Earthquakes

Throughout history, man has made many advancements.   These advancements have been


made to make life easier.   The one thing man can't do is to control Mother Nature.   Mother Nature


can cause many things such as earthquakes.


The causes of earthquakes have been theorized in many ways.   According to the book


Predicting Earthquakes by Gregory Vogt, the Greeks, "blamed the earthquakes on Poseidon, god of


the sea"(25).   The Hindu believed that "the earth was a platform that rested on the back of eight


great elephants.   When one of the elephants grew weary, it lowered and shook its head causing the


ground above to tremble"(Vogt 25).   Margaret Poynter writes "many primitive people thought that


the earth rested upon the back of some sort of animal.   When that animal became restless, great


cracks appeared in the ground, and tall trees swayed and fell.   In South America, the animal was a


whale.   In Japan, it was a great black spider or giant catfish.   One ancient tribe thought that four


bulls supported the earth on their horns.   To amuse themselves, they sometimes tossed it from one


to another"(6).   In the same book, Poynter says "The Chinese believed that monsters lived in the


caves inside the earth.   When the creatures fought, the surface of the earth trembled (6)."   "In


Greece, it was not an animal, but a titan named Atlas who was condemned to support the world


upon his shoulders.   Later, about the third century B.C., a Greek philosopher, Aristotle, had a more


scientific explanation.   He thought that earthquakes occurred only when hot air masses tried to


escape from the center of the earth.   Two centuries later, Lucretius, a Roman, wrote that


underground landslides caused the earth's surface to move"(Poynter 7).2


Last Name




Today, scientists have found a more logical reason to earthquakes.   Scientists say almost


600...