Student name/ID:

Consider three seismic stations with coordinates:

S1= [36.2N, 4.8E]; S2 = [37.0N, 2.4E]; S3 = [38.6N, 4.0E]

An earthquake is recorded at these stations and the following S-P time intervals
are measured:

T
1
s-p
= 26.7 s

T
2
s-p
= 27.0 s

T
3
s-p
= 22.5 s

Given that the focus is at the surface (i.e. earthquake depth is zero), the P-wave
(v
p
) velocity is constant and equal to 6 km/s, and Poissons Ratio is 1/3, calculate
the coordinates of the epicenter of the earthquake.

Hint:
Poissons Ratio () is a parameter that describes the ratio of transverse to axial
displacement (strain) for a material subject to uniaxial stress and is related to the
Lames parameters ( ) through the following relationship:






You can use the formula above (along with the other information provided) to
assess a relation between and and thus, the relation between v
p
and the S-
wave velocity v
s
.







ENVS314 part 2
Lecture 8
Earthquake Location Exercise (3 stations)
Procedure:

1. Calculate the relation between v
p
and v
s
using the value (1/3) and the
equation provided for the Poissons ratio:















2. Using the S-P time measurements provided (and the relation between v
p
and v
s
), calculate the distance between each station and the epicenter of
the earthquake.
























3. Estimate (graphically) the location of the earthquake (use the map
provided below). For scaling the plot, remember that 1 degree ~= 111.1
km