The ground
is always
moving.
Every day the earth ruptures somewhere — mostly too small to feel. Drag the globe to see where it's happening right now, then scroll to see what's actually going on underneath.
Where it actually starts
An earthquake begins deep underground, not on the surface. Click each part to see how the rupture travels.
Four ways rock breaks
The type of fault depends on which direction the two blocks of crust move relative to each other. Hover or tap a card to watch it slip.
Not all quakes start the same way
"Earthquake" covers several very different processes. Tap a card to expand it.
Four kinds of shaking
Energy released at the focus radiates outward as different wave types, each moving rock in a different way, at a different speed.
Same earthquake, one monitoring station 80 km away. Watch each wave type arrive in order — this is exactly how seismologists locate a quake in real time.
Why one number lies
The moment magnitude scale is logarithmic — each whole step releases roughly 32× more energy, not just "a bit more." Tap a bar.
Today, on record
Pulled live from the USGS earthquake feed. Click an event to see it isolated on the globe above.
Did it stick?
Five quick questions pulled straight from what you just read.