地震并不是任意分布在地球表面上,而是趋向于集中在一些狭窄的地带内,而且火山和山脉也出现在这类狭窄的地带内。板块构造理论告诉我们,地球的刚性外壳(岩石圈)破裂成嵌镶状的大洋和大陆板块,这些板块能够在地幔最上层的塑性软流圈上滑动。板块总是在运动着。在板块相互作用的边缘,发生各种地质作用,如造山带的形成,地震和火山活动等。 The earthquakes are not randomly distributed on the surface of the Earth, but tend to be concentrated in some narrow zones, and volcanoes and mountains also appear in such narrow zones. Plate tectonics theory tells us that the Earth’s rigid crust (lithosphere) breaks into a mosaic of oceanic and continental plates that slide over the plastic asthenosphere in the uppermost mantle. The plate is always moving. At the edge of plate interaction, a variety of geological effects occur, such as the orogenic belt formation, earthquakes and volcanic activity.