🌎 Earthquakes

What you’ll learn

1. What Actually ShakesUnderstand that earthquakes are the sudden release of stored elastic strain along faults.The earth doesn't breathe. It accumulates strain for centuries, then releases it in seconds along a fault. That snap is the earthquake.
2. Reading the Richter MythDistinguish magnitude from intensity and understand the logarithmic moment magnitude scale.The Richter scale was retired decades ago for big quakes. Moment magnitude measures the energy released, and each step up is a 32-fold jump. Intensity is something else entirely.
3. Where the Earth BreaksConnect earthquake distribution to plate boundaries and the three fault types.Quakes cluster along plate boundaries, especially the Ring of Fire. Whether plates pull apart, push together, or slide past determines the kind of fault and the kind of quake.
4. The Day Lisbon VanishedExamine the 1755 Lisbon earthquake as the birth of seismology and its cultural impact.Lisbon in 1755 was a triple disaster of quake, fire, and tsunami. It shook Europe's faith and reason alike, and one minister's questionnaire became the first scientific study of an earthquake.
5. Liquid GroundExplain soil liquefaction, landslides, and other secondary earthquake hazards.Much earthquake damage isn't from the shaking directly but from what the shaking does to ground and water: liquefaction, landslides, tsunamis, and fire. The geology beneath you decides your fate.
6. Listening to the EarthUnderstand how seismometers work and how networks locate and study earthquakes.Seismometers turn ground motion into a record using a mass that stays still while the earth moves around it. Combining records from many stations lets us pinpoint quakes and even peer inside the planet.
7. The Prediction ProblemDistinguish prediction from forecasting and understand why short-term prediction remains impossible.Precise prediction has failed every test, including a famous 1975 success that couldn't be repeated. But probabilistic forecasting and engineering give us real, lifesaving power even without knowing the exact day.
8. Building to SurviveUnderstand earthquake-resistant engineering principles and why building quality determines survival.The difference between a deadly quake and a survivable one is often the building code. Base isolation, ductile design, and retrofitting turn the same magnitude into vastly different outcomes.
9. The Restless Faults of TomorrowSurvey known major seismic threats, human-caused quakes, and the future of seismic safety.We know roughly where the big ones are coming, from Cascadia to Istanbul. Humans even cause quakes by injecting fluids underground. The path forward is preparation, not prophecy.

Questions this course answers

Grounded in trusted sources

• U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
• Smithsonian Institution
• California Institute of Technology Seismological Laboratory

Every Wunder lesson is built from real, reputable sources — never invented.

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