Locating Epicenter

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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
D D  1 1  V VS 
TS  TP  
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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 P wave velocity = 6 km/sec
S wave velocity = 3.75 km/sec

5 minutes = 3000 kilometers

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Global Travel Time Curve

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Source: google images
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 Locating an Earthquake’s Epicenter

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.
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.

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Triangulation Method Steps:

1) Read S-P time from 3

seismograms.
2) Compute distance for
each event/recording
D1
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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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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 Collecting data from the recording stations:

Station A: San Francisco, California

P-Wave arrival 3:02:20 S-Wave arrival 3:06:30

Difference between P and S wave arrival times: 4 min 10 sec

 Collecting data from the recording stations:

 Station B: Denver, Colorado

P-Wave arrival 3:01:40 S-Wave arrival 3:05:00

Difference between P and S wave arrival times: 3 min 20 sec

 Collecting data from the recording stations:

Station C: Missoula, Montana

P-Wave arrival 3:01:00 S-Wave arrival 3:03:00

Difference between P and S wave arrival times: 2 min

 Difference in arrival times:

San Francisco: 4 min : 10 sec

Denver, Colorado: 3 min 20 sec

Missoula, Montana: 2 min

WE TAKE A PIECE OF PAPER, AND
MARK OFF THE DIFFERENCE IN
ARRIVAL TIME

4:10

2800Km
WE MOVE THE PAPER UNTIL THE
TWO TICK MARKS LINE UP WITH
THE P AND S CURVES

WHEN TICK MARKS LINE UP, GO

STRAIGHT DOWN AND READ THE
EPICENTER DISTANCE

EPICENTER DISTANCE
OF 2800 KM
 EPICENTER DISTANCES

San Francisco: 4:10 2,800km

Denver, Colorado: 3:20 2,000km

Missoula, Montana 2:00 1100km

 Recording Board
Difference in arrival times:

San Francisco: 41:0 2,800km

Open your compass to

the EXACT distance on
the scale.

3,000
2,000

4,000

5,000
1,000
 .
Missoula

.
San Francisco
.
Denver
Locating an Earthquake’s Epicenter: Deep Source

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 longitude

latitude

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Great Circles

Small Circle 25
 Latitude Distance
 As you travel around a line of N
latitude (small circle) the r
Latitude 41o N
distance travelled is shorter R
than the distance covered on 41o
Equator
the equator (great circle). r
 Radius of the small circle: r
Radius of the Equator: R
S
Latitude angle: 
 Then r = R cos 
 So the small circle is smaller
than the great circle by a factor r
N
of cos .
R

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 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)] Dt

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1. If 1 represents 88 km uniformly along the longitude at a
latitude of 37.5, 122 should be 10736 km from prime
meridian. But it is equal to only 9785 km

2. Distances calculated from epicenter based on P and S wave

travel time difference are linear, whereas the actual distance
between the points is along the sphere.

3. The assumption of flat ground is valid only to a very small

region, the reason for which we need to consider 1 latitude or
longitude to the scale to locate the epicenter.

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 38o

55.5 km

37.5o
Latitude

55.5 km

37o
44 km 44 km

122.5o 122o 121.5o

Longitude

Scale 1mm: 1 km
30
 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
= 37o 45’8”
37.5
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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 Exercise Problems
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 P
of a shallow earthquake if P 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 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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