why do we not have earthquakes in britain?

Answer 1

Because Britain is part of the European Continental Plate with its edge in the middle of the Atlantic. Since it is in the middle of a Continental Plate there is very little tectonic movement in the region.

Look at this image: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Plates_tect2_en.svg and you will notice that the nation of England is in the middle of it’s continental plate. Also check out the entire article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plate_tectonics

The crust of the earth is a thin shell of rock upon which all we know of sits. The crust is floating on the liquid mantle and it has been cracked and broken thus forming the continental plates. The mantle is always in motion driven by the heat in the core. As mantle material sinks it grows warmer and then rises toward the crust where it cools and then falls toward the core again. So the continental plates are always moving.

Why nearly any area in the world can have an earthquake, these are very rare. Most earthquakes only occur where Continental Plates collide. There are zones where the plates are coming together and one plate is trying to climb on top of the other. This Wikipedia article explains more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subduction

Another effect of Continental Plates colliding is that they can raise mountains. The North American Continental Plate runs from Canada through the Rocky Mountains down through Mexico and into South America as the Andes Mountains. The Rocky Mountains are stable because the old plates have partially fused; however traveling south the Nazca Plate causes problems on South America’s western coast.

The current arraignment of the Continental Plates are not what they once where. Originally they were joined into one creating the super continent Pangea. This is when Africa and South America were joined and Australia was connected to India. This article will explain that in more detail: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pangaea.

Answer 2

Plate Tectonics - Most Seismic activity occurs on the edge of Tectonic plates. The uk is in the middle of the Eurasia plate. Britain has no Volcanoes and very few Earthquakes as a result.

Britain does occasionally get a few small Earthquakes, the last occuring in Dudley 2 or 3 years ago.

Answer 3

December 27, 2006
Residents in a Scottish town reported their houses shaking violently and windows rattling yesterday after the most powerful earthquake in Britain this year was recorded in Dumfries.
The 3.5-magnitude tremor struck the town just before 10.45am and lasted for about ten seconds.

Britain is struck by a bout 200 tremors every year, although most are not big enough to be felt by the public.

The worst recorded earthquake was in June 1931. It measured 6.1 with an epicentre 60 miles offshore in the North Sea. Damage was reported in 71 different places, but the worst was at Filey in North Yorkshire, where a church spire was twisted.

Answer 4

u may, but too small too notice, but the reason u dont have large noticable earthquakes is because britain is not near any fault lines in the earths crust..and fault is where two peices of the earths crust push against each other and when one finnaly goes below and the other above it is a jerk that results in an earthquake. and britain isnt really near any of those

Answer 5

Actually, we do.

There quakes and tremors that we have are (compared to more seismically active place) very small and almost non-existent.
The last tremor we had was last year and registered at the lowest possible point on the Richter Scale.
The largest recent quake was in the North of England I believe.
Monday, 23 September, 2002 Early hours of the morning.

It measured around 4.8 on Richters and was felt as far as the South Coast.

Don't knock it though, would you really want to be in a major earthquake on a regular basis?

Answer 6

More than likely there is not a fault line that goes through Britain. And if there is its not a very big one so you dont have frequent earthquakes.

Answer 7

We do get earthquakes on a regular basis but normally they are of a small magnitude and only affect a few people nearest the epicentre. We occasionally get quakes of some magnitude which are felt over a wider area and which can cause some structural damage but this is rare

Answer 8

we do they are just very small, mostly along the church stretton fault an the border between england and wales.

We don't get big ones cos we aren't near the edge of a tectonic plate where continental plates meet. An example of where tectonic/continental plates meet is califiornia where the pacific and north american plates meet, hence the san andreas fault and its earthquakes.

Answer 9

We do but they a very minor, had one recently in the Shetland Isles, the reason we don't have any large quakes is because there are no major faults in the earths crust close to Britain

Answer 10

we have plenty of earth quakes in Britain, its just that they are very small and can hardly be felt. the reason for this is, the fault line that creates earthquakes for Britain is small, where as the st Andreas fault line that is near California is massive. when that creates a quake they can be devastating