EARTHQUAKE

ENGINEERING
 BASIC SEISMOLOGY
1. THE NATURE OF EARTHQUAKES
2. EARTHQUAKE TERMINOLOGY
3. GLOBAL SEISMICITY
4. CONTINENTAL DRIFT
5. PLATE TECTONICS
6. SUBMARINE RIDGES
7. SUBMARINES TRENCHES
8. EARTHQUAKE ENERGY RELEASE
9. SEISMIC SEA WAVES
10. FAULTS
11. CREEP
12. SEISMIC WAVES
13. LOCATING THE EPICENTER
THE NATURE OF EARTHQUAKES

An earthquake is an oscillatory,
sometimes violent movement of the
Earth’s surface that follows a release of
energy in the Earth’s crust.
This energy can be generated by a
sudden dislocation og segments of the
crust, a volcanic eruption, or a man-made
explosion.
Most of the destructive earthquakes,
however, are caused by dislocations of
the crust.
When subjected to geologic forces
from plate tectonics, the crust initially
strains (i.e., bends and shears)
elastically.
For pure axial loading, Hooke’s law
gives the stress that accompanies this
strain.
 = E (axial loading)
As rock is stressed, it stores strain
energy, U. The elastic strain energy per
unit volume for pure axial loading is
U = /2 (axial loading)
When the stress exceeds the ultimate
strength of the rocks, the rocks break
and quickly move (i.e., they
“snap”)into new positions.
In the process of breaking, the strain
energy is released and seismic waves
are generated.
This is the basic description of the
elastic rebound theory of earthquake
generation.
These waves travel from the source of the
earthquake (known as the hypocenter or
focus) to more distant locations along the
surface of and through the Earth.
The wave velocities depend on the nature
of the waves and the material through
which the waves travel.
Some of the vibrations are of high enough
frequency to be audible, while others are
of very low frequency with periods of
many seconds and thus are inaudible.
A new theory may explain how some
earthquakes are triggered.
Geologists know that pumping fluids into
the ground under high pressure can
trigger earthquakes.
There is evidence from the gas-producing
regions in France that removing fluids
from pores deep in the earth can also
trigger earthquakes.
The theory states that the reservoir shrinks
when the gas or oil is removed, but the
rocks surrounding the reservoir do not.
This results in stresses in the earth that
later are released in an earthquake.
EARTHQUAKE TERMINOLOGY
The epicenter of the earthquake is the
point on the Earth’s surface directly
above the focus (also known as
hypocenter)
The location of an earthquake is
commonly described by the geographic
position of its epicenter and its focal
depth.
The focal depth of an earthquake is the
depth from the Earth’s surface to the
focus.
Earthquakes with focal depths of less
than approximately 60km are classified
as shallow earthquakes. Very shallow
earthquakes are caused by the
fracturing of brittle rock in the crust or
by internal strain energy that overcomes
the friction locking opposite sides of a
fault. California earthquakes are
typically shallow.
Intermediate earthquakes, whose causes
are not fully understood, have focal
depths ranging from 60 to 300
kilometers.
Deep earthquakes may have focal
depths of up to 700km.
The slip propagates from the epicenter
along the fault with a velocity up to that
of the outward-radiating seismic shear
wave front about 3km/s until the entire
affected segment is in motion.
GLOBAL SEISMICITY
Most earthquakes occur in areas
bordering the Pacific Ocean.
This circum-Pacific belt, nicknamed the
ring of fire, includes the Pacific coasts of
North America and South America, the
Aleutian Islands, Japan, Southeast Asia,
and Australia
 Countries in The Ring of Fire

The top 15 countries in The Pacific Ring of Fire include:

1. Chile
2. Mexico
3. United States
4.Antarctica
5. Russia
6. Japan
7. Philippines
8. Japan
9. New Zealand
10. Papa New Guinea
11.Indonesia
12.Canada
13.Peru
14.Taiwan
15.Gautemala
CONTINENTAL DRIFT
It has been known since the early 1900s
that the continents are moving relative to
one another, movement known as
continental drift.
In fact, fossilized records of past climates
(the subject of the field of
paleoclimatology) indicate that the
continents have been moving slowly about
the globe for million of years.
Example: the same 300-million-year-old
fossilized deposits are found in India and
in the Arctic
The theory of continental drift was
reasonably established during the 1930s
but was not universally accepted.
In the 1950s, the emerging science of
paleomagnetism provided new supporting
evidence of continental drift.
Many rocks, such as volcanic rock
solidified from molten lava, contain tiny
grains of magnetic minerals such as
magnetite.
When these minerals are formed, they
retain the magnetic orientation of the
Earth’s magnetic field at the time of
their formation.
The magnetic orientations of rocks
suggest the same ancient locations of
the continents suggested by
paleoclimatology and other geologic
criteria.
An enormous amount of geophysical data
was gathered during the 1950’s and 1960’s,
particularly from oceanographic research
vessels such as the Omar Challenger.
A system of interconnecting submarine
ridges, called mid-ocean ridges, was
discovered circling the Earth.
Such ridges are located approximately
midway between continents that are
moving apart (e.g. between Africa and
South America)
It is now recognized that new oceanic crust
is being formed at the ridges and is added
to the plates moving apart.
This is known as sea floor spreading
PLATE TECTONICS
Most earthquakes are a manifestation of
the fragmentation of the Earth’s outer
shell (known as lithosphere).
The academic field that studies plate
motion is known as plate tectonics.
There are seven very large plates, each
consisting of both oceanic and
continental portions.
There are also dozens or more small
plates.
Each plate is approximately 80 to 100km
thick and has thick and thin parts.
The thinner part deforms by elastic
bending and brittle breakage. The
thicker part yields plastically.
Beneath the plate is a viscous layer on
which the entire plate slides.
The plate themselves tend to be
internally rigid, interacting only at the
edges.
These plates move relative to each other
with steady velocities that approach
0.13m/a. Although plate velocities are
slow by human standards, they are
extremely rapid geologically.
For example, a motion of 0.05m/a adds up
to 50km in only 1 million years. Some plate
motions have been continuous for 100
million years.
Depending on location, the plate can be
moving apart, colliding slowly to build
mountain ranges, or slipping laterally past
or sliding over and under one another.
SUBMARINE RIDGES
Where plates are pulling apart,
particularly along the system of
submarine ridges, hot material from the
deeper mantle wells up to fill the gap.
Some of the mantle material appears as
lava in volcanic material. Most solidifies
beneath the surface, forming a
submarine ridge.
The ridge is high relative to the ocean
bottom because the mantle material is
hot, hence, low in density.
As the plates move apart, the ridge
material gradually cools and contracts,
and its surface sinks.
Ridges generally form step-like
alterations in height perpendicular to
the direction of the plate motion.
Strike-slip faults form parallel to the
direction of plate motion.
SUBMARINE TRENCHES
Where plates converge, one dips down
and slides beneath the other in a process
known as subduction.
Generally, an oceanic plates slides, or
subducts, beneath a continental plate or
beneath another oceanic plate.
A trench is formed where the
subducting plate dips down.
The sediment from the ocean floor is
scraped off against the front edge of the
top plate.
Far back under the top plate, inclined
zones of earthquakes reach down into
the mantle.
The average depth of these zones is
approximately 125km, but the zones can
approach 700km in depth.
The hypocenters of earthquakes in these
zones indicate the trajectory of the
subducted plate.
A belt of volcanoes typically occurs
above this earthquake zone, roughly
paralleling the plate edges.
Rock melting, which ultimately
produces the volcanoes, starts when
water combined in the crystalline
structures of various minerals, or
otherwise trapped, is removed by the
increase in pressure on the subducted
plate.
The water loss lowers the net energy
required to melt the remaining rock
EARTHQUAKE ENERGY RELEASE
Shallow earthquakes represent sudden
slippages and are accompanied by a
release of elastic strain energy stored in
the rock over a long period.
It is not totally clear whether deep
mantle subduction zone earthquakes
are accompanied by similar elastic
releases or are merely abrupt
contractions of part of the subducting
plate into rock of higher density.
Only a fraction of the energy released in an
earthquake actually appears in seismic
waves.
Most of the released strain energy is
reabsorbed locally by the moving,
deforming, and heating of the rock.
The fraction absorbed increases irregularly
with increasing size of earthquakes.
Minor earthquakes generally do not
represent a sufficient release of energy to
dissipate the strain energy and prevent
great earthquakes, although a slow creep
along a fault can provide a partial release.
Great earthquakes occur primarily
along convergent (subducting) plate
boundaries.
Submerged ridges (where plates are
spreading apart) are so hot at relatively
shallow depths that the solid rock above
them cannot store enough elastic strain
energy to produce great earthquakes.
The infrequent large earthquakes that
do occur in these ridge systems are
mostly on the longer strike-slip faults.
SEISMIC SEA WAVES
When the sea floor suddenly rises up
during a great earthquake, water also
rises with it and then rushes away to
find a level surface.
An enormous mass of water is
suddenly set in motion, and a complex
sloshing back and forth between
continents continues for many hours.
The result is a train of surface-water
waves, each of which is known as a
seismic sea wave, or in Japanese, a
tsunami.
The most pronounced sudden changes
in seafloor depth, and hence the greatest
sea waves, result from shallow
subduction-zone earthquakes.
As with any surface wave or surge
wave, the velocity of a tsunami depends
primarily on the ocean depth.
In deep ocean, waves travel at about
800km/h.
The waves at sea may be an hour apart
and perhaps only 0.3m in height.
Combined with a wave period of 5 to 60
minutes, they are virtually undetectable.
As a wave approaches land, however,
the wave velocity decreases due to
increased friction with the increasing
shallow seafloor.
As the wave velocity decreases, the
wave height increases.
Where sea floor topography and
orientation are optimal fro tsunami
formation the wave can form a wall of
water more than 15m in height.
Such a wave can cause enormous
destruction when it rushes onto shore.
Nearby coastal points, where the
bottom configuration is much different,
may see the same wave pass as only a
rapid surge and withdrawal of water.
Only normal (dip-slip) and thrust
(reverse) faults produce tsunamis.
The greater the depth of water, the
larger the energy content of tsunami
 FAULTS
A fault is a fracture in the Earth’s crust
along which two blocks have slipped
relative to each other.
One crustal block may move
horizontally in one direction while the
opposite block moves horizontally in
the opposite direction.
Alternatively, one block may move
upward while the other moves
downward.
One of the ways movement along faults
can occur is by sudden displacement, or
slip, of the crust or rock along a fault.
During the 1906 San Francisco
earthquake, the ground was displaced
as much as 6.5m in northern California
along the San Andreas Fault.
Most of the faults in California are
vertical or near vertical breaks.
Movement along these breaks is
predominantly horizontal in the
northerly or northwesterly directions.
With right-lateral movement, a block on
the opposite side of the fault moves to
the right. Conversely, the block moves
to the left in a left-lateral fault. Lateral
movement is produced by strike-slip
faults.
A fault in which the movement is
vertical is called dip-slip fault.
In normal fault, the hanging wall move
moves down relative to the foot wall.
In a reverse fault, also known as a thrust
fault, the hanging wall moves up
relative to the foot wall.
 CREEP
In addition to fault slip, a second type of
fault movement known as creep can
occur.
Creep is characterized by continuous or
intermittent movement without
noticeable earthquakes.
 SEISMIC WAVES
Seismic waves are of three types:
compression, shear, and surface waves.
Compression and shear waves travel
from the epicenter through the Earth’s
interior to distant points on the surface.
Only compression waves, however, can
pass through the Earth’s molten core.
Because compression waves travel at great
speeds and ordinarily reach the surface
first, they are known as P-waves (for
primary waves). P-wave velocity is given
by
Shear waves (also known as transverse
waves do not travel as rapidly through
the Earth’s crust and mantle as do
compression waves. Because they
ordinarily reach the surface later, they
are known as S-waves (for secondary
waves).
Surface waves, also known as R- waves
(for Rayleigh waves) or L-waves (for
Love waves), may or may not form.
They arrive after the primary and
secondary waves.
 LOCATING THE EPICENTER
The first indication of an earthquake
will often be a sharp “thud” signaling
the arrival of the compression wave
front. This will be followed by the shear
waves and the ground roll caused by
the surface waves. The times separating
the arrivals of the compression and
shear waves at various seismometer
stations can be used to locate the
epicenter’s position and depth.
The distance, s, from a seismometer to
the epicenter can be determined from
the wave velocities and the observed
time between the arrival of the
compression (P) and shear (S) waves.
The epicenter and hypocenter
correspond to the locations of the initial
fault slip but do not necessarily coincide
with the center of energy release. For
small and medium earthquakes (i.e.
Richter magnitude M<6), the points of
initial fault slip and energy release are
relatively close. For larger earthquakes,
however, hundreds of kilometers can
separate the two.