Cause of earthquakes

Earthquakes are caused due to disequilibrium in any part of the crust of the earth. A number of caused have been assigned to cause disequilibrium in the earth's crust such as volcanic eruptions, faulting and folding, up warping and down warping, hydrostatic pressure of man-made water bodies like reservoirs and lakes, and late the plate movements. The occurrence of severe devastating earthquake of San Fransisco (U.S.A) in 1960 led H.F. Reid, one of the official investigators of San Fransisco Earthquake Disaster, to advance his important ELASTIC REBOUNB THEORY to explain the mode and causes of earthquake mainly caused by fractures and faults in the earth's crust and upper mantle. Recently, PLATE TECTONIC THEORY has been accepted as the most plausible explanation of earthquakes.