The tectonic plates placed throughout Earth’s crust are constantly moving. These plates are typically pushing or pulling against or away from other plates, but sometimes they slide against each other. These huge plates, sometimes hundreds of square miles in area, build tension against other plates as they try and move past one another. Occasionally, the force of the plates attempting to move against each other overpowers the friction established between the two, quickly shifting the plate. This causes the release of a tremendous amount of energy radiating from the principle point from where the tension first built.
