Earthquakes by Elizabeth Doering
by Elizabeth Doering
STRATEGIES & SKILLS
Comprehension Vocabulary
Strategy: Reread active, Earth, explode,
Skill: Cause and Effect island, local, properties,
solid, steep
Phonics
r-controlled vowels /ûr/ Content Standards
er, ir, ur, or Science
Earth and Space Science
Word count: 493**
Photography Credit: Reynold Mainse/Perspectives/Getty Images
**The total word count is based on words in the running text and headings only. Numerals and words in
captions, labels, diagrams, charts, and sidebars are not included.
[Link]/prek-12
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ISBN: 978-0-02-118942-7
MHID: 0-02-118942-0
Printed in the United States of America.
11 12 13 14 15 DOC 22 21 20 19 18 F
Genre Expository Text
Essential Question
How does the Earth change?
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
What Are Earthquakes? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Chapter 2
What Causes Earthquakes? . . . . . . . . . . 8
Chapter 3
How Strong Are Earthquakes? . . . . . . 14
Respond to Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
PAIRED
Glaciers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
READ
STEM Focus on Science . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Chapter 1 What Are Earthquakes?
Picture this. You are home. You
feel the house start to shake.
Glasses rattle. So do dishes. A
hanging lamp sways. It could be
an earthquake.
There was a big earthquake in San
Francisco, California, in 1989.
2
China was hit hard by an earthquake
in 2010.
Big earthquakes are big news.
There were earthquakes long ago,
too. But we do not know a lot
about them.
3
There was an earthquake in
Virginia in August 2011. Millions
of people felt it. Buildings shook
from Washington, D.C., to New
York City.
The map shows the effects of
the earthquake.
Understanding the Map
p
The star shows the center of the earthquake.
The circles show where people felt it.
4
In March 2011, a strong earthquake
hit Japan. It moved Japan’s main
island 8 feet (2.4 meters).
Japan has many earthquakes.
5
Earthquakes often happen near
places called fault lines. California
has many. The San Andreas fault
is in California. It is active. Strong
earthquakes happen near there.
This is what the San Andreas fault looks
like from the air.
6
The Mississippi River is over 2,300
miles long.
Big earthquakes hit the Mississippi
River in 1811 and 1812. Landslides
formed on steep hills. The
earthquakes caused huge waves.
The waves made the river look
like it was flowing the wrong
way!
STOP AND CHECK
What have you learned about
earthquakes so far?
7
Chapter 2 What Causes Earthquakes?
Earth’s surface is called the crust.
It has interesting properties. It
feels like one solid piece. But
it is made up of broken pieces
called plates.
This diagram shows Earth’s crust on
land and under the oceans.
8
More earthquakes happen where two
plates meet. The lines show the outlines
of the plates.
Plates
We can’t feel it. But these
plates move. They move slowly.
They slide. They pull away
from each other. This can make
chunks of rock explode. This
causes shock waves.
9
Shock Waves
Shock waves begin deep
underground. They start at a
place called the focus. Then they
move through the ground. Some
reach the surface. This causes an
earthquake.
Shock waves can move through solid rock.
10
Imagine if you traveled from
the focus straight up to Earth’s
surface. You would be at the
earthquake’s epicenter. That is
where people feel it most.
Earthquakes happen underwater,
too. This can cause huge waves
called tsunami.
Giant tsunami can cause lots of damage.
STOP AND CHECK
What causes
earthquakes?
11
Tsunami
Tsunami are giant ocean waves.
Some are as tall as a ten-story
building when they hit shore.
These waves are very powerful .
They are dangerous .
12
Tsunami waves start small. They
stay small out at sea. Near land,
they suck up water. They grow
taller and wider. Then a huge wall
of water crashes down on shore.
This is what a tsunami looks like as it grows.
STOP AND CHECK
What are some effects
of earthquakes?
13
Chapter 3 How Strong Are Earthquakes?
Some earthquakes make buildings
fall down. But most earthquakes
are small. People do not even
feel many local earthquakes.
This machine, a seismograph, tells how
strong an earthquake is.
14
This is a seismograph used in ancient China
to detect earthquakes.
There will always be earthquakes.
But people are safer now
because we have learned a lot
about earthquakes.
15
Respond to
Reading
Summarize
Use details to help you
summarize Earthquakes .
Text Evidence
1. How do you know Earthquakes
is expository text? Genre
2. What can underwater
earthquakes cause? Cause and Effect
3. Use sentence clues to figure
out what sways means on
page 2 . Sentence Clues
4. Write about why earthquakes
happen . Write About Reading
16
Genre Expository Text
Compare Texts
Read to find out how glaciers
change Earth.
Paired Read: Glaciers
Glaciers are sparkling masses of
ice, snow, rock, and water. They
form on snowy mountain tops.
Snow piles up into heavy layers.
New snow crushes the layers
below. Ice then forms under the
top layer. It starts sliding down.
Now a glacier has formed.
Some glaciers look blue.
17
Rivers of Ice
Glaciers do not stay still. They
move. They can flow like a river.
A huge mass of moving ice can
carve new landscapes.
This glacier in Alaska is crumbling.
Some glaciers are near the
equator. It is hot at the equator.
But the glaciers are up high in
mountains. It is much cooler there.
18
The glacier on top of Mount Kilimanjaro
in Tanzania, Africa, is melting.
Melting Glaciers
Glaciers can melt. Most of the
world’s fresh water is frozen
inside glaciers. What if all that
ice melted?
Make Connections
How do earthquakes change Earth?
Essential Question
How are glaciers like tsunami?
Text to Text
19
Focus on
Science
Purpose To make a model of an
earthquake
What to Do
Step 1 Work outside with a group.
Bring a pencil, a bake pan,
two fabric pieces, wet soil,
and toy trees or people.
Step 2 Place fabric pieces in pan.
Let ends hang out. Pat soil
into pan. Make a path in
the middle with your pencil.
Step 3 Put toys on top. Pull fabric
pieces in opposite directions.
Conclusion Describe the results.
20
Literature Circles
Literature Circles Nonfiction Thinkmark
Nonfiction
Text Structure
What does the diagram on page 8 show?
What machine does the author describe in
Chapter 3?
Vocabulary
What new words did you learn?
What clues helped you understand their
meaning?
Conclusions
What is the most important thing you
learned in Earthquakes?
Author’s Purpose
Why do you think the author wrote
Earthquakes?
Earth Changes Science
GR H • Benchmark 14 • Lexile 410
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