Earthquake rupture

Figure 1. This cartoon shows what happens at the surface due to an earthquake rupture. Notice the progression of the strain that leads to the fault and amount of displacement.

In seismology, an earthquake rupture is the extent of slip that occurs during an earthquake in the Earth's crust. Earthquakes occur for many reasons that include: landslides, movement of magma in a volcano, the formation of a new fault, or, most commonly of all, a slip on an existing fault.^[1]