History Main / EarthquakesCauseFissures

* The strongest earthquake of "recent" years, the one in Chile last century, actually had this happen. Since it was so long ago, all we have are {{Unreliable Narrator}}s, but people that old actually say that the ground opened up and ''swallowed houses''. Make of that what you will, and don't overlook that Chile is a mountainous country, making tremor-induced landslides plausible.

* The Creator/{{Syfy}} [[Film/SyfyOriginalMovie movie]] ''Film/MegaFault''. The premise is that a giant earthquake opens a crack from the east coast to the ''Grand Canyon''. ''[[ArtisticLicenseGeology Argh]]''!

[[caption-width-right:350:You can't [[JustForPun fault]] Mother Nature for decreasing property values.]]

* Franchise/MonsterVerse: In the graphic novel ''Godzilla Aftershock'', a series of violent tremors in Guam cause a giant sinkhole to open up, before the [[Characters/MonsterVerseMUTO MUTO Prime]] which caused the tremors emerges for the first time.

* In ''Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz'', one of the later ''Literature/LandOfOz'' books, Dorothy is visiting California when a crack in the ground swallows her up during an earthquake, and she and her companions fall to the center of the earth. Fortunately, in the book this is a habitable place.

* In the earthquake episode of Creator/SpikeTV's ''Series/SurvivingDisaster'', a massive earthquake along the New Madrid fault line (y'know, the one in ''mid-eastern U.S.'', the one that hasn't had a major earthquake since ''1812''?) creates an equally massive sinkhole in a park. Semi-justified in that stress along faults BUILDS the longer an area goes without a tremor to "relieve" the stress. Even in areas not a plate boundary, and IDontMeanDinnerPlates.

%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1446137593006892400
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[[quoteright:350:[[Film/SanAndreas https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sanandreas.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:You can't [[JustForPun fault]] Mother Nature for decreasing property values.]]

%% Caption selected per above IP thread. Please do not replace or remove without discussion here: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1404492079030138900

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Koati}}'': In one of the first scenes, the ground shakes and a fissure opens up right in the center of Xo. After just a minute, it closes back up, nearly crushing a jaguar cub.
* Many instances in the ''[[WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime Land Before Time]]'' movies.

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* Justified in ''Crack in the World'', where underground nuclear explosions inadvertently create the giant rift of the title, causing lots of StockFootage earthquakes and volcanoes.

* A man is caught and crushed in a fissure in the Japanese disaster movie ''JishinRetto''/''DeathQuake''. It goes from scary to camp when he spits up red kool-aid.

* The Creator/{{Syfy}} [[Film/SyfyOriginalMovie movie]] ''[=MegaFault=]''. The premise is that a giant earthquake opens a crack from the east coast to the ''Grand Canyon''. ''[[ArtisticLicenseGeology Argh]]''!

* In ''Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz'', one of the later Literature/LandOfOz books, Dorothy is visiting California when a crack in the ground swallows her up during an earthquake, and she and her companions fall to the center of the earth. Fortunately, in the book this is a habitable place.
* The protagonist in ''Literature/{{Shogun}}'' gets a very powerful friend by saving him from such a fall during an earthquake.

* In Creator/BrandonSanderson's Literature/{{Elantris}}, a big earthquake caused a giant fissure to split the country in half. This turns out to have extremely plot-relevant implications.

* In the earthquake episode of Creator/SpikeTV's ''Surviving Disaster'', a massive earthquake along the New Madrid fault line (y'know, the one in ''mid-eastern U.S.'', the one that hasn't had a major earthquake since ''1812''?) creates an equally massive sinkhole in a park. Semi-justified in that stress along faults BUILDS the longer an area goes without a tremor to "relieve" the stress. Even in areas not a plate boundary, and IDontMeanDinnerPlates.

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* One strip of ''ComicStrip/LittleNemo in Slumberland'' had the ground becoming impossibly fissured.
* One of Calvin's {{Imagine Spot}}s in ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' involves a tectonic fissure moving with uncanny accuracy toward an unsuspecting man's house, coinciding with [[ContrivedCoincidence a derailed train, plummeting airplane, and gas leak]].
[[/folder]]

* ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' has optional rules for seismic activity. One of the potential effects is fissures that appear underneath ground units and can potentially swallow them whole.
* In ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' First Edition adventure path Wrath Of the Righteous, this occurs in the very initial scene, leading to the player characters awakening deep in the earth.

* ''VideoGame/KessenII'' has the Earthquake spell, one of the more powerful ([[ThatOneAttack and nastier to receive]]) spells in the game that opens up a gigantic fissure that sucks in a good deal of an entire enemy unit if aimed right.
* ''VideoGame/BlackAndWhite 2's'' Earthquake miracle causes fissures to form in the earth, swallowing everything in their path. For whatever reason they gradually dissipate after the spell ends.
* ''Videogame/DeepRockGalactic:'' One of the threats in the Magma Core is the sheer geological instability of the area. Thankfully, the frequent earthquakes won't collapse the caverns or drop massive chunks of earth on your head... but what they ''will'' do is open up massive crevices of dangerous half-molten rock into the nearby earth, where you can fall in and cook to death if you aren't careful. They're not quite deep enough to cause fall damage, but that's the least of your problems.
* Averted in ''VideoGame/TheDeadMines''. While one note reveals that an earthquake caused the mine to fill with gas, the mine remained structurally intact and the only thing damaged are the human-made pipes.
* In ''VideoGame/PathfinderWrathOfTheRighteous'', this happens very early in the game as of its alpha build. This is unlikely to change as the game leaves alpha and goes into beta and beyond, as the same event occurs during the table top adventure.
* ''VideoGame/DivinityOriginalSinII'': The [[DishingOutDirt Geomancy]] spell "Earthquake" is an AreaOfEffect that inflicts heavy elemental damage and knockdown, creates [[GeoEffects oil surfaces]], and causes cracks in the ground to radiate outwards from the caster, though the latter effect is short-lived and purely cosmetic.

* Earthquakes in ''Webcomic/TheRedacverse'' don't ''always'' cause fissures, but when it happens, the ground can be broken apart even inside a house.

* At the end of the [[Music/IgorStravinsky "Rite of Spring"]] segment of Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}}'', a massive earthquake strikes. One of the first things to occur is the ground ripping apart to form a canyon like two hands grabbed the earth and pulled in opposite directions.

* A fissure big enough to swallow a river is opened up by "the greatest earthquake ever known" in the opening credits of ''Series/LandOfTheLost''.

* In ''WesternAnimations/{{Visionaries}}'', the Sun Imps (six mischievous sprites) were sealed into a tomb during the First Age of Magic. The tomb was then buried, but later earthquakes caused an enormous fissure to open up in the ground, exposing the tomb. When Merklynn learns of this, he sends the Visionaries to rebury the tomb, but things don't go as planned.

** The [[EarthShatteringKaboom earthquake]] that Kefka causes halfway through VI. There's a big montage of seismic faults and fissures opening up in the ground all over the place during the cutscene. [[spoiler:Possibly justified, as it wasn't just an earthquake, Kefka was literally reshaping the world.]]

** Scenes of the destruction of the planet Krypton included [[strike:earthquakes]] Kryptonquakes, with cracks opening up and many Kryptonians falling to their doom.

* ''Film/{{Superman}}'' (1978).

* While it's a small one compared to many other examples, in ''Film/{{Ghostbusters 1984}}'' the eponymous crew fall into a fissure when an earthquake strikes just before they go in for the final showdown. A moment of drama and then they crawl out and wave.
** It makes more sense knowing that the street (Central Park West) is built directly on top of a subway tunnel, which is now damaged and partially collapsing.

* ''Film/TheTenCommandments1956'': when Moses throws the eponymous tablets at the Golden Calf, the Calf [[MadeOfExplodium explodes]] and a massive earthquake ensues which opens up massive rifts in the Earth, consuming the [[{{Mook}} mooks]] and TheStarscream of the piece. Justified by the fact it's the WordOfGod.

* Franchise/MonsterVerse: In the graphic novel ''Godzilla Aftershock'', a series of violent tremors in Guam cause a giant sinkhole to open up, before the [[Characters/MonsterVerseKaiju MUTO Prime]] which caused the tremors emerges for the first time.

* In the infamous "Mama Luigi" episode of ''WesternAnimation/SuperMarioWorld'', a "Fire Sumo" (Sumo Bro.) stomps the ground, causing cracks to open and Luigi to fall through. Of course, this couldn't happen in the game.

* The 1995 Kobe Earthquake caused significant damage to the artificial islands making up the Kobe Port, the sixth busiest port in the world... here the fissures were the result of the sand used to make the island liquifying (or or compacting so tight that water between the grains was forced up to the surface, with enough force to cause significant fissures). The Akashi Kaikyō Bridge, which was under construction at the time, had to be extended a full meter after the two towers of the suspension bridge were moved.

* ''Film/TheTenCommandments'': when Moses throws the eponymous tablets at the Golden Calf, the Calf [[MadeOfExplodium explodes]] and a massive earthquake ensues which opens up massive rifts in the Earth, consuming the [[{{Mook}} mooks]] and TheStarscream of the piece. Justified by the fact it's the WordOfGod.

[[folder: Anime & Manga]]

[[folder: Films -- Animated]]

[[folder: Live Action TV]]

[[folder: Music]]

[[folder: Newspaper Comics]]

[[folder: Tabletop Games]]

[[folder: Video Games]]

[[folder: Western Animation]]

* The 1995 Kobe Earthquake caused significant damage to the artificial islands making up the Kobe Port, the sixth busiest port in the world... here the fissures were the result of the sand used to make the island liquifying (or or compacting so tight that water between the grains was forced up to the surface, with enough force to cause significant fissures). The Akashi Kaikyō Bridge, which was under construction at the time, had to be extended a full meter after the two towers of the suspension bridge were moved.
* The magnitude 7.1 earthquake that hit New Zealand in 2010 reportedly shifted parts of the country up to 11 feet sideways, and actually did create some menacing but shallow fissures. Some photos can be [[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1310461/New-Zealand-earthquake-damage-1-8bn.html found here.]]
* The strongest earthquake of "recent" years, the one in Chile last century, actually had this happen. Since it was so long ago, all we have are {{Unreliable Narrator}}s, but people that old actually say that the ground opened up and ''swallowed houses''. Make of that what you will, and don't overlook that Chile is a mountainous country, making tremor-induced landslides plausible.
* Fissures are a regular formation produced in association with earthquakes in Iceland, but they are from the same cause, not the consequence of the quakes. They are often an immediate prelude to a fissure eruption, a phenomenon common in volcanism in Iceland (due to the unusual geological structure of the island) and rare elsewhere. Fissures also periodically open up in the spreading zone without immediate vulcanism (although you'd have to be mad to live in the spreading zone as it is highly subject to vulcanism).

* The 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake [[https://youtu.be/gXqmYSm2w_0?t=2405 caused a mile-long fissure near its epicenter in the Santa Cruz Mountains]]. In some places, it is large enough for a person to fit, and in more places large enough for a camera to fit.

* The strongest earthquake of "recent" years, the one in Chile last century, actually had this happen. Since it was so long ago, all we have are [[UnreliableNarrator unreliable narrators]], but people that old actually say that the ground opened up and ''swallowed houses''. Make of that what you will, and don't overlook that Chile is a mountainous country, making tremor-induced landslides plausible.

[[folder:Film]]
%%* ''Film/SanAndreas''.
* ''Film/{{Superman}}'' (1978).
** Scenes of the destruction of the planet Krypton included [[strike:earthquakes]] Kryptonquakes, with cracks opening up and many Kryptonians falling to their doom.
** When the missile hits California, it causes a quake which opens two fissures: one underneath the train tracks and one which Lois Lane's car drops into.
* ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade''. When Dr. Elsa Schneider crosses the seal while holding the Grail, a mammoth earthquake hits and causes huge cracks to form in the cave. Dr. Schneider falls in, as does Indy later on (Possibly some {{Mooks}} fall in too).
* ''Film/TheTenCommandments'': when Moses throws the eponymous tablets at the Golden Calf, the Calf [[MadeOfExplodium explodes]] and a massive earthquake ensues which opens up massive rifts in the Earth, consuming the [[{{Mook}} mooks]] and TheStarscream of the piece. Justified by the fact it's the WordOfGod.
* Justified in ''Crack in the World'', where underground nuclear explosions inadvertently create the giant rift of the title, causing lots of StockFootage earthquakes and volcanoes.

* The Creator/{{Syfy}} [[Film/SyfyOriginalMovie movie]] ''[=MegaFault=]''. The premise is that a giant earthquake opens a crack from the east coast to the ''Grand Canyon''. ''[[ArtisticLicenseGeology Argh]]''!

* ''Film/{{Jumanji}}'': The final danger unleashed by the game is an earthquake. It causes a fissure that rips the Parrish family mansion in half. This is at least partly a good thing, since it frees Alan, who was trapped in the floor due to the game turning the ground to quicksand earier.

* In the infamous "Mama Luigi" episode of ''WesternAnimation/SuperMarioWorld'', a "Fire Sumo" (Sumo Bro.) stomps the ground, causing cracks to open and Luigi to fall through. Of course, this couldn't happen in the game.
* In the Fleischer ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' cartoon "Electric Earthquake", the eponymous event causes fissures in the street of Metropolis.

* The stated purpose of [[EarthquakeMachine Experiment 513]], a.k.a. "Richter", in ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitchTheSeries'' was to "bifurcate" a planet in half with earthquakes.
* Rumble from ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'' was always doing this with his earthquake-causing abilities, and even seemed to be able to control their direction to more effectively use them as a weapon. He got a bit of payback from Sludge in the debut episode of the Dinobots.

* ''VideoGame/BlackAndWhite 2's'' Earthquake miracle causes fissures to form in the earth. For whatever reason they gradually dissipate after the spell ends.

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}} First Edition adventure path Wrath Of the Righteous, this occurs in the very initial scene, leading to the player characters awakening deep in the earth.

[[quoteright:350:[[Film/SanAndreas https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/san_andreas_earthquake17.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:You can't [[JustForPun fault]] Mother Nature for decreasing property values.]]

* Earthquakes in ''Webcomic/TheRedac'' don't always cause fissures, but when it happens, the ground can be broken apart even inside a house.

* ''Film/SanAndreas'' provides the current page image.