Earthquakes

• Vibration of the Earth produced by the

rapid release of energy.
• ….. Massive energy!
• Earthquakes occur along plate boundaries at
points called faults.
• Energy is stored in the rocks which
produces stress and strain… until the rock
breaks! Releasing stored energy in the form
of seismic waves.
 Focus and Epicenter
• The focus is the earthquake's
underground point of origin or
hypocenter.
• The epicenter is the point on the
Earth’s surface that is directly above
the point where an earthquake
originates or focus.
Stress and Strain: Rock Behavior
Strain - the result of stress or deformation

.
Stress and Strain: the forces of
the earthquake
• Tectonic forces apply stress to rock in three basic
forms
1. Compression: pushing together or
compression
2. Tension : Stress that acts to lengthen an
object or pull it apart.
3. Shear/Transform: Stress that acts parallel
to a surface. It can cause one object to slide
over another. The most general definition is
that shear acts to change the angles in an
object.
Elastic Rebound
Stress and Strain along Faults
Stress and Strain along faults
 Fault Types
There are three basic fault
types
1. Normal faults form
when the hanging wall
drops down.

The forces that create

normal faults are pulling
the sides apart, or
extensional.
 Fault Types
There are three basic fault
types
2. Reverse faults form
when the hanging wall
moves up.

The forces creating reverse

faults are compressional,
pushing the sides together.
3. Strike-slip faults
have walls that move sideways,
Fault Type
not up or down.
That is, the slip occurs along
the strike, not up or down the
dip.

In these faults the fault plane is

usually vertical, so there is no
hanging wall or footwall. The f
orces creating these faults are
lateral or horizontal, carrying
the sides past each other.
FAULTS
Faults
Normal Fault
Reverse Fault
Strike-Slip
Fault
Strike Slip
Fault
Strike Slip
Fault
 Seismic Waves:
There are two types of body waves

 P-Waves or Primary Waves

 S-Waves or Secondary Waves

 P-Waves
1. P waves arrive first. Primary, pressure
waves.

 Particle motion is along the direction of

travel of the wave.
 P waves can travel through solids, liquids
or gases.
Earthquake Waves
 P-Wave Motion
Push-Pull Motion
 P-Wave Motion
P waves are compression waves - the wave
pulse or pulses travels through the rock in a
series of compression pulses. On either side
of the compression the rock is stretched.
 S-Wave Motion
S-shake or shear wave
 S-Wave Motion
S waves are characterized by a sideways
movement. The rock materials are moved
from side to side as the wave passes.
Travel are like water waves. Rocks are more
resistant to sideways motion so the S wave
travels more slowly.
 Surface Waves
The surface waves are the slowest of the three
earthquake wave types.
1. L-waves or long waves.Complex
motion. Up-and-down and side-to-side.
Slowest. Causes damage to structures
during an earthquake.
Seismic Wave Motion
 Using Seismic Waves to Study
Earth's Interior
Seismic Waves travel through the entire
Earth

Both S and P waves travel throughout the

body of the earth, and can be picked up
by seismometers - machines that record
earthquakes - anywhere in the world.
Seismic waves as “x-rays” to look
inside the earth

• P-Waves travel
through solid and
liquid
Seismic waves as “x-rays” to look
inside the earth

• However, it turns
out that S waves
cannot travel
through the core,
and only P waves
are recorded in
some places:

S-Waves travel only through solids

 • A seismometer records the
Seismometers vibrations from
earthquakes. Mechanical
versions work by way of a
large mass, freely
suspended.
• In the example on the left,
a rotating drum records a
red line on a sheet of
paper. If the earth moves
(in this case from left to
right) the whole machine
will vibrate too.
• However, the large mass
tends to stay still, so the
drum shakes beneath the
pen, recording a squiggle!
 Seismograph: the record of the
Earthquake
The record of an earthquake, a seismograph,
as recorded by a seismometer, will be a plot
of vibrations versus time. On the
seismograph, time is marked at regular
intervals, so that we can determine the time
of arrival of the first P-wave and the time of
arrival of the first S-wave.
Seismograph
 Triangulation
If three arrival times are available at three
different seismic stations then triangulation
can be used to find the location of the focus
or epicenter and the time of occurrence of
the earthquake.

The distance between the beginning of the

first P wave and the first S wave tells you
how many seconds the waves are apart.
 Triangulation
P waves move about 5.5 kilometers per second
(k/s) through granite, whereas the slower S waves
move only about 3 k/s through granite.

Imagine that at station A a P wave is detected and

the S wave follows 42.8 seconds later. Since the S
wave is 2.5 k/s slower than the P wave, difference
in speed multiplied by the time difference will
give the distance to the source. Thus, the
earthquake epicenter is 107 km away from station
A (42.8 s times 2.5 k/s= 107 km). Although we
can determine the distance, we still don't know the
direction, which is why we need data from the
other stations.
 Triangulation
Since the P (or “primary”) waves travel faster than
the S (or “secondary”) waves, P waves will arrive
at a given seismograph station sooner than S
waves. In other words, the S waves lag behind the
P waves. In fact, the time difference between
when the P waves arrive at a seismograph station
and when the S waves arrive at the same station is
called Time Lag. Knowing the time lag for a
number of seismograph stations is essential in
pinpointing the location of the epicenter of an
earthquake.
 Collecting data from the recording
stations:
• Station A: San Francisco, California

P-Wave arrival 3:02:20 S-Wave arrival 3:06:30

What is the time
difference between P and
S wave arrivals?
 Collecting data from the recording
stations:
• Station B: Denver, Colorado

P-Wave arrival 3:01:40 S-Wave arrival 3:05:00

What is the time

difference between P
and S wave arrivals?
 Collecting data from the recording
stations:
• Station C: Missoula, Montana

P-Wave arrival 3:01:00 S-Wave arrival 3:03:00

What is the time

difference between P
and S wave arrivals?
 Difference in arrival times:

San Francisco: 4:10 minutes/sec

Denver, Colorado: 3:20 minutes/sec

Missoula, Montana: 2:00 minutes/sec

 Locating the Epicenter
Finally we plot the P and S wave travel-
time curves to find the distance from
each station to the earthquake
epicenter. We do this by finding the
unique epicenter distance where the
difference in the P and S wave travel
times is exactly equal to the difference
you calculated from the seismogram.
(we use a time/distance curve plot)
WE TAKE A PIECE OF PAPER, AND
MARK OFF THE DIFFERENCE IN
ARRIVAL TIME

4:10

2800Km
WE MOVE THE PAPER UNTIL THE
TWO TICK MARKS LINE UP WITH
THE P AND S CURVES

WHEN TICK MARKS LINE UP, GO

STRAIGHT DOWN AND READ THE
EPICENTER DISTANCE

EPICENTER DISTANCE
OF 2800 KM
 EPICENTER DISTANCES
San Francisco: 4:10 2,800km

Denver, Colorado: 3:20 2,000km

Missoula, Montana 2:00 1100km

 Epicenter Distances
Using the map scale, and a drafting
compass we set it to the appropriate
length for the distance from the first
location to the epicenter. Place the
compass point at this location and draw
an arc using the distance as the radius.
Repeat for the other two locations. The
intersection of the three arcs identifies
the epicenter of the earthquake.
 Recording Board
Difference in arrival times:
San Francisco: 41:0 2,800km

Open your compass to

the EXACT distance on
the scale.

3,000
2,000

4,000

5,000
1,000
 .
. .
Seismographs
Measuring Earthquakes
Mercalli scale
Richter scale
Magnitude is a
measurement of
earthquake strength
based on seismic waves
and movement along
faults
 Earthquake Strength
The intensity or strength of an earthquake is
measured by seismologist in two main
ways:

1.The Richter Scale

• measures the amount of energy that an
earthquake releases
• Each number of magnitude is 10x stronger
than the number below it.
The Richter Scale
The Richter scale is a
rating of the size of
seismic waves as measured
by a particular type of
mechanical seismograph
Developed in the 1930’s
All over the world,
geologists used this for
about 50 years
Electric seismographs
eventually replaced the
mechanical ones used in
this scale
Provides accurate
measurements for small,
nearby earthquakes
Does not work for big, far
ones
 Earthquake Strength

2. The Mercalli Scale

• Measures the amount of damage from an
earthquake
• Ranges from I to XII
• Based on common earthquake occurrences
such as "noticeable by people" "damage to
buildings" chimneys collapse" "fissures
open in the ground”.
The Mercalli Scale
Developed in the twentieth
century to rate earthquakes
according to their intensity
The intensity of an
earthquake is the strength
of ground motion in a given
place
Is not a precise
measurement
But, the 12 steps explain the
damage given to people, land
surface, and buildings
The same earthquake could
have different Mercalli
ratings because of the
different amount of damage
in different spots
•The Mercalli scale uses Roman numerals
to rank earthquakes by how much damage
they cause
How Earthquakes Cause
Damage
The severe shaking
provided by seismic
waves can damage or
destroy buildings and
bridges, topple utility
poles, and damage gas
and water mains
With their side to
side, up and down
movement, S waves can
damage or destroy
buildings, bridges, and
fracture gas mains.
Earthquake damage in Anchorage on March 27, 1964
San Francisco are built on sandy soil or fill. Many homes
built on this type of soil were badly damaged during the
1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.
Tsunami Damage,
Gleebruk, Indonesia
Tsunami