Earthquakes

 Is the vibration of the Earth produced by the rapid release of energy

 Focus- point within the Earth where the Earthquake starts
 Epicenter- location or the surface directly above the focus
 Faults- are fractures in Earth where movement has occurred
 Causes
1.) Elastic Rebound Hypothesis
a. Most earthquakes are produced by the rapid release of elastic energy stored in
rock that has been subjected to great forces
b. When the strength of the rock is exceeded, it suddenly breaks, causing the
vibrations of the earthquake
2.) Aftershock-small earthquake that follows the main earthquake
a. Foreshock- precedes a major earthquake
 Tectonic earthquake- caused by tectonic plates movement relative to each other
 Volcanic earthquake- cause by volcanic activities or magma activities to be precise
 Earthquake waves
o Seismographs- instruments that record earthquake waves
o Seismograms- traces of amplified, electronically recorded ground motion made
seismographs
o Surface waves- seismic waves that travel along Earth’s outer layer
 Body Waves
o Identified as P or S waves
o P waves
 Push-pull waves that push (compress0 and pull (expand) in the direction that the waves
travel
 Travels through solid, liquid and gases
 Have the greatest velocity
o S waves
 Seismic waves that travel along Earth’s outer layer
 Shake particles at right angles to the direction they travel
 Travels only on solids
 Slower velocity
 Seismogram- show all 3 types of seismic waves- surface, P and S waves
 Locating Earthquakes
o Distances-epicenter is located using the difference in the arrival time times between P and S
wave recordings, which are related to distance
 Earthquake direction
o Travel time graphs from 3 or more seismographs can be used to find the exact location of an
epicenter
o About 95% of the major earthquakes occur in few narrowness
 Measuring earthquakes
o Scientists have used 2 different types of measurements to describe the size of an earthquake,
intensity and magnitude
o Richter Scale
 Based on the amplitude of the largest seismic wave
 Each unit of Richter magnitude equates to roughly a 32 fold every increase
 Does not estimate adequately the size of very large earthquake
 Seismic vibrations
 o Damages to buildings and other structures from earthquake waves depends on several factors.
These factors include the intensity and duration of the vibrations
 Building design
o Factors that determines the structural damage
 Intensity of the earthquake
 Unreinforced stone or brick building are most unsafe
 Nature of two material upon which the surface rests
 Design of the structure
 Soil Liquefaction
o Saturated material turns fluid
o Underground objects may float into surface
o Ex: Soil into mud
 Tsunami
o Cause of Tsunamis
 Triggered by an earthquake occurs where a slab of the ocean floor is displaced vertically
along a fault
 Can also occur when the vibration of a quake sets an underwater landslide into motion
 Japanese word for “seismic sea wave”
 Origin= ocean crust
 Other Dangers
1.) Landslide
a. Creates the greatest damage
b. Ground subsidence or sinking of the ground triggered by vibrations
c. San Francisco earthquake 1906, most destructive that started when gas and electrical lines
were cut

Plate Tectonics

 Late 1800’s, Alfred Wegener proposed his hypothesis of continental drift

 The continents formed a single landmass, broke up and drifted. He also coined the term Pangaea
 Continents (from largest to smallest)
o Asia
o Africa
o North America
o South America
o Europe
o Antarctica
o Australia
 The Earth’s landmass driven by zinc
 Fossils of the same species are found on continents on separate sides of the Atlantic Ocean
 Location of the mountain ranges and rock formations and evidence of ancient climatic conditions also
support Wegener’s hypothesis
 Pangaea
o 245 million years ago- single land mass
o After 45 million years, it split into two continents, Laurasia and Gondwanaland
o Laurasia began to drift northward, a new rift separated Laurasia into continents of North
America and Eurasia
o At the same time, Gondwanaland broke into 2
o One continent contained land that is now the continents of South America and Africa
 o Other continent contained land that is now Antarctica, Australia and India
 What discoveries that support Continental Drift?
o For many years, scientists did not accept it because they could not determine how continents
moved
o In the mid 1900’s, scientists began mapping the sea floor and discovered huge, underwater
mountain ranges called mid-ocean ridges
o Discovery of the mid-ocean ridges eventually led to the theory of plate tectonics, which built on
some of Wegener’s ideas
o Rock samples from the seafloor revealed that the youngest rock is closest to the ridge, while the
oldest is farthest away
o Oldest oceanic crust is young compared to continental crust
o Seafloor rock contains magnetic patterns (nearer in core)
o Sea floor spreading explains the age and magnetic patterns of non-floor rocks
o Molten rock from inside Earth rises at the ridges and forms the now oceanic crust
o Older crust is pushed away from the ridge and the seafloor slowly spreads apart
o Discovered huge trenches in the sea floor where oceanic crust sinks into the asthenosphere
o Older crust is thus being destroyed at the ocean trenches at the same rate a new crust is forming
at the ridges
o In this manner, Earth remains the same size

Plate Tectonics- A Giant jigsaw

 Scientists began a new theory to explain continental drift, mid ocean ridges and seafloor spreading
 Plate tectonics is a theory that describes large scale mountains of Earth’s lithosphere
 Explains how and why features in Earth’s crust form and continents move
 Tectonic plate
o The lithosphere is divided into pieces called tectonic plates which move around on top of the
asthenosphere
 Boundary
o Plate boundaries may be on the ocean floor, around the edges of the continents or even within
continents
o Convergent boundaries- from where two plates collide
o Divergent boundaries- two plates move away from each other, and magma rises to from new
lithosphere at mid ocean ridges
 Boundary at which two plates move past each other horizontally is called a transform
boundary
 Hot plates
o 3 mechanisms to explain how tectonic plates move: mantle convection, ridge push and slab pull
o Hotter parts of the mantle rise as cooler denser parts sink. This kind of movement of material
due to differences in density is called convection
o Mantle convection drags the overlying tectonic plates
 Ridge push- moves plates away from the mid ocean ridges as rock cools and becomes more dense
o Newly formed rock at a mid ocean ridge is warm and less dense than older adjacent rock which
slopes downward away from the ridge
o As the newer rock cools and becomes denser, it moves down the slope, pushing the rest of the
plate away from the mid ocean ridges
o Slab pull- a plate moves because it is pulled along when its denser edge sinks beneath the Earth’s
surface
 Leading edge of a sinking plate is colder and denser than the mantle so it sinks
 Most important driving mechanism