A hypocenter is the purpose throughout the earth’s crust the place an earthquake begins. Additionally it is often called the main target of an earthquake. The hypocenter is positioned on the fault airplane, which is the boundary between two tectonic plates. When the plates transfer previous one another, they’ll trigger a build-up of stress. When the stress turns into too nice, the plates can slip previous one another, releasing vitality within the type of an earthquake.
The hypocenter is a vital idea in seismology, the examine of earthquakes. By understanding the placement of the hypocenter, scientists can study extra concerning the earthquake’s magnitude, its location, and the kind of fault that induced it. This info can be utilized to develop earthquake hazard maps and to design buildings which can be immune to earthquakes.