I know that they occur when energy that was previously stored is released inseismic waves.But how is the energy stored in the earth in the first place, and what can trigger the release of such energy?
Put another way, the above preconditions for earthquakes can be brought about by natural phenomena such as fault lines in the earth, and also by man-made phenomena such asmining.What are the ways to measure/estimate the "potential" energy of a fault line, and the likely resulting earthquake, and what are the ways to measure/estimate the energy released by mining or other human activities, and how large an earthquake is likely to result?