5-3 Earthquakes and Society

Question 1

a hypothesis that is based on the idea that a major earthquake is more likely to occur along the part of an active fault where no earthquakes have occured for a certain period of time

Answer 1

gap hypothesis

Question 2

an area along a fault where relatively few earthquakes have occurred recently but where strong earthquakes have occurred in the past

Answer 2

seismic gap

Question 3

a measurement of how likely an area is to have damaging earthquakes in the future

Answer 3

Earthquake hazard

Question 4

a process of making older structures more earthquake resistant

Answer 4

retrofitting