EFFECTS OF AN EARTHQUAKE ON LITHOSPHERE

CRETACEOUS PERIOD - CRETACEOUS DINOSAURS

144-65 Million Years Ago
The Cretaceous period of the Mesozoic era may have seen more dinosaurs then ever before. The horned
Cretaceous dinosaurs appeared, like the Triceratops and Centrosaurus. The armored Ankylosaurus,
duckbilled Parasaurolophus, and large carnivore Tyrannosaurus were a few of the quickly evolving
dinosaurs. Birds became increasingly numerous & flowering plants were emerging. By the end of the
Cretaceous period, all large and small ruling reptiles, except the crocodile went extinct.

Albertosaurus
& Corythosaurus

Anatosaurus
Meteor impact causing dinosaur
extinction

Carnotaurus

Monoclonius

Tyrannosaurus
rex

Tyrannos
aurus
rex

Corythosaurus

Parasaurolophus

Gallimimus

Triceratops

Triceratops
& Tyrannosaurus

Tarbosaurus

Kronosaurus

Pteranodon

Reference

http://www.geo.mtu.edu/UPSeis/locating.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epicenter
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquake

How Can You Locate The Epicenter of an Earthquake?

Three Types of Waves
Major earthquakes occur when there is rock movement along a fault (crack in the crust). The
sudden slippage of huge rock masses sets up shock waves that travel through the earth. The point
within the earth where the actual movement takes place is called the focus. As shown in Figure 1,
the point on the surface directly above the focus is called theepicenter.
An earthquake epicenter can be located from records made of earthquake waves on devices
called seismographs. One type of seismograph is a visible recording machine, shown in Figure 2.
A pen draws a pattern of the waves on paper that is attached to a revolving drum. The wave record
from a seismograph is known as a seismogram - see Figure 3.
A typical seismogram of an earthquake has three prominent wave patterns. The first waves to
arrive are the P-waves (also called "primary" or "push-pull"). They are followed by the Swaves (also called "secondary," "shear," or "shake"). Finally, the L-waves ("long" or "Love")
arrive. This investigation contains the seismograms from three different stations for an earthquake.
See how accurately you can locate the epicenter of this quake.

Figure 1: Earthquake epicenter and focus

Figure 2: A seismograph

Figure 3: A seismogram

CALCULATING LAG TIMES

Remember that seismographs record three types of earthquake waves which have been described
to you in class: 1) P-waves (also called push-pull or compressional waves), 2) S-waves (also
called shear or shakewaves), and 3) L-waves (also called long or love waves). Each of these
waves travel at different velocities (speeds), even though they are generated simultaneously by an
earthquake at the focus (point of origin within the crust). Since P-waves travel faster than S-waves
do, the seismograph will detect P-waves arriving first, and S-waves will follow. The time
difference, as recorded on a clock, between when the P-waves and S-waves arrive is called the lag
time. Using the clock time numbers listed in your lab handout, the lag times may be easily
calculated.
EXAMPLE

"An earthquake was recorded in San Diego. The seismograph record shows that P-waves first
arrived at 10:02-09 PST (read this is "10:02 and 9 seconds, AM, Pacific Standard Time"), and Swaves arrived at 10:03-04 PST. What is the lag time for this earthquake?"
ANSWER
Since S-waves arrived later, you may subtract the time of arrival of the P-waves from it. To do this,
you may need to "borrow" extra seconds from the minutes column (much like grade school
arithmetic, where fractions may be borrowed from the whole numbers column).
S-wave arrival time = 10:03, 4 seconds

=>

P-wave arrival time = 10:02, 9 seconds

=>

10:02, 64 seconds
- 10:02,

9 seconds (subtract)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------ANSWER =

55 seconds

CALCULATING THE DISTANCE OF THE EPICENTER FROM THE RECORDING STATION

This lab exercise will compare and contrast two distinctly different methods for calculating the
distance to an epicenter. The first method assumes that earthquake waves travel at constant speed
(no speeding up nor slowing down), and uses a mathematical formula to determine velocity,
distance, or time, for four earthquake recording stations located in the western United States. The
calculated distances for each city are then to be drawn with a drawing compass on the base map
(Figure 4). If it can be shown that earthquake waves do not travel at constant speed, then this
method is invalid.
The second method assumes that earthquake waves speed up with increasing distance, and the lag
time graph (Figure 6) may be used to find either the lag time or the distance to the epicenter. As
you will see, the second method works better because it accounts for the increased density of the
earth's mantle, outer core, and inner core, which causes earthquake waves to speed up.

To calculated lag time using the arithmetic method, a simplified method using rounded off speed
numbers is illustrated below. If you are given information about how fast P-waves and S-waves
each travel, a certain lag time will correspond to a certain distance that may be traveled by
earthquake waves. In other words, if P-waves travel at 4.00 miles per second, and S-waves travel
at 2.50 miles per second, and the lag time is 15 seconds, the distance of the earthquake epicenter
will be 100 miles. The method of this calculation is shown below.
Velocity (speed) = V

VP-waves = 4.00 miles

second

Velocity =

Let distance = 100 miles

Time =

Distance
Time

Distance
Velocity

Distance = Velocity X Time

TimeP-waves

VS-waves = 2.50 miles

second

100 miles
TimeS-waves
4.00 miles = 25 sec.
second

Lag Time = 40 - 25 = 15 seconds

= 100 miles
2.50 miles
second

=40 sec.

How to Use Proportionality

If a lag time of 15 seconds corresponds to 100 miles of distance to the epicenter, how far is the
epicenter from another recording station, if that lag time is 30 seconds?
Since the question is "how far," you should use the distance formula, Distance = Velocity X Time.
In this case, the "velocity" is the "lag time velocity" or 100 miles/15 seconds.
Distance = 100 miles X 30 seconds = 200 miles
15 sec.

HANDLING MATHEMATICAL CALCULATIONS AND WORD PROBLEMS

Do you remember solving word problems in high school algebra class? If you
found these types of problems difficult to solve, it was probably because you
didn't know exactly what information you were required to calculate. One of
the keys to deciphering word problems is to look for key phrases and apply the
appropriate formula:
If the question asks

You are asked to find

"How fast..."

speed

"How long does it take..."

time

"How far..."

distance

Use formula
distance
time
distance
speed
Speed X Time

Understanding & Calculating Lag Time

Compare the relative speeds of 2 vehicles, A and B. Both vehicles leave the
same departure point but travel at different speeds. Vehicle A is traveling at 50
miles/hour. Vehicle B is traveling 25 miles/hour. Assuming that neither vehicles
slow down nor stop, how long does it take for each to travel 250 miles? Before
you blurt out the answer, try using one of the above three formulas. Which is
the correct formula to apply here? If you chose the "time" formula, you're
right. (Why? The key phrase in the word problem is "how long does it
take"). So, if you take the distance, 250 miles; and divide by the speed of each
vehicle, you should get:
Vehicle A
500 miles =
50 miles
hour

10 hours

Vehicle B
500 miles =
25 miles
hour

20 hours

So, the lag time difference between the two vehicles (10 hours - 5 hours) is 5
hours. What would the lag time be if the distance traveled were 500
miles?
Vehicle A would take 10 hours to travel 500 miles, but Vehicle B would take 20
hours. The lag time here is 10 hours. So, the pattern you should note here
is "the greater the distance, the longer the lag time."
The same method of calculation may be used for earthquake waves (P-waves
and S-waves). However, you must use consistent units. If you are given speed
units which are "miles per second," you must not mix them with "miles per
hour."
The central assumption for using this methodology for calculating the distance
to the earthquake epicenter is that the speed of the earthquake waves does
not change with distance. However, in reality, this does not hold true over long
distances, especially if the earthquake waves penetrate the denser layers of
the earth's interior, which causes earthquake waves to speed up in general.

At least 3 earthquake recording

stations are required to find the
location of the earthquake epicenter. A
single recording station can only
calculate distance, but not direction;
to cover all possibilities, a complete
circle is drawn around that station. If
only two earthquake recording stations
are used, the circles will overlap at two
points. Data from a third recording
station will eliminate one of these
points.

EXERCISES USING THE CONSTANT-SPEED METHOD

1. Four partial records of the same earthquake were recorded at Los Angeles, San Francisco, Salt
Lake City, and Albuquerque, shown below. Determine the lag time for each recording station and
enter it into the "lag time" column, by subtracting the P-wave arrival time from the S-wave arrival
time.
Recording Station

P-wave arrival time

S-wave arrival time

Los Angeles
San Francisco
Salt Lake City
Albuquerque

11:06-06 PST
11:06-46 PST
12:08-06 MST
12:08-45 MST

11:06-19 PST
11:07-18 PST
12:09-22 MST
12:10-15 MST

Lag time?
seconds
seconds
seconds
seconds

2. Assuming an average velocity of 3.80 miles/second for the P-waves, and 2.54 miles/second
for the S-waves, how long does it take for each type to travel 100 miles? Show how you arrived at
your answer.

P-waves took how many seconds?

S-waves took how many seconds?

What is the lag time associated with this distance (100 miles)?
3. Determine the distance from each of the four seismograph stations to the epicenter of the
earthquake. Distance may be computed by proportion, using the lag time value to 100 miles that
you obtained in Problem 2.
Recording Station Calculated Distance (miles)?
Los Angeles:
San Francisco:
Albuquerque:
Salt Lake City:

miles
miles
miles
miles

4. On the base map of the western United States (Figure 4), draw circles or arcs with a compass,
locating the needle point at each of the four stations, with each radius corresponding to the
calculated distance (use the graphic scale on the base map for measurement).
Where is the epicenter located?

Between what cities shown on the map?

Which city is the earthquake epicenter closes to, and how far?

5. Considering the cause of earthquakes discussed during lecture, what major structural feature is
probably related to this earthquake?

6. The time at which the P-wave arrived at each of the four stations is shown on the seismograph
record (Problem 1). But when did the earthquake actually occur? Show how you obtained your
answer.

Figure 4: Base Map of western United States

SEISMIC WAVES: A "WINDOW" TO THE EARTH'S INTERIOR

The study of seismic waves is not only useful for helping to predict and prepare for earthquakes it is also used to help study the properties of the Earth's interior. The deepest drill hole

accomplished by man is less than about 3 miles into the Earth's crust. We thus have no direct
observation of the thousands of miles of rock below the surface. Seismic waves may be artificially
generated with explosives, and then monitored for changes in travel velocities and intensities.
Seismic waves increase their speed when traveling through denser material; S-waves cannot travel
through liquids. It has been determined by seismologists that the mantle rock is denser than the
crust, and the outer core of the Earth is composed of liquid iron, while the still denser inner core is
solid.

Figure 5: Inferred properties of the Earth's interior

The above graph illustrates that earthquake waves do not travel at a constant velocity over long distances; rather, they speed up as they
travel through the denser rock of the earth's interior. In fact, this speeding up is one of the major evidences of the greater density of
the mantle rock and the earth's core. Note on the graph that with increasing distances, the travel time required steadily decreases for
both S-waves and P-waves. Contrast this method with the previous one, which assumed that the speed of P-waves and S-waves
remained constant. The first method would only work for shallow focus earthquakes that traveled through the crust, but not the
mantle. To read the above graph, remember that the lag time "fits" only into the shaded (yellow if you have a color version) portion
between the two curved lines. Use the edge of a blank sheet of paper to find out how many minutes "fit" between the two curves at a
given distance. Or, conversely, given a lag time, you measure out this distance on a sheet of paper by making two marks; "ride" the Pwave curve with one mark until the other mark "falls" on the S-wave curve, while keeping the edge of your paper parallel with the
graph markings. Then, read off the edge of your paper to find the distance to the epicenter. Your accuracy for distance should be
within the 100 miles, and for lag-time, within 0.1 minute.

Calculating the Epicenter of

Earthquakes
Main Concept
Seismology is the study of earthquakes, their effects, and seismic waves. The location of
an earthquake's epicenter (point on the earth's surface directly above the location of rupture or
faulting) can be determined using information about two of these seismic waves.
The first type of wave to consider when determining the epicenter of an earthquake is the P-wave.
These waves are also referred to as primary or compressional waves. Important characteristics of Pwaves are:
they are the fastest of the seismic waves and are the first to arrive
the particles that the wave passes through move in the same direction as the wave itself (pushing and
pulling motion)
they travel through solids, liquids, and gases
The second type of wave to consider when determining the epicenter of an earthquake is the S-wave.
These waves are also referred to as secondary or shear waves. S-waves can also be characterized by
some unique properties:
they travel slower than P-waves and are the second wave to arrive
they travel perpendicular to the vibration of the particles
S-waves can pass through solids but not through liquids or gases
The following animation helps to understand the motion of each type of wave.

A seismogram is the graph output from a seismograph, which is used to determine the epicenter of
an earthquake. When consulting the seismogram, P-waves always appear before S-waves, as they
travel faster and can travel through three states of matter as opposed to one.

To determine the distance of an earthquake epicenter:

1. Determine the arrival times of the P-wave and the S-wave.
2. Calculate the difference between the arrival time of the P-wave and the S-wave.
3. Referring to the Earthquake Time Travel Graph below, determine the location on the graph where the
two lines have a difference in their y values equal to the time difference you previously calculated.
The x value at this location is the distance to the epicenter of the earthquake.

Earthquake Time Travel Graph

Example
Adjust the sliders to change the arrival times of the P-wave and the S-wave.

Suppose the P-wave arrives at t = 1.0 s and the S-wave arrives at t = 6.0 s. Determine the distance of
the earthquake epicenter given the following information.

Solution
To determine the distance of the earthquake epicenter, you can use the steps in the previous section.
1. Determine the arrival times of the P-wave and the S-wave:
Arrival time of P-wave: 1.0 s
Arrival time of S-wave: 6.0 s
2. Calculate the difference between the arrival time of the P-wave and the S-wave.
Time Difference =

6.0 1.0=5.0 s

3. Refer to the Earthquake Time Travel Graph. Determine the location on the graph where the two
curves have a time difference equal to the time difference you previously calculated.
After looking at the consulting the Earthquake Time Travel Graph, it is clear that the two curves have
a difference of 5 units on the time axis at x = 3.4. Therefore the earthquake has an epicenter
distance of

3.4 103 km, or 3,400 km.

Keyah Math Study 6, Level 2

Mathematical Content : Equations of lines

Location of the Epicenter of an Earthquake:

This is a study illustrating how earthquakes are located using data received at seismic stations. In
particular, a 3.1 magnitude earthquake is used in this study. You will learn how geologists found out where
it occurred.
Warm-up Steps
1.

Do you know of any recent earthquakes near where you live?

2.

If so, was any damage done?

3.

Where have some earthquakes that you know about occurred?

4.

How do you think that scientist know where an earthquake happened?

5.

Why is it important to know where an earthquake occurred?

Introduction

An earthquake occurs when rocks in the crust move. This movement releases energy that is transmitted outward
as seismic waves. Seismic stations have instruments that can sense and record seismic waves, even those from
earthquakes that occur thousands of miles away from the station. Earthquakes generate several different types of seismic
waves, and these waves each travel at different speeds through rock. The fastest waves (traveling at about 6 km/sec
through most crustal rocks) are the first to arrive at seismic stations and are called primary (P) waves. The next fastest
waves travel at about 3.5 km/sec, so they arrive at seismic stations later and have been termed secondary (S) waves. The
farther these waves travel away from the source of the earthquake, the more the P waves will outpace the S waves.
The epicenter of an earthquake is a virtual point on the surface that is located directly above the source of the earthquake.
The farther a given seismic station is from an epicenter, the longer thetime interval between the arrival of the P waves and
the arrival of the S waves. This time interval can be expressed mathematically as a function of the distance from the
epicenter and the speeds of the P and S waves through rock. If we know what those two speeds are, and measure the time
interval between the P and S arrivals at the seismic station, we can easily calculate how far the epicenter was from that
seismic station.
The sequence of problems below will show you how this is done.
Using math to find the epicenter of an earthquake
Notation
The variables are:
tp = number of seconds a P wave travels after the instant of the earthquake;
ts = number of seconds a S wave travels after the instant of the earthquake;
dp = distance (in km) P waves have traveled in tp seconds; and
ds = distance (in km) S waves have traveled in ts seconds
Step 1: Write an equation that shows how far each type of wave traveled
aftert seconds?
Hint:

Use the well-known formula,

distance = rate x time,

to write the two equations that express distance traveled by the waves in terms
of lapsed time. Your answer should be written in the form
dp = mptp, and ds = msts,
where mp and ms are the slopes of the lines.
Step 2:
A) Solve each of the two equations from Step 1 for times, ts and tp. Since the
distance is the same for each wave, denote this by D (= dp = ds).
B) Take the difference of the results from Part A; be sure your answer is
positive. Denote this difference by the variable U.
C) What does your answer to Part B represent?
D) Solve the equation from Part B for distance D.
The table below shows four seismic stations near New Mexico (represented by 3- and 4-letter codes) with latitude and
longitude coordinates given in columns 2 and 3. Columns 4 and 5 indicate the times that P and S waves were received at the
stations. The last three blank columns are for arrival time of P- and S-waves differences U, distances D from the stations to
the epicenter of the earthquake, and scaled down distances for the map shown below.

Station

1. TUC

Arrival Time
P-waves
3:31:25

Arrival Time
S-waves

Time
Diff
U

Dist to
Epicenter
D

Scaled
Distance
for Map

3:31:54

2. ANMO

3:31:28

3:32:00

3. GDL2

3:31:45

3:32:29

4. LTX

3:32:22

3:33:32

Step 3:
A) From the data given in the table above, compute the time differences in
seconds that P and S waves were received at the stations. Complete the column

for U in the table.

B) Use your answers to Part A and the equation from Step 2B to find the
distances from the stations to the epicenter of the earthquake to fill in the
column for D.
The distances you found in Step 3 can be used to find the epicenter of an earthquake. You know how far away the epicenter
is from any one station but you dont know what direction. For example, if the epicenter is 1000 km away from the seismic
station, you know it must be somewhere on the circle centered at the seismic station with radius 1000 km.
The map on the next page is to be used to locate the epicenter. First, print this map.

Step 4.
This a Google Earth map. The four markers locate the four stations listed in the
table. From the latitude and longitude coordinates in the table, locate and
identify each station.
Step 5.
Next, you will need to figure out the scale on the map.
A) Measure, in inches, the east-west distance on the map along the southern
border of New Mexico from Texas to Arizona.
The real distance between these locations is 565.56 kilometers (Google Earth).
B) Now use this information to figure the scale for this map in km/inch.
Step 6.
This is the final step!
A) Convert the distances D to fit the scale on the map; fill in the last
column,Scaled Distance for Map, in the table with these data.
B) Use the distances you computed in the table for U and the scale for the map
to draw a circle with center at each station and radius the scaled distance from
that station to the epicenter.
C) Look at these circles and locate the epicenter.
D) What are the coordinates of the epicenter? What city or town is it near?

Note: P- and S-wave travel is actually non-linear. For simplicity, we use

a linear approximation in this study.

Follow-up Steps

1. Review the geology concepts used in this study.

2. Review the math that you used to find the epicenter.
3. Why is three the minimum number of stations that would be
necessary to locate the earthquake?

Epicenter: Answers
dp =6tp; ds =3.5ts

tp = dp /6; ts = ds /3.5

Difference in arrival times for P- and S-waves

A&B
Station

Time Diff
(U)

Dist to Epicenter
(D)

1. TUC

30

252

2. ANMO

32

269

3. GDL2

44

370

4. LTX

70

588

See map shown

A and B. On the Google map printed from my computer, the distance across the southern border
of New Mexico is 5.5 inches. So the scale is
different computers.

. Note: this may vary with printing from

A)
Scaled Distance for Map
Station
1. TUC

2.45

2. ANMO

2.62

3. GDL2

3.6

4. LTX

5.72

B, C, D) Draw Circles with centers at Stations and radii shown in the table. Epicenter at 33.00N,
108.23W just north of Silver City (See map)

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant
GEO-0355224. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this
material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science
Foundation.