4)seismic gap

A seismic gap is a section of a fault that has produced earthquakes in the past but is now quiet. For some
seismic gaps, no earthquakes have been observed historically, but it is believed that the fault segment is
capable of producing earthquakes on some other basis, such as plate-motion information or strain
measurements.

10)What are the types of earthquakes?

Earthquakes can come in three main forms, depending on the plate movements that
occur beneath the earth's surface. They could occur on a Convergent Boundary,
Divergent Boundary or a Transform Fault.

Convergent boundary:
Here, one plate is forced over another plate during movement creating a thrust fault.
Divergent boundary:
Here, plates are forced apart each other, usually forming a Rift Zone. This kind is
common in ocean floors where new floors are created. An example is the Mid Atlantic
Ridge.
Transform fault:
Unlike divergent and convergent, the plates here slip by each other. This is also
called Strike-Slip.

Insights Into Plate Interior Earthquakes Of Peninsular India

A paper in Current Science (open access) by Roger Bilham and Vinod K Gaur gives
interesting insights into the patterns of occurrences and causes of earthquakes in the plate
interior regions of Peninsular India. In south Maharashtra for instance there have been
moderate size earthquake of 6.3 - 6.4 magnitude in recent decades at Koyna and Latur.
Earthquake risk assessment has shot to prominence recently due to a proposal to site a
large nuclear power station in Jaitapur, which is close to Koyna.

The general understanding of earthquakes in Peninsular India is that the Precambrian

terrain is heterogeneous in strength, criss-crossed with rifts, shear zones and old orogenic
belts and these ancient zones of weak crust get reactivated from time to time and rupture.
But what is building up strain along these old faults? The graphic below from the paper is a
good way to conceptualize the tectonic and stress situation.

The collision of the Indian plate with Tibet has resulted in the bending of the Indian plate underneath
Tibet and the flexural buckling into a long waveform of the rigid Indian plate. At the northern end i.e.
at the crest of the flexure the plate experiences tensional forces at shallow depths and compressional
forces at the base of the plate. Farther south in the trough of the flexure known as the outer moat, the
situation is reversed. The shallow part of the plate experiences compressional forces and the base of
the plate experiences tensional forces.
- See more at: http://suvratk.blogspot.com/2011/12/insights-into-plateinterior.html#sthash.HljZLMhI.dpuf

9)The epicenter, epicentre /psntr/ or epicentrum

[1]

is the point on the Earth's surface that is

directly above the hypocentre or focus, the point where an earthquake or underground explosion
originates. The word derives from the New Latin noun epicentrum,[2] thelatinisation of the ancient
Greek adjective (epikentros), "occupying a cardinal point, situated on a centre", [3] from
(epi) "on, upon, at"[4] and (kentron) "centre".[5] The term was coined by the
Irish seismologist Robert Mallet.[6]

The epicentre is directly above theearthquake's hypocentre (focus).

In the case of earthquakes, the epicenter is directly above the point where the fault begins to
rupture, and in most cases, it is the area of greatest damage. However, in larger events, the length
of the fault rupture is much longer, and damage can be spread across the rupture zone. For
example, in the magnitude 7.9, 2002 Denali earthquake in Alaska, the epicenter was at the western
end of the rupture, but the greatest damage occurred about 330 km away at the eastern end of the
rupture zone.[7]

The hypocenter (literally: 'below the center' from the Greek: ) refers to the site of
an earthquake or a surface or subsurface nuclear explosion. It is a synonym of the focus;.
[1]
(Confusingly, for a nuclear airburst the term hypocenter" is a synonym for ground zero.)
A fault trace is the intersection of a geological fault with the ground surface, leaving a visible mark.
The term also applies to a line plotted on a geological map to represent a fault.