Earthquakes

Physical Geology (CV230)

Dr. Shamsher Sadiq

Email: shamsher.sadiq@giki.edu.pk
Shamsher (2019)-12th November, 2019 Physical Geology (CV230)
 OUTLINE

• Earthquake terminology
• Measuring earthquake/Size of earthquake
• Location of earthquakes
• Classification of earthquake
• Estimation of Strong ground motion parameters
• Ground shaking analysis of Mw=5.6 South New Mirpur Earthquake of
September 24,2019

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 Earthquake terminology

• Magnitude
• Magnitude measures the energy released at source of earthquake.
• Intensity
• Strength of shaking produced at a certain location and assessed using a descriptive
scale
• Focus/hypocenter
• Point where the rocks start to fracture and it is the origin of an earthquake. It is also
called as a hypocenter of an earthquake.
• Epicenter
• Point on land directly above the focus
• Isoseismal lines
• Lines connecting points of equal intensity Fault focal mechanisms

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 Measuring Earthquake

• Seismogram
• Machine that records the ground motion caused by the seismic waves as they move
through earth

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 Measuring Earthquake

• Mercalli scale
• Not precise
• 12 level of scales
• describes how earthquakes effect buildings and how much damage may be caused
by earthquakes of different strengths

• Richter scale
• Rates size of seismic waves with a mechanical seismograph
• Accurate for small, nearby earthquakes
• Not accurate for large or distant earthquakes.
• 1-10
• Newscasters say “Richter” but it is really moment magnitude

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 Measuring Earthquake

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 Measuring Earthquake

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 Measuring Earthquake

• Moment magnitude scale

• Estimates total energy released by earthquake
• Used to accurately rate all earthquakes of all sizes, near or far
• What we currently use
Area (A)

Seismic Moment = (Rigidity)(Area)(Slip)

M 0 (t ) =   S  u(t )
Slip (S)

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 Measuring Earthquake

• Richter local magnitude

• Measured amplitude of ground motion displacement by seismograph
ML = logA + 2.56logD - 1.67
where A is the measured ground motion (in micrometres) and D is the distance from the event (in km).
This is still used for measuring the magnitude of shallow events at distances less than 600 km (today
called the Local Magnitude). For events larger than magnitude 8 this scale saturates and gives magnitude
estimates that are too small.
• Surface wave magnitude
• For shallow earthquakes (i.e. ones that generate surface waves) magnitudes can be
estimated using the formula.
MS = log(A/T) + 1.66logΔ + 3.3
where A is the maximum amplitude (in micrometres) of the Rayleigh waves, T is the period (usually
about 20 seconds) and Δ is the distance (in degrees).

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 Measuring Earthquake

• Body wave magnitude

• For earthquakes measured at distances greater than 600 km magnitude can be
estimated from the formula.
Mb = log(A/T) + σ(D,h)

where A is the maximum amplitude (in micrometres)of the P-waves measured at period
T (generally about one second) and σ is a calibration term (in the range 6–8) that
depends on distance from the event D and depth of the event h (tables of σ are used).

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 Measuring Earthquake

Saturation of various magnitude

scales

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 Location of Earthquake

Seismic wave behavior

• P waves arrive first, then S waves, then L and R
• Average speeds for all these waves is known
• After an earthquake, the difference in arrival times at a seismograph station can be
used to calculate the distance from the seismograph to the epicenter.

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 Location of Earthquake

• 3 seismograph stations are needed to locate the epicenter

• A circle where the radius equals the distance to the epicenter is drawn
• The intersection of the circles locates the epicenter

∆𝑡𝑝−𝑠
𝑑=
1 1
−
𝑉𝑠 𝑉𝑝

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 Location of Earthquake

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 Classification of earthquakes

Earthquakes can be classified based on

• Cause of origin
• Earthquake due to surface collapse
• Earthquake due to volcanic causes
• Earthquake due to tectonic plates
• Depth of focus
• Shallow earthquake: 0-55km
• Intermediate earthquake: 55-300km
• Deep earthquake: 300-360km
• Intensity and magnitude
• Richter scale
• MMI

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 What controls level of shaking?

• Magnitude
• Directivity
• Directivity is an effect of a fault rupturing whereby earthquake ground motion in the
direction of rupture propagation is more severe than that in other directions from the
earthquake source
• Strongest shaking in rupture direction
• Distance from fault
• Shaking decays with distance (attenuation models) Hypocenter

• Local site response (rock or soil)

• Amplify the shaking

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 Estimation of ground motion parameters

• Proper earthquake design of civil engineering structures requires estimation of

level of ground shaking to which they will subjected.
• Ground shaking is described in terms of ground motion parameters (PGA, PGV,
PGD etc.)
• PGA: maximum ground ACCELERATION that occurred during earthquake shaking
• PGV: maximum ground VELOCITY that occurred during earthquake shaking
• PGD: maximum ground DISPLACEMENT that occurred during earthquake shaking
• Estimation of these ground motion parameters requires knowledge of Ground
Motion Predictive Equations (GMPEs)
Y=f(M, R, Pi)

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 Estimation of ground motion parameters

ACCELERATION TIME HISTORY VELOCITY TIME HISTORY DISPLACEMENT

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 Estimation of ground motion parameters

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 Ground Shaking Analysis of Mirpur Earthquake

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 Ground Shaking Analysis of Mirpur Earthquake

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 Ground Shaking Analysis of Mirpur Earthquake

0.4

Acceleration (g)
0.2

-0.2
PGA=0.38g
-0.4
0 10 20 30 40 50
Time (s)
0.4
PGA=0.32g

Acceleration (g)
0.2

-0.2

-0.4
0 10 20 30 40 50
Time (s)
0.4

Acceleration (g)
0.2

-0.2
PGA=0.27g
-0.4
0 10 20 30 40 50
Time (s)

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 Lecture review questions

• What is meant by earthquake magnitude and intensity? Define all types of

magnitudes.
• Define the earthquake hypocenter and epicenter. Explain the procedure to
locate the epicenter of earthquake if data of 3 seismograph stations is
known.
• Write short note on followings
• Richter scale
• Modified Mercalli scale
• Earthquake classifications
• Estimation of ground motion parameters

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