Name: Kristia Jolina B.

Alde
Subject: Wind and Earthquake Engineering
Instructor: Engr. Joseph Cloyd Lamberte
Date: March 3, 2021
Assignment Number 1

1. WHAT IS EARTHQUAKE?
An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is an intense shaking of Earth’s surface
caused by movements in Earth’s outermost layer. In its most generic sense, the word earthquake
is used to describe any seismic event—whether a natural phenomenon or an event caused by
humans—that generates seismic waves. An earthquake is a shock wave that radiates to the
Earth's surface from underground. Causing a range of effects from unnoticeable, mild tremors to
violent, prolonged shaking, an earthquake is a natural phenomenon that occurs frequently only
in certain areas of the world.
Earthquake is a name for
seismic activity on Earth,
but Earth isn’t the only
place with seismic activity.
Scientists have measured
quakes on the Earth’s
moon, and see evidence
for seismic activity on
Mars, Venus and several
moons of Jupiter, too.
Earthquakes can range in
size from those that are so
weak that they cannot be felt to those violent enough to propel objects and people into the air,
and wreak destruction across entire cities. The seismicity, or seismic activity, of an area is the
frequency, type, and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time. The word tremor is
also used for non-earthquake seismic rumbling.
Most of the world's earthquakes (90%, and 81% of the largest) take place in the 40,000-kilometre-
long, horseshoe-shaped zone called the circum-Pacific seismic belt, known as the Pacific Ring of
Fire, which for the most part bounds the Pacific Plate. Massive earthquakes tend to occur along
other plate boundaries too, such as along the Himalayan Mountains.

1
2. HOW DOES EARTHQUAKE OCCUR AND WHY?
At the center of our planet—around 5,000 to 6,000 kilometers beneath the surface—is an
extremely hot, solid core, made mostly of iron and possibly nickel surrounded by a molten outer
core (also thought to be made of mostly iron and some nickel). Further out we find another
high-temperature layer, called the convicting mantle, which isn’t exactly molten, but some
movement is still possible given sufficient time. This convicting mantle enables convection
currents, driven by heat
from the planet’s core, to
‘flow’ slowly within it. The
uppermost section of the
mantle is relatively cool and
brittle, and deforms
elastically. Finally, above this
layer is the crust, the
outermost layer of the
planet (the bit we stand on).
This coupled layer of crust
and uppermost mantle is
called the lithosphere and
although it feels solid as we
walk around on it, the
lithosphere is actually very thin compared to the other layers of Earth—it ranges from less than
20 kilometers to more than 200 kilometers thick in different areas. But unlike a smooth eggshell
that you may imagine, the Earth’s crust is not a single, unbroken layer. Rather, it’s made of
sections called tectonic plates that sit on top of the slowly flowing and moving mantle.
These plates do not stay still: over time, they migrate around the planet, sometimes grinding
against each other, or pushing into each other to build mountain ranges. In other places where
plates are moving towards each other, one plate is forced underneath another plate. The results
are known as subduction zones, and the world’s largest earthquakes occur in these regions.
With all this dynamic movement constantly taking place all over the planet, big plates of rock
moving around and bumping against each other, it’s no wonder that sometimes it gets a little
unstable. As the plates move relative to each other, huge amounts of stress can build up over
long periods of time. Eventually there comes a point when all the accumulated stress is suddenly
released: rocks break and huge sections of crust are cracked and displaced. These movements
result in waves of energy called seismic waves that radiate out in all directions. The waves travel
into the interior of the planet and towards Earth’s surface. All this activity takes place deep within
Earth, making it difficult to monitor and, therefore, difficult to predict when a future earthquake
might occur. It’s also no surprise that the most seismically active regions of the planet are found
along the edges of the tectonic plates, but not all earthquakes occur along these boundaries.

2
3. EXPLAIN THE EVOLUTION OF PANGAEA AND THE THEORY OF CONTINENTAL DRIFT.
EVOLUTION OF PANGAEA. About 300 million years ago, Earth didn't have seven continents, but
instead one massive supercontinent called Pangaea, which was surrounded by a single ocean
called Panthalassa. The
explanation for Pangaea's
formation ushered in the
modern theory of plate
tectonics, which posits that
the Earth's outer shell is
broken up into several
plates that slide over Earth's
rocky shell, the mantle.
Over the course of the
planet's 3.5 billion-year
history, several
supercontinents have
formed and broken up, a
result of churning and
circulation in the Earth's
mantle, which makes up
most of planet's volume.
This breakup and formation
of supercontinents has
dramatically altered the
planet's history.
The scientist Alfred
Wegener proposed the
notion of an ancient
supercontinent, which he named Pangaea (sometimes spelled Pangea), after putting together
several lines of evidence. The first and most obvious was that the "continents fit together like a
tongue and groove," something that was quite noticeable on any accurate map, Murphy said.
Another telltale hint that Earth's continents were all one land mass comes from the geologic
record. Coal deposits found in Pennsylvania have a similar composition to those spanning across
Poland, Great Britain and Germany from the same time period. That indicates that North America
and Europe must have once been a single landmass. And the orientation of magnetic minerals in
geologic sediments reveals how Earth's magnetic poles migrated over geologic time, Murphy
said. Pangaea formed through a gradual process spanning a few hundred million years. Beginning
about 480 million years ago, a continent called Laurentia, which includes parts of North America,
merged with several other micro-continents to form Euramerica. Euramerica eventually collided

3
with Gondwana, another supercontinent that included Africa, Australia, South America and the
Indian subcontinent. About 200 million years ago, the supercontinent began to break up.
Gondwana (what is now Africa, South America, Antarctica, India and Australia) first split from
Laurasia (Eurasia and North America). Then about 150 million years ago, Gondwana broke up.
India peeled off from Antarctica, and Africa and South America rifted, according to a 1970 article
in the Journal of Geophysical Research. Around 60 million years ago, North America split off from
Eurasia.
The current configuration of continents is unlikely to be the last. Supercontinents have formed
several times in Earth's history, only to be split off into new continents. Right now for instance,
Australia is inching toward Asia, and the eastern portion of Africa is slowly peeling off from the
rest of the continent. Geologists have noticed that there is a quasi-regular cycle in which
supercontinents form and break up every 300 to 400 million years. But most scientists believe
that the supercontinent cycle is largely driven by circulation dynamics in the mantle, according
to a 2010 article in the Journal of Geodynamics.
THEORY OF CONTINENTAL DRIFT. Continental drift describes one of the earliest ways geologists
thought continents moved over time. Today, the theory of continental drift has been replaced by
the science of plate tectonics.
Wegener was convinced that all
of Earth’s continents were once
part of an enormous, single
landmass called Pangaea.
Wegener, trained as an
astronomer, used biology,
botany, and geology to describe
Pangaea and continental drift.
For example, fossils of the
ancient reptile mesosaurus are
only found in southern Africa and
South America. Mesosaurus, a
freshwater reptile only one
meter (3.3 feet) long, could not have swum the Atlantic Ocean. The presence of mesosaurus
suggests a single habitat with many lakes and rivers. Wegener also studied plant fossils from the
frigid Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, Norway. These plants were not the hardy specimens
adapted to survive in the Arctic climate. These fossils were of tropical plants, which are adapted
to a much warmer, more humid environment. The presence of these fossils suggests Svalbard
once had a tropical climate. Finally, Wegener studied the stratigraphy of different rocks and
mountain ranges. The east coast of South America and the west coast of Africa seem to fit
together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, and Wegener discovered their rock layers “fit” just as
clearly. South America and Africa were not the only continents with similar geology. Wegener

4
discovered that the Appalachian Mountains of the eastern United States, for instance, were
geologically related to the Caledonian Mountains of Scotland.
Scientists did not accept Wegener’s theory of continental drift. One of the elements lacking in
the theory was the mechanism for how it works — why did the continents drift and what patterns
did they follow? Wegener suggested that perhaps the rotation of the Earth caused the continents
to shift towards and apart from each other. But, it doesn't. Today, we know that the continents
rest on massive slabs of rock called tectonic plates. The plates are always moving and interacting
in a process called plate tectonics. The continents are still moving today. Some of the most
dynamic sites of tectonic activity are seafloor spreading zones and giant rift valleys.
In the process of seafloor spreading, molten rock rises from within the Earth and adds new
seafloor (oceanic crust) to the edges of the old. Seafloor spreading is most dynamic along giant
underwater mountain ranges known as mid-ocean ridges. As the seafloor grows wider, the
continents on opposite sides of the ridge move away from each other. The North American and
Eurasian tectonic plates, for example, are separated by the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The two
continents are moving away from each other at the rate of about 2.5 centimeters (1 inch) per
year.
Rift valleys are sites where a continental landmass is ripping itself apart. Africa, for example, will
eventually split along the Great Rift Valley system. What is now a single continent will emerge as
two—one on the African plate and the other on the smaller Somali plate. The new Somali
continent will be mostly oceanic, with the Horn of Africa and Madagascar its largest landmasses.
The processes of seafloor spreading, rift valley formation, and subduction (where heavier
tectonic plates sink beneath lighter ones) were not well-established until the 1960s. These
processes were the main geologic forces behind what Wegener recognized as continental drift.

5
4. EXPLAIN BRIEFLY THE MAJOR AND OTHER SEISMIC WAVES WHICH OCCUR DURING
EARTHQUAKES.
Seismic waves are the waves of energy caused by the sudden breaking of rock within the earth
or an explosion. They are the energy that travels through the earth and is recorded on
seismographs. There are several different kinds of seismic waves, and they all move in different
ways. The two main types of waves are body waves and surface waves. Body waves can travel
through the earth's inner layers, but surface waves can only move along the surface of the planet
like ripples on water. Earthquakes radiate seismic energy as both body and surface waves.
BODY WAVES. Traveling through the interior of the earth, body waves arrive before the surface
waves emitted by an earthquake. These waves are of a higher frequency than surface waves.
The first kind of body wave is the P wave or primary wave. This is the fastest kind of seismic wave
which propagate through the Earth with a speed of about 15,000 miles per hour and,
consequently, the first to
'arrive' at a seismic station.
The P wave can move
through solid rock and fluids,
like water or the liquid layers
of the earth. It pushes and
pulls the rock it moves
through just like sound
waves push and pull the air.
Have you ever heard a big
clap of thunder and heard
the windows rattle at the
same time? The windows
rattle because the sound
waves were pushing and
pulling on the window glass
much like P waves push and
pull on rock. Sometimes
animals can hear the P
waves of an earthquake.
Dogs, for instance,
commonly begin barking
hysterically just before an earthquake 'hits' (or more specifically, before the surface waves
arrive). Usually, people can only feel the bump and rattle of these waves. P waves are also known
as compressional waves, because of the pushing and pulling they do. Subjected to a P wave,
particles move in the same direction that the wave is moving in, which is the direction that the
energy is traveling in, and is sometimes called the 'direction of wave propagation'.

6
The second type of body wave is the S wave or secondary wave, which is the second wave you
feel in an earthquake. An S wave is slower than a P wave and can only move through solid rock,
not through any liquid
medium. It is this property
of S waves that led
seismologists to conclude
that the Earth's outer core
is a liquid. S waves move
rock particles up and
down, or side-to-side--
perpendicular to the
direction that the wave is
traveling in (the direction
of wave propagation).
S waves arrive next and
cause a structure to
vibrate from side to side.
They are the most
damaging waves, because
buildings are more easily
damaged from horizontal
motion than from vertical
motion. The P and S waves
mainly cause high-
frequency vibrations;
whereas, Rayleigh waves
and Love waves, which
arrive last, mainly cause low-frequency vibrations. Body and surface waves cause the ground,
and consequently a building, to vibrate in a complex manner.
SURFACE WAVES. Traveling only through the crust, surface waves are of a lower frequency
than body waves, and are easily distinguished on a seismogram as a result. Though they arrive
after body waves, it is surface waves that are almost entirely responsible for the damage and
destruction associated with earthquakes. This damage and the strength of the surface waves
are reduced in deeper earthquakes.
The first kind of surface wave is called a Love wave, named after A.E.H. Love, a British
mathematician who worked out the mathematical model for this kind of wave in 1911. It's the
fastest surface wave and moves the ground from side-to-side. Confined to the surface of the
crust, Love waves produce entirely horizontal motion.

7
The other kind of surface wave is the Rayleigh wave, named for John William Strutt, Lord
Rayleigh, who mathematically predicted the existence of this kind of wave in 1885. A Rayleigh
wave rolls along the ground just like a wave rolls across a lake or an ocean. Because it rolls, it
moves the ground up and down, and side-to-side in the same direction that the wave is moving.
Most of the shaking felt from an earthquake is due to the Rayleigh wave, which can be much
larger than the other waves.

8
5. EXPLAIN THE 3 CATEGORIES OF PLATE TECTONIC BOUNDARY MOTIONS. AND DESCRIBE
THEM EACH WITH ILLUSTRATIONS.
The Earth’s lithosphere, which includes the crust and upper mantle, is made up of a series of
pieces, or tectonic plates, that move slowly over time. Most movement occurs along narrow
zones between plates where the results of plate-tectonic forces are most evident. There are three
main types of plate boundaries: divergent, convergent, and transform.
DIVERGEN BOUNDARIES. It occurs when two tectonic plates move away from each other. Along
these boundaries, earthquakes are common
and magma (molten rock) rises from the Earth’s
mantle to the surface, solidifying to create new
oceanic crust. Volcanic eruptions and shallow
earthquakes are common where plates rip
apart. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge and Pacific Ring
of Fire are two examples of divergent plate
boundaries.
CONVERGENT BOUNDARIES. Are when two plates come together. The impact of the colliding
plates can cause the edges of one or both
plates to buckle up into a mountain ranges or
one of the plates may bend down into a deep
seafloor trench. A chain of volcanoes often
forms parallel to convergent plate boundaries
and powerful earthquakes are common along
these boundaries. At convergent plate
boundaries, oceanic crust is often forced down into the mantle where it begins to melt. Magma
rises into and through the other plate, solidifying into granite, the rock that makes up the
continents. Thus, at convergent boundaries, continental crust is created and oceanic crust is
destroyed.
TRANSFORM PLATE BOUNDARY. Formed when two plate boundaries slide past each other. One
of the most famous transform plate boundaries occurs at the San Andreas fault zone, which
extends underwater. Natural or human-made
structures that cross a transform boundary
are offset—split into pieces and carried in
opposite directions. Rocks that line the
boundary are pulverized as the plates grind
along, creating a linear fault valley or
undersea canyon. Earthquakes are common
along these faults. In contrast to convergent
and divergent boundaries, crust is cracked and broken at transform margins, but is not created
or destroyed.

9
6. DISCUSS THE ELASTIC REBOUND THEORY THAT OCCURS IN FAULTS
The elastic rebound theory is an explanation for how energy is spread during earthquakes. As
rocks on opposite sides of a fault are subjected to force and shift, they accumulate energy and
slowly deform until their internal strength is exceeded. At that time, a sudden movement occurs
along the fault, releasing the accumulated energy, and the rocks snap back to their original
undeformed shape.
In geology, the elastic rebound theory was the first theory to satisfactorily explain earthquakes.
Previously it was thought that ruptures of the surface were the result of strong ground shaking
rather than the converse suggested by this theory.
Ancient cultural explanations of earthquakes were often along the lines of the mythical Japanese
Namazu: A giant catfish with the islands of Japan on his back. A demigod, or daimyojin, holds a
heavy stone over his head to keephim from moving. Once in a while the daimyojin is distracted
so Namazu moves and the Earth trembles.
Following the great 1906 San Francisco earthquake, Harry Fielding Reid, Professor of Geology at
Johns Hopkins University, examined the displacement of the ground surface around the San
Andreas Fault. From his observations he concluded that the earthquake must have been the
result of the elastic rebound of previously stored elastic strain energy in the rocks on either side
of the fault. Comparing it to a stretched rubber band is broken or cut, elastic energy stored in the
rubber band during the stretching will suddenly be released. Similarly, the crust of the earth can
gradually store elastic stress that is released suddenly during an earthquake. This gradual
accumulation and release of stress and strain is now referred to as the "elastic rebound theory"
of earthquakes. Most earthquakes are the result of the sudden elastic rebound of previously
stored energy.
In a seismic period, the Earth’s plates move relative to each other except at most plate
boundaries where they are locked. Thus, if a road is built across the fault as in the figure panel
Time 1, it is perpendicular to the fault trace at the point E, where the fault is locked. The far field
plate motions (large arrows) cause the rocks in the region of the locked fault to accrue elastic
deformation. The deformation builds at the rate of a few centimeters per year, over a time period
of many years. When the accumulated strain is great enough to overcome the strength of the
rocks, an earthquake occurs. During the earthquake, the portions of the rock around the fault
that were locked and had not moved 'spring' back, relieving the displacement in a few seconds
that the plates moved over the entire interseismic period (D1 and D2 in Time 3). The time period
between Time 1 and Time 2 could be months to hundreds of years, while the change from Time
2 to Time 3 is seconds. Like an elastic band, the more the rocks are strained the more elastic
energy is stored and the greater potential for an event. The stored energy is released during the
rupture partly as heat, partly in damaging the rock, and partly as elastic waves. Modern
measurements using GPS largely support Reid’s theory as the basis of seismic movement, though
actual events are often more complicated.

10
7. DIFFERENTIATE FAULTS FROM TECTONIC PLATE BOUNDARES.
Think of the Earth as an onion, composed of layers made of rocks of various temperatures, getting
hotter as you go deeper. The outer layer, the crust, is pretty rigid and floats along on top of the
mantle, which can flow (slowly). The mantle can flow because radioactive elements (uranium and
thorium) left over from the formation of the earth provide the heat. The top layer, which we live
on, is 7-35 km thick, out of a total of 6368 km, so the skin is 0.2% of the radius, really very thin.
Since the heated rocks making up the interior are in constant slow motion, the skin floating on
top of it is fractured by the motion. We see this effect as continental drift, a well-known historical
phenomenon. The skin is divided into about a dozen tectonic plates. Plate boundaries are always
faults, but not all faults are plate boundaries. The movement of the plates relative to each other
distorts the crust in the region of the boundaries creating systems of earthquake faults.
There are also major faults and systems of faults in the interiors of plates. One of these is in the
region of Missouri in the central United States, called the New Madrid fault system. A series of
major earthquakes occurred there in 1811-1812, causing the Mississippi River to change its
course.
As the plates move, mechanical
energy is stored near the faults in the
same way that energy is stored by a
stretched spring. The energy is
associated with a buildup of force or
stress around the fault. Meanwhile,
the fault is held together by the force
of friction. When the elastic forces
get to be large enough, the friction
force is overcome, and the fault slips,
producing the earthquake. The
slipping fault also produces elastic
waves that travel outward from the
fault and cause the ground to shake.
When this wave reaches an observer,
the rapid motion of the earth is
interpreted as an earthquake.

11
8. DIFFERENTIATE SEISMOGRAPHS AND SEISMOGRAMS.
Seismologists study earthquakes by going out and looking at the damage caused by the
earthquakes and by using seismographs. A seismograph is an instrument that records the shaking
of the earth's surface caused by seismic waves. The term seismometer is also used to refer to the
same device, and the two terms are often used interchangeably.
The first seismograph was invented in 132 A.D. by the Chinese astronomer and mathematician
Chang Heng. He called it an
"earthquake weathercock."
Each of the eight dragons had a
bronze ball in its mouth.
Whenever there was even a
slight earth tremor, a
mechanism inside the
seismograph would open the
mouth of one dragon. The
bronze ball would fall into the
open mouth of one of the
toads, making enough noise to
alert someone that an
earthquake had just
happened. Imperial watchman
could tell which direction the
earthquake came from by
seeing which dragon's mouth was empty.
In 136 A.D. a Chinese scientist named Choke updated this meter and called it a "seismoscope."
Columns of a viscous liquid were used in place of metal balls. The height to which the liquid was
washed up the side of the vessel indicated the intensity and a line joining the points of maximum
motion also denoted
the direction of the
tremor.
Most seismographs
today are electronic,
but a basic seismograph
is made of a drum with
paper on it, a bar or
spring with a hinge at
one or both ends, a
weight, and a pen. The
one end of the bar or

12
spring is bolted to a pole or metal box that is bolted to the ground. The weight is put on the other
end of the bar and the pen is stuck to the weight. The drum with paper on it presses against the
pen and turns constantly. When there is an earthquake, everything in the seismograph moves
except the weight with the pen on it. As the drum and paper shake next to the pen, the pen
makes squiggly lines on the paper, creating a record of the earthquake. This record made by the
seismograph is called a seismogram.
By studying the seismogram, the seismologist can tell how far away the earthquake was and how
strong it was. This
record doesn't
tell the
seismologist
exactly where the
epicenter was,
just that the
earthquake
happened so
many miles or
kilometers away
from that
seismograph. To
find the exact
epicenter, you
need to know
what at least two
other
seismographs in
other parts of the
country or world
recorded.

13
9. WHAT ARE THE 2 TYPES OF MEASURING EARTHQUAKES AND EXPLAIN THEIR
MEASUREMENTS. ALSO MAKE A COMPARISON OF THE 2 TYPES OF MEASURES CONSIDERING
THE AMOUNT OF DAMAGE AND THE AMOUNT OF MAGNITUDE GENERATED BY EARTHQUAKE.
There are two ways by which we can measure the strength of an earthquake: magnitude and
intensity. Magnitude and Intensity measure different characteristics of earthquakes.
MAGNITUDE. It measures the energy released by an earthquake at the focus. The magnitude of
an earthquake is a number that allows earthquakes to be compared with each other in terms of
their relative power. For several decades, earthquake magnitudes were calculated based on a
method first developed by Charles Richter, a seismologist based in California. Richter used
seismograms of earthquakes that occurred in the San Andreas fault zone to calibrate his
magnitude scale.
Two measurements are factored together to determine the Richter magnitude of an earthquake:
the amplitude of the largest waves recorded on a seismogram of the earthquake, and the
distance to the epicenter of the earthquake. The maximum amplitude seismic wave – the height
of the tallest one – is measured in mm on a seismogram. The distance to the epicenter must also
be taken into account because the greater the distance from the earthquake, the smaller the
waves get. The effect of distance is factored out of the calculation. There is no upper limit defined
for the Richter scale, but after a century of seismograph measurements, it appears that rocks in
the earth release their stress before building up enough energy to reach magnitude 10. The
Richter scale was found to not transfer very well from the San Andreas fault zone, a transform
plate boundary, to the much more powerful earthquakes that occur at convergent plate
boundaries, particularly subduction zone earthquakes. Therefore, the Richter scale has been
replaced by the moment magnitude scale, symbolized as Mw. The moment magnitude scale is
broadly similar to the Richter scale, but it takes more factors into account, including the total
area of the fault that moves during the earthquake, and how much it moves. This produces a
magnitude number that is a better indicator of the total amount of energy released by the
earthquake. Because the moment magnitude scale has replaced the Richter scale, we will assume
from here on that we are referring to moment magnitude, not Richter magnitude, when we speak
of earthquake magnitude.
The magnitude scale is
represented by Arabic
Numbers (e.g. 4.8, 9.0) and
portrays energy logarithmically
to approximately base 32. For
example, a magnitude 6.0
earthquake releases about 32
times as much energy as a
magnitude 5.0 earthquake. A
magnitude 7.0 releases about

14
32 × 32 = 1024 times as much energy as a magnitude 5.0 earthquake. A magnitude 9.0
earthquake, which rarely occurs, releases over a million times as much energy as a magnitude
5.0 earthquake.
INTENSITY. Earthquake intensity is very different from earthquake magnitude. Earthquake
intensity is a ranking based on the observed effects of an earthquake in each particular place and
as perceived and felt by people in a certain locality. It is a numerical rating based on the relative
effects to people, objects, environment and structures in the surrounding. Therefore, each
earthquake produces a range of intensity values, ranging from highest in the epicenter area to
zero at a distance from the epicenter. The intensity of an earthquake is represented by Roman
Numerals (e.g. II, IV, IX).
The most commonly used earthquake intensity scale is the Modified Mercalli earthquake
intensity scale. In the Philippines, the intensity of an earthquake is determined using the
PHIVOLCS Earthquake Intensity Scale (PEIS).

15
10. DESCRIBE BREIFLY THE FOCUS AND EPICENTER OF AN EARTHQUAKE.
Earthquakes are usually caused when rock underground suddenly breaks along a fault. This
sudden release of energy causes the seismic waves that make the ground shake. When two
blocks of rock or two plates are rubbing against each other, they stick a little. They don't just slide
smoothly; the rocks catch on each other. The rocks are still pushing against each other, but not
moving. After a while, the rocks break because of all the pressure that's built up. When the rocks
break, the earthquake occurs. During the earthquake and afterward, the plates or blocks of rock
start moving, and they continue to move until they get stuck again. The spot underground where
the rock breaks is called the focus of the earthquake. The place right above the focus (on top of
the ground) is called the epicenter of the earthquake. An earthquake’s most intense shaking is
often felt near the epicenter. However, the vibrations from an earthquake can still be felt and
detected hundreds, or even thousands of miles away from the epicenter.

16
11. ENUMBERATE AND EXPLAIN BRIEFLY THE CAUSES OF EARTHQUAKES.
People have known about earthquakes for thousands of years, but they didn't know what caused
them. In particular, people believed that the breaks in the Earth's surface – faults - which appear
after earthquakes, were caused by the earthquakes rather than the cause of them. It was
Bunjiro Koto, a geologist in Japan studying a 60-mile-long fault whose two sides shifted about
15 feet in the great Japanese earthquake of 1871, who first suggested that earthquakes were
caused by faults. Henry Reid, studying the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906, took the idea
further. He said that an earthquake is the huge amount of energy released when accumulated
strain causes a fault to rupture. He explained that rock twisted further and further out of shape
by continuing forces over the centuries eventually yields in a wrenching snap as the two sides of
the fault slip to a new position to relieve the strain. This is the idea of "elastic rebound" which is
now central to all studies of fault rupture. The causes of the occurrence of earthquakes are
unique from case to case but could be classified depending on the type of earthquake: Tectonic
Earthquakes, Induced Earthquakes, Volcanic Earthquakes or Collapse Earthquakes.
TECTONIC EARTHQUAKES. They account for most earthquakes worldwide and occur when rocks
in the earth's crust break due to geological forces created by movement of tectonic plates.
VOLCANIC EARTHQUAKES. It is an earthquake caused by the movement of magma beneath the
surface of the Earth. The movement results in pressure changes where the rock around the
magma has experienced stress. At some point, this stress can cause the rock to break or move.
This seismic activity is used by scientists to monitor volcanoes.
INDUCED EARTHQUAKES. It refers to typically minor earthquakes and tremors that are caused
by human activity that alters the stresses and strains on the Earth's crust. Most induced seismicity
is of a low magnitude. There are many ways in which induced seismicity has been seen to occur.
In the past several years, some energy technologies that inject or extract fluid from the Earth,
such as oil and gas extraction and geothermal energy development, have been found or
suspected to cause seismic events. Some energy technologies also produce wastes that may be
managed through disposal or storage by injection deep into the ground. For example, waste
water from oil and gas production and carbon dioxide from a variety of industrial processes may
be managed through underground injection.
COLLAPSE EARTHQUAKES. A collapse earthquake are small earthquakes in underground caverns
and mines that are caused by seismic waves produced from the explosion of rock on the surface
or the detonation of a nuclear and/or chemical device.

17
12. GIVE THE MAJOR EFFECTS OF AN EARTHQUAKE.
Ground shaking is the most familiar effect of earthquakes. Sometimes, they cause tsunamis,
which may lead to loss of life and destruction of property. Earthquakes have varied effects,
including changes in geologic features, damage to man-made structures, and impact on human
and animal life. Most of these effects occur on solid ground, but, since most earthquake foci are
actually located under the ocean bottom, severe effects are often observed along the margins of
oceans.
Earthquakes can do significant damage to buildings, bridges, pipelines, railways, embankments,
and other structures. The type and extent of damage inflicted are related to the strength of the
ground motions and to the behavior of the foundation soils. Earthquakes are frequently
associated with reports of distinctive sounds and lights. The sounds are generally low-pitched
and have been likened to the noise of an underground train passing through a station. The
occurrence of such sounds is consistent with the passage of high-frequency seismic waves
through the ground. Occasionally, luminous flashes, streamers, and bright balls have been
reported in the night sky during earthquakes. These lights have been attributed to electric
induction in the air along the earthquake source.
Following certain earthquakes, very long-wavelength water waves in oceans or seas sweep
inshore. More properly called seismic sea waves or tsunamis (tsunami is a Japanese word for
“harbor wave”),
they are commonly
referred to as tidal
waves, although the
attractions of the
Moon and Sun play
no role in their
formation. They
sometimes come
ashore to great
heights—tens of
metres above mean
tide level—and may
be extremely
destructive. The
most destructive
tsunami ever
recorded occurred
on December 26,
2004, after an
earthquake displaced the seabed off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. More than 200,000 people

18
were killed by a series of waves that flooded coasts from Indonesia to Sri Lanka and even washed
ashore on the Horn of Africa.
Ground rupture is another important effect of earthquakes which occurs when the earthquake
movement along a fault actually breaks the Earth's surface. While active ground rupture is
comparatively rare, there
have been cases of it in
California -- for example,
during the 1906
earthquake, fences near Pt.
Reyes were offset by as
much as 7 meters. And in
the Owens Valley
earthquake in 1872, a fault
scarp as much as 8 meters
high broke the ground near
Lone Pine. Rupture causes
problems for humans by,
well, rupturing things;
pipelines, tunnels, aqueducts, railway lines, roads, and airport runways which cross an area of
active rupture can easily be destroyed or severely damaged.
Soil liquefaction, also called earthquake liquefaction, ground failure or loss of strength that
causes otherwise solid soil to behave temporarily as a viscous liquid. Liquefaction and subsidence
of the ground are important effects which often are the cause of much destruction in
earthquakes, particularly in unconsolidated ground. Liquefaction is when sediment grains are
literally made to float in groundwater, which causes the soil to lose all its solidity. Subsidence can
then follow as the soil
recompacts. Sand blows, or
sand volcanoes, form when
pressurized jets of
groundwater break
through the surface. They
can spray mud and sand
over an area a few meters
across. All of these effects
pose a grave danger to
buildings, roads, train lines,
airport runways, gas lines,
etc. Buildings have actually
tipped over and sunk
partway into liquefied soils, as in the 1964 Niigata earthquake in Japan.

19
Fires are a major source of damage after earthquakes. Ground rupture and liquefaction can easily
rupture natural gas mains and water mains, both contributing to the ignition of fires and
hindering the efforts to control them. In an amazing example of this, during the 1994 Northridge
earthquake there were
actually places where water
was pouring down streets from
broken water mains and at the
same spot and same time, fire
was roaring out of ruptured
gas mains. Shaking also
contributes to starting fires, by
knocking down power lines,
spilling flammable liquids from
storage containers, and tossing
hot coals from barbeques and
stoves. In the 1923 Great Kanto Tokyo earthquake in Japan nearly 100,000 people died -- over
70,000 of them due to fires which swept the area after the earthquake.

20