a magnitude of about -15.

Because the Richter scale was calibrated to crustal and mantle properties in Southern California, seismologists have instead used the moment magnitude scale to quantify earthquakes since the 1970s.

Although earthquakes cause about 80% of tsunamis, almost all earthquakes lack sufficient energy to cause the sudden shift in the ocean floor needed to substantially displace enormous volumes of water.

What makes the Earth shake?

Researchers are demystifying the science of earthquakes—from their origins deep within the Earth to the scales that measure their strength. This article, which was part of a series of weekly reports from Cornell University, serves as a guide to...

Some earthquakes can produce smaller tremors called boomerang earthquakes, which travel in the opposite direction and ripple back to the original earthquake's source.

View a map of the world's major earthquakes from 1956 to 2022, which can be used to identify tectonic plate boundaries.

Scientists determine earthquake locations by comparing how long it takes different seismic waves to be detected at three stations around the world, from which an origin, or hypocenter, can be triangulated.

Predicting earthquakes is difficult because different rock types can withstand different amounts of stress before breaking and melt at different temperatures within Earth's interior, introducing uncertainty into predictive models.

Micro-seismic activity has been produced from people cheering or dancing at sporting events, concerts, and other large gatherings, but scientists can easily distinguish these vibrations from natural earthquakes using seismometers.

Rather than predicting them in advance, earthquake early warning systems detect tremors moments after they begin and send notifications that reach users before the seismic activity does.

Average hurricane intensity, not frequency, has increased over the past century

While the total number of tropical cyclones globally each year has not significantly shifted since 1920, a greater proportion of them are major, defined as category 3 or higher on the Saffir-Simpson scale. The increased energy present in a warmer climate may be contributing to higher intensification rates.

View the past month of earthquakes worldwide with this digital globe, which displays data from the US Geological Survey.

View maps of seafloor topography, earthquakes, and volcanic activity, which scientists use to create outlines of Earth's tectonic plates.

Tectonic earthquakes are caused by tectonic plates sliding past one another at fault zones, deforming rock through friction as energy builds like a stretched rubber band.

Scientists investigate Earth's interior by studying seismic waves

Scientists investigate Earth's interior by studying seismic wavesBelow Earth's atmosphere lies the crust, which extends to the Mohorovičić discontinuity between five and 20 miles below Earth's surface. Below the crust lies the mantle, the liquid-metal outer core, and the solid inner core, which surpasses 5,200 degrees Celsius (9,392 degrees Fahrenheit).

The world's largest earthquake simulator is an 800-ton shake table facility in Miki, Japan, which was built to test the resilience of structures after the 1995 Kobe earthquake killed over 6,000 people.

Why starquakes may explain various phenomena associated with neutron stars

Fast radio bursts—repeated millisecond-long pulses of enormous energy from neutron stars—are emitted with a timing that resembles the earthquakes and aftershocks seen on Earth when geological activity releases energy from within the planet. Although pulsars should gradually spin more slowly as they lose energy from emitting jets of radiation, sudden increases may result from interior matter moving during starquakes.

If, not when: An earthquake is destined to destroy the Pacific Northwest.

When the Cascadia fault line ruptures, it could be North America’s worst natural disaster in recorded history. Read a deep dive into the history of the region and the potential impact of the eventual seismic boom.

Likened to a car backfiring or a faraway cannon fire, skyquakes have been reported worldwide in Earth's atmosphere without any obvious cause.

Explore an interactive map of volcanoes, earthquakes, and tsunamis from 2150 BCE to the present.

Why Turkey's earthquakes were so deadly

The death toll from February 2023 has reached the tens of thousands, making it one of the deadliest natural disasters of the century. The intense seismic activity combined with poor and unregulated construction in many areas to drive fatalities....

200 million years of tectonic plate movement

The Earth's internal forces have continuously pushed and reshaped how the planet's land masses are arranged. From one supercontinent hundreds of millions of years ago, to present day, the Earth has looked dramatically different throughout the...

Portugal's 1775 earthquake is considered Europe's first modern natural disaster.

Scientists can map Earth's shape and structure by measuring the ratios of certain particles arriving from different directions in space, as these ratios change with the density of the material particles travel through.

Enhanced geothermal power systems can trigger earthquakes by injecting fluid into rock, increasing subterranean pressure.

Records of Earth's magnetic field on the seafloor validated plate tectonics

Matching glacial, fossil, and rock records, mountain ranges, and continental shapes across oceans was insufficient evidence for continental drift. Precise measurements of magnetic minerals on the ocean floor revealed seafloor spreading, which could only be explained by moving landmasses.

Only 40% of city-destroying asteroids have been detected

Statistical modeling shows that while we have identified the majority of extinction-level asteroids, smaller asteroids that can cause significant damage remain elusive. Some asteroids, like the one that exploded over Chelyabinsk in 2013, can't be detected ahead of time since they come from the sun's direction.

Geological tremors on the moon provide evidence that it is shrinking

Apollo seismometers have collected moonquake data, which scientists have analyzed to map the moon's interior and reveal that fault slips producing tremors are the result of sublunar cooling and contraction. It also revealed that the moon's inner core is about 500 kilometers (311 miles) across.

Just as light bends at different angles as it travels through different materials, seismic waves move in different directions through Earth's interior, revealing the presence of layers with varying properties.

Rather than being triggered by a massive displacement of water from a geological event, meteotsunamis are caused by rapid changes in air pressure from fast-moving weather systems.

Because seismic waves travel 100 times faster than tsunami waves—waves typically travel faster through solids than liquids—measurements of geological activity help tsunami detection systems provide early warnings.

Many believe a cataclysmic volcanic eruption is imminent at Yellowstone, though experts say it is unlikely

Mike Poland, a scientist at the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, estimates the likelihood of the event at one in a million. He cautions, though, that the park poses other potential dangers, including steam explosions and earthquakes.

As of 2025, humans have only dug 0.2% the way to Earth's center

The Kola Superdeep Borehole revealed two billion-year-old fossils and underground water, but the immense temperature and pressure prevented further tunneling. Beyond those depths, scientists know of Earth's interior by analyzing how seismic waves move.

The average eruption cycle of the Yellowstone supervolcano is 735,000 years

Eruptions a little over 2 million, 1.3 million, and 630,000 years ago indicate that the eruption is not imminent, though the sample size is small. Recent analysis reveals magma pockets are not interconnected, reducing eruption risk.

Scientists determined that tectonic plates moved the ocean floor by observing symmetric patterns of magnetic stripes on opposite sides of underwater volcano systems, which could only result from seafloor spreading.