Dinámica de Suelos IC0-620

Ingeniería Civil
Universidad EAFIT

Fuente Sísmica
Módulo 1

Silvana Montoya Noguera

 Feeling the Earthquakes
Watch this video: Gorkha earthquake (25/04/2015)
Kathmandu, Nepal - Link

 Do you see the movement in 1, 2 or 3 directions?

 How long does it last?
 What happens in the pool?
 Bibliography
 Kramer, S. (1996). Chapter 2: Seismology and Earthquakes in
Geotechnical earthquake engineering. Prentice-Hall, New Jersey, USA,
1st edition.

 Bolt, B. A. (2004). Chapter 2: Engineering Seismology in Earthquake

Engineering : from Engineering Seismology to Performance-Based
Engineering, editors Bozorgnia, Y. & Bertero, V. CRC Press, Boca Raton.

 Ministerio de ambiente, vivienda y desarrollo territorial (2010). Título A

Requisitos generales de diseño y construcción sismo resistente y Título H
Estudios Geotécnicos en Reglamento colombiano de construcción sismo-
resistente NSR - 10. Asociación Colombiana de Ingeniería Sísmica (AIS),
Bogotá. Segunda actualización.

CHECK VIDEOS/ANIMATIONS : IRIS (2017). Incorporated research institutions

for seismology. Online: https://www.iris.edu/hq
Why study soil dynamics?
 Seismology and Geotechnics

Watch this video (Link) and answer first part of the homework
 Outline
1. Plate tectonics

2. Earthquakes

3. Measuring earthquakes
 Outline

1. Plate tectonics

2. Earthquakes

3. Measuring earthquakes
 Continental Drift Theory

Dinosaurs roamed the supercontinent Pangea, surrounded by the Panthalassic Ocean, the oceanic ancestor of the Pacific Ocean.

200 million years ago (Every, 2015)

 Continental Drift Theory

Pangaea broke apart. The Atlantic Ocean poured in between Africa and the Americas. India broke away from the African continent, and
Antarctica and Australia, still connected above sea level, were stranded near the South Pole.

100 million years ago (Every, 2015)

 Continental Drift Theory

Dinosaurs were extinct from the Earth. Continental fragments collided, pushing up mountain ranges still existing today. The collision
of Africa into Europe gave rise to the Alps in Europe, and the collision of India into Asia formed the Himalaya. Birds and mammals
began to expand in number and diversity.

50 million years ago (Every, 2015)

 Continental Drift Theory

The formation of the isthmus connecting North and South America and the split of the Australian continent from Antarctica changed
global ocean currents and climate. Ice sheets carved out the Great Lakes of the United States and Canada just 20,000 years ago. Since
then, warmer temperatures have melted ice, and sea levels have risen

20000 years ago (Every, 2015)

 Tectonic Plates Theory
~ 1960s

Not continents moving BUT massive slabs of rock in the

lithosfere called Tectonic Plates

These plates are always moving and interacting in a

process called Plate Tectonics

(Every, 2015)
Plate Tectonics

(Suramericana S.A., 2016)

 How do we know the earth’s
interior?

2h of recordings by 8 seismometers on a great circle around the globe. Simulation was performed by Daniel
Peter using SPECFEM3D and rendered by Matt Turk. Concept and design by Ben Holtzman and Jason Candler.
Link
ANSWER: Refraction and reflection of waves
 Why do plates move?

ANSWER: Convection currents

Types of plate boundary
 Divergent Plate Boundary
Oceanic

Mid-Atlantic Ridge

Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Africa.

Effects: a submarine mountain range; volcanic activity in the
form of fissure eruptions; shallow earthquake activity; creation of
new seafloor and a widening ocean basin.

(Geology, 2015)
 Divergent Plate Boundary
Continental

Red sea

As the two plates pull apart, normal faults develop on both

sides of the rift, and the central blocks slide downwards.
Earthquakes occur as a result of this fracturing and movement.
Early in the rift-forming process, streams and rivers will flow
into the sinking rift valley to form a long linear lake. As the rift
grows deeper it might drop below sea level, allowing ocean East African
waters to flow in. This will produce a narrow, shallow sea within
the rift. This rift can then grow deeper and wider. If rifting
Rift System
continues, a new ocean basin could be produced.

(Geology, 2015)
 Convergent Plate Boundary
Oceanic and Continental Plates
The thinner and more dense oceanic plate is overridden
by the thicker and less dense continental plate. As the
oceanic plate descends, it is forced into higher
temperature environments, partial melting begins and
produces magma chambers. less dense than the
surrounding mantle materials and are buoyant. The size
and depth of these magma chambers can be determined
by mapping the earthquake activity around them. If a
magma chamber rises to the surface without solidifying,
the magma will break through in the form of a volcanic
eruption.
Effects: a zone of earthquake activity that is shallow along
the continent margin but deepens beneath the continent;
sometimes an ocean trench immediately off shore of the
continent; a line of volcanic eruptions a few hundred miles
inland from the shoreline; destruction of oceanic
lithosphere.
Cordillera de
los Andes

(Geology, 2015)
 Convergent Plate Boundary
Oceanic Plates

islas Kuril

A zone of progressively deeper earthquakes; an oceanic trench; a chain of

volcanic islands; the destruction of oceanic lithosphere.

(Geology, 2015)
 Convergent Plate Boundary
Oceanic Plates

Effects found at a convergent boundary between continental plates

include: intense folding and faulting; a broad folded mountain range;
shallow earthquake activity; shortening and thickening of the plates within
the collision zone. Himalaya and Appalachian Mountain Range Himalaya

(Geology, 2015)
 Transform Plate Boundary

Two plates slide past one another. The fracture zone that forms a
transform plate boundary is known as a transform fault. Most transform
faults are found in the ocean basin and connect offsets in the mid-ocean
ridges. A smaller number connect mid-ocean ridges and subduction
zones.

A Strike-Slip Fault is NOT a Transform Fault

 Outline
1. Plate tectonics

2. Earthquakes

3. Measuring earthquakes
Global seismographic network
(GSN)

150+ stations (IRIS, 2017)

Largest 2000 EQs

(IRIS, 2017)
 Colombia

(IRIS, 2017)
Colombia

(SGC, 2017)
Vargas &
Mann (2013)
Colombia – 2 subduction zones

Vargas &
Mann (2013)
A-A’

B-B’

Vargas &
Mann (2013)
 Medellin’s Seismicity
 Historic accounts from 1730 report 39
seismic events felt in the city of Medellın
with intensities larger than III on the
Modified Mercalli scale, five of them
located under the city of Medellın with
Mercalli values from III toV (Ramirez
1975).

 Recent seismic activity of relevant

intensity for the city of Medellın has been
limited to destructive far-field
earthquakes (>160 km).
 The 1979 November 23, Central Colombia
earthquake (Ms = 6.7), registered rock
PGA of 0.03g
 The 1992 October 18 Atrato earthquake
(Mw = 7.1), registered rock PGA of 0.015g,
estimated $US11 million loss

Adams & Jaramillo (2002)

Elastic Rebound Theory
Reid (1911)
Elastic Rebound Theory

This picture, taken

near Bolinas in Marin
County by G.K.
Gilbert, shows a fence
that was offset about
8.5 feet along the
trace of the fault
(from Steinbrugge
Collection of the UC
Berkeley Earthquake
Engineering Research
Center).

(USGS, 2017)
 Types of Faults

Strike-slip
Thrust

Normal
 Surface faulting
Strike-slip Normal Thrust

Dixie Valley-Fairview Peaks,

Nevada earthquake, 1954
Induced Seismicity

(Grigoli et al., 2017)

Induced Seismicity

(Grigoli et al., 2017)

 Outline
1. Plate tectonics

2. Earthquakes

3. Measuring earthquakes
 Instrumental measurements
of earthquake size
 Richter Local Magnitude (ML)
 Surface wave Magnitude (Ms)
 Body wave Magnitude (mb)
Watch the video (link)
 Richter Local Magnitude (ML)
Logarithm to base ten of the maximum seismic wave
amplitude in microns (10−4cm) recorded on a Wood-
Anderson seismograph located at a distance of 100 km
from the earthquake epicenter
(Richter, 1935)
 1 magnitude increase = x10 increase in amplitude ;
 Amplifies seismic waves of T≈ 0.5 to 1.5s (seismograph
fundamental period= 0.8s) ;
 Best for ML <6-7 (Saturation)
Surface wave Magnitude (Ms)
Based on the amplitude of Rayleigh waves with a period of
about 20s
Ms = log Amax + 1.66 log△+ 2.0
Amax = Maximum ground displacement in micrometers
△ = Epicentral distance of seismometer in degrees

 Best for distant (> 1000km), shallow (<70km), moderate to

large earthquakes
 Ms <6.5 - 6.8 (Saturation)
 Body wave Magnitude (mb)
Based on the amplitude of Rayleigh waves with a period of
about 20s
mb = log10 (Amax/T) + Q(△, h)
Amax = Maximum ground displacement in micrometers
T = Period in seconds
Q(△, h) = Correction factor

 Best for deep focus earthquakes (>70km)

 mb <8.3 - 8.7 (Saturation) ;
 Seismic Moment

Moment Magnitude
(Kanamori, 1977; Hanks and Kanamori, 1979)
Comparing Magnitudes

(IRIS, 2017)
Earthquake Energy
 Comparison of Seismic Energy
¿How does the energy released by an earthquake relates to Mw?

(Suramericana S.A., 2016)

 Comparison of Seismic Energy
¿How does the energy released by an earthquake relates to Mw?

(Suramericana S.A., 2016)

 Energy and
Moment

(Johnston, 1990)
 Modified Mercalli Intensity (MMI)

Rossi and Forel (1885), Wood and Neumann (1931) and Richter (1958)
Recent Earthquake Teachable
Moments
https://www.iris.edu/hq/retm/
January 12, 2010 7.0 Haiti
(21:53:10 UTC)

February 27, 2010 8.8 Offshore Maule,

(06:34:17 UTC) Chile

March 11, 2011 9.0 Near the East

(05:46:23 UTC) Coast of Honshu,
Japan
April 25, 2015 7.8 Nepal
(06:11:26 UTC)

September 19, 7.1 Mexico

2017 (18:14:39
UTC)
 References
 Adams, B.M. & Jaramillo, J.D., 2002. A two-dimensional study on the weak- motion seismic response of the Aburra
Valley, Medellin, Colombia, Bull. N.Z. Soc. Earthq. Eng., 35(1), 17–41.
 Bolt, B. A. (2004). Earthquake Engineering, chapter 2: Engineering Seismology. CRC Press, Boca Raton.
 Chaussard, E., Bürgmann, R., Nadeau, R., Taira, T., Johnson, C. W., and Johanson, I. (2015). Potential for larger
earthquakes in the San Francisco bay area due to the direct connection between the hayward and calaveras faults.
Online.
 Evers, J. (2015). Continental drift. Online.
 Geology (2015). Plate tectonics. Online.
 Grigoli, F., Cesca, S., Priolo, E., Rinaldi, A. P., Clinton, J. F., Stabile, T. A., Dost, B., Garcia Fernandez, M., Wiemer,
S., and Dahm, T. (2016). Current challenges in monitoring, discrimination and management of induced seismicity
related to underground industrial activities: a European perspective. Reviews of Geophysics, 55(2):310–340.
 IRIS (2017). Incorporated research institutions for seismology. Online.
 Kramer, S. (1996). Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering. Prentice-Hall, New Jersey, USA, 1st edition.
 Oskin, B. (2013). Side-impact tectonics created Colombia’s strange geology. Online.
 Suramericana S.A. (2016). Conocer los sismos para preservar la vida, la propiedad y la competitividad. Geociencias
Sura, 1:10–17.
 Vargas, C. and Mann, P. (2013). Tearing and breaking off of subducted slabs as the result of collision of the panama
arc indenter with northwestern South America. BSSA, 103(3):2025–2046.
 Wells, D. and Coppersmith, K. (1994). New empirical relationships among magnitude, rupture length, rupture width,
rupture area and surface displacement. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 84(4):974–1002.