Since seismographs are located mostly on land, but three quarters of the Earths surface is covered by water, how well do we know about the seismic activity in the part covered by water?
Earthquakes produce waves that travel through the Earths’s interior and which are recorded by seismographs, regardless of whether the quake occurs underwater or under land. Any earthquake with magnitude larger than about 6.0 will be recorded by nearly all the seismograph stations over the entire Earth. Thus, we know a great deal about undersea earthquakes even in areas where we have no seismic stations. Q: I am leaving for an earthquake prone area tomorrow. Are there any precautions I should take against earthquakes? A: There are no obvious earthquake precautions you should take when vacationing someplace where earthquakes are common, except for reading any evacuation information your hotel provides. However, if you plan to move there you might want to use some common sense about where you live. You might avoid living on steep hills where landslides may occur, or along known active faults. Finally, remember that most earthquake deaths and injuries occur when heavy, poorly made structur
Related Questions
- Since seismographs are located mostly on land, but three quarters of the Earths surface is covered by water, how well do we know about the seismic activity in the part covered by water?
- Are losses from land subsidence, sewer backup, or seepage of water covered?
- Has the proportion of land vs water on earth changed since Pangea?
