Study Guides

Unit Summary

This unit teaches pupils about the physical processes that lead to tectonic hazards and investigates the geographical pattern of hazards across the world. Pupils will also learn how tectonic hazards affect people in different places and how people seek to manage hazards.

Lesson Summary

You will learn to describe where earthquakes occur and explain how they happen.

Key Notes

• Earthquakes are sudden, violent movements of the ground caused by tectonic plate movement.
• Earthquakes usually happen on or near plate boundaries.
• At a plate boundary two plates are locked together, yet moving in different directions.
• When rock fractures at a plate boundary this causes an earthquake.
• Small earthquakes can also occur far from plate boundaries.

Vocabulary To Learn

• tectonic plates: the huge pieces that Earth's surface is broken into
• plate boundary: where two plates meet
• fault lines: fractures in Earth's surface
• focus point: the point deep underground where the tectonic plates first break

Common Mistakes To Avoid

• Plate boundaries are clean cuts through the ground which separate two plates.

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

More Lessons In This Unit

• Inside Earth Study Guide
• Living close to volcanoes Study Guide
• Living in earthquake regions Study Guide
• Plate boundaries Study Guide
• The 2018 Sunda Strait Tsunami Study Guide
• The 2025 Myanmar Earthquake Study Guide
• The effects of earthquakes Study Guide
• The eruption of Mount Nyiragongo Study Guide
• The movement of tectonic plates Study Guide
• Types of volcanoes Study Guide
• Volcanic hazards Study Guide