Earthquakes

Earthquakes are the shaking of ground surfaces

generally due to natural causes.
Causes of Earthquakes: Earthquakes are caused by
disturbances in the interior of the earth and other causes
Tectonic Movements: The disturbances inside the
earth are called tectonic movements. These forces bring
about changes on the earth surface and physical
features like mountains, plateaus and rift valleys are
formed. Most disastrous earthquakes are caused by
tectonic forces .Tectonic forces create tension and
pressure and the stress begins to build up inside the
earth. When the stress tends to be more than what the
rocks of the earth can bear ,the rocks are broken and
displaced from their state of equilibrium. It is known as
faulting. The energy accumulated during faulting is

released. This release of energy gives rise to mighty

waves. These waves originate from a point called Focus
in the interior of the earth and then spread out in all
directions. On the surface whatever comes into their
contact begins to vibrate. The chief cause of
earthquakes felt often in California in USA is often the
San Andreas Fault found there.
Volcanic Eruptions: The volcanic eruptions are often very

violent and cause vibrations in the earth crust. Sometimes the

vent of a volcano is blocked temporarily and explosive eruption
takes place suddenly causing tremors in the earth crust. The
Krakatoa that erupted in 1883 became the cause of a violent
earthquake there.
Other Reasons: The roofs of underground caves sometimes

give way and release great force to cause minor tremors in the
earth crust. Nuclear explosions also release massive energy to
cause tremors in the earth crust.
Earthquake Waves (Seismic Waves)

Two major classes:

1) Body waves which travel inside the body of the
Earth. Two sub-classes, (a) primary or P-wave
and (b) secondary or S-wave also known as shear
wave.
2) Surface waves which travel through the surface of
the Earth. Two sub-classes, (a) Rayleigh wave and
(b) Love wave.
Measurement of Earthquakes
 Intensity
Intensity Scale- Modified Mercalli Scale
Scale

Uses Roman Numerals example: VI or X

The effects of an earthquake are an indication of
an earthquake intensity..

Examples: people awaking, damage to brick and

stone structures, and movement of furniture

The scale ranges from I, which corresponds to

imperceptible events, up to XII which corresponds
to total destruction.
No mathematical basis for the scale

Ranking based on observed effects

Measure of the actual effects at a certain

location
Subjective measure, perceived, based on
qualitative descriptions.
Magnitude Scale
Richter scale- Arabic Numerals
Decimals to the tenths place
Ex: Earthquake Magnitude 9.2 on the Richter Scale

Earthquake magnitude is a measure of the amplitude

of the seismic waves recorded on a seismogram.
Magnitude scales are logarithmic based on powers of
10.
Seismic wave amplitudes increase by 10 times for each
unit of the scale.
The Mercalli Scale is a measure of the effects of an
earthquake at a particular place and depends not only on
strength (magnitude) of a quake, but also the distance from
the place of origin and the local geology at the observation
point.
A given event will have only one magnitude, but many
intensity values, which tend to decrease with distance from
the origin, although local conditions can produce anomalies.
Intensities are considerably greater over soft soils than
solid rock.
Ground shaking- amplitude, duration, and damage increases
in poorly consolidated rocks, all of which increase the
intensity.
Worldwide Distribution of Earthquakes

Earthquakes have a definite distribution pattern. There

are three major belts in the world which are frequented
by earthquakes of varying intensities. These belts are as
under:

1. The Circum-Pacific Belt

2. The Mid-Atlantic Belt
3. The Mid-Continental Belt
 1. The Circum-Pacific Belt:
This belt is located around the coast of the Pacific
Ocean. In this belt the earthquakes originate mostly
beneath the ocean floor near the coast. The Circum-
Pacific Belt represents the convergent plate boundaries
where the most widespread and intense earthquakes
occur.
This belt runs from Alaska to Kurile, Japan, Mariana
and the Philippine trenches. Beyond this, it bifurcates
into two branches. One branch going towards the
Indonesian trench and the other towards the Kermac-
Tonga trench to the northwest of New Zealand.
 On the eastern side of the Pacific Ocean, the earthquake

belt runs parallel to the west coast of North America and

moves on towards the South along the Peru and Chile
trench lying on the west coast of South America.
This belt has about 66 percent of the total earthquake

that are recorded in the world. Most of the earthquakes

occurring in this belt are shallow ones with their focus
about 25 km deep.
 2. The Mid-Atlantic Belt
This belt is characterized by the sea floor spreading which
is the main cause of the occurrence of earthquakes in it.
This earthquake belt runs along the mid- oceanic ridges
and the other ridges in the Atlantic Ocean.
In this belt most of the earthquakes are of moderate to
mild intensity. Their foci are generally less than 70 km
deep. Since the divergent plates in this belt move in
opposite directions and there is splitting as well, transform
faults and fractures are created.
All this becomes the causative factor for the occurrence of
shallow focus earthquakes of moderate intensity. The sea
floor spreading is the main cause for the occurrence of
earthquakes in this belt.
3. The Mid-Continental Belt:
This belt extends along the young folded Alpine
mountain system of Europe, North Africa, through
Asia Minor, Caucasia, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan
to the Himalayan mountain system. This belt
continues further to include Tibet, the Pamirs and the
mountains of Tien Shan etc.
The young folded mountain systems of Myanmar,
China and eastern Siberia fall in this belt. This belt
happens to be the subduction zone of continental
plates. It is in this belt that the African as well as
Indian plates sub-duct below the Eurasian plate
It may be pointed out that more than 50 percent of all
earthquakes are associated with the young folded
mountains which are said to be still growing.
The Andes, Himalayas and Coast Ranges of the United
States are the specific examples. It is worthwhile to
remember that this girdle of young fold mountains has
no correspondence with the line of active volcanoes
like the Circum-Pacific earthquake zone.
There are some regions on the earth's surface which
are relatively immune from violent and vigorous
earthquakes. This is so because diastrophism and
volcanism are either absent or only moderately active.
But the infrequent occurrence of minor shocks in such
regions is not ruled out.
 Effects of Earthquake
Earthquakes are less
advantageous and more harmful
to man. Damage done is chiefly
in following respects:
1. Loss of Property: Severe
earthquakes reduce to rubble
human structures ranging from
huts to palaces and single storied
to multi storied buildings. Even
pipelines laid under the ground
and railway lines are damaged or
displaced. The best example of
this type of damage is Koyna
earthquake in 1970.
2. Liquefaction- a
geologic process that
affects earthquake
intensity. Liquefaction
is the temporary
change of water
saturated soil and
sand from solid to
liquid state.
3. Changes in the course of
rivers: On account of the
impact of earthquakes,
sometimes rivers also change
their course.
Consequently ,when floods
come they play havoc with
people's lives.
4. Land Shift: Earthquake
cause cracks in earth's crust
anywhere in fields, roads,
parks and even hills and
sometimes shifting of lands
takes place along the cracks.
 Earthquake Hazards

Direct Hazards (due to ground shaking)

•Collapse of buildings & structures

•Broken/fallen power lines (electricity)

•Broken pipelines (water & gas)

•Damage to roads and bridges

 Earthquake Hazards
Indirect Hazards
•Fire: ground motion breaks fuel lines, fuel tanks and
power lines.
-Water lines are often broken, reducing the amount
of water available to fight fires.

•Landslides: earthquakes trigger the failure of

unstable slopes.

•Tsunami: the ocean floor rises or falls suddenly due

to an earthquake, generating giant waves as much as
30 meters tall.
Q u ick Time™ an d a
TIFF (U n co mp ressed ) d eco mp resso r
are n eed ed to see th is p ictu re.
Seismic Hazard Assessment
Seismic hazard and risk are fundamentally different
concepts. Seismic hazard describes phenomena
generated by earthquakes that have potential to cause
harm, but seismic risk is the likelihood (chance) of
experiencing a specified level of seismic hazard in a
given time exposure. Seismic hazard occurs naturally
and can be evaluated from instrumental, historical, and
geological observations. Seismic risk depends not only
on the hazard and exposure, but also on models used to
describe the occurrence of earthquakes. High seismic
hazard does not necessarily mean high seismic risk, and
vice versa.
Thus a seismic hazard is the probability that an
earthquake will occur in a given geographic area,
within a given window of time, and with ground
motion intensity exceeding a given threshold.

In the New Madrid Seismic Zone of the central

United States, the mean recurrence interval of large
earthquakes (~M7.5) is about 500 years, and the risk
posed by such events or their ground motions
(consequences) is about 10 percent probability of
exceedance (PE) in 50 years.
 Seismic Hazard Zones

Seismic Zones of India

The varying geology at different
locations in the country implies
that the likelihood of damaging
earthquakes taking place at
different locations is different.
Thus, a seismic zone map is
required to identify these
regions. Based on the levels of
intensities sustained during
damaging past earthquakes, the
1970 version of the zone map
subdivided India into five zones
– I, II, III, IV and V.
The seismic zone maps are
revised from time to time as
more understanding is
gained on the geology, the
seismotectonics and the
seismic activity in the
country. The Indian
Standards provided the first
seismic zone map in 1962,
which was later revised in
1967 and again in 1970. The
map has been revised again
in 2002 and it now has only
four seismic zones – II, III, IV
and V.
The areas falling in seismic zone I in the 1970 version of the map are merged
with those of seismic zone II. Also, the seismic zone map in the peninsular
region has been modified. Madras now comes in seismic zone III as against in
zone II in the 1970 version of the map. This 2002 seismic zone map is not the
final word on the seismic hazard of the country.