Josh has taught Earth Science and Physical Science at the High School level and holds a Master of Education degree from UNC-Chapel Hill.
Hollywood is great at scaring us by making unlikely events seem terrifyingly real. Jaws is a movie about a killer shark, when in real life shark attacks are very rare. The Day After Tomorrow is a movie about sudden climate change, which is an extremely unlikely event. But not all disaster movies are improbable; Hollywood has produced several movies that focus on the destruction caused by earthquakes, and that is one threat that's all too real.
Earthquakes are terribly disastrous events. It is difficult for scientists to predict the damage that will be done by any individual earthquake and nearly impossible to predict when that earthquake will actually occur. Earthquakes and their effects are among some of the most important phenomena to study, because they are directly linked to massive amounts of property damage and loss of human life.
Seismology is the study of earthquakes, their waves, and the resulting effects. Seismologists not only study earthquakes as they happen, but also try to create models to predict when and where earthquakes might occur. They also study the effects of earthquakes, like seismic waves (and there are many types of those) and tsunamis. Tsunamis are massive ocean waves caused by an undersea earthquake, and they can be quite destructive to coastal communities.
The study of earthquakes is not a new science. Writings about earthquakes and their possible causes date back to 585 BCE. Chinese scientists as early as 132 CE utilized the first seismic recording device. Some of the measurements taken by these early scientists were surprisingly sophisticated and accurate.
In about 1755, modern seismology began to take root. Scientists began to attribute the movement of Earth's crust to shifting rocks below the surface, which is exactly what was happening. Since that time, seismology became more and more refined, leading to more accurate theories about the movement of the Earth.
Modern earthquake record keeping began in 1900. This is significant, because there are few fields of science that have accurate, reliable data this far back. It is possible for many fields to have some data to work with, but seismology had come a long way up to the year 1900, and today's scientists can rely on the data taken since 1900 in their continued study.
A major advance in seismology came in the year 1910 when the scientist Harry Fielding Reid described what he called the elastic rebound theory. He claimed that rocks could store large amounts of elastic energy as they bend, releasing that energy in sudden bursts that lead to earthquakes. This theory remains the primary piece of modern seismology.
Seismology, the study of earthquakes and their effects, is one of the most important branches of science. As scientists study earthquakes and the behavior of the Earth's crust, their overall goal is to prevent damage to property and loss of human life. The study of earthquakes began in ancient times as scientists wrote about possible causes of the movement of the Earth. Ancient Chinese scientists even built and successfully used an early prototype of modern seismic measuring devices. Modern seismology took root 1755, and accurate record keeping began in the year 1900.
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