LECTURE-1

Geotechnical Earthquake
Engineering
CE 6210

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Seismology & Earthquakes
UNIT -I

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Earthquake Engineering deals with innovative ideas and
knowledge in design and construction, which are put in practice to
safeguard structures from seismic forces and prevent earthquake
hazard from becoming a disaster.

Seismology is the study of earthquakes and seismic waves that

move through and around the earth. Seismology mainly deals
with earthquake as a geological process.

Engineering Seismology is a bridge between seismology and

earthquake engineering. Engineering seismology provides civil
e.ngineers parameters they need in order to construct seismically
safe and sound structures.
 What is earthquake
 A disruptive disturbance that causes shaking
of the surface of the earth due to
underground movement along a fault plane
or from volcanic activity is called
earthquake.
 Myths and legends
Earthquakes occur:
•When one of the eight elephants that carry the Earth gets tired
(Hindu)
• When a frog that carries the world moves (Mongolia)
• When the giant on whose head we all live, sneezes or scratches
(Africa)
• When the attention of the god Kashima (who looks after the giant
catfish Namazu that supports the Earth and prevents it to sink into
the ocean) weakens and Namazu moves (Japan)
• When the god Maimas decides to count the population in Peru his
footsteps shake the Earth. Then natives run out of their huts and
yell: “I’m here, I’m here!”
 Origin of our Universe

Big Bang model - the

universe began with an
explosive expansion of
matter, which later
became what we know
as stars, planets, moons,
etc. The basic idea
behind this theory is that
universe underwent a
phase of extraordinary
expansion. This event is
thought to have
occurred 10 - 15 billion Source: wikipedia

yrs ago. 6
 Origin of Our Solar System
Nebular Hypothesis: Earth and the other bodies of our
solar system (Sun, moons, etc.) formed from a “vast cloud of
dust and gases” called a nebula.
The nebular cloud consisted of H and He, and a small
percentage of the heavier elements we find in the solar
system.
Within the rotating disk, the rocky material and gases began
to nucleate and accrete into protoplanets

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 Nebular
Hypothesis

Source: google images

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To see how earthquakes really occur, we first
need to learn about constitution of the Earth!
 The earth’s shape is an oblate spheroid with a diameter along
the equator of about 12740 km with the polar diameter as
12700km.

 The higher diameter along equator is caused by the higher

centrifugal forces generated along the equator due to rotation of
earth.

 Though the specific gravity of materials that constitute the

surface of earth is only about 2.8, the average specific gravity
of earth is about 5.5 indicating presence of very heavy
materials towards interior of earth.
 INTERNAL STRUCTURE OF EARTH
•The structure of Earth can be defined in two ways: mechanical
or chemical.

•Chemically, The Earth is formed of three concentric layers:

the core (outer core, and inner core), the mantle (upper
mantle, lower mantle ) and the crust; these are separated by
transition zones called discontinuities.

•Mechanically, Earth can be divided into lithosphere,

asthenosphere, mesosphere, outer core, and inner core
 Formation of Earth’s Layers
•When Earth was formed, it was extremely hot from the bombardment
of space debris, radioactive decay and high internal pressures. These
processes caused Earth’s interior to melt.
•Molten Earth separated based on melting points and density into
regions of chemical and physical differences as it cooled.
•Molten Iron & Nickel melted early and being more dense, sunk to the
center of the Earth. Solid Iron & Nickel formed the Inner Core.
• Molten Iron & Nickel formed the Outer Core.

•Less dense solid material formed the Mantle. It is molten/ Semi

molten in state. Consist of silicon and oxygen
•The least dense rock composed of calcium (Ca) and sodium (Na)
aluminum-silicate minerals at the surface cooled up completely as the
Crust. The crust is much thinner than any of the other layers.

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The Three Major Chemical Radial Divisions
 The Shallowest Layer of the Earth: the Crust
 The crust is the most heterogeneous layer in the Earth.

 The crust is on average 33 km thick for continents and 10 km

thick beneath oceans; however it varies from just a few km to
over 70 km globally.

 The thin oceanic crust is composed of primarily of basalt and the

thicker continental crust is composed primarily of granite.

 The low density of the thick continental crust allows it to "float"

in high relief on the much higher density mantle below.

 The average seismic wave velocity (P wave) within the crust

ranges from 4 to 8 km per sec.
 The Shallowest Layer of the Earth: the Crust
 The boundary between the crust and the mantle is mostly
chemical. The crust and mantle have different compositions.

 This boundary is referred to as the Mohorovičić discontinuity

or “Moho”. It was discovered in 1910 by the Croatian
seismologist Andrija Mohorovičić.
The Shallowest Layer of the Earth: the Crust
 Middle Earth: The Mantle
 Earth's mantle exist from the bottom of crust to a depth of
2891km - Gutenberg discontinuity
 Earth's mantle is thought to be composed mainly of olivine-rich
rock.
 It has different temperatures at different depths. The temperature
is lowest immediately beneath the crust and increases with depth.
The highest temperatures occur where the mantle material is in
contact with the heat-producing core.
 This steady increase of temperature with depth is known as the
geothermal gradient.
 The geothermal gradient is responsible for different rock
behaviors and the different rock behaviors are used to divide the
mantle into two different zones..
 Middle Earth: The Mantle
 The uppermost mantle (crust to 400 km depth)
 The transition zone (400 – 700 km depth)
 The mid-mantle (700 to ~2650 km depth)
 The lowermost mantle(~2650 – 2891 km depth)

 Rocks in the upper mantle are cool and brittle, while rocks in the
lower mantle are hot and soft (but not molten).

 Rocks in the upper mantle are brittle enough to break under

stress and produce earthquakes. However, rocks in the lower
mantle are soft and flow when subjected to forces instead of
breaking. The lower limit of brittle behavior is the boundary
between the upper and lower mantle.
Middle Earth: The Mantle
 Earth’s Core
 Earth's Core is thought to be composed mainly of an iron and nickel
alloy.
 The core is earth's source of internal heat because it contains
radioactive materials which release heat as they break down into
more stable substances.
 The core is divided into two different zones.
 The outer core is a liquid because the temperatures there are
adequate to melt the iron-nickel alloy.
 As the core freezes latent heat is released; this heat causes the outer
core to convect and so generates a magnetic field.
 The inner core is a solid even though its temperature is higher than
the outer core.

 Earth’s Core
 Here, tremendous pressure, produced by the weight of the
overlying rocks is strong enough to crowd the atoms tightly
together and prevents the liquid state.

 The boundary between the liquid outer core and the solid inner
core occurs at a radius of about 1220 km – Lehman
discontinuity, after Inge Lehman from Denmark.

 The boundary between the mantle and outer core is sharp.

 The maximum temperature in the core is estimated to be about

3000 degree Celsius.
 The specific gravity of outer core is about 9-12 where as that of
inner core is 15.
Earth’s Core
 It was observed that only P waves pass through the
central core, while both P and S waves can pass
through the mantle.
:Mechanical
Layers

1. Lithosphere
2. Asthenosphere
3. Mesosphere or
lower mantle
4. outer core, and
inner core
Lithosphere (hard)

Asthenosphere (soft)

Mesosphere
 Litosphere
 The lithosphere is the uppermost 50-100 km of the Earth.

 There is not a strict boundary between the lithosphere and the

asthenosphere as there is between the crust and mantle.

 It consists of both crust and upper parts of mantle whih is cool.

 It behaves rigidly, like a solid, over very long time periods.

 Asthenosphere

 The asthenosphere exists between depths of 100-200 km.

 It is the weakest part of the mantle.
 It is a solid over short time scales, but behaves like a fluid over
millions of years.
 The asthenosphere decouples the lithosphere (tectonic plates)
from the rest of the mantle.

 Mesosphere:
 Towards the bottom of the mantle mesosphere, (1000–2900 km),
the variation of the seismic wave velocity is much less, indicating
that the mass there is nearly homogeneous. It is again solid due to
high pressure.
• The floating lithosphere does not move as a single unit but as a
cluster of a number of plates of various sizes.

• The movement in the various plates is different both in magnitude

and direction.

• This differential movement of the plates provides the basis of the

foundation of the theory of tectonic earthquake.
Continental Drift
and
Plate Tectonics
 Continental Drift Theory
•German scientist Alfred Wegener, in 1915, proposed the
hypothesis that the continents had once formed a single landmass
before breaking apart and drifting to their present locations
horizontally.

•He proposed that a large continent termed Pangae (means all

land) existed in earth around 200 million years ago and was
surrounded by an ocean called Panthalassa.

•Itwas postulated that this super continent broke into several

pieces that formed the present continents. These pieces have
subsequently drifted into their current position.
PANGAEA
CONTINENTAL DRIFT
 WHAT EVIDENCE DID WEGENER
HAVE?
Wegener provided four main pieces of evidence to support his
theory that the continents had been drifting over time.
1. JIGSAW PUZZLE
Wegener noticed that if we could move present day continents
around, several continents look like they would fit together like
pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.

2. FOSSILS
Wegener also found fossils of the same plants and animals on
different continents now separated by vast oceans. Fossils of
Mesosaurs have been found in South America and Africa. They
could only be found this way if the continents had once been joined
together.
 3. ROCK SEQUENCE
Wegener also found that mountain ranges have a similar
sequence of type of rock and age on both sides of the Atlantic
Ocean, suggesting they were once part of the same mountain
range. Parts of the Appalachian mountains in the eastern US
are similar to those found in Greenland and western Europe.

4. GLACIAL SCARS
Wegener found evidence of glacial scars left behind by giant
ice sheets from the same time period in Southern Africa,
India, Australia and South America.
4. Glacial Scars

Now...

Then…
 Failure of Continental Drift Theory

•Unable to provide a convincing explanation for the physical

processes(how and why) which might have caused this drift.

•He suggested that the continents had been pulled apart by the
centrifugal pseudo force of the Earth's rotation or by a small
component of astronomical precession.

•But the calculations showed that these forces were not sufficient
cause continental drift.
Major tectonic plates
 THEORY OF PLATE TECTONICS
 Though several scientists contributed to this theory, the “father”
of the Plate Tectonic theory was J. Tuzo Wilson, a Canadian
geophysicist.

 Advances in technology in the 1960’s led to the development of

the theory of plate tectonics which validated but improved upon
Wegener’s earlier theory of continental drift.

 This theory states that the rigid lithospheric shell of earth is

broken into several irregularly shaped major plates and a large
number of minor or secondary plates that move over
Aesthonosphere. A plate may be an ocean basin alone, or a
continent alone, or a combination of ocean basin+continent
(common).
 THEORY OF PLATE TECTONICS
 The continental sized plates are African, American,
Antarctic, Indo-Australian, Eurasian and pacific plate.

 Apart from this, several smaller plates like

Andaman,Philippine plate also exist.

 As plate glides over the asthenosphere, the continents

and oceans move with it. Because the plates move in
different directions, they knock against their neighbours
at boundaries.

 The great forces thus generated at plate boundary build

mountain ranges, cause volcanic eruptions and
earthquakes.
 THEORY OF PLATE TECTONICS
 This theory requires a source that can generate tremendous
force on the plates.

 The widely accepted explanation is based on the force

offered by convection currents created by thermo-
mechanical behavior of the earth’s subsurface.

 The variation of mantle density with temperature produces

an unstable equilibrium. The colder and denser upper layer
sinks under the action of gravity to the warmer bottom
layer which is less dense.

 The lesser dense material rises upwards and the colder

material as it sinks gets heated up and becomes less dense.

 These convection currents create shear stresses at the

bottom of the plates which drags them along the surface of
earth.
 The Crust and Upper Mantle

Heat from the core, causes magma in the upper

mantle to move.
Earth’s Plates
 THEORY OF PLATE TECTONICS

 The earthquake that occurs at a plate boundary is known as

inter-plate earthquake.

 Not all earthquakes occur at plate boundaries. Though, interior

portion of a plate is usually tectonically quiet, earthquakes
also occur far from plate boundaries.


 These earthquakes are known as intra-plate earthquakes. Eg

bhuj earthquake.

 The recurrence time for an intraplate earthquake is much

longer than that of inter-plate earthquakes.
 MOVEMENT OF PLATE BOUNDARIES
Most of the Earth’s major geological activity occurs at plate
boundaries, the zones where plates meet and interact

 There are three different plate boundaries:

• Divergent Boundaries
• Convergent Boundaries
• Transform Boundaries
 Divergent Boundaries
 Divergent Boundaries are the boundaries between two
plates that are diverging, or moving away from each other.
1. Divergent Boundaries

•Thisis the location where the less dense molten rock from the
mantle rises upwards and becomes part of crust after cooling.

•Highest rate of spreading or expansion between plates is found to

occur near Pacific Ocean ridges and the lowest rate of spreading
occurs along mid-Atlantic ridges.

•Generally, spreading ridges are located beneath the oceans. A few

areas where the spreading occurs along the continental mass are
East African rift valley and Iceland.
 Convergent Boundaries
 Convergent Boundaries are the boundaries between two plates that
are converging, or moving towards each other.

 There are three types of convergent boundaries:

1. An ocean floor plate collides with a less dense continental
plate.
2. An ocean floor plate collides with another ocean floor plate.
3. A continental plate collides with another continental plate.
  Oceanic-Continental

Oceanic-Oceanic 

 Continental-Continental
2) Convergent Boundaries

The convergent boundaries are formed where the two

plates move toward each other.
In this process, one plate could slip below the other
one or both could collide with each other.

a. Subduction boundaries
These boundaries are created when either oceanic
lithosphere subducts beneath oceanic lithosphere
(ocean-ocean convergence), or when oceanic
lithosphere subducts beneath continental lithosphere
(ocean-continent convergence).
The junction where the two plates meet, a trench
known as oceanic trench is formed.
When two plates of oceanic lithosphere run into one another,
the subducting plate is pushed to depths where it causes
melting to occur.
When a plate made of oceanic lithosphere runs into a plate
with continental lithosphere, the plate with oceanic
lithosphere subducts because it has a higher density than
continental lithosphere.
The subducted plate melts as it encounters higher
temperature regime inside earth melts and produces magma.
This magma rises to the surface to produce chains of
volcanos and islands known as island arcs.
One of the areas around Indian peninsula where subduction
process is in progress is near Andaman-Sumatra region,
where the Indo-Australian plate is subducting below the
Andaman and Sunda plates,
b. Collision Boundaries
 When two plates with continental lithosphere
collide, subduction ceases and a mountain range is
formed by squeezing together and uplifting the
continental cruston both plates, Figure.
 The Himalayan Mountains between India and
China were formed in this way.
 Transform Fault Boundaries
 Transform Boundaries are the boundaries between two plates
that are sliding horizontally past one another.
 c. Transform Boundaries

 Transform boundaries occur along the plate

margins where two plate moves past each other
without destroying or creating new crust, Figure.
 Effects of Plate Tectonics
 Landforms caused by plate tectonics:
a. rift valleys (divergent boundaries)
b. mountain ranges (continental-
continental convergent boundaries)
c. volcanoes (oceanic-continental
convergent boundaries)
d. faults (transform boundaries)
Quick Review of Plate Boundaries
 Summary Plate Tectonics
 According to the theory of plate tectonics, the surface of the
earth consists of 15 plates comprising the rigid upper mantle,
and the oceanic and continental crust. Out of the total
number of plates, 6 are major plates and 9 are minor plates.
 Tectonic plates are large parts of litosphere ‘floating’ on the
astenosphere
 These plates are always moving. Now, it is an established fact
that practically all the tectonic, seismic and volcanic activities
take place at the plate margins. That is why must of the
earthquakes and volcanoes are found in narrow and semi-
continuous belts mostly confined to the plate boundaries.
 It may be noted that the plate boundaries are placed into
three distinct categories: constructive, destructive and
conservative plate boundaries,
 Where Do Earthquakes Happen?
Earthquakes occur all the time all over the
world, both along plate edges and along faults.
 Along Plate Edges
 Most earthquakes occur along the edge of the
oceanic and continental plates. The earth's
crust (the outer layer of the planet) is made up
of several pieces, called plates.
 The plates under the oceans are called oceanic
plates and the rest are Continental plates.
 The plates are moved around by the motion of
a deeper part of the earth (the mantle) that lies
underneath the crust.
 These plates are always bumping into
each other, pulling away from each
other, or past each other.
 The plates usually move at about the
same speed that your fingernails grow.
 Earthquakes usually occur where two
plates are running into each other or
sliding past each other.
Faults, which have been undergoing deformation for the past
several thousands years and will continue to do so in future, are
termed active faults.
At the faults (new or old), two different types of slippages are
observed, namely:
dip slip and strike slip.
Dip slip takes place in the vertical direction while strike slip takes
place in the horizontal direction,
Faults created by dip slip are termed normal faults when the
upper rock bed moves down and reverse faults when the upper
rock bed moves up,
Similarly, faults created by strike slip are referred to as left lateral
faults and right lateral faults depending on the direction of
relative slip.
 Causes of Earthquakes
Movement of the tectonic plates relative to each other,,
leads to an accumulation of strain, both at the plate
boundaries and inside the plates.

This strain energy is the elastic energy that is stored due to

the straining of rocks, as for elastic materials. When the
strain reaches its limiting value along a weak region or at
existing faults or at plate boundaries, a sudden movement
or slip occurs releasing the accumulated strain energy.

The action generates elastic waves within the rock mass,

which propagate through the elastic medium, and
eventually reach the surface of the earth.
Rupture of rocks along a fault

Source: USGS public domain

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 Earthquake Terminology

Fault: Weakness in the rock

Fault Plane: Plane of weakness in rock
Rupture surface: The portion of the fault which slips when the
earthquake occurs
Hypocenter/Focus: The place located deep within the Earth
where rocks suddenly break, causing an earthquake, and from
where seismic waves propagate
Epicenter: The point of the earth's surface directly above the
focus of an earthquake

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Release of Accumulated
Sequence of earthquakeenergy
events

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 Earthquake Depth
Earthquakes usually occur at some depth below the ground
surface. The depth can also be calculated from the seismographic
records
Earthquake foci are described as:
Shallow: less than 70 km depth
Intermediate: 70 - 300 km depth
Deep: 300 - 700 km depth
90% of earthquake foci are less than 100 km deep
Large earthquakes are mostly at < 60 km depth
No earthquakes occur deeper than 700 km 72
 Elastic-rebound theory
 The elastic rebound theory is an explanation for how energy is
spread during earthquakes.
 As rocks on opposite sides of a fault are subjected to force and shift,
they accumulate energy and slowly deform until their internal
strength is exceeded.
 At that time, a sudden movement occurs along the fault, releasing
the accumulated energy, and the rocks snap back to their original
undeformed shape.
 In geology, the elastic rebound theory was the first theory to
satisfactorily explain earthquakes. Previously it was thought that
ruptures of the surface were the result of strong ground shaking
rather than the converse suggested by this theory.

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74
 The theory explained
 Following the great 1906 San Francisco earthquake, Harry Fielding Reid
examined the displacement of the ground surface around the San
Andreas Fault.
 From his observations he concluded that the earthquake must have
been the result of the elastic rebound of previously stored elastic strain
energy in the rocks on either side of the fault.
 In an seismic period, the Earth’s plates (see plate tectonics) move
relative to each other except at most plate boundaries where they are
locked.
 Thus, if a road is built across the fault as in the figure panel Time 1, it is
perpendicular to the fault trace at the point E, where the fault is locked.
 The far field plate motions (large arrows) cause the rocks in the region
of the locked fault to accrue elastic deformation, figure panel Time 2.

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 The deformation builds at the rate of a few centimeters per year, over
a time period of many years. When the accumulated strain is great
enough to overcome the strength of the rocks, an earthquake occurs.
 During the earthquake, the portions of the rock around the fault that
were locked and had not moved 'spring' back, relieving the
displacement in a few seconds that the plates moved over the entire
interseismic period (D1 and D2 in Time 3).
 The time period between Time 1 and Time 2 could be months to
hundreds of years, while the change from Time 2 to Time 3 is
seconds.
 Like an elastic band, the more the rocks are strained the more elastic
energy is stored and the greater potential for an event.
 The stored energy is released during the rupture partly as heat,
partly in damaging the rock, and partly as elastic waves.
 Modern measurements using GPS largely support Reid’s theory as
the basis of seismic movement, though actual events are often more
complicated.

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 What is the "Ring of Fire"?

 Most earthquakes and volcanic eruptions do not strike

randomly but occur in specific areas, such as along plate
boundaries.
 One such area is the circum-Pacific Ring of Fire, where the
Pacific Plate meets many surrounding tectonic plates. The
Ring of Fire is the most seismically and volcanically active
zone in the world.

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 SEISMIC WAVES
Seismic waves are of two types

- Body waves
- Surface waves

Body waves consist of Primary waves (P-waves) and

Secondary waves (S-waves)

Surface waves consist of Love waves and Rayleigh

waves
 SEISMIC WAVES

The speed of an earthquake wave is not constant but

varies with many factors.

Speed changes mostly with depth and rock type.

P waves travel between 5-7 km/sec.

S waves are slower and travel between 3-4 km/sec.

SEISMOGRAPH

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Seismograph analysis

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 How is an Earthquake’s Epicenter Located?
Seismic wave behavior
 P waves arrive first, then S waves, then L and R

 Average speeds for all these waves is known

 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.
 The time interval between the arrival time of P and S
waves at a station is called duration of primary tremor.

The duration can be obtained by

T= delta(I/Vs – 1/Vp)
where delta is distance between the station and focus.

 A special graph called a time-travel graph shows the

distance P and S waves travel in a given amount of
time.
 GRAPH USED TO FIND DISTANCE TO
EPICENTER AND ORIGIN TIME OF EQ

Note : This graph is

a standard graph
that does not
change.

The seismogram is
the variable that
changes depending
on distance from
epicenter.
Time of Time of Time Lag Epicentral Travel Travel
arrival of P arrival of S distance time of time of
wave wave P wave S wave
8:10 min 8:15 min 5 min 3900 km 7 min 12min

Origin of EQ time= 8:10-0:07=08:03am (P wave)

= 8:15-0:12= 08:03am (S wave)

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 HOW IS AN EARTHQUAKE’S EPICENTER LOCATED?

 Three seismograph stations

are needed to locate the
epicenter of an earthquake
 A circle where the radius
equals the distance to the
epicenter is drawn
 The intersection of the
circles locates the epicenter
In addition to
amplitude,
we must first determine
the RICHTER NOMOGRAM
distance to the epicenter

In this example, we
draw a
line connecting a
distance
of 100 km with an
amplitude
of 1 mm. The magnitude
on
the Richter scale of the
earthquake is given by
where
this line intersects the
center
line of the nomogram.
 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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