Kankakee Valley Post, Volume 3, Number 3, DeMotte, Jasper County, 1 June 1933 — Cause of Earthquakes Still Puzzles Experts [ARTICLE]

Cause of Earthquakes Still Puzzles Experts

Earthquakes are believed to result from a number of different causes, but the principal one is considered to be faulting or the slipping of one great body of rock upon another in the earth’s crust or outer portion, says a writer in the Detroit News. After the California earthquake of 1906 it was found that along a previously known fault nearly 300 miles long, the strata had shifted horizontally from one to three feet. The usual points of origin for such changes in the earth’s crust estimated to be from 10 to 20 miles below the surface. Some earthquakes are caused by the violent explosions accompanying volcanic eruptions. Some are produced by the falling in of subterranean caverns, by avalanches, landslides and various slumpings on the slopes of deltas and on the outer faces of the continental platforms under the sea. Great earthquakes are most numerous in volcanic regions, and particularly near the mountainous edges of continents, bordering on the ocean.