plate tectonics

2. the sudden shaking of the ground caused by the release of built-up energy when tectonic plates -massive, shifting slabs of Earth's crust-suddenly slip, grind, or break along fault lines
5. a type of occurring at transform boundaries where tectonic plates slide horizontally past one another in opposite directions
8. a type of stress where the lithosphere plates collide and push against each other, squeezing rock layers together

1. a fracture in the Earth's crust along which blocks of rock move past each other, driven by the movement of tectonic plates
3. the extensional stress that pulls tectonic plates apart, primarily occurring at divergent boundaries
4. measures the energy released at an earthquake's source, determined by the size of the fault rupture, rock rigidity, and amount of slip
6. the force per unit area applied to rocks within the Earth's crust, resulting from the movement of tectonic plates
7. a series of massive ocean waves caused by the sudden, vertical displacement of the seafloor, usually triggered by underwater earthquakes at tectonic plates boundaries, particularly subduction zones