WHAT IS AN EARTHQUAKE?

• An earthquake is the vibration of Earth produced by the rapid release

of energy

• Energy radiates in all directions from its

source, the focus
• Energy moves like waves
• Seismographs record the event
Slinky, Rubber Band SEISMOGRAM
Beaker, Wet Sand, Weight
Cardboard Fault models
Chewing Gum
Wood meter stick or plastic ruler
pencil
ANATOMY OF EARTHQUAKES

Earthquakes are associated with faults

Earthquakes are caused by
sudden release of
accumulated strain energy
along Faults

Rocks on sides
of fault are
deformed by
tectonic forces

Rocks bend )))) )))

and store(((
elastic energy
( (((

Frictional
resistance
holding the
rocks together
is overcome by
Hands Demo forces
tectonic
• Earthquake mechanism

• Slip starts at the weakest point (the focus)

• Earthquakes occur as the deformed rock
“springs back” to its original shape (elastic
rebound)
• The motion moves neighboring rocks
• And so on.
• DEMO – elastic rebound w/ ruler
RELATIONSH
IP BETWEEN
STRESS AND
STRAIN

Demo: Rubber Band

Strain can be a change in shape (a deformation) due to an applied stress

RELATIONSHIP
BETWEEN
STRESS AND
STRAIN AT LOW
TEMPS AND
PRESSURE OR
SUDDEN STRESS
Demo: Pencil
RELATIONSHIP
BETWEEN
STRESS AND
STRAIN UNDER
HIGH TEMPS
OR PRESSURE

Demo: gum
 STRIKE AND DIP

Strike is long line, dip is short line

Note the angle of dip given 45o

Strike intersection w horizontal, dip perpendicular, angle from horizontal down toward surface
VERTICAL
MOVEMENT
ALONG DIP-SLIP
FAULTS

Divergent

Convergent
HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT ALONG
STRIKE-SLIP FAULT
Reverse Fault Quake - Japan Normal Fault Quake - Nevada
DEMO – Types of faults

Strike Slip Fault Quake - California

 FENCE OFFSET BY THE 1906 SAN
FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE

◼ San Andreas is the most studied transform fault

system in the world

◼ discrete segments 100 to 200 kilometers long

▪ slip every 100-200 years producing

large earthquakes
▪ Some portions exhibit slow, gradual displacement
known as fault creep
 Fires caused by 1906 San Francisco Earthquake

Gas mains break, fires shaken out of furnaces. Water mains break, cannot
fight fires. Debris in streets, Fire department cannot reach fires.
LANDSCAPE SHIFTING,
WALLACE CREEK

San Andreas Fault, a Transform Margin

FACTION

Demo: Liquifaction
SEISMOLOGY

Seismometers - instruments that

record seismic waves
• Records the movement of
Earth in relation to a
stationary mass on a rotating
drum or magnetic tape
A SEISMOGRAPH DESIGNED TO
RECORD VERTICAL GROUND MOTION
The heavy mass doesn’t move much
The drum moves
 LATERAL MOVEMENT DETECTOR

In reality, copper wire coils move around magnets, generating current which is recorded.
▪Seismic Waves 1: Surface waves
–Complex motion, great destruction
–High amplitude and low velocity
–Longest periods (interval between crests)
–Termed long, or L waves
• Types of seismic waves (continued)
• Body waves
• Travel through Earth’s interior
• Two types based on mode of travel
• Primary (P) waves
• Push-pull motion
• Travel thru solids, liquids & gases
• Secondary (S) waves
• Moves at right angles to their
direction of travel
• Travels only through solids
 P and S waves

Demo: P and S waves

Smaller amplitude than surface (L) waves, but faster, P arrives first, then S, then L
 EARTHQUAKE FOCUS AND
EPICENTER
Note how much bigger the surface waves are
GRAPH TO FIND DISTANCE TO EPICENTER
LOCATING EARTHQUAKE EPICENTER
EPICENTER LOCATED USING THREE
SEISMOGRAPHS
95% OF ENERGY RELEASED BY EARTHQUAKES
ORIGINATES IN NARROW ZONES THAT WIND
AROUND THE EARTH

THESE ZONES MARK OF EDGES OF TECTONIC PLATES

Broad are subduction zone earthquakes, narrow are MOR. Lead to recognition of plates
EARTHQUAKE DEPTH AND PLATE TECTONIC
SETTING

Subduction Zones discovered by Benioff

EARTHQUAKE IN SUBDUCTION
ZONES
EARTHQUAKES AT DIVERGENT
BOUNDARIES - ICELAND
Crust pulling apart – normal faults
 MEASURING THE SIZE OF
EARTHQUAKES

• Two measurements describe the size of an

earthquake

• Intensity – a measure of earthquake shaking at

a given location based on amount of damage

• Magnitude – estimates the amount of energy

released by the earthquake
 Intensity scales

• Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale was

developed using California buildings as its
standard

• Drawback is that destruction may not be

true measure of earthquakes actual severity
Magnitude scales

• Richter magnitude - concept introduced by

Charles Richter in 1935
• Richter scale
• Based on amplitude of largest seismic
wave recorded
• LOG10 SCALE
Each unit of Richter magnitude
corresponds to 10X increase in wave
amplitude and 32X increase in Energy
 Magnitude scales

• Moment magnitude was developed because

Richter magnitude does not closely estimate
the size of very large earthquakes

• Derived from the amount of displacement

that occurs along a fault and the area of
the fault that slips
 Tsunamis, or seismic sea waves

• Destructive waves called “tidal waves”

• Result from “push” of underwater fault
or undersea landslide
• In open ocean height is > 1 meter
• In shallow coast water wave can be > 30
meters
• Very destructive
FORMATION OF A TSUNAMI

Tsunamis are actually huge, extending from

the fault on the sea floor up to the surface, but
they don’t stick up more than a meter or so in
the deep ocean. However, when they reach
shallow water they must rear up and slow
down. Discussion: Kinetic vs. potential energy
Honolulu officials know exactly how
long it takes a Tsunami to reach
them from anywhere
TSUNAMI 1960, HILO
HAWAII
TSUNAMI
MODEL,
ALASKA QUAKE
EARTHQUAKE PREDICTION

• Long-range forecasts
• Calculates probability of a certain
magnitude earthquake occurring over a
given time period

• Short-range predictions
• Ongoing research, presently not much
success
Long Term Predictions

Seismic Gaps
Seismic Gaps at the Aleutian Islands SUBDUCTION ZONE
SEISMIC GAP ALONG HIMALAYAS

2005
 Short-Term Earthquake Prediction
45 DILATANCY OF HIGHLY
STRESSED ROCKS
 INVESTIGATING EARTH’S INTERIOR

• Seismology helps us understand Earth’s Interior Structure. We use:

• Speed changes in different materials
due changes rigidity, density, elasticity
• Reflections from layers with different properties
• Attenuation of Shear Waves in fluids
• Direction changes (Refraction)
 Investigating Earth’s Interior
47
SURFACE COMPONENTS MAGNIFIED

!
 SEISMIC-WAVE VELOCITIES ARE FASTER IN THE UPPER
MANTLE

Velocity increases w depth, waves bend back to surface.

Waves that travel via mantle arrive sooner at far destinations Mohorovičić discontinuity
WAVE VELOCITIES

Upper Mantle Fast

Asthenosphere
Slow

Lower Mantle Fast

THE S-WAVE SHADOW ZONE
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Dixon_Oldham

Since Shear (S) waves

cannot travel through
liquids, the liquid
outer core casts a
larger shadow for S
waves covering
everything past 103
degrees away from
the source.
 THE P-WAVE SHADOW ZONE
http://www.amnh.org/education/resources/rfl/web/essaybooks/earth/p_lehmann.html

P-waves through the liquid

outer core bend, leaving a
low intensity shadow zone
103 to 143 degrees away
from the source, here
shown as the north pole

HOWEVER, P-waves
traveling straight through
the center continue, and
because speeds in the
solid inner core are faster,
they arrive sooner than
expected if the core was
all liquid.

Inge Lehmann

Behavior of waves through center reveal Earth’s Interior