Assemble the plates like a jigsaw puzzle. Now, label the plates on your assembled map. The damage caused by earthquakes makes us aware that they are produced by great forces in the earth. Scientists have found clues in the records of earthquake locations that indicate a relationship between earthquakes and the motion of the crustal plates. It is the strain produced by these crustal movements that are the source of earthquakes.
Serious earthquakes take place close to where the plates come together.
The boundaries between the plates are actually huge cracks in the crust. As the plates slowly move, their edges grind together. This may cause movement along cracks, or joints, that exist in crustal rocks. A place where the rock on either or both sides of a crack has moved is called a fault. Almost all large earthquakes are a result of movement of rocks along faults.