Earthquakes
Suparna Tewari
What are Earthquakes?
• The shaking or trembling caused by the sudden
release of energy
• Usually associated with faulting or breaking of rocks
• Continuing adjustment of position results in
aftershocks
Anatomy of Earthquakes
Faults are distinguished by the direction in which rocks on either sides are displaced
What is the Elastic Rebound Theory?
• Explains how energy is
stored in rocks
– Rocks bend until the
strength of the rock
is exceeded
– Rupture occurs and
the rocks quickly
rebound to an
undeformed shape
– Energy is released in
waves that radiate
outward from the
fault
The Focus and Epicenter of an Earthquake
• The point within Earth
where faulting begins is
the focus, or
hypocenter
• The point directly above
the focus on the surface
is the epicenter
Seismographs record
earthquake events
At convergent boundaries,
focal depth increases
along a dipping seismic
zone called a Benioff
zone
Where Do Earthquakes Occur and How Often?
~80% of all earthquakes occur in the circum-Pacific belt
– most of these result from convergent margin activity
– ~15% occur in the Mediterranean-Asiatic belt
– remaining 5% occur in the interiors of plates and on
spreading ridge centers
– more than 150,000 quakes strong enough to be felt are
recorded each year
The Economics and Societal Impacts of EQs
Damage in Oakland, CA, 1989
• Building collapse
• Fire
• Tsunami
• Ground failure
What are Seismic Waves?
• Response of material to the
arrival of energy fronts released
by rupture
• Two types:
– Body waves
• P and S
– Surface waves
• R and L
Body Waves: P and S waves
• Body waves
– P or primary waves
• fastest waves
• travel through solids,
liquids, or gases
• compressional wave,
material movement is
in the same direction
as wave movement
– S or secondary waves
• slower than P waves
• travel through solids
only
• shear waves - move
material
perpendicular to
wave movement
Surface Waves: R and L waves
• Surface Waves
– Travel just below or along the ground’s surface
– Slower than body waves; rolling and side-to-side
movement
– Especially damaging to buildings
How is an Earthquake’s Epicenter Located?
Seismic wave behavior
– P waves arrive first, then S waves, then L and R
– Average speeds for all these waves is known
– After an earthquake, the difference in arrival times at a
seismograph station can be used to calculate the distance
from the seismograph to the epicenter.
How is an Earthquake’s Epicenter Located?
Time-distance graph
showing the average
travel times for P- and S-
waves. The farther away a
seismograph is from the
focus of an earthquake,
the longer the interval
between the arrivals of
the P- and S- waves
How is an Earthquake’s
Epicenter Located?
• Three seismograph stations
are needed to locate the
epicenter of an earthquake
• A circle where the radius
equals the distance to the
epicenter is drawn
• The intersection of the
circles locates the
epicenter
How are the Size and Strength of an Earthquake Measured?
• Intensity
– subjective measure
of the kind of
damage done and
people’s reactions
to it
– isoseismal lines
identify areas of
equal intensity
• Modified Mercalli Intensity Map
– 1994 Northridge, CA earthquake,
magnitude 6.7
How are the Size and Strength of an Earthquake Measured?
• Magnitude
– Richter scale
measures total amount
of energy released by
an earthquake;
independent of
intensity
– Amplitude of the
largest wave produced
by an event is
corrected for distance
and assigned a value
on an open-ended
logarithmic scale
What are the Destructive Effects of Earthquakes?
• Ground Shaking
– amplitude, duration, and damage increases in poorly
consolidated rocks
Can Earthquakes be Predicted?
Earthquake Precursors
– changes in elevation or tilting of land surface,
fluctuations in groundwater levels, magnetic field,
electrical resistance of the ground
– seismic dilatancy model
– seismic gaps
Can Earthquakes be Predicted?
Earthquake Prediction Programs
– include laboratory and field studies of rocks before, during,
and after earthquakes
– monitor activity along major faults
– produce risk assessments
Can Earthquakes be Controlled?
• Graph showing the
relationship between the
amount of waste injected
into wells per month and
the average number of
Denser earthquakes per
month
• Some have suggested
that pumping fluids into
seismic gaps will cause
small earthquakes while
preventing large ones
