How does earthquake Occurs

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Prepared By:- Prof. Anuj Chandiwala

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An

earthquake may be define as a wave like motion

generated by forces in constant turmoil under surface

layer of the earth (the lithosphere), travelling through
the earths crust.
It

may also define as the vibration, sometimes violent,

of the earths surface as a result of a release of energy

in the earths crust.
This

release energy can be caused by sudden

dislocations of segments of

the crust, volcanic

eruptions, or even explosions created by humans.

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 The

magnitude is a measure of the amount of energy

released, while the intensity is the apparent effect

experienced at a specific location.

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WHY DO EARTHQUAKES
OCCUR?
Fractures,
Energy

faults

released

and propagates in
all directions as
seismic

waves

causing
earthquakes
epicenter

focus
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THE EARTH AND ITS INTERIOR

Long

time ago, a large collection of material masses

coalesced to form the Earth.

Large

amount of heat was generated by this fusion, and

slowly as the earth cooled down, the heavier and denser

materials sank to the centre and the lighter ones rose to the
top.
The

differentiated Earth consist s of the Inner Core

(radius ~1290km), the Outer Core (thickness ~2200km),

the Mantle (thickness ~2900km) and the Crust
(thickness ~5 to 40km).

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The Inner Core is solid and consists of heavy metals (e.g.,

nickel and iron), while the Crust consists of light
materials (e.g., basalts and granites).

The Outer Core is liquid in form and the Mantle has the
ability to flow. At the Core, the temperature is estimated
to be ~2500C, the pressure ~4 million atmospheres and
density ~13.5 gm/cc; this is in contrast to ~25C,
1atmosphere and 1.5 gm/cc on the surface of the Earth.

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CRUST

Crust is also known as lithosphere.

It is the thinnest outer solid shell.

The thickness of crust is about 5 to 40 km.

The crust consists of light materials e.g., basalts and

granites.

The density of materials is about 1500 kg/m.

The temperature of the crust is about 25 C and the

pressure within it 1 atmosphere.

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MANTLE

Mantle is also known as asthenosphere.

The thickness of mantle is about 2900 km.

It is composed of hot, dense ultra basic igneous rocks in

a plastic state. It has the ability to flow.

The density of materials is 5000-6000 kg/m.

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CORE

Core is also known as barysphere.

It is the densest central part of the earth.

It is composed of the inner core and outer core.

The inner core, 1290 km in radius, is solid and consists of

heavy metals like nickel and iron. Its density is 16,000
kg/m.

The outer core surrounding the inner core is 2200 km

thick. It exists as a liquid of density 12000 kg/m.

The temperature at the core is about 2500C and the

pressure is 4 X 106 atmosphere.
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CIRCULATION

Convection currents develop in the viscous Mantle, because

of prevailing high temperature and pressure gradients
between the Crust and the Core, like the convective flow of
water when heated in a beaker.

The energy for the above circulations is derived from the

heat produced from the incessant decay of radioactive
elements in the rocks throughout the Earths interior.

These convection currents result in a circulation of the

earths mass; hot molten lava comes out and the cold rock
mass goes into the Earth.
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The mass absorbed eventually melts under high

temperature and pressure and becomes a part of the
Mantle, only to come out again from another location,
someday.

Many such local circulations are taking place at different

regions underneath the Earths surface, leading to
different portions of the Earth undergoing different
directions of movements along the surface.

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(a) Convection currents

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PLATE TECTONICS

The convective current(flow) of the mantle material causes

the crust and some portion of the mantle to slide on the hot
molten outer core.

This sliding of the earths mass takes place in portions called

tectonic plates.

The surface of the earth consists of 12 major tectonic plates,

20 smaller tectonic plates and many filler plates.

The major tectonic plates are the Indo Australian plate, the
Eurasian plate, the pacific plate, the African plate, the North
American plate, the south American plate, the Antarctic plate,
etc.
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SEISMIC WAVES

Large strain energy released during an earthquake

travels as seismic waves in all directions through the
Earths layers, reflecting and refracting at each interface.

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Arrival of Seismic waves at a site

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These waves are of two types - body waves and surface waves;
the latter are restricted to near the Earths surface.

P-Waves:

They are also known as primary, longitudinal or compressional

waves.

P-waves are analogous to sound waves.

They are the fastest waves and are longitudinal in character.

They can travel through all materials like solid, liquid or air.

In P-Waves the material particle oscillate back and forth in the

direction of propagation of the wave.

Velocity of P-waves is 4.8 km/sec (granite) & 1.5 km/sec

(water).
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 S-Waves:

S-waves are analogous to electromagnetic waves.

They are transverse or shear waves.

The particles in S-waves oscillate at right angles to the direction of

propagation of the wave.

They do not change instantaneous volume of the material through

liquids.

S-waves are slower the P-waves. Their velocity in granite is

km/sec.

The velocity of S-waves is directly proportional to the shear

strength of the material through which they pass. They do not
travel through liquids, as they do not have any shear strength.

S-waves cause maximum damages to structures by rocking the

surface in both horizontal and vertical directions.
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Rayleigh

Waves:-

Rayleigh wave makes a material particle oscillate in an elliptic

path in the vertical plane with horizontal

motion along

direction of energy transmission.

The velocity of Rayleigh wave is very much depend on the

Poissons ratio and is equal to 0.92 Vs .

These waves are produced by interaction of P and S waves

with earth surface.

They propagation at the surface of earth at low velocity and

low frequency.

These waves are involved with both vertical and horizontal

motion of earth.
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Love
In

Waves:-

love waves particle motion is in horizontal plane

and transverse to the direction of wave propagation.

They

do not have vertical component of velocity.

These

waves generally tend to create shearing or

breaking ruptures.
Love

waves are faster than Rayleigh waves but can

not pass through water.

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MEASURING INSTRUMENT

The instrument that measures earthquake shaking, a

seismograph, has three components the sensor, the
recorder and the timer.

The principle on which it works is simple and is explicitly

reflected in the early seismograph a pen attached at the
tip of an oscillating simple pendulum (a mass hung by a
string from a support) marks on a chart paper that is held
on a drum rotating at a constant speed.

A magnet around the string provides required damping to

control the amplitude of oscillations.
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The pendulum mass, string, magnet and support together

constitute the sensor; the drum, pen and chart paper
constitute the recorder; and the motor that rotates the
drum at constant speed forms the timer.

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One such instrument is required in each of the two orthogonal

horizontal

directions.

Ofcourse,

for

measuring

vertical

oscillations, the string pendulum.

It is replaced with a spring pendulum oscillating about a

fulcrum. Some instruments do not have a timer device (i.e., the
drum holding the chart paper does not rotate). Such instruments
provide only the maximum extent (or scope) of motion during
the earthquake; for this reason they are called seismo-scopes.

The analog instruments have evolved over time, but today,

digital instruments using modern computer technology are more
commonly used.

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The digital instrument records the ground motion on the

memory of the microprocessor that is in-built in the
instrument.

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STRONG GROUND
MOTION
Shaking of ground
on the Earths surface is

a net

consequence of motions caused by seismic waves

generated by energy release at each material point within
the three-dimensional volume that ruptures at the fault.

These waves arrive at various instants of time, have

different amplitudes and carry different levels of energy.

Thus, the motion at any site on ground is random in

nature with its amplitude and direction varying randomly
with time.
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CHARACTERISTICS OF
STRONG GROUND
The motion ofMOTIONS
the ground can be described in terms of
displacement, velocity or a acceleration.

The variation of ground acceleration with time recorded

at a point on ground during an earthquake is called an
acelerogram.

The nature of a acelerograms may vary depending on

energy released at source, type of slip at fault rupture,
geology along the travel path from fault rupture to the
Earths surface, and local soil.
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They carry distinct information regarding ground shaking;

peak amplitude, duration of

strong shaking, frequency

content (e.g., amplitude of shaking associated with each

frequency) and energy content (i.e., energy carried by
ground shaking at each frequency) are often used to
distinguish them.

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TERMINOLOGY

The point on the fault where slip starts is the Focus or

Hypocenter, and the point vertically above this on the
surface of the Earth is the Epicentre .

The depth of focus from the epicentre, called as Focal

Depth, is an important parameter in determining the
damaging potential of an earthquake.

Most of the damaging earthquakes have shallow focus

with focal depths less than about 70km. Distance from
epicentre to any point of interest is called epicentral
distance.
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A number of smaller size earthquakes take place before

and after a big earthquake (i. e., the Main Shock).

Those occurring before the big one are called

Foreshocks, and the ones after are called Aftershocks.

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MAGNITUDE

Magnitude is a quantitative measure of the actual size of

the earthquake.

Professor Charles Richter noticed that

(a) at the same distance, seismograms (records of
earthquake ground vibration) of larger earthquakes have
bigger wave amplitude than those of smaller earthquakes.
(b) for a given earthquake, seismograms at farther
distances have smaller wave amplitude than those at close
distances.
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INTENSITY

Intensity is a qualitative measure of the actual shaking at

a location during an earthquake, and is assigned as Roman
Capital Numerals.

There are many intensity scales. Two commonly used

ones are the Modified Mercalli Intensity (MMI) Scale and
the MSK Scale.

Both scales are quite similar and range from I (least

perceptive) to XII (most severe).

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The intensity scales are based on three features of shaking

perception by people and animals,

performance of

buildings, and changes to natural surroundings.

Table gives the description of Intensity VIII on MSK

scale.

The distribution of intensity at different places during an

earthquake is shown graphically using iso-seismals, lines
joining places with equal seismic intensity.

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Magnitude
The

magnitude

of

Intensity
an The intensity of earthquake is

earthquake is a measure of a measure of the actual

amount of energy released ground shaking at a location
during an earthquake.

during an earthquake.

It is the quantitative measure It is the quantitative measure

of the actual size of the of the size of the earthquake.
earthquake.
For a particular earthquake For a particular earthquake
magnitude is same for all the intensity
places.

of

earthquake

decreases with distance from

the epicentre.
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It is more precise measure of It

is

less

precise than

earthquake.

magnitude.

Magnitude scales are,

Intensity scales are,

Local magnitude scale (ML).

Modified Mercalli Intensity

Surface wave magnitude (Ms). (MMI) scale.

MSK scale.
Body wave magnitude (mb ).
Moment magnitude (Mw).
Duration magnitude (MD).

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BASIC GEOGRAPHY AND

TECTONIC FEATURES

India lies at the north-western

end of the Indo-Australian Plate,
which

encompasses

India,

Australia, a major portion of the

Indian Ocean and other smaller
countries.

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PAST EARTHQUAKES IN INDIA

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SEISMIC ZONES OF
The varying geology INDIA
at different locations in the country
implies that the likelihood of damaging earthquakes
taking place at different locations is different.

Thus, a seismic zone map is required to identify these

regions.

Based on the levels of intensities sustained during

damaging past earthquakes, the 1970 version of the zone
map subdivided India into five zones I, II, I II, IV and
V.
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Indian Seismic Zone Map of 1970

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The seismic zone maps are revised from time to time as

more understanding is gained on the geology, the
seismotectonics and the seismic activity in the country.

The Indian Standards provided the first seismic zone

map in 1962, which was later revised in 1967 and again
in 1970.

The map has been revised again in 2002 and it now has
only four seismic zones II, III, I V and V.

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Seismic zonation and intensity map of India

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World Largest Earthquake model test

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