why+do+the+plats+in+the+ground+cause+a+earthquake?

 In the middle of the 20th century scientists found out that continents do not always stay in the same place. They have been moving on ** plates **for millions of years. The earth’s ** surface **is made up of many such plates. Where two plates meet ** magma **comes out of the inner part of the earth. These areas are called ** faults **—breaks in the [| earth’s crust].

** How plates move  **  When two plates move away from each other lava or magma comes out of the earth. Most of this happens at the bottom of oceans, where the earth’s crust is very thin. Lava cools down when it ** reaches **the [|water] and underwater mountains are formed.  When plates push ** towards each other **—one of them ** slides **under the other. Rocks are pushed up and new mountains are formed.  Some plates slide past each other— for example, one moves north and the other moves south. When these plates move along faults a lot of energy is ** released **and the biggest earthquakes happen. ||       The earth has four major layers: the // inner core, outer core, mantle // and // crust //. (figure 2) The crust and the top of the mantle make up a thin skin on the surface of our planet. But this skin is not all in one piece – it is made up of many pieces like a puzzle covering the surface of the earth. (figure 3) Not only that, but these puzzle pieces keep slowly moving around, sliding past one another and bumping into each other. We call these puzzle pieces // tectonic plates //, and the edges of the plates are called the // plate boundaries //. The plate boundaries are made up of many faults, and most of the earthquakes around the world occur on these faults. Since the edges of the plates are rough, they get stuck while the rest of the plate keeps moving. Finally, when the plate has moved far enough, the edges unstick on one of the faults and there is an earthquake. Earthquakes ** occur **all over the world but there are places where they happen more often. Big earthquakes can be found where plates meet. 80% of the world’s earthquakes happen around the Pacific Ocean—near the east coast of Asia and the west coast of America. Japan has over 2,000 earthquakes every year and California and South America are also very active earthquake ** zones **
 * [[image:file://localhost/Users/erin%20dunn/Library/Caches/TemporaryItems/msoclip/0/clip_image004.gif width="202" height="89" caption="Lates move towards each other"]]   ||   [[image:file://localhost/Users/erin%20dunn/Library/Caches/TemporaryItems/msoclip/0/clip_image006.gif width="152" height="95" caption="lates slide past each other"]]    ||
 * ** // Plates move away from each other  // **   ||  ** //  Plates move towards each other  // **   ||  **  Plates slide past each other  **   ||