Lesson Y9-U04-L03

Earthquakes: Causes, Measurement and Risk Quiz: KS3 Geography, Unit 16

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

In partnership with Revision Ninja

Lesson Y9-U04-L03, Earthquakes: Causes, Measurement and Risk: 20 multiple choice questions for the KS3 Geography (National Curriculum), Unit 16: Year 9: Dynamic Landscapes: Tectonics and Ice, written with Revision Ninja.

Host it live on the board and students join with a game code on their own devices, or revise alone with Free Play. The answers are revealed in the game.

Host this setFree Play

The 20 questions

  1. What is the underground point where rock breaks and releases earthquake energy called?

    • Tremor
    • Epicentre
    • Fault line
    • Focus

  2. What is the point on the Earth's surface directly above the earthquake focus?

    • Vent
    • Epicentre
    • Focus
    • Crater

  3. Which instrument records the shaking of the ground during an earthquake?

    • A rain gauge.
    • An anemometer.
    • A barometer.
    • A seismometer.

  4. What builds up in locked rocks along a fault before an earthquake occurs?

    • Sediment
    • Magma
    • Water
    • Stress

  5. What holds two plates together at a fault until the stress becomes too great?

    • Magma.
    • Wind shear.
    • Friction.
    • Snowfall.

  6. Which scale has largely replaced the Richter scale for measuring large earthquakes?

    • Beaufort
    • Mercalli
    • Moment Magnitude
    • Saffir-Simpson

  7. What type of waves spread outwards from the earthquake focus to shake the ground?

    • Light waves
    • Seismic waves
    • Sound waves
    • Tidal waves

  8. How much more ground shaking is a magnitude 7 earthquake than a magnitude 5?

    • About 7 times more.
    • About 1,000 times more.
    • About 2 times more.
    • About 100 times more.

  9. On a logarithmic scale, what does each whole-number step represent?

    • Double energy
    • Ten times shaking
    • Hundred times shaking
    • Ten times energy

  10. How much stronger is a magnitude 6 earthquake than a magnitude 4?

    • About 2 times stronger.
    • About 600 times stronger.
    • About 100 times stronger.
    • About 10 times stronger.

  11. Which recent earthquake recorded the highest magnitude of Mw 7.8?

    • Japan
    • Taiwan
    • Haiti
    • Turkiye

  12. Which two recent earthquakes were closest in magnitude at Mw 7.5 and 7.4?

    • Haiti and Taiwan
    • Japan and Taiwan
    • Turkiye and Haiti
    • Turkiye and Japan

  13. Which of these is a vulnerability factor rather than a natural hazard?

    • Earthquake magnitude
    • Epicentre depth
    • Poorly built homes
    • Ground shaking

  14. Which factor is a characteristic of the natural hazard itself?

    • Warning systems
    • Shallow focus
    • Building quality
    • Hospital capacity

  15. What key human factor mostly explains very different death tolls between earthquakes?

    • Continental drift
    • Magma temperature
    • Vulnerability
    • Tectonic plate speed

  16. Why might a large ocean earthquake cause almost no human impact?

    • Low vulnerability
    • High tsunami risk
    • Shallow focus
    • Low magnitude

  17. What two key factors combine to determine overall earthquake risk?

    • Magnitude and depth
    • Wealth and population
    • Hazard and vulnerability
    • Time and location

  18. Why can a smaller earthquake sometimes cause more deaths than a larger one?

    • Greater ocean depth
    • Faster seismic waves
    • Higher vulnerability
    • Higher magnitude

  19. Which factor most frequently dictates whether an earthquake becomes a major disaster?

    • Fault line length
    • Seismic magnitude
    • Human vulnerability
    • Epicentre location

  20. Which scale measures earthquake magnitude using total energy released and fault rupture size?

    • Richter scale
    • Mercalli scale
    • Volcanic explosivity index
    • Moment magnitude scale

All KS3 Geography quizzes