Earthquakes

GE 41504150- Natural Hazards

Slides and images taken from Dr. Jim Diehl, Jason R. Evans, Joanne M. Scott and Benfiled Greig Hazard Research Centre (C471 Geohazards)

Tectonic Earthquakes
Seismic Earthquakes
The most common quakes occur from fault lines Caused by sudden breaking or shifting of rock due to built-up stresses Stresses are relieved through rebound after brittle failure

Other Types of Earthquakes

Volcanic Earthquakes
Caused by the motion of fluid within a volcanic conduit Caused by brittle failure of rock in/near volcano

Explosion Earthquakes
Radially propagating waves caused by an explosion Original purpose of seismic networks to monitor nuclear detonations during the cold war

Collapse Earthquakes
Waves created by the collapse of mines and underground caverns

Plate Boundary Types

Convergent- collision of tectonic plates
Marine-Continental
the denser marine plate will subduct below the less dense continental plate Creates large, deep earthquakes and volcanoes

Continental-Continental
Creates large mountain ranges, e.g. Himalayas

Divergent a.k.a. Rifts

Separation of plates creates gap in which magma can extrude and create new oceanic crust

Transverse
Plates sliding next to each other, e.g. San Andreas Fault

Fault Type
Normal and Reverse Faults
Vertical Displacement Produce fault scarps Large surface damage (landslides, slumping)

Strike-slip Faults
Horizontal Movement Little damage at surface rupture San Andreas Fault

Seismic Wave Types

Body Waves present on all quakes
P-wave S-wave

Surface Waves dependant on size and frequency

Love Waves Rayleigh Waves

Body Waves
P (primary) Waves
Similar to sound waves Compression and Expansion Travel 5-6 km/sec in the crust Transmitted through liquid or solid

S (secondary) Waves
Slower traveling (3.5 km/sec) Up and down movement Very destructive

Surface Waves
Love Waves
Sideways motion perpendicular to travel Like an S with no vertical component Damaging to building foundations

Rayleigh Waves
Rolling motion with horizontal and vertical displacement

Surface Waves cause much of the damage

More damage implications

Seismic waves strongly affected by
geology soil conditions topography

Mexico City (1985) amplification due to underlying lake sediments

Amplitudes can be amplified many times in water-saturated soils & sediments Amplification may also occur at ridge crests or bases depending on
direction of waves wavelength compared to ridge size

MidMid -Plate Earthquakes

90% of earthquakes occur at plate boundaries, but mid-plate earthquakes can occur Earthquakes in the Eastern U.S. are far less frequent, but are more destructive than those out west (New Madrid, Charleston SC) Seismic waves travel farther due to the different geology

Seismometer
Basic principle
mass attached to a moveable frame when frame is shaken by seismic waves the inertia of the mass causes its motion to lag behind relative motion recorded on rotating drum on magnetic tape or digitally

Mass is damped to prevent continued oscillation Relative motion magnified up to 100s of thousands of times Horizontal and vertical seismometers

Triangulation
Need at least 3 seismographs to triangulate Measure the time interval between the P and S waves and can determine distance Once the distance is found, a circle with radius equal to distance is drawn from the seismograph The intersection of the arcs show the epicenter

Mercalli Scale
Created in 1902 by Guiseppe Mercalli Based on shaking intensity, later modified for building damage Still in use by the USGS Subjective, not based on scientific data
http://seismescanada.rncan.gc.ca/historic_eq/20th/1958lituyabay_e.php

Richter Scale
Developed by Charles Richter in 1935 Originally designed for southern Californian quakes Quantitative and objective method Scale is logarithmic to incorporate seismic amplitudes and ground motions that vary by many magnitudes Magnitude of local quake (M L) defined as:
the log to base10 of the maximum seismic-wave amplitude (in thousandths of a mm) recorded on a standard seismograph at a distance of 100km from the quake epicenter

For each increase in magnitude, therefore, the amplitude increases ten-fold

http://www.sdgs.usd.edu/images/maps/quake/RichterScale.gif

Magnitude Scale
Original Richter Scale rarely used today Two other magnitude scales more commonly used P-wave magnitude (M b) determined from the P-wave amplitude
unlike S wave, not affected by the focal depth to source

Surface wave magnitude (M s)

= amplitude of the largest wave in surface wave train with a period close to 20 s gives better approximation to size of a quake than M b 1964 Alaska quake had M s = 8.6 and a M b = 6.5 in terms of energy release, each point on M s scale corresponds ~ 30-fold increase in seismic energy released

Another magnitude scale now in use is the Moment Magnitude (M w)

Moment Magnitude
Measure of the total energy expended during an earthquake Useful above ML of 6.5, the Richter scale becomes less accurate above this magnitude Calculation depends on the seismic moment (shear strength of displaced rock) multiplied by the surface area of the rupture and the average slip distance of the fault

Frequency vs. Magnitude

Descriptor Great Major Strong Moderate Light Minor Very Minor Magnitude 8 and higher 7 - 7.9 6 - 6.9 5 - 5.9 4 - 4.9 3 - 3.9 2 - 2.9 Average Annually 1 17 134 1319 13,000
(estimated)

130,000
(estimated)

1,300,000
(estimated)

Based on observations since 1900. Based on observations since 1990.