kids encyclopedia robot

Megathrust earthquake facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

A megathrust earthquake occurs at subduction zones at destructive convergent plate boundaries, where one tectonic plate is forced underneath another. These interplate earthquakes are the planet's most powerful, with moment magnitudes that can exceed 9.0. Since 1900, all earthquakes of magnitude 9.0 or greater have been megathrust earthquakes. No other type of known terrestrial source of tectonic activity has produced earthquakes of this scale.

Images for kids

  • Nor rev

    Cross-sectional illustration of normal and reverse faults

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Megaterremoto para niños

kids search engine
All content from Kiddle encyclopedia articles (including the article images and facts) can be freely used under Attribution-ShareAlike license, unless stated otherwise. Cite this article:
Megathrust earthquake Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.