EARTHQUAKE

Origin and Occurence

What is Earthquake?

• According to NASA,
an earthquake is an intense
shaking of Earth’s surface.  The
shaking is caused by movements
in Earth’s outermost layer.
 Inner Structure of the Earth

Earth consists of three main layers: the crust,

the mantle, and the core (Figure 3.4). The
core accounts for almost half of Earth’s
radius, but it amounts to only 16.1% of
Earth’s volume. Most of Earth’s volume
(82.5%) is its mantle, and only a small
fraction (1.4%) is its crust.
Inner Structure of the Earth

Crust- The Earth’s outermost layer, its crust, is

rocky and rigid.
• Continental crust - is thicker, and predominantly
felsic in composition
• Ocean crust - is thinner, and predominantly mafic
in composition.
The crust floats on the mantle. Continental crust
floats higher in the mantle than ocean crust because
of the lower density of continental crust.
Mantle
The mantle is almost entirely solid rock, but it is in constant motion, flowing very slowly. It is ultramafic
in composition
Rocks higher in the mantle are typically composed of peridotite, a rock dominated by the minerals
olivine and pyroxene.

Figure 3.5 Eclogite from the Swiss-Italian Alps. Reddish brown spots are garnets.
Source: James St. John (2014) CC BY 2.0
Lithosphere
• The lithosphere can’t be classified neatly
as either crust or mantle because it
consists of both.
Asthenosphere
• Beneath the lithosphere is the
asthenosphere. Tiny amounts of melted
rock dispersed through the otherwise
solid asthenosphere make the
asthenosphere weak compared to the
lithosphere.
D”
• The D” (dee double prime) layer is a
mysterious layer beginning
approximately 200 km above the
boundary between the core and mantle.
(This boundary is referred to as the core-
mantle boundary.) We know it exists
because of how seismic waves change
speed as they move through it, but it
isn’t clear why it’s different from the rest
of the mantle.
Core

The core is primarily composed of iron,

with lesser amounts of nickel. Lighter
elements such as sulfur, oxygen, or silicon
may also be present. The core is extremely
hot (~3500° to more than 6000°C).
FOCUS AND EPICENTER

• The exact spot underneath the

earth surface at which an
earthquake originates known as
its focus. These waves first reach
the point at the surface, which is
immediately above the focus or
origin of the earthquake. This
point called epicenter. The point
diametrically opposite to the
epicenter called anticenter.
MAGNITUDE VS.
INTENSITY

• Magnitude is a measure of
earthquake size and remains
unchanged with distance from the
earthquake. Intensity, however,
describes the degree of shaking
caused by an earthquake at a given
place and decreases with distance
from the earthquake epicentre.
Causes of Earthquake

1. Earthquakes due to superficial movements:

• The feeble earthquakes are caused due to superficial
movements,.i.e, dynamic agencies, and operation upon surface
of the earth.
• The dashing waves cause vibrations along the seashore.
• Water descending along high water falls, impinges the valley
floor and causes vibrations along the neighboring areas.
• At high altitudes, the snow falling down is an avalanche also
causes vibrations along the neighboring areas.
Causes of Earthquake

2. Earthquake due to volcanic eruptions:

• Most of the volcanoes erupt quietly and as

consequence, initiate no vibration on the
adjoining area. But a few of them when
erupt, cause feeble tremors in the surface
of the earth. But there may be still a
volcanic eruption may cause a severe
vibration on the adjoining area and have
really disastrous effects.

Taal Volcano
What causes volcanic eruption?

Lithostatic Pressure

Unloading
Rock Strength

Magmastatic Pressure
Causes of Earthquake

3. Earthquake due to folding or faulting

• The earthquakes caused due to folding of the
layers of the earth's crust. If the earthquakes are
caused due to folding or faulting then such
earthquakes are more disastrous and are known
as tectonic earthquakes and directly or
indirectly change the structural features of the
earth crust.
What drives the movement of tectonic plates?

There are a number of competing theories that attempt to explain what drives the movement of tectonic plates.
Three of the forces that have been proposed as the main drivers of tectonic plate movement are:
1. Mantle convection currents: warm mantle currents drive and carry plates of lithosphere along a like a
conveyor belt
2. Ridge push (buoyant upwelling mantle at mid-ocean ridges): newly formed plates at oceanic ridges are
warm, so they have a higher elevation at the oceanic ridge than the colder, more dense plate material further
away; gravity causes the higher plate at the ridge to push away the lithosphere that lies further from the
ridge
3. Slab pull: older, colder plates sink at subduction zones because, as they cool, they become more dense than
the underlying mantle and the cooler, sinking plate pulls the rest of the warmer plate along behind it.
• Research has shown that the major driving
force for most plate movement is slab pull,
because the plates with more of their edges
being subducted are the faster-moving ones.
However, ridge push is also presented in
recent research to be a force that drives the
movement of plates.
• The non-stop movement causes stress
on Earth’s crust. When the stresses get
too large, it leads to cracks
called faults. When tectonic plates
move, it also causes movements at the
faults. An earthquake is the sudden
movement of Earth’s crust at a fault line.
3 Types of Fault

1. Normal Fault
In a normal fault, the block above the fault
moves down relative to the block below the
fault.
Normal faults around the world include:
• Atalanti Fault (Greece)
• Humboldt Fault Zone (North America)
• Sierra Nevada Fault (North America)
3 Types of Fault

2. Reverse Fault
In a reverse fault, the block above the fault
moves up relative to the block below the fault.
Reverse faults around the world include:
• Glarus thrust (Switzerland)
• Longmenshan Fault (China)
• Sierra Madre Fault Zone (North America)
Bohol Fault System, or also known as
(BFS), is a reverse fault system in Bohol
province, Philippines. 
3 Types of Fault
3. Strike-Slip Fault
In a strike-slip fault, the movement of
blocks along a fault is horizontal.
Strike-slip faults around the world include:
• Yammouneh Fault (Lebanon)
• Kunlun fault (Tibet)
• Anatolian Fault (Turkey)
The Marikina Valley Fault System

• The Marikina Valley Fault System, also known as the

Valley Fault System (VFS), is a dominantly right-lateral
strike-slip fault system in Luzon, Philippines.