Volcanic Earthquakes

2019
 Volcanic Earthquakes

➢ Volcanically triggered earthquakes

have the potential to cause cracks,
ground deformation, and damage to
manmade structures.
➢ They typically are much smaller
than earthquakes caused by non-
volcanic sources.
➢ The largest felt volcanic earthquake
in the Cascades was a magnitude
5.5 in 1981, under Mount St.
Helens.
➢ Two types of volcanically
generated earthquakes are volcano-
tectonic (VTs) earthquakes and long
period earthquakes (LPs).
Volcanic Earthquakes
➢ Volcanic-tectonic earthquakes (VTs) are, simply put, caused by slip on a fault near a volcano.

➢ Volcanoes are often found in areas of crustal weakness and the mass of the volcano its self
adds to the regional strain.

➢ Most VT earthquakes have nothing to do with the magmatic system of the volcano but occur
in response to regional strain exerted in an area of weak faults.

➢ VTs can also be generated from changes of pressure under the volcano caused by the injection
or removal of magma (molten rock) from the volcanic system.

➢ After the withdrawal of magma from a system, an empty space is left to be filled. The result is
a collapse of surrounding rock to fill the void, also creating earthquakes.

➢ VT earthquakes can result in land deformation, collapse and/or ground failure but they are
usually small and leave no trace on the surface.

➢ While these earthquakes may cause damage, they usually don't due to their small size which
produces weak shaking.
Earthquakes

• An earthquake is the shaking and trembling

that results from the sudden movement of part
of the Earth’s crust

• The most common cause of earthquakes is faulting

During faulting, energy is released.
Rocks continue to move until the energy is used
up
What do earthquakes tell us about a volcano?

➢ Earthquake activity beneath a volcano almost always increases

before an eruption because magma and volcanic gas must first
force their way up through shallow underground fractures and
passageways.
➢ When magma and volcanic gases or fluids move, they will either
cause rocks to break or cracks to vibrate

Keypoints:
➢ Earthquakes serve as an early warning sign for impending eruption
➢ Earthquakes can be used to locate subsurface magma
➢ Volcanic tremor is a long-lasting rhythmic shaking that can last minutes or days
 Focus/Hypocenter

• Most faults occur

between the surface and
a depth of 70 kilometers.
• The point beneath the
surface where the rocks
break and move is called
the focus. The focus is
the underground origin
of an earthquake.
 Focus

Earthquake Depths.
The focus of an
earthquake is the actual
point underground where
rocks break. The depth of
the focus can be
categorized as shallow
(up to 70 km below the
surface), intermediate (70
to 300 km), or deep
(greater than 300 km).
 Epicenter
• Directly above the focus, on
the Earth’s surface is the
epicenter. Earthquake
waves reach the epicenter
first. During an earthquake,
the most violent shaking is
found at the epicenter.
Event of an Earthquake Recap

The Epicenter is the spot on the

ground directly above where the
earthquake occurred under the ground
Seismic Waves
 Seismic Waves
• There are three main types of seismic waves.
• Primary
• Secondary
• Surface
Seismic Waves
 Primary Waves
• Seismic waves that travel fastest
are P waves. They travel
through solids, liquids and
gases.
• They move at different speeds
depending on the density of the
material through which they
are moving. As they move
deeper in the Earth they move
faster.
• P waves are push-pull waves.
 Secondary Waves
• Seismic waves that do not
travel through the Earth as
fast as P waves do are called
secondary or S waves.
• S waves travel through
solids but not liquids or
gases.
• S waves cause particles to
move from side to side. They
move at right angles to the
direction of the wave.
 Surface Waves
• The slowest moving seismic
waves are called surface waves
or L waves.
• L waves originate on the
Earth’s surface at the
epicenter. They move along
the surface the way waves
travel in the ocean. The
Earth’s surface moves up and
down with each L wave.
• L waves cause most of the
damage.
 Seismic Waves
➢ When an earthquake occurs, it sends
out seismic wave energy in all
directions.
➢ There are three main waves that
form: P-Waves, S-Waves and Surface
Waves.
➢ Each Wave moves the ground
differently (as the picture shows
above).
➢ The P waves always move fastest,
then the S-waves and last is the
Surface waves.
➢ Surfaces waves are so slow because
they only travel on the surface of the
planet but P & S waves can go right
through the middle making their
distance/time shorter.
 Seismic Waves
➢ When an earthquake releases energy, all of the seismic waves are
released at the same time. The P-waves and S-waves are the only
ones that travel through the body of our planet. All waves
(seismic, sound, light, etc). will travel in a more-or-less straight
path and at the same velocity so long as the conditions (density,
composition, etc) remain unchanged. Thus the P and the S waves
will travel in a straight path throughout the mantle.
➢ At the mantle-core boundary there is a change not only in density
but also in composition and phase; the core is now a denser
material, composed of metal, and is a liquid. When waves
transition from a medium with one set of conditions into another
the waves will bend (or refract) and will start moving in a
different direction. Thus, we know where the mantle-core
boundary is based upon the following:
•P-waves refract and begin to travel in a new direction
•P-waves speed up
•S-waves stop
➢ We also know that the inner core is solid using these same facts.
While the composition and density haven't changed, we know
that the inner core is solid because the P-waves refract again
slightly and travel in a new direction.
 The Seismograph
• Invented in 1893 by John
Milne, a seismograph detects
and measures seismic waves.
• A weight attached to a spring
remains nearly still even when
the Earth moves. A pen
attached to the weight records
any movement on a roll of
paper on a constantly rotating
drum. The drum moves with
the Earth and affects the line.
 The Seismograph

A seismograph is a machine that makes up

and down wave lines on a moving paper as
the ground moves under the machine.
The more the ground moves, the more the
paper moves.
The more the paper moves, the bigger the
up-down lines will be drawn.
The seismograph shows the three different
seismic waves generated by an earthquake.
The Seismograph
Seismogram
The Seismograph & Seismogram
 Types Of Seismograms
➢ Seismometers can detect ground motion
caused by different types of phenomena,
such as wind, a herd of elk, a hovering
helicopter, volcanic explosions, snow and
rock avalanches, lahars, and earthquakes.
➢ Just as we have unique handwriting
signatures, each type of ground-shaking
event can generate a unique seismic
"signature" that we can learn to recognize
and identify as having been "written" by a
specific event.
➢ To initially determine the signature of
signals that occur on the ground or above
ground (avalanche, helicopter, lahar, etc.)
we often benefit from direct visual
observations of the above ground
phenomena near the station.
Types of Seismograms
➢ Once identified, we can use that
signature to determine the
process that caused it in the
future.
➢ The different types of signals can
often be distinguished by
comparing the amplitude (height
of waveform), frequency (width
from peak to peak within
waveform), and duration (length
of waveform) of each signature.
➢ Comparing seismograms from
multiple stations aids in
accurately distinguishing these
source types.
 Types of Seismograms

Examples of seismograms recorded on

Mammoth Mountain station MMPM
(A) for a typical high-frequency
(volcano tectonic) earthquake with a
magnitude (M) =1.1 and (B) for the
onset of a spasmodic burst (total
duration was about 30 minutes). Both
occurred beneath Mammoth Mountain
during the 1989 earthquake swarm
(from Hill and others, 1990).
 Types of Seismograms

Example of seismogram
showing weak harmonic
tremor along with long-
period (LP) and high-
frequency (HF) earthquakes
recorded on Nevada del
Ruiz Volcano, Colombia,
on September 9, 1985
(modifi ed from Chouet,
1991).
Fault Earthquake Triggering Tremor
Seismologists

• Seismologists study earthquakes. They can determine the strength

of an earthquake by the height of the wavy line recorded on the
paper.
• The seismograph record of waves is called a seismogram.
• The Richter scale is used to calculate the strength of an
earthquake.
Predicting Earthquakes

• Scientists have identified warning signals the help predict

earthquakes with greater accuracy.
• Often changes occur in the speed of P and S waves before an
earthquake occurs.
• Sometimes slight changes in the tilt of the Earth’s surface can be
detected.
• Some scientists believe animals behavior is affected.
 Predicting Earthquakes
This chart shows that there are multiple Seismograph stations
around the world that will measure an earthquake when the
Seismic wave energy passes by. The farther away a station is the
longer the actual graph will be and the shorter the waves will be
drawn. But we are able to make measurements from the
information on the graph to tell how far away an earthquake
came from.
 Predicting Earthquakes

A station cannot tell the

direction an earthquake came
from, but if we use the info
from multiple stations, we can
pinpoint the actual location of
the quake. They draw a circle
with a diameter equal to the
distance away an earth was
measured to be. All 3 circles
will only meet at one exact spot
on a map. This spot is the
location of the Earthquake!
Finding
Magnitude
 Magnitude Scale

The development and

deployment of seismometers lead
to many changes in earthquake
studies, magnitude was the first
quantitative measure of
earthquake size based on
seismograms. The maximum or
"peak" ground motion is defined
as the largest absolute value of
ground motion recorded on a
seismogram. In the example
above the surface wave has the
largest deflection, so it
determines the peak amplitude.
 Richter's Magnitude Scale
Sample of the data used by Richter to
construct the magnitude scale for
southern California. The symbols
represent observed peak ground
motions for earthquakes recorded
during January of 1932 (different
symbols represent different
earthquakes). The dashed lines
represent the reference curve for the
decrease in peak-motion amplitude
with increasing distance from the
earthquake. A magnitude 3.0
earthquake is defined as the size event
that generates a maximum ground
motion of 1 millimeter (mm) at 100
km distance.
The Richter Scale

• The amount of damage created by an earthquake depends on

several factors.
• The earthquake’s strength
• The kind of rock and soil that underlie an area
• The population of the area
• The kind of buildings in the area
• The time at which the earthquake occurs
 Earthquake Dimensions - Rupture Size and Offset
Another measure of earthquake size is the area of the fault that slipped during the earthquake. During large earthquakes the part of the
fault that ruptures may be hundreds of kilometers long and 10s of kilometers deep. Smaller earthquake rupture smaller portions of the
fault. Thus the area of the rupture is an indicator of the earthquake size.

The size of the area that slips during

an earthquake is increases with
earthquake size. The shaded regions
on the fault surface are the areas
that rupture during different size
events. The largest earthquakes
generally rupture the entire depth of
the fault, which is controlled by
temperature. The temperature
increases with depth to a point
where the rocks become plastic and
no longer store the elastic strain
energy necessary to fail suddenly. Seismic Moment = m x (Rupture Area) x (Fault Offset)
Mw = 2 / 3 * log(Seismic Moment) - 10.73
the units of the moment are in dyne-cm.
 Magnitude Scale

• Earthquakes are measured by

“Magnitude” which measures
how “large” the quake is

• Basically, the larger the

“squiggle” in the seismogram,
the greater the magnitude

• Once you know the distance

from an earthquake, and the
amplitude of the seismogram,
you can find the magnitude!
 Earthquake Magnitude and Energy Equivalence

As we go up in magnitude,
the amount of energy
released dramatically
increases!
Look at this chart of
magnitude and how the
energy released can be
compared…
the greater the magnitude
of the quake, the more
potential damage it can do.

The biggest possible earthquake we can conceive of is measured at a magnitude of

10! The biggest we have recorded are in the 9.4 range. These are very rare!
Finding the
Epicenter
…I hope you
really like graphs!
 What is an Epicenter?

• A point on the surface of the Earth directly above the

FOCUS of the earthquake.

•The point within the Earth from which

earthquake waves originate.
Data From The Recording Stations
The Northing and Easting Components of
The Event Epicentres Located
Use the data from the recording
stations:
• Station A: San Francisco, California

P-Wave arrival 3:02:20 S-Wave arrival 3:06:30

What is the time

difference between
P and S wave
arrivals?
Use the data from the recording
stations:
• Station B: Denver, Colorado

P-Wave arrival 3:01:40 S-Wave arrival 3:05:00

What is the time

difference between
P and S wave
arrivals?
Use the data from the recording
stations:
• Station C: Missoula, Montana

P-Wave arrival 3:01:00 S-Wave arrival 3:03:00

What is the time

difference between
P and S wave
arrivals?
Difference in arrival times:

San Francisco: 4:10

Denver, Colorado: 3:20

Missoula, Montana: 2:00

TAKE A PIECE OF PAPER, AND MARK
OFF THE DIFFERENCE IN ARRIVAL TIME
MOVE THE PAPER UNTIL THE TWO
TICK MARKS LINE UP WITH THE P
AND S CURVES

WHEN TICK MARKS LINE UP, GO

STRAIGHT DOWN AND READ THE
EPICENTER DISTANCE

EPICENTER DISTANCE
OF 2800 KM
EPICENTER DISTANCES

San Francisco: 4:10 2,800km

Denver, Colorado: 3:20 2,000km

Missoula, Montana 2:00 1100km

Recording Board
Difference in arrival times:
San Francisco: 4:10 2,800km

Open your compass to

the EXACT distance on
the scale.

3,000

4,000

5,000
2,000
1,000
 .
. .
Finding the Earthquake Origin Time

• You take a distance to epicenter that you have

already determined, or one given to you
• Let’s say the epicenter distance is 4400km, and the
arrival time is 3:21:15 PM
• Well, use your ESRT and do some time math!!!
• Let’s try it
Do it!
P wave travel time = 00:07:40

• Find the distance on the

horizontal axis.
• Go up to the point where
you hit the P-wave travel
line.
• Go over to the vertical
axis and read off the
travel time for the P-
wave.

Epicenter dis = 4400km

Now, do the math!

• Take the arrival time, and subtract the travel time from
it!
• 3:21:15 – 00:07:40 =
• 3:13:35
• So, the origin time of the Earthquake is 3:13:35 PM.
• Now YOU try it for San Francisco!!
Earthquake depth
Earthquake depth
 HYPOSENTER/FOCUS
Metode Titik Berat
Dalam metode ini selain didapat koordinat episenter, kedalaman
fokusnya juga dapat ditentukan. Dengan menggunakan tiga
stasiun pencatat S1, S2, dan S3 dapat dibuat masing-masing
lingkaran dengan pusat stasiun dan jari jari r1, r2 dan r3. Jari-
jari lingkaran adalah jarak hiposenter d = (s-p) k, dimana k
adalah konstanta Omori yang besarnya tergantung pada kondisi
geologi setempat dan besarnya sekitar 7,8.

Sedangkan (s-p) adalah beda waktu tiba gelombang S dan P.

Koordinat episenter E merupakan perpotongan garis berat ketiga
lingkaran tersebut. Garis berat lingkaran 1 dan 2 adalah garis
yang menghubungkan perpotongan lingkaran 1 dan lingkaran 2
(garis AB). Garis berat lingkaran 1 dan 3 adalah garis yang
menghubungkan perpotongan lingkaran 1 dan lingkaran 3 (garis
CD). Sedang Garis berat lingkaran 2 dan 3 adalah garis yang
menghubungkan perpotongan lingkaran 2 dan lingkaran 3 (garis
EF).
HYPOSENTER/FOCUS
Kedalaman hiposenter (h) dapat diperoleh
dengan rumus Pythagoras,

h1 = (r12 –(S1 Ep)2)1/2

h2 = (r22 –(S2 Ep)2)1/2 , dan

h3 = (r32 –(S3 Ep)2)1/2

dimana ;

h merupakan rata-rata dari h1, h2 , dan h3

The Basics of Earthquake Location

• William Menke
• Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
• Columbia University
The basic data in earthquake location is

Arrival Time, t

The time of day that a wave from the

earthquake arrives at a seismograph
station
The distinction between

Arrival Time: time of day something arrives

And

Travel Time: the length of time spent

traveling

Is very important in earthquake location!

An earthquake location has
4 Parameters

x, y (epicenter)
z (depth)
t (origin time)

Together, (x, y, z) are called the

hypocenter. The fact that origin time is
an unknown adds complexity to the
earthquake location problem!
Suppose you contour
arrival time
on surface of earth

Earthquake’s
(x,y) is center of
bulls-eye

but what about

its depth?
 Since origin
time unknown
we have not
marked it on
Deep
time axis

Earthquake’s
depth related to
Shallow curvature of
arrival time at
origin
Fundamental data:
arrival time tpi of waves
from earthquake p to station-i

Wave could be either P wave

or S wave. Both are used.
Fundamental Relationship
Arrival Time = Origin Time + Travel Time

tpi = tp + Tpi

ray Traveltime Tpi along ray

connecting earthquake p with
station q can be calculated
earthquake p using ray theory
with origin time tp
Locating an earthquake
requires knowing the earth’s seismic
velocity structure accurately

so that traveltime can be calculated

between stations and hypothetical
hypocenters
example
velocity
structure
(Iceland)
in this case
assumed to
vary only
with depth
Basic Principle
Best estimates of the hypocentral parameters and origin time are
the ones that best predict the arrival times at all the stations.
Usually, “best predicts” means minimizing
the least-squares prediction error, E:

Ep = Si [ tpiobserved – tpipredicted ]2

where tpipredicted = tppredicted + Tpipredicted

and where Tpipredicted depends on (xp, yp, zp)

The mathematical problem is to find the
hypocentral parameters,
xppredicted=(xp, yp, zp)predicted
and origin time,
tppredicted
that give the best fit
(which is to say, minimize the error)

But the problem is that the traveltime varies in a

complicated, non-linear way with the hypocentral
parameters, xppredicted
The usual solution is to use an iterative method:

Step 1: Guess a set of hypocentral parameters, h=(xp, yp, zp,

tp) = (xp, , tp) and use it to predict the traveltime

Step 2: Determine how much the arrival time would

change if the guess were changed by a small amount, dh
= (dx, dt).

Step 3: Use that information to attempt to find a slightly

different h that reduces the error, E.

Do steps 2 and 3 over and over again, hoping that

eventually the error will become acceptably small.
It turns out that Step 2 is incredibly easy.

A small change in origin time, dt, simply shifts the arrival

times by the same amount, dt = dt.

The effect of a small change in location depends on the

direction of the shift. A change dx along the ray direction
shifts the time by dt=dx/v.
But a change perpendicular to the ray has no effect.

This is Geiger’s Principle, and illustrated in the next slide.

Step 3 is pretty easy too.
The trick is to realize that the equation that says the
observed and predicted traveltimes are equal is now
linear in the unknowns:

tpiobs = tpipre = tp + Tpipre

= tpguess + dt + Tpipre(xpguess) + (t/v)•dx

Or by moving two terms to the left:

tpiobs - Tpipre(xpguess) - tpguess = dt + (t/v)•dx
➢The methodology for solving a linear
equation in the least-squares sense is very
well known.

➢ It requires some tedious matrix algebra,

so we wont discuss it here. But is routine.
but with any method, a key question is …

What can go wrong?

here are some possibilities …

 Too few data …

Since there are four unknowns,

you must have at least four arrival
time measurements. Any fewer, and
you cannot locate the earthquake.
 Bad Station Geometry …
But P and S waves from each of
two stations won’t do it, because
there is a left-right ambiguity

earthquake here?

station 1

station 2

or here?
 Another poor geometry …
When the stations are all to one side of the
stations, the rays all leave the source in
roughly the same direction and location
trades off with origin time

station 2
shallow and late
deep and early

Depending upon ray geometry, this

trade-off can also involve depth
and origin time
Recently, a new earthquake location
method has been developed

that instead of locating a single earthquake

on the basis of its arrival times (as above)

locates groups of earthquakes on the basis

of the difference in their arrival times
This method is often called the

Double-Difference Method

the following figures illustrate its

power
Earthquakes in
Long Valley
Caldera,
California
located with
traveltimes
Note amorphous
clouds of
earthquakes, no
evidence of
faults.

Courtesty of
Felix
Walhhauser,
LDEO
Earthquakes in
Long Valley
Caldera, California
located with the
double-difference
method

Note many
earthquakes fall on
lines, so there is
clear evidence of
faults!

Courtesty of Felix
Walhhauser, LDEO
The basic data in the double-difference method
is the differential arrival time between two
different earthquakes observed at the same
station: Dtpqi = tpi - tqi

But that is another story …