Lesson 1: Earthquake Risks – Dutch learned that most earthquakes occur in oceans and along the edges of continents where tectonic plates meet. Then he was given a map of where the tectonic plates are located on the Earth. Then he learned that earthquakes result from the buildup and release of stress along plate boundaries. The movement in the ground results from movement along breaks in Earth’s crust or faults. The size of an earthquake depends on the amount of force applied to the fault. The amount of energy released by an earthquake is magnitude.