LOCATING AN

EARTHQUAKE’S
EPICENTER
CE133-1_Lecture 3.B

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 Locating an Earthquake’s Epicenter
Seismic wave behavior
 P waves arrive first, then S waves, then L and R

 After an earthquake, the difference in arrival times at a seismograph

station can be used to calculate the distance from the seismograph
to the epicenter (D).

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If average speeds for all these waves is known, use the S-P (S minus P)
time formula: a method to compute the distance (D) between a recording
station and an event.

Distance
Time 
Velocity
P wave has a velocity VP ; S wave has a velocity VS .
VS is less than VP .
Both originate at the same place--the hypocenter.
They travel the same distance
but the S wave takes more time than the P wave.
D
Time for the S wave to travel a distance D: TS  ;
VS
D
Time for the P wave to travel a distance D: TP  .
VP
The time difference
 1 1  V VS 
TS  TP  D D

VS VP
 D    D P
VS VP 

 VP VS 
Now solve for the Distance D:
 V V 
D =  P S TS  TP 
VP VS 
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Seismic Travel-time Curve: If the speeds of the seismic waves are
not known, use Travel-Time curve for that region to get the
distance

1. Measure time
between P and S
wave on
seismogram
2. Use travel-time
graph to get
distance to
epicenter

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3-circle method: Steps:

1) Read S-P time from 3

seismograms.
north
2) Compute distance for
D1 each event/recording
D2 station pair (D1, D2, D3)
using S-P time formula.
3) Draw each circle of
radius Di on map.
4) Overlapping point is
the event location.

D3
Assumption: Source is
relatively shallow;
epicenter is relatively
close to hypocenter.

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Locating an Earthquake’s Epicenter: Deep Source

If you gather this information from three or more

points, you can figure out the location of the
focus through the process of trilateration.
Basically, you draw an imaginary sphere around
each seismograph location, with the point of
measurement as the center and the measured
distance (let's call it X) from that point to the
focus as the radius. The surface of the circle
describes all the points that are X miles away
from the seismograph.
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Locating an Earthquake’s Epicenter: Deep Source
The focus, then, must be somewhere along this
sphere. If you come up with two spheres, based on
evidence from two different seismographs, you'll
get a two-dimensional circle where they meet.
Since the focus must be along the surface of both
spheres, all of the possible focus points are
located on the circle formed by the intersection of
these two spheres. A third sphere will intersect
only twice with this circle, giving you two possible
focus points. And because the center of each
sphere is on the earth's surface, one of these
possible points will be in the air, leaving only one
logical focus location. 7
 Example Problem

1. Assuming P and S wave traveled through the crust at 6 km/sec and

3 km/sec respectively, estimate the epicentral location (latitude and
longitude) of the hypothetical earthquake whose characteristics are
given below:
Seismograph Arrival Time
Latitude Longitude P- wave S-wave
3722’30” 12152’30” 06:11:18.93 06:11:26.9
3745’00” 12220’00” 06:11:14.84 06:11:18.71
3752’33” 12143’38” 06:11:17.26 06:11:23.53

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 Diameter of earth = 12720 km
360o = p × 12720
1o = 111 km (latitude)
At latitude of 37.5o, longitude 1o = 111 cos 37.5 = 88 km

Seismograph Difference Distance

in arrival from
time of P epicenter
and S waves
Latitude Latitude Longitude Longitude t (sec) D (km)
3722’30” 37.375 12152’30” 121.875 7.97 47.8
3745’00” 37.75 12220’00” 122.333 3.87 23.2
3752’33” 37.876 12143’38” 121.7272 6.27 37.6

D = [(VpVs)/(Vp-Vs)] t

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 38o

55.5 km

37.5o

55.5 km

37o
44 km 44 km

122.5o 122o 121.5o

Longitude

Scale 1mm: 1 km
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 38o
19.99
2 3
55 mm 29.3
41.36
27.5
37.5o
1 33

41.25
41.625

37o

44 mm

122.5o 122o 121.5o

Scale 1mm: 1 km
Seismograph 1 is at latitude 37.375o , 0.375o from 37o latitude line
Seismograph 1 is at 0.375*111 = 41.625 km from 37o latitude line
Seismograph 1 is at longitude 121.875o , 0.375o from 121.5o longitude line
Seismograph 1 is at 0.375*88 = 33 km from 121.5o longitude line
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 38 Distance of epicenter from 37.5o
latitude line = 28 mm
111 mm = 1o
Latitude of epicenter
= 37.5+28/111 = 37.7522o
37.5 = 37o 45’8”
Distance of epicenter from 122o
longitude line = 8.5 mm
88 mm = 1o
Longitude of epicenter
= 122+8.5/88 =122.0966o
37
= 122o5’48”
122.5 122 121.5

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 Homework # 1

1. Assuming P and S wave traveled through the crust at 6

km/sec and 3 km/sec respectively, estimate the possible
location of the epicenter E of a shallow earthquake if E
forms an equilateral triangle with two points A (10,10)
and B (35, 10) on the ground surface. What is the
difference in the arrival time of P and S waves at stations
A and B?

2. Two Seismographic stations A and B are located 200 km

apart on level ground. An earthquake occurred between
these two stations and the epicenter is located exactly on
the line joining these two stations. The difference in time
between P and S wave arrivals was 10 seconds at A and
15 seconds at B. Determine the location of epicenter
from these two stations.
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 Homework # 1
3. Assuming P and S wave traveled through the crust at 6
km/sec and 3 km/sec respectively, estimate the
epicentral location (latitude and longitude) of the
hypothetical earthquake whose characteristics are given
below: (Note: Use interval of 0.5° for both latitude and
longitude.)

Seismograph Arrival Time

Station Latitude Longitude P-wave S-wave
1 12.12° 121.25° 05:21:19.92 05:21:29.92
2 12.88° 121.75° 05:21:18.93 05:21:26.9
3 12.25° 122.10° 05:21:17.26 05:21:23.53

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