Geography 3B: Land Water and Life

Earthquakes

Instructor: Damilola Eyelade

Geography Department
UCSB
 Quiz No 6 Due: 1pm Friday, May 10th
Assignment 3: Due next week (Week 7) by the beginning
of your section.
Exam 2: FRIDAY May 17th. Begin preparations early, use
office hours, Bring your questions to TAs/Instructor
• Section: next week (Week 7), section will be a review
of material for exam 3. Section attendance is mandatory
Readings Week 7: Units 34 - 36 (Faults & Folds,
weathering)

Media files and further readings also on gauchospace

 Review: Measuring Earthquake Magnitude
Epicenter Locating by
triangulation
S waves don’t go through liquids
P waves travel faster than S
waves - This gives distance
It takes three stations to find
the epicenter
Richter Scale
• Scale based on amplitude of
earthquake waves
• Measures energy intensity
• Logarithmic, base 10
• M = 10magnitude
• M(1) = (101)
• M (6.8) = 106.8 (Northridge)
Energy (J) = Joules
• M(1) = 4.8 million joules
• M(6.8) = 1080 billion joules
For larger earthquakes, the
moment magnitude scale
is used.
Click Link for Detailed Explanations
 Review: Measuring Earthquake Effect
Damage Intensity-> Modified Mercali Scale
• Measures the amount of shaking that has occurred
• Determined by human reporting and property damage
• The amount of shaking can decreases with increasing distance
from the focus – attenuation
• The amount of shaking can increase with increasing distance
because of loose sediment - amplification

Descriptive table of Modified Mercalli Intensity scale. © USGS.

Unit 33
 Review: Measuring Earthquakes
Richter scale Mercalli Scale
Measures The energy released by an The effects caused by an
earthquake earthquake
Measuring Tool Seismograph Observation
Calculation Base-10 logarithmic scale Quantified from observation
obtained by calculating of the effects on earth’s
logarithm of the amplitude of surface, humans, objects
waves. and man-made structures
Scale Logarithmic: From 1.0 to 10.0+ Linear: I (not felt) to XII
A 3.0 earthquake is 10 times (total destruction)
stronger than a 2.0 earthquake.
Consistency One general value is Varies depending on
computed for an Earthquake distance from epicenter

Adapted from Diffen.com

1. Earthquake Types by Location
2. Effects of Earthquakes

Click Link to See Real-Time Earthquakes Activity

1. Earthquake Types by Location

 Transform plate margin Earthquakes
Earthquakes Along lateral moving plates
The San Andreas fault and related faults in Southern and
central and Northern California are potential sources of
great earthquakes occurring in densely populated regions.
San Francisco earthquake, 1906.
Bay area jolted by 7.1 earthquake, October 17, 1989
Likelihood that a very large earthquake will occur within the
next 30 years 50 %.

7
Kite Photos: George R. Lawrence
 Subduction Zone
Earthquakes
9.0M+ always produce large tsunamis
Japan, Tōhoku earthquake (2011)
• 4th strongest quake
• Tsunami reached almost 30 m (100 ft.)

Strongest earthquakes occur along

subduction zones
• Alaska (1964)
• Chile (1960)
• Sumatra, Indonesia (2004)

Uplift followed by rapid

subsidence of a subduction zone.
Unit 33
Subduction Zone Earthquakes
Example: the Pacific North West
 Intraplate Earthquakes
Earthquakes that do not occur along a plate boundary
Can potentially cause more damage because buildings are not
built to withstand shaking
 New Madrid Quake
One of the largest earthquake in US
history was an Intraplate quake
New Madrid (Dec 1811, Jan 1812,
Feb 1812 – 7.3 to 7.5
Felt as far away as Philadelphia
Reversed the flow of the Mississippi
River
Buildings are not built to withstand
earthquakes in this area
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/states/events/1811-1812.php
2. Effects of Earthquakes
 Earthquake Damage
Damage not proportional to
magnitude
Damage proportional to
population density
Alaska (1964)
• 9.2M resulted in 131 deaths

Haiti (2010)
• 7.0M resulted in 300,000 deaths
Destruction caused by the 9.2M (1964)
Anchorage, Alaska earthquake.

Unit 33
 Earthquake Damage

Northridge earthquake, 1994

Magnitude 6.7 Intensity IX Strahler, Figure 12.31
 Earthquake Damage
Shaking accounts for a fraction of the damage in many
earthquakes.
Fires, landslides, mudslides, and snow avalanches are
all triggered by earthquakes.

The 1906 San Francisco fire. The 2001 San Salvador

landslide.
Unit 33
 Tsunami
A series of waves generated by a large undersea disturbance

Tsunami is a Japanese word

with the English translation
“harbor wave”

Named for the large size

and devastating effects of
the waves when their
energy is focused in harbors

Tsunami wave breaks over a

”Tidal wave” is a misnomer -- tsunami waves protective seawall, Japan 2011.
have nothing to do with astronomical tides!
Tsunami generation video
 Tsunamis
Disturbing forces:
sharp, sudden movements in the sea floor caused by
earthquakes, submarine landslides, eruptions of undersea
volcanoes, or meteorite impacts in the ocean

80% occur in the tectonically active

region known as the Pacific Ring of Fire
→
Tsunami in the open ocean
Wavelength:
> 100 km
Wave speed:
300–900 km/hr
(375–500 mph) Tsunamis often pass unnoticed on the
open ocean because their long
Height: wavelength makes the rise and fall of
~1 meter water hard to observe.

Wave period: This ship would only

5–60 minutes go up and down
~ 1 meter over a
20 minute period
 Tsunamis near the shore
As a tsunami approaches the coast, the increasingly shallow
water causes the wave to slow down and forces the
wavelength to shorten.

As a result,
the wave height may
increase by up to 15
m (50 ft) or more!
Santa Barbara: Tsunami Evacuation Map
iClicker
Review
The Ritcher Scale
A. Measures the magnitude of earthquakes using base
two (binary)
B. Measures the damage done by an earthquake
C. Measures the energy released by an earthquake
D. Measures the weight of an earthquake
iClicker
Review
The largest, most destructive
earthquakes occur along
A. Subduction zones along continental-ocean boundaries

B. Transform faults like the San Andreas

C. Hot spots, like Hawaii

D. Continent-continent collisions, like the Himalayas

iClicker
Review
Which of the following is true about
Tsunamis
A. In the open ocean they often have a relatively small
amplitude (~ 1 m)

B. They have very high velocities (up to 900 km/hr)

C. They can be produced by volcanic eruptions

D. They are often associated with movement on subduction

faults

E. All of the above