Types of Earthquakes: Various types of earthquakes continue to impact various parts of the earth.
On the basis of nature and causes, earthquakes are classified into the following types:
1. Artificial Earthquake: These occur due to human activities. These earthquakes have regional impact and their intensity is quite less.
For example: earthquakes which occur due to drilling of mines, nuclear explosion, underground nuclear test, etc
2. Natural Earthquake: These are active earthquakes which occur due to natural factors. These are of the following types:
(a) Volcanic Earthquakes: Those earthquakes, which occur due to vulcanicity or eruption, are known as volcanic earthquakes.
For Example: earthquakes formed during the eruption of Vesuvius, Etna, Krokotoa, etc.
(b) Tectonic Earthquakes: These are structural earthquakes, which are formed due to tectonic movements of the crust, such as- stress, compression, etc. These earthquakes do not form in extreme depths.
For Example: California earthquake.
(c) Isostatic Earthquake: These earthquakes occur due to imbalance in the isostatic equilibrium of the earth’s surface. These type of earthquakes are mostly experienced in newly folded mountainous regions such as the Himalayas, etc.
For example: Hindukush and Nepal earthquake of 2015.
(d) Plutonic Earthquake: Earthquakes which are formed at significant depths inside- the earth are known as plutonic or underground earthquakes. Very little information is available regarding the origin and intensity of such earthquakes.
3. Earthquakes on the basis of condition:
On this basis, earthquakes can be classified into two types:
(a) Terrestrial Earthquake: Earthquakes which formed on land are known as terrestrial earthquakes. Earthquakes which occur in the Mid – Continental belt are mostly of this type.
(b) Marine Earthquake: Earthquakes which formed in the oceans are known as marine earthquakes. These types of earthquakes give rise to high and destructive oceanic waves which are known as Tsunami in Japanese language. Due to Tsunami which emerged due to the violent earthquake that occurred near Honshu Island of Japan in the year 2011, the entire Fukushima city was destroyed.
