What is an earthquake?
An earthquake is the vibration of the earth produced by the quick release of energy. Most often, earthquakes are caused by movement along large fractures in the earths crust. Such fractures are called faults. The energy that is released radiates in all directions from its origin in the form of waves. These waves are similar to the waves that occur when you drop a stone into water. Just as the stone sets the water in motion, the energy released in an earthquake produces seismic waves that move through the earth. Frequency range of seismic waves is large, from as high as the audible range (greater than 20 hertz) to as low as the frequencies of the free oscillations of the whole Earth (2 and 7 millihertz). Attenuation of the waves in rock imposes high-frequency limits, and in small to moderate earthquakes the dominant frequencies extend in surface waves from about 1 to 0.1 hertz. The amplitude range of seismic waves is also great in most earthquakes. In the greatest earthquakes the ground amplitude of the predominant P waves may be several centimeters at periods of two to five seconds. Very close to the seismic sources of great earthquakes, investigators have measured large wave amplitudes with accelerations of the ground exceeding that of gravity (9.8 meters, or 32.2 feet, per second squared) at high frequencies and ground displacements of 1 meter at low frequencies.
This gradual accumulation and release of stress and strain is now referred to as the "elastic rebound theory" of earthquakes. Most earthquakes are the result of the sudden elastic rebound of previously stored energy. The following diagram illustrates the process. Start at the bottom. A straight fence is built across the San Andreas fault. As the Pacific plate moves northwest, it gradually distorts the fence. Just before an earthquake, the fence has an "S" shape. When the earthquake occurs the distortion is released and the two parts of the fence are again straight; but now there is an offset.
Slow earthquakes include episodes of rupture propagation that produce an ordinary seismogram of high-frequency body waves. However, slow earthquakes take an unusually long time to rupture in comparison to ordinary earthquakes of similar moment magnitude. Oceanic transform faults have produced several slow earthquakes, such as the 1960 Chilean transform fault earthquake that ruptured for about an hour as a series of small events. Silent earthquakes are not accompanied by high-speed rupture propagation events. Thus they do not generate high-frequency waves that are recorded teleseismically. Conventional seismographs do not record these events. Strain metes document creep events on the San Andreas fault system (10mm/sec). Silent earthquakes may offer promise as precursors to ordinary earthquakes.
P waves (primary waves) P waves are push-pull wavesthey push (compress) and pull (expand) rocks in the direction the wave is travelling. Imagine holding someone by their shoulders and shaking them. This push-pull movement is how P waves move through the earth. Solids, liquids and gases resist a change in volume when compressed and will elastically spring back once the force is removed. Therefore, P waves can travel through all these materials. Highest velocity (6 km/sec in the crust).
Surface Waves
Travel just below or along the grounds surface Slower than body waves; rolling (Rayleigh) and side-to-side (Love) movement Especially damaging to buildings
Love Waves
After A.E.H. Love and suggested in early twentieth century. L-wave can be thought of as the constructive interference of multiple reflected S-waves whose particle motion is horizontal. Travel just below or along the grounds surface with side-to-side particle velocity. Speed is slower than body waves. This wave is especially damaging to buildings. Typical velocity: Depends on earth structure (dispersive), but less than velocity of S waves. Typical velocity: Depends on earth structure (dispersive), but less than velocity of S waves. Behavior: Causes shearing motion (horizontal) similar to S waves. Arrival: They usually arrive after the S wave and before the Rayleigh wave.
Love waves are dispersive, that is, different periods travel at different velocities, generally with low frequencies propagating at higher velocity. Depth of penetration of the Love waves is also dependent on frequency, with lower frequencies penetrating to greater depth. V L ~ 2.0 - 4.5 km/s in the Earth depending on frequency of the propagating wave
Rayleigh Waves
After Lord Rayleigh who predicted existence in 1887. These waves are analogous to waves travelling across the ocean. A floating object is not only pitched up and down, but also to and fro as wave passes. The actual movement of the object describes an ellipse. The motion of
waves dies out quickly with depth, and this is also the case with Rayleigh waves. Rayleigh wave can be thought of as arising from the constructive interference of multiple reflected P and S waves travelling in vertical plane. Typical velocity: ~ 0.9 that of the S wave Behavior: Causes vertical (rolling anticlockwise) together with back-and-forth horizontal motion. Motion is similar to that of being in a boat in the ocean when a swell moves past. Most of the shaking felt from an earthquake is due to the Rayleigh wave, which can be much larger than the other waves.ch can be much Arrival: They usually arrive last on a seismogram.
Rayleigh waves are also dispersive and the amplitudes generally decrease with depth in the Earth. Appearance and particle motion are similar to water waves. Depth of penetration of the Rayleigh waves is also dependent on frequency, with lower frequencies penetrating to greater depth. Generally, Rayleigh waves travel slightly slower than Love waves. VR ~ 2.0 - 4.5 km/s in the Earth depending on frequency of the propagating wave
Seismograms show that there are two types of seismic waves generated by the movement of a mass of rock.
1 1 Vs - Vp = D
Vp - Vs Vp Vs
Vp Vs D= Vp - Vs * (TS TP)
Epicenter of an earthquake can be obtained by surface projection of earthquake source. Travel-times for location
Measure time between P and S wave on seismogram Use travel-time graph to get distance to epicenter
Earthquake depths
Earthquakes originate at depths ranging from 5 to nearly 700 kilometers Earthquake foci classified as Shallow (surface to 70 kilometers) Intermediate (70 to 300 kilometers) Deep (over 300 kilometers)
Vp =
4 + k 3
Vs =
It can be shown that in homogeneous, isotropic media the velocities of P and S waves through the media are given by the expressions as above. Where Vp and Vs are the P and S wave velocities of the medium, is the density of the medium, and and k are referred to as the shear and bulk moduli of the media. Taken together, and k are also known as elastic parameters. The elastic parameters quantitatively describe the following physical characteristics of the medium.
Bulk Modulus - Is also known as the incompressibility of the medium. The bulk modulus describes the ratio of the pressure applied to the cube to the amount of volume change that the cube undergoes. If k is very large, then the material is very stiff, meaning that it doesn't compress very much even under large pressures. If k is small, then a small pressure can compress the material by large amounts. For example, gases have very small incompressibilities. Solids and liquids have large incompressibilities. Shear Modulus - The shear modulus describes how difficult it is to deform a cube of the material under an applied shearing force. For example, imagine you have a cube of material firmly cemented to a table top. Now, push on one of the top edges of the material parallel to the table top. If the material has a small shear modulus, you will be able to deform the cube in the direction you are pushing it so that the cube will take on the shape of a parallelogram. If the material has a large shear modulus, it will take a large force applied in this direction to deform the cube. Gases and fluids can not support shear forces. That is, they have shear moduli of zero. From the equations given above, notice that this implies that fluids and gases do not allow the propagation of S waves.
Any change in rock or soil property that causes , , or k to change will cause seismic wave speed to change. For example, going from an unsaturated soil to a saturated soil will cause both the density and the bulk modulus to change. The bulk modulus changes because air-filled pores become filled with water. Water is much more difficult to compress than air. In fact, bulk modulus changes dominate this example. Thus, the P wave velocity changes a lot across water table while S wave velocities change very little.
Shows P and S wave shadow zones that forms on other side of the earth due to the occurrence of an earthquake in opposite side.
P P wave only in the mantle PP, PPP, SS, SSS P or S wave reflected once or twice off earths surface so there are two or more P or S wave segments in the mantle. PKP P wave that has two segments in the mantle separated by a segment in the core. PcP P wave reflected from outer core & mantle boundary. PKiKP P wave reflected from outer core & inner core boundary. PKIKP P wave that traverse inner core is denoted by I. PKJKP Phases with an S leg in the inner core is denoted by J. PPS, PSP, PSS P wave twice reflected from the Earths surface. S denotes converted wave.
ScP S wave reflected from outer core-mantle boundary and converted into P type wave. ScS S wave reflected from outer core & mantle boundary. SKS S wave traversing the outer core as P and converted back into S when again entering the mantle.
The crust Continental Less dense 20-70 km thick Oceanic more dense 5-10 km thick
The left side of the above figure shows the condition of a fault just before an earthquake while the right side shows its condition after an earthquake. The upper part of the figure is based on the barrier hypothesis, while the lower part is based on the asperity hypothesis. The shaded portion indicates a stressed portion of the fault while the unshaded is the slipped or unstressed portion. According to the barrier hypothesis, the fault is in a state of uniform stress (upper left) before the earthquake. During the earthquake the rupture propagates leaving unbroken stronger patches (upper right). These patches or barriers are the location of numerous aftershocks which represent the release of stress through static fatigue. According to the asperity hypothesis, just prior to the earthquake (main shock) the fault is not in a state of uniform stress but rather there has been some release of stress over part of the fault through foreshocks leaving behind strong patches or asperities which are broken resulting in a smoothly slipped fault (lower right). The existence of both aftershocks and foreshocks indicate that some strong patches behave as barriers while others behave as asperities. Barriers and asperities are significant to earthquake ground motion because they represent locations of concentrated stress release and localized stopping and starting of the rupturing fault.
The Modified Mercalli (MM) Scale of Earthquake Intensity (Developed in 1931 by the American seismologists Harry Wood and Frank Neuman) Intensity I II III IV Felt / Damage
People do not feel any Earth movement. A few people might notice movement if they are at rest and/or on the upper floors of tall buildings. Many people indoors feel movement. Hanging objects swing back and forth. People outdoors might not realize that an earthquake is occurring. Most people indoors feel movement. Hanging objects swing. Dishes, windows, and doors rattle. The earthquake feels like a heavy truck hitting the walls. A few people outdoors may feel movement. Parked cars rock. Almost everyone feels movement. Sleeping people are awakened. Doors swing open or close. Dishes are broken. Pictures on the wall move. Small objects move or are turned over. Trees might shake. Liquids might spill out of open containers. Everyone feels movement. People have trouble walking. Objects fall from shelves. Pictures fall off walls. Furniture moves. Plaster in walls might crack. Trees and bushes shake. Damage is slight in poorly built buildings. No structural damage. People have difficulty standing. Drivers feel their cars shaking. Some furniture breaks. Loose bricks fall from buildings. Damage is slight to moderate in well-built buildings; considerable in poorly built buildings. Drivers have trouble steering. Houses that are not bolted down might shift on their foundations. Tall structures such as towers and chimneys might twist and fall. Well-built buildings suffer slight damage. Poorly built structures suffer severe damage. Tree branches break. Hillsides might crack if the ground is wet. Water levels in wells might change. Well-built buildings suffer considerable damage. Houses that are not bolted down move off their foundations. Some underground pipes are broken. The ground cracks. Reservoirs suffer serious damage. Most buildings and their foundations are destroyed. Some bridges are destroyed. Dams are seriously damaged. Large landslides occur. Water is thrown on the banks of canals, rivers, lakes. The ground cracks in large areas. Railroad tracks are bent slightly. Most buildings collapse. Some bridges are destroyed. Large cracks appear in the ground. Underground pipelines are destroyed. Railroad tracks are badly bent. Almost everything is destroyed. Objects are thrown into the air. The ground moves in waves or ripples. Large amounts of rock may move.
VI
VII VIII
IX X
XI XII
Magnitude
Magnitude of earthquake is a measure of energy and based on the amplitude of the waves recorded on a seismogram. Concept: the wave amplitude reflects the earthquake size once the amplitudes are corrected for the decrease with distance due to geometric spreading and attenuation. Magnitude scales have the general form:
where A: amplitude of the signal T: its dominant period f : correction for the variation of amplitude with the earthquakes depth h and distance from the seismometer C: regional scale factor
Richter Magnitude
Charles Richter developed the first magnitude scale in 1935. Richters magnitude is the logarithm to the base 10 of the maximum seismic wave amplitude, in thousandths of a millimeter, recorded on a special type of seismograph (Wood-Anderson seismograph) at a distance of 100 km from the earthquake epicenter. Wood-Anderson seismograph has a natural oscillation period of about 0.8 seconds, and waves of longer period are increasingly diminished on the records even if they are present in the ground.
ML = log10A - log10A0
Where, A0 is the amplitude for zero magnitude earthquakes. Thus, an earthquake trace with amplitude 10 micro meter of seismograph at an epicentral distance of 100 km has magnitude 1.0
The diagram below demonstrates how to use Richter's original method to measure a seismogram for a magnitude estimate in Southern California:
The scales in the diagram above form a nomogram that allows you to do the mathematical computation quickly by eye.
Body-wave magnitude is
Mb = log(A/T) + Q(D,h)
where A is the ground motion (in microns), T is the wave's period (in seconds), and Q(D,h) is a correction factor that depends on distance to the quake's epicenter D (in degrees) and focal depth h (in kilometers). Mb uses relatively short seismic waves with a 1-second period, so to it every quake source that is larger than a few wavelengths looks the same. Mb saturates around magnitude above 6.
Surface-wave magnitude is
A simple solution that has been found by Kanamori: defining a magnitude scale based on the seismic moment. Moment Magnitude, Mw, is not based on seismometer readings at all but on the total energy released in a quake, the seismic moment Mo (in dyne-centimeters):
Peak ground acceleration can be measured in g (the acceleration due to gravity) or m/s. The peak horizontal acceleration (PHA) is the most commonly used type of ground acceleration in engineering applications. Other ground motion parameters used to characterize earthquake motion include peak velocity and peak displacement.