Answer 1:
I’ll start with the first part of your question
by saying that waves do not produce
earthquakes, rather earthquakes produce seismic
waves, both shear (waves that travel up and
down, much like if you wiggled a rope up and down)
and compressional waves (waves that travel much
like a slinky if you stretch it and let go).
Also, resonance itself is a phenomenon that
occurs when an external force causes another
system to oscillate with greater amplitudes.
This occurs when the external force has a
frequency that is the resonant frequency (the
frequency at which the maximum amplitude
oscillation occurs) of the system. My
understanding is that seismic waves themselves
cannot be in a resonant state, but they could
cause another system to become in a resonant
state.
Earthquakes produce waves that have a variety
of frequencies, so it is possible that their waves
can cause other systems to experience resonance.
For example, buildings all have a natural
resonance that they vibrate back and forth at and
if an earthquake had the same resonance, it can
cause much greater damage since the building would
move back and forth at a much greater amplitude.
Thanks for the question!
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