Vancouver: Earthquake!!
On shaky ground
Plates & Quakes
An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy when rocks under stress slide abruptly past one another along a break in the Earth's crust (fault). Most earthquakes occur where the large rigid plates that make up the outer shell of the Earth are in contact with one another.
Block diagram of southwest B.C. showing the Juan de Fuca plate descending beneath North America along a subduction zone.