Introduction
Seismology has played a key role in the development of the plate tectonic theory, which describes and explains the motions of lithosphere plates. The global distribution of earthquakes outlines the plate boundaries, the occurrence of deep earthquakes indicates regions where plates are recycled back into Earth’s mantle, and earthquake fault plane solutions provide information about the relative sense of motion at plate boundaries.
Three different types of plate boundaries exist: convergent, divergent, and transform. Relative motion of two plates toward each other occurs at convergent, away from each other at divergent, and parallel to the boundary at transform boundaries (Fig. 1). Convergent plate boundaries are subduction zones where oceanic lithosphere of one plate dives beneath another plate. The overriding plate can be either...
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Braunmiller, J. (2014). Earthquake Mechanisms and Tectonics. In: Beer, M., Kougioumtzoglou, I., Patelli, E., Au, IK. (eds) Encyclopedia of Earthquake Engineering. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-36197-5_297-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-36197-5_297-1
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