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GEOMORPHOLOGY

Earthquake Causes and Effects: Geography UPSC

By Lotus Arise January 25, 2021 2 Comments

In this article of Geomorphology, You will read the earthquakes, earthquake

causes and effects, Terminology used in the Study of Earthquakes, Measurement,
Seismic Waves, and much more.

Contents
Earthquake
Terminology Used in the Study of Earthquakes
Classi몭cation of earthquake
World Distribution of Earthquakes
Earthquake Causes
Consequences of Earthquake
Earthquake Management

Earthquake
An earthquake is the shaking of the surface of the Earth, resulting from the
sudden release of energy in the Earth‘s lithosphere that creates seismic
waves.
Earthquake is the form of energy of wave motion transmitted through the
surface layer of the earth.
It may be due to faulting , folding, plate movement, volcaninc eruptions and
anthropogenic factors like dams and reservoirs.
Earthquake are by far the most unpredictable and highly distructive of all the
natural disasters.
Minor earth tremors caused by gentle waves of vibration within the earth’s
crust occur every few minutes while Major earthquakes usually caused by
movement along faults, can be very disastrous particularly in densely
populated areas.
 populated areas.

Terminology Used in the Study of Earthquakes

Earthquake intensity
Earthquake magnitude
Richter Scale
Mercalli Scale
Fault
Focus
Epicenter
Seismic wave
Seismograph

Focus and Epicenter

The point within Earth where faulting begins is the focus, or hypocenter.

The point directly above the focus on the surface is the epicenter. The intensity of
the earthquake is highest at the epicenter and decreases with distance from the
epicenter.

Richter scale
Richter magnitude scale is the scale to measure the magnitude of energy
released by an earthquake.

This scale was devised by Charles. F. Richter in the year 1935.

The number indicating magnitude ranges between 0 to 9

The number indicating magnitude ranges between 0 to 9

An earthquake that registers 5.0 on the Richter scale has a shaking amplitude 10
times that of an earthquake that registered 4.0, and thus corresponds to a
release of energy 31.6 times that released by the lesser earthquake.

Mercalli scale
The Mercalli intensity scale is a seismic scale used for measuring the intensity of
an earthquake.

It measures the effects of an earthquake

The number indicating intensity ranges between  1 to 12

Seismic Waves
Seismic waves are the waves of energy caused by the sudden breaking of
rock within the earth.
They are the energy that travels through the earth and is recorded on
seismographs.
The two main types of waves are body waves and surface waves.

Body waves
Primary waves ( P-waves)
Secondary waves ( S-waves)

Surface Waves
Love Waves (L-waves)
Rayleigh waves

Primary waves (longitudinal wave)-

The 몭rst kind of body wave is the P wave or primary wave.
This is the fastest kind of seismic wave.
The P wave can move through gaseous, solid rock and 몭uids, 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.

Secondary waves (transverse wave)

The second type of body wave is the S wave or secondary wave.
An S wave is slower than P wave and can only move through solid rock.
This wave moves rock up and down, or side-to-side.
S-waves arrive at the surface with some time Lag.
Love Waves
The 몭rst kind of surface wave is called a Love wave, named after A.E.H. Love,
a British
mathematician.
It’s the fastest surface wave and moves the ground from side-to-side.

Rayleigh Waves
The other kind of surface wave is the Rayleigh wave, named after Lord
Rayleigh.
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.
Earthquake Predicting

Classification of earthquake
1. On basis of causative factors
Natural
Volcanic
Tectonic
Isostatic
Plutonic
Arti몭cial
2. On basis of depth of focus
Moderate(0-50km)
Intermediate(50-250km)
Deep focus( 250-700km)
3. On basis of human casualities
Moderate (deaths<50,oo)
Highly hazardous(51,000-1,00,00)
Most hazardous(>1,00,00)

World Distribution of Earthquakes

The world’s distribution of earthquakes coincides very closely with that of
 volcanoes.
Region of greatest seismicity are Circum-Paci몭c areas, with the epicenters
and the most frequent occurrences along the ‘Paci몭c Ring of Fire’.
It is said that as many as 70% of earthquakes occur in the Circum-Paci몭c
belt.
Another 20% of earthquakes take place in the Mediterranean-Himalayan
belt including Asia Minor, the Himalayas, and parts of north-west China.
The remaining occur in the interiors of plates and on spreading ridge centers.

Earthquake Causes
Earthquakes are caused mainly due to dis-equilibrium in any part of the crust of
the earth.

A number of causes have been assigned to caused dis-equilibrium or isostatic

imbalance in the earth’s crust.

(a). Natural Reasons

Volcanic eruption
Faulting and folding
Upwarping and downwarping
Gaseous expansion and contraction inside the earth.
Plate Movement
Landslides

(b). Man-made/Anthropogenic Reasons

Deep underground mining

Blasting of rock by dynamites for construction purposes.
Deep underground tunnel
Nuclear explosion
Reservoir Induced Seismicity (RIS) (E.g. Koyna Reservoir witnessed
Earthquake in 1967 due to RIS)
Hydrostatic pressure of man-made water bodies like reservoirs and lakes.

Plate tectonics provides the most logical explanation of volcanoes and

earthquakes.
There are 3 types of plate boundaries along which earthquake occurs

1. Convergent
2. Divergent
3. Transform

Earthquake prone areas in India

Earthquake of mild intensity takes place daily. Strong tremors causing large
scale destructions are, however, less frequent. Earthquakes are more
frequent in the areas of plate boundaries, especially along the convergent
frequent in the areas of plate boundaries, especially along the convergent
boundaries.
In India, the region of convergence of the Indian Plate and the Eurasian Plate
is more vulnerable to earthquakes. E.g. the Himalayan Region.
The peninsular part of India is considered to be a stable block. Occasionally,
however, some earthquakes are felt along the margins of minor plates. The
Koyna earthquake of 1967 and the Latur earthquake of 1993 are examples of
earthquakes in peninsular regions.
The experts of Indian Seismology have divided India into Four seismic zones
namely Zone-II, Zone-III, Zone-IV, and Zone-V. It may be observed that the
entire Himalayan region, the states of North-East India, Western and
Northern Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, and parts of Gujarat belong
to the highest and the high-risk categories zone, named as zone V and IV.
The remaining parts of the northern plains and western coastal areas fall in
moderate risk zone and a large part of the peninsular region lies in the low-
risk zone.
Consequences of Earthquake
Damage to human life and property

The deformation of the ground surface because of the vertical and horizontal
movement of the earth’s crust causes huge damage and destruction to
human establishments and structures.
Example: – An urban disaster case study of the Nepal earthquake of 2015. This
earthquake was of 7.8 magnitudes and was 8.2 Km deep. Nepal earthquake
caused heavy casualties because of unplanned urban construction; poor
designed buildings and unscienti몭cally designed structures.
Urban areas of Kathmandu suffered heavy damages with a death toll of 8
thousand people and an economic loss of 10 billion USD.

Landslides and Avalanches

Tremors especially in mountain areas can cause slope instability and slope
failure leading to debris down the slope causing landslides.
The huge masses of ice may fall down snow-covered peaks due to
earthquakes causing Avalanches.
Example: – The Nepal earthquake of 2015 resulted in several avalanches on
and around Mount Everest peak. The Sikkim earthquake of 2011 caused
landslides and serious damage to life and property, especially the Singik and
Upper Teesta hydel projects.

Floods

The earthquake can lead to devastating disturbances to dams, reservoirs and

can cause 몭ash 몭oods. Landslide and Avalanches which may block the river
course, leading to 몭oods.
Example: – The Assam earthquake of 1950 produced a barrier in the Dihang
 Example: – The Assam earthquake of 1950 produced a barrier in the Dihang
River due to the Accumulation of huge debris causing 몭ash 몭oods in the
upstream section.

Tsunami

Tsunamis are the waves produced due to disruption of ocean basin and
displacement of the huge volume of water. Seismic waves of an earthquake
can displace sea 몭oor and generate high sea waves as Tsunamis.
Example: – The Tsunami of 26th December 2004 of the Indian Ocean was
caused by an earthquake off coast of Sumatra. It happened because of the
subduction of the Indian plate under the Burmese plate. It killed about 2.4
lakh people in the countries in and around the Indian Ocean.
Fukushima Nuclear Accident – The massive Tohoku earthquake of Japan in
2011 resulted into Tsunami waves of 10m which was caused due to an
undersea earthquake of magnitude 9. This destroyed the emergency
generators cooling the reactors and led to the nuclear meltdown and the
radioactive fallout from the Fukushima Daiichi became a worldwide concern.

Earthquake Management
Earthquake management is the organization and management of the resources
and responsibilities for dealing with all humanitarian aspects of emergencies.
The aim is to reduce the harmful effects of the hazards. The earthquake
management includes steps from pre-earthquake risk reduction to post-
earthquake recovery.

1. Risk Recognition – Certain areas are more vulnerable to earthquakes than

others, so risk recognition is the 몭rst step.
2. Earthquake monitoring system/Early warning system– Making a precise
forecast about the occurrence of an earthquake in a region is still a dif몭cult
proposition. Seismologists are increasingly concentrating on the aspect of
earthquake forecasting.
It will help in reducing the impact of upcoming disasters.
Example: – Japan has an earthquake early warning system that uses
electronic signals that reach faster than earthquake waves.
3. Structural Solution– Past earthquakes show that over 95% of the lives lost
were due to the collapse of buildings that were not earthquake resistant. But,
the construction of such quake-resistant buildings is more expensive than
ordinary buildings. Therefore, a cost-effective solution remains a challenge
 for a country like India. Seismic strengthening can be done through
prioritization of structures and to implement this, it is important to have an
earthquake hazard map for various zones according to the vulnerability.

2 COMMENTS   Oldest  

Himaan dagar
 9 months ago

Very informative

6 Reply

rubi
 8 months ago

dedicated
dedicated

5 Reply

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