Does an earthquake make the ground crack open?

Some people think that an earthquake cracks open the ground in a yawning ditch. But this is not likely to happen and certainly not as we imagine it. However, the crust of the earth does shake and tremble and very often vast chunks of the ground are changed and moved around. What’s mores the upheaval does happen along a crack or fault in the earth’s crust.

One of these cracks or faults may look like a small ridge running for hundreds of miles. When a quake happens, the ground on each side of  the ridge may move in opposite directions. A road crossing the fault may be cut and the two ends separated by 20 feet or more   but the ends will be separated by solid ground. Sometimes one side of the fault moves up, forming a cliff maybe 16 feet high. But as a rule, the fault does not open into a yawning ditch.