Changes

At [[Conservative Plate Margin]]s as the plates grind past each other [[friction]] causes tension to build between the plates as they move and this means that they eventually become stuck. As the plates are released and jerk away from each other they release shock waves that that spread from the [[Focus(Earthquake)|focus]] deep in the [[mantle]]. The shock waves are then felt on the surface of the [[crust]] in the form of an '''earthquake'''. The shock waves are most strongly felt at the [[Epicentre]] which is the point directly above the [[Focus (Earthquake)|focus]].

Earthquakes come in a variety of strengths therefore there is a scale that shows you how strong each earthquake is and how much damage it is likely to do. This is called the '''moment magnitude scale'''. This scale measures the amount of energy released by an earthquake and is measured logarithmically. This means that a magnitude 2 earthquake is ten times stronger than a magnitude 1 earthquake. Earthquakes below magnitude 6 only cause slight damage to buildings and earthquakes magnitude 7 and above can cause high levels of damage and large loss of life.