EARTHQUAKES & FAULTS

More than 1 MILLION

EARTHQUAKES occur every
year
Earthquakes serve as
evidence that Earth’s Crust
is continually undergoing
change
How do earthquakes occur and
how are they detected?

• How can people be prepared

for earthquakes?
 ACTIVE and INACTIVE
FAULTS
• EARTH CRUST
The surface/outermost layer of the
Earth
 Earth’s Crust Two Sections
Continental Crust
Makes up Earth’s landmasses
Oceanic Crust
Found in the ocean floor and
usually thinner than continental
crust
Why are some parts of the crust
thicker than other?

How does the crust change its

shape over time?
• Some force is at work pushing and pulling
on the crust causing changes on the
surface and often well beneath the surface
• This push-pull is called stress

• As rocks undergo stress, they slowly

change shape and volume.
 What can stress do to rocks?
• A rock to become more compressed or
squeezed
• Becomes smaller in volume
• A rock to stretch out over a large area.
• The volume increases
• The rock to twist or tear apart.
• Causes the formation of fault
 What is a fault?
• Fault
Fracture in rocks along which
movement occured.

Some faults may cause the ground to

crack, rise or lower.
 Two blocks of a faulted rock
• Hanging Wall
• The block of rock above the fault
• Foot Wall
• The block of rock below the fault
 Kinds of fault
• Normal Fault/Normal Dip-slip Fault
• If a stress pulls the rocks apart due to
tension, the hanging wall will move down
relative to the foot wall.
 Kinds of fault
• Reverse Dip-slip Fault/ Thrust Fault
• If stress squeezed the rocks due to
compression, the hanging wall will move
up relative to the foot wall.
 Kinds of Fault
• Strike – slip Fault/Wrench Fault
• The blocks move by sliding and slipping
along each other horizontally but in
opposite directions.
 Active faults
• are structure where there is a
displacement.
• Usually produce a shallow earthquake

• One that has moved in the past and

expected to move again.
 Inactive Faults
• are structures that can be identified but
which do not cause earthquakes.
• If a fault has been inactive for million
years, it is safe to call it inactive.
• The motion along the faults can be
explained by the PLATE TECTONIC
THEORY
• Large slabs of Earth’s Lithosphere
are continuously moving slowly.
These plates interact with other
plates deforming the nearby rocks.
 PHIVOLCS
• Philippine Institute of Volcanology and
Seismology
• Philippines has several fault lines
• Faults and trenches are found in
the entire country
• Trenches are the deepest part of
the oceans and are usually V-
Shaped.
 Faults & Trenches
• Are found close to the continents
• Near strings of islands.

• Near these TRENCHES:

– The crust is active causing stress and
creating faults.
 About trenches…
• Scientist believe that the ocean floor is
being pushed down deep into Earth along
the trenches
• When these rocks are pushed deep
enough, they are melted by the heat of
Earth.
• Some of the molten rocks will rise up
through the crust and produce volcanoes
but most of it will become part of the
Earth’s Mantle.
 EARTHQUAKE Focus and
Epicenter
• Earthquake…
• Shaking and trembling of earth that results
from the sudden movement of Earth’s
crust
• Faulting…
• The most common cause of earthquake
• During Faulting…
• Energy is released as the rocks break and
move.
• As they move, they cause the nearby
rocks to move also.
• The rocks continue to move this way until
the energy is used up.
 Tsunami…
• Giant ocean wave cause by Earthquake
that occur on the ocean floor.
• These waves can travel at speed of 700 –
800km/h.
• Can be as high as 10 – 20 meters (as they
approach the coast).
• The effects are devastating
• One of the world’s worst natural disaster
• Focus
• The point/region where an
earthquake ruptures and the rocks
break
• hypocenter
• Underground point of origin of an
Earthquake.
• Epicenter
• The point on Earth’s surface directly
above the focus
• This where the most violent shaking
of the ground occurs.
• Focal Depth
• The distance between the focus and
the epicenter
 Earthquake Waves…
• 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 Earth and is recorded on
seismographs.
 Three main types of Seismic
Waves
• Primary Waves (P Waves)
• The fastest of the seismic wave
• The first to arrive at a seismic
station before any other type of
seismic wave
• Can move through the solid rocks
and fluids (like water and liquid
layers of Earth)
 Three main types of Seismic
Waves
• Can move through the solid rocks
and fluids (like water and liquid
layers of Earth)
 Three main types of Seismic
Waves
• Secondary Wave (S Wave)

• The second wave you feel in an

earthquake
• S wave is slower than a P wave and
can only move through solid not
through liquid or gases
• What happens to S WAVES
when they reach the liquid part
of the earth?
• S waves move rock particles up
and down, or side – to – side -
perpendicular to the direction the
wave is traveling in.
 Three main types of Seismic
Waves
• Surface Wave (L Wave)
– Travel from focus directly upward to the
epicentre.
– Earth’s surface moves up and down with each
L wave that passes
– Cause most of the damage during the
earthquake because they bend and twist
Earth’s surface.
 Seismograph…
• An instrument that detects and measures
waves.

Seismograms…
• Seismograph’s record of the waves.
 Richter Scale…
• Measures how much energy an
earthquake releases by assigning the
earthquake number from 1 to 10.
• The more energy the earthquake releases,
the stronger the earthquake is.
 Earthquake Magnitude and its
Effects
Richter Magnitude Effects Near Epicenter
2.0 and below Generally not felt, but recorded

2.0 – 2.9 Potentially perceptible

3.0 – 3.9 Felt by some

4.0 – 4.9 Felt by most

5.0 – 5.9 Damaging Shocks

6.0 – 6.9 Destructive in populous regions

7.0 – 7.9 Major earthquake; inflict serious damage

8.0 and above Great earthquake; Destroys communities

near epicenterr
 Modified Mercalli Intesity Scale
• New Zealand , United States and Canada
are countries using mercalli scale in
measuring the intensity of an earthquake
• This is a descriptive scale from 1-12 based
on ..
– how people feel an earthquake
– The damage to buildings and their contents
– How the natural environment responds.