Geology 1301

Physical Geology
Module 3 Lecture 3A: Geologic Structures
Dr. Miles Henderson
Module Learning Objectives
• To demonstrate knowledge of this module, students should be able to identify
aspects of the following as measured by the Exam and the discussion board:
• Recognize how the principle of elastic deformation applies to earthquakes
• Identify the relationship between earthquakes and plate tectonics, including
where we should expect earthquakes to happen at different types of plate
boundaries and at what depths
• State the significance of the great Alaska earthquake
• Distinguish between earthquake magnitude and intensity, and explain some
of the ways of estimating magnitude
• Recognize the importance of collecting intensity data following an earthquake
• Identify how earthquakes lead to the destruction of buildings and other
infrastructure, fires, slope failures, liquefaction, and tsunami
Module
Readings
• Earle Chapter 11 Earthquakes
 References
• Physical Geology – 2nd Edition by
Steven Earle is used under a
Creative Commons Attribution 4.
0 International Licence
.
• Additional images used under the
Fair Use of the 1976 Copyright
Act (17 U.S.C. § 107) for teaching,
research, and study with proper
attribution to the online source

Oilfield lease roads in Midland, TX. Photo by M. Henderson.

Introduction
• Earthquakes scare people … a lot!
• That’s not surprising because time and time again earthquakes have caused massive
damage and many, many casualties
• Anyone who has lived through a damaging earthquake cannot forget the experience
• But geoscientists and engineers are getting better at understanding earthquakes,
minimizing the amount of damage they cause, and reducing the number of people
affected
• People living in areas prone to earthquakes don’t need to be frightened by
earthquakes, but they do need to be informed of the risks and prepared for when
they occur

5
Earthquake
Damage
• 2010 Earthquake in Conception,
Chile
• This quake was a magnitude 6.9
on the Richter Scale
• Earthquake caused between 4
and 7 million USD in damages
What is an
earthquake?
• An earthquake is the shaking caused by the
rupture (breaking) and subsequent displacement
of rocks (one body of rock moving with respect to
another) beneath Earth’s surface
• A body of rock that is under stress becomes
deformed
• When the rock can no longer withstand the
deformation, it breaks, and the two sides slide
past each other
• Most earthquakes take place near plate
boundaries
This map shows the distribution of earthquake epicenters from
1963-1998. Note that they mostly occur around plate boundaries.
Alaska Earthquakes – 2018
Anchorage
• On November 30,
2018, at 8:29 a.m.
AKST, a magnitude 7.1
earthquake hit South
Central Alaska. The
earthquake's epicenter
was near Joint Base
Elmendorf–Richardson, https://www.npr.org/2018/11/30/672240051/magnitude-7-

about 10 miles north 0-earthquake-shakes-alaska-tsunami-warning-in-effect

of Anchorage, and
occurred at a depth of
29 miles.
The Great Alaska Earthquake
Elastic Rebound
• Elastic rebound is what happens to the
crustal material on either side of a fault
during an earthquake
• The idea is that a fault is stuck until the
strain accumulated in the rock on either
side of the fault has overcome the friction
making it stick
• The rock becomes distorted, or bent, but
holds its position until the earthquake
occurs, and the rock snaps back into an
unstrained position, releasing energy that
produces seismic waves
Earthquakes and plate tectonics
• It is relatively easy to see the relationships between earthquakes and
the plate boundaries
• Along divergent boundaries like the mid-Atlantic ridge and the East
Pacific Rise, earthquakes are common, but restricted to a narrow zone
close to the ridge, and consistently at less than 30 km depth
• Shallow earthquakes are also common along transform faults, such as
the San Andreas Fault
• Along subduction zones, as we saw in Lecture 2, earthquakes are very
abundant, and they are increasingly deep on the landward side of the
subduction zon
Earthquakes
and Plate
Tectonics
• Earthquakes between July,
2007 to July 2017 of
magnitude 5 or greater
Current earthquake map : Last 5
years
http://ds.iris.edu/seismon/bigmap/index.phtml
Earthquake distribution
This map shows the distribution of shallow, medium, and deep focus earthquakes. Notice at different types of
plate boundaries, how far from the plate boundaries the earthquakes are taking place.

Shallow
Medium
Deep
Extra deep

General distribution of global earthquakes of magnitude 4 and greater from

2004 to 2011, color coded by depth (red: 0-33 km, orange 33-70 km,
 Earthquakes at Divergent and
Transform Boundaries
• Most of the earthquakes are located along the
transform faults rather than along the spreading
segments, although there are clusters of Europe
earthquakes at some of the ridge-transform Europe
boundaries
• Some earthquakes do occur on spreading ridges, but Africa
they tend to be small and infrequent because of the
relatively high rock temperatures in the areas where Africa
Mid Atlantic ridge

spreading is taking place

South
America
 Earthquakes at Convergent
Boundaries
• At convergent plate
boundaries, earthquakes get
deeper with distance from the
subducting trench

Distribution of earthquakes of M4 and greater in the Central America region from

1990 to 1996 (red: 0-33 km, orange: 33-70 km, green: 70-300 km, blue: 300-700 km)
the Cocos Plate is subducting beneath the North America and Caribbean Plates
(ocean-continent convergence), and the South and North America Plates are
subducting beneath the Caribbean Plate (ocean-ocean convergence).
 Earthquakes at Convergent
Boundaries
• The distribution of earthquakes with depth in
the Kuril Islands of Russia in the northwest
Pacific is shown here
• This represents an ocean-ocean convergent
boundary
• The relatively large earthquake took place on
the upper part of the plate boundary between
60 km and 140 km inland from the trench
• All very large earthquakes — M9 or higher —
take place at subduction boundaries
• Most of the deep focus earthquakes occur
along the Pacific rim and the Eurasian to Africa
and India convergent plate boundary system
The small red and yellow dots show background seismicity over a number of
years, while the larger white dots are individual shocks associated with a M6.9
earthquake in April 2009.
Measuring Earthquakes

• There are two main ways to measure earthquakes:

• Magnitude: which refers to an estimate of the energy released.
Sometimes it is referred as Richter Magnitude
• Intensity: this indicates what people felt and how much damage was
done.
• Intensity values are assigned to locations, rather than to the earthquake itself and
therefore intensity can vary widely, depending on the proximity to the earthquake
and the types of materials and conditions of the subsurface
Body waves
• Before we look more closely at magnitude we need to review what
we know about body waves and look at surface waves
• Body waves are of two types, P-waves (primary or compression waves
like the compression of the coils of a spring), and S-waves (secondary
or shear waves, like the flick of a rope)
P-Waves S-Waves
 Measuring Earthquakes
• The critical parameters for the measurement of Richter magnitude
are labelled, including the time interval between the arrival of the P-
and S-waves — which is used to determine the distance from the
earthquake to the seismic station, and the amplitude of the S waves
—which is used to estimate the magnitude of the earthquake
 Surface waves
• When body waves (P or S) reach Earth’s surface, some of their energy is transformed into surface
waves, of which there are two main types
• Rayleigh waves are characterized by vertical motion of the ground surface, like waves on water, while
Love waves are characterized by horizontal motion
• Both Rayleigh and Love waves are about 10% slower than S-waves (so they arrive later at a seismic
station)
• Surface waves typically have greater amplitudes than body waves, and they do more damage
 Hypocenter and Epicenter
• The hypocenter (or
focus) is the actual
location of an individual
earthquake shock at
depth in the ground,
and the epicenter is the
point on the land
surface directly above
the hypocenter
 The modified Mercalli intensity scale
1. Not felt Not felt except by a very few under especially favourable conditions
2. Weak Felt only by a few persons at rest, especially on upper floors of buildings
3. Weak Felt quite noticeably by persons indoors, especially on upper floors of buildings; many people do not recognize it as an earthquake;
standing motor cars may rock slightly; vibrations similar to the passing of a truck duration estimated
4. Light Felt indoors by many, outdoors by few during the day; at night, some awakened; dishes, windows, doors disturbed; walls make
cracking sound; sensation like heavy truck striking building; standing motor cars rocked noticeably
5. Moderate Felt by nearly everyone; many awakened; some dishes, windows broken; unstable objects overturned; pendulum clocks may
stop
6. Strong Felt by all, many frightened; some heavy furniture moved; a few instances of fallen plaster; damage slight
7. Very Strong Damage negligible in buildings of good design and construction; slight to moderate in well-built ordinary structures;
considerable damage in poorly built or badly designed structures; some chimneys broken
8. Severe Damage slight in specially designed structures; considerable damage in ordinary substantial buildings with partial collapse;
damage great in poorly built structures; fall of chimneys, factory stacks, columns, monuments, walls; heavy furniture overturned
9. Violent Damage considerable in specially designed structures; well-designed frame structures thrown out of plumb; damage great in
substantial buildings, with partial collapse; buildings shifted off foundations
10. Extreme Some well-built wooden structures destroyed; most masonry and frame structures destroyed with foundations; rails bent
11. Extreme Few, if any (masonry), structures remain standing; bridges destroyed; broad fissures in ground; underground pipelines
completely out of service; earth slumps and land slips in soft ground; rails bent greatly
12. Extreme Damage total; waves seen on ground surfaces; lines of sight and level distorted; objects thrown upward into the air
Be sure to watch the linked videos
in Canvas