Seismogram

How are Earthquakes Measured?

• Earthquakes are measured based on three
different scales.
• The first measures the actual size or
magnitude of the quake.
• The second measures the effects or damage of
the quake.
• The third measures the total energy of the
quake.
 Seismometers and Seismographs
• Seismometers are instruments for detecting ground
motions
• Seismographs are instruments for recording seismic
waves from earthquakes.
• Seismometers are based on the principal of an
“inertial mass”
• Seismographs amplify, record, and display the
seismic waves
• Recordings are called seismograms
 Seismograph

• Sebuah seismograph adalah sebuah instrumen yang

mencatat, sebagai fungsi waktu, geteran permukaan bumi
akibat timbulnya gelombang-gelombang seismic oleh
gempabumi.
• Data-data aktual getaran tanah dari seismograph dikenal
sebagai sebuah seismogram, dapat menyediakan informasi
tentang gempa secara alami.
• Data-data seismograph terdiri dari:
 Percepatan terhadap waktu
 Kecepatan terhadap waktu
 Perpindahan terhadap waktu
 How is the Size of Earthquakes
Measured?
• A seismograph is the the tool used to measure
the strength of an earthquakes
• The seismograph prints out a seismogram that
scientists read to determine the strength of
the quake.
• The data from the seismogram is translated
into a 1-10 rating on the Richter Scale. Each
step in the scale represents a tenfold increase
in the size of the quake!
 Seismograms
• Ground motion is a vector (whether it is
displacement, velocity or acceleration), so it takes
3 numbers to describe it. Thus, seismometers
generally have three components:

– Vertical (up is positive)

– North-South (north is positive)
– East-west (east is positive) } horizontals
Three components of motion can be measured

east-west

north-south

Tertekan
up-down

If you speeded up any earthquake signal and listened to it with a hi fi, it

would sound like thunder.
The sense of motion can be used to infer the motion that caused it.

east-west

north-south

up-down

The “first-motion” of the earthquake signal has information about the motion on
the fault that generated it.
Sequencing

How a Seismograph Works

Incoming seismic waves

Vibrate the rotating drum

The suspended pen remains motionless

and records the drum’s vibration.
(Page 341)

Amplitude

Seismograms record the AMPLITUDE

(height of the peaks) of the seismic waves
against TIME along the horizontal axis
What is the maximum amplitude recorded on this seismogram?
What is the maximum amplitude recorded on this seismogram?
 What is a Seismograph
• The Modern Seismograph
• Seismic waves cause the seismograph’s drum to vibrate. But
the suspended weight with the pen attached moves very
little. Therefore, the pen stays in place and records the
drum’s vibrations.
Tertekan
 What are Seismic Waves ???
• Seismic waves are the vibrations from earthquakes
that travel through the Earth
• They are the waves of energy suddenly created by
the breaking up of rock within the earth or an
explosion.
• They are the energy that travels through the earth
and is recorded on seismographs
Modern seismometer
Three components of motion can be measured

east-west

north-south

up-down

If you speeded up any earthquake signal and listened to it with a hi fi, it

would sound like thunder.
Station 1

Station 2

Station 3

Station 4

Station 5
(From J. Anderson)
 Duration and EQ Records
• The longer the duration of earthquake shaking, in general the greater
the damage caused by an earthquake.
• Measurement can occur at seismic stations by printing out the
movement (ground motion) at a certain location – called an
earthquake record or an accelerogram.

Duration, earthquake record, accelerogram.

21
• Terima kasih
 History
• Seismology - the Study of Earthquakes and
Seismic Waves
• 1) Dates back almost 2000 years
•
• Around 132 AD, Chinese scientist Chang Heng invented the first
seismoscope, an instrument that could register the occurrence of an
earthquake.

• Seismographs record a zigzag trace that shows the varying amplitude

of ground oscillations beneath the instrument.
• Sensitive seismographs, which greatly magnify these ground motions,
can detect strong earthquakes from sources anywhere in the world.
• The time, location and magnitude of an earthquake can be
determined from the data recorded by seismograph stations.
 Seismology

Seismometers - instruments that

record seismic waves
• Records the movement of
Earth in relation to a stationary
mass on a rotating drum or
magnetic tape
Types of Seismographs
 A seismograph designed to
record vertical ground motion
The heavy mass doesn’t move much
The drum moves
 Lateral Movement Detector

In reality, copper wire coils move around magnets, generating current which is recorded.
Modern
Seismograph
(Horizontal)
Modern Seismograph (Vertical)
P-waves get there first…
 Seismogram
Tertekan
Tertarik
 EARTHQUAKE MAGNITUDE
Earliest measure of earthquake
size

Dimensionless number
measured various ways,
including

ML local magnitude
mb body wave magnitude
Ms surface wave magnitude
Mw moment magnitude

Easy to measure

No direct tie to physics of

faulting
P-wave S-wave Surface waves
arrival arrival arrival
The orientation of faults can be determined from seismic networks
Locating the Source of an Earthquake:
the time-travel curve
Time-Travel Curve
 Jargon
seismoscope – an instrument that documents the occurrence
of ground motion (but does not record it over time)

seismometer – an instrument that senses ground motion and

converts the motion into some form of signal

accelerometer – a seismometer that records acceleration,

also known as strong ground motion

geophone – another name for a seismometer, commonly

used in active source seismology
 More Jargon
seismograph – a system of instruments that detects and
records ground motion as a function of time
seismogram – the actual record of ground motion produce
by a seismograph
seismometry – the design and development of seismic
recording systems
data logger – device that converts analog to digital signal and
stores the signal