EARTHQUAKES

Dr. R. B. Schultz

Global Earthquake Locations

What are Earthquakes?

The shaking or trembling caused by
the sudden release of energy
Usually associated with faulting or
breaking of rocks
Continuing adjustment of position
results in aftershocks
Shaking of earth due to movement
of rocks along a fault.

 Rocks under stress accumulate

strain energy over time.
When stress exceeds strength
of rocks, rock breaks.
Strain energy is released as
seismic waves. The longer that
energy is stored up and is
maintained without release, the
more likely that a strong
earthquake will occur.

The animation below of a subduction zone, where an

oceanic plate is converging with a continental plate,
attempts in cartoon fashion to show the deformation of
the continental plate that precedes each earthquake.

What is FAULT?
A break or crack in rock
along which movement of
the earths crust occurs.
Can be visible on the crust
or can be far underground.
Can be only a meter long or
they can extend for
hundreds of kilometers.

FAULT

Americas best known fault, the

San Andres fault in California,
is a strike-slip fault.

Earthquakes can happen along any type of plate

boundary. They also occur along faults which are
large cracks in the earths crust. Most faults are
associated with large plate boundaries where
violent earthquakes usually occur.

Movement of rock along a fault can release

a tremendous amount of energy: This
movement can release three main forces on
adjoining areas of the crust:
1.Tension results when a system of forces
pulls or stretches an object from opposite
sides.
2.Compression results when a system of
forces pushes an object from opposite
sides.
3.Shearing - results when a system of
forces is applied to an object in different
directions.

What is the Elastic Rebound

Theory?
All rocks have an elastic limit.
If the forces acting on these
rocks exceed this limit, or
overcome the friction between
blocks, the crust snaps and an
earthquake occurs.

What is the Elastic Rebound Theory?

Explains how
energy is stored in
rocks
Rocks bend until
the strength of
the rock is
exceeded
Rupture occurs
and the rocks
quickly rebound to
an undeformed
shape
Energy is released
in waves that
radiate outward
from the fault

KINDS OF FAULT
1. Normal Fault
one block can move
down and the other
can move up, or vice
versa.
occurs where forces tend to pull
section of the earths crust apart.
tends to follow the gravitational pull
on the fault blocks involved.

Normal Fault

 The fault plane on the normal fault is

generally very steep. In a normal fault
the two involved blocks are (by gravity)
pulling away from one another causing one
of the fault blocks to slip upward and the
other downward with respect to the fault
plane (it is hard to determine whether
both or just one block has moved.).

 The exposed upward block forms a

cliff-like feature known as a
FAULT SCARP. A scarp may range
from a few to hundreds of meters
in height and their length may
continue for 300 or more
kilometers (around 200 miles).

 FAULT SCARP landforms that form

cliffs and ridges along the fault. (book
definition)

KINDS OF FAULT

2. Thrust Fault
one block moves over another block
occurs where forces tend to push
sections of the crust together.

Thrust Fault
When thrust faults are exposed on the surface
overburnden material lies over the main block. They
are normally associated with areas of folded
surfaces and or mountaineous regions. The dip
angles of thrust faults are normally not as steep as
a normal fault.

KINDS OF FAULT
3. Strike-slip Fault
(Transcurrent Fault)
the movement of the
blocks is horizontal
known as the San
Andreas fault of
California. This fault
marks the margin line
between the Pacific and
North American
Plates.

 On the surface, scarps form as hills

crossing the fault zone are torn apart
by movement over time.
Actually anything crossing this fault
zone is either slowly torn apart, or
offset.

 Rivers crossing the fault line are

called offset streams and are classic
signatures of fault activity along the
San Andreas.
These faults can be very long, the
San Andreas is nearly 600 miles long.

Strike-slip Fault

Three Types of Faults

Normal

Thrust

Strike-Slip

VALUING
Describe the role that erosion
plays in erasing or uncovering
evidence of faults.