9.1 what is an earthquake?

earthquake is ground shaking caused by the sudden and rapid movement of one block of rock slipping past another
along fractures.
Faults are locked because the confining pressure exerted by the overlying crust is enormous, causing these fractures
in the crust to be “squeezed shut.”
hypocenter, or focus - location where slippage begins
epicenter - point on Earth’s surface directly above the hypocenter
seismic waves - a form of energy that travels through the lithosphere and Earth’s interior
The energy carried by these waves causes the material that transmits them to shake.

DISCOVERING THE CAUSES OF EARTHQUAKES

H. F. Reid conducted a landmark study
Over tens to hundreds of years, differential stress slowly bends the crustal rocks on both sides of a fault.
Frictional resistance keeps the fault from rupturing and slipping. Stress along the fault overcomes frictional
resistance, and slippage occurs. Slippage allows the deformed (bent) rock to “snap back” to its original, stress-free
shape.
elastic rebound - the rock behaves elastically.

AFTERSHOCK & FORESHOCK

aftershocks – earthquakes of lesser magnitude
gradually diminish in frequency and intensity over a period of several months following an earthquake
foreshocks - small earthquakes that often precede major earthquakes by days or, several years.

FAULTS & LARGE EARTHQUAKES

Convergent Plate Boundaries
Compressional forces associated with continental collisions slice Earth’s crust along large thrust faults.
The boundary separating a subducting slab and the overlying plate forms an extensive fault zone, called a
megathrust fault. Megathrust fault produced most powerful and destructive earthquakes.
Transform Plate Boundaries
Faults in which the dominant displacement is horizontal and parallel to the direction of the fault trace
are called strike-slip faults. Most large transform faults consist of numerous branches and smaller fractures that
display kinks and offsets.
FAULT RUPTURE & PROPAGATION
geologists have learned that displacement along large faults occurs along discrete fault segments that
often behave differently from one another.
fault creep - slow, gradual displacement
– produce little seismic shaking
Slippage propagates at 2 to 4 kilometers per second. Rupture of a 100-kilometer (60-mile) fault segment
takes about 30 seconds, and rupture of a 300-kilometer (200-mile) segment takes about 90 seconds.

9.2 Seismology: The Study of Earthquake Waves

Seismology - study of earthquake waves
Zhang Heng – invented the earliest known instrument, a large hollow jar containing a weight suspended from the
top

INSTRUMENTS THAT RECORD EARTHQUAKES

seismographs, or seismometers - has a weight freely suspended from a support that is securely attached to
bedrock. They are designed to amplify ground motion to detect very weak earthquakes or a great
earthquake that has occurred in another part of the world.
When vibrations from an earthquake reach the instrument, the inertia of the weight keeps it relatively stationary,
while Earth and the support move.

SEISMIC WAVES
Seismograms – are records obtained from seismographs
- they provide useful information about the nature of seismic waves.
two main types of seismic waves:
body waves
- travel through Earth’s interior
- two types:
primary waves, or P waves - are “push/pull” waves; they momentarily push (compress) and pull (stretch)
rocks in the direction the waves are traveling. It can travel through solid, liquid, and gas materials. Travels
70% faster than s wave.
secondary waves, or S waves - “shake” the particles at right angles to their direction of travel. S waves
change the shape of the material that transmits them. Liquid and gas do not transmit S wave. Travels
10% faster than surface wave. have slightly greater amplitudes than P wave.
surface waves
- travel in the rock layers just below Earth’s surface
- exhibit greater amplitude
- two types:
One type causes Earth’s surface and anything resting on it to move up and down.
Second type of surface wave causes Earth’s surface to move from side to side.

9.3 Locating The Source Of An Earthquake

Using the difference in arrival times between P and S waves, the distance separating a recording station from an
earthquake’s epicenter can be determined. When the distances are known from three or more seismic stations,
the epicenter can be located using a method called triangulation.

9.4 Determining the Size of an Earthquake

Intensity measures the amount of ground shaking at a location due to an earthquake, and magnitude is an
estimate of the actual amount of energy released during an earthquake.

INTENSITY SCALE
The Modified Mercalli Intensity scale is a tool for measuring an earthquake’s intensity at different locations. The
scale is based on verifiable physical evidence that is used to quantify intensity on a 12-point scale.

MAGNITUDE SCALE
Richter scale considers both the maximum amplitude of the seismic waves measured at a given seismograph and
that seismograph’s distance from the earthquake. The Richter scale is logarithmic, meaning that the next higher
number on the scale represents seismic amplitudes that are 10 times greater than those represented by the
number below. Furthermore, each larger number on the Richter scale represents the release of about 32 times
more energy than the number below it.
Moment magnitude scale measures the total energy released from an earthquake by considering the strength of
the faulted rock, the amount of slippage, and the area of the fault that slipped. Moment magnitude is the modern
standard for measuring the size of earthquakes.

9.6 Where Do Most Earthquakes Occur?

EARTHQUAKES ASSOCIATED WITH PLATE BOUNDARIES
Most earthquake energy is released in the circum-Pacific belt, the ring of megathrust faults rimming the Pacific
Ocean. Another earthquake belt is the Alpine–Himalayan belt, which runs along the zone where the Eurasian
plate collides with the Indian–Australian and African plates.
Earth’s oceanic ridge system produces another belt of earthquake activity. Here seafloor spreading and active
transform faults that separate ridge segments generate many frequent small-magnitude quakes. Transform faults
in the continental crust, including the San Andreas Fault, can produce large earthquakes.
DAMAGING EARTHQUAKES EAST OF THE ROCKIES
Although most destructive earthquakes are produced along plate boundaries, some occur at considerable
distances from plate boundaries. Examples include the 1811–1812 New Madrid, Missouri, earthquakes and the
1886 Charleston, South Carolina, earthquake.
Earthquakes that occur away from plate boundaries are called intraplate earthquakes. Intraplate earthquakes can
be caused by a variety of factors.

9.7 Can Earthquakes Be Predicted?

SHORT-RANGE PREDICTIONS
The goal of short-range earthquake prediction is to provide a warning of the location and magnitude of a large
earthquake within a narrow time frame. Research has concentrated on monitoring possible precursors—events or
changes that precede a forthcoming earthquake and thus may provide warning.
After February 4, 1975, a successful short-range prediction by Chinese government based on an increase in
foreshocks.
It must have a small range of uncertainty about location and timing, and it must produce few failures or false
alarms.

LONG-RANGE FORECASTS
Long-range forecasts (for time scales of 30 to 100 years) are statistical estimates of the likelihood that an
earthquake of a given magnitude will occur. Long-range forecasts are useful because they can guide development
of building codes and infrastructure.
Seismic Gaps are quiet zones and are believed to be zones that are storing strain that will be released during a
future earthquake.
Paleoseismology is the study of the timing, location, and size of prehistoric earthquakes. They are often
conducted by digging a trench across a suspected fault zone and then looking for evidence of ancient faulting.
1. Prior to faulting
2. Displacement during earthquake # 1
3. post-faulting erosion and deposition
4. Displacement during earthquake # 2
5. post-faulting erosion and deposition
6. Displacement during earthquake # 3
7. Modern configuration
9.8 Earth’s Interior
PROBING EARTH’S INTERIOR: “SEEING” SEISMIC WAVES
The P and S waves from large earthquakes can be used to “see” into our planet. Using the waves recorded on
seismograms to visualize Earth’s interior structure is challenging. Seismic waves do not travel along straight paths;
instead, they are reflected, refracted, and diffracted as they pass through our planet. They reflect off boundaries
between different layers, they refract when passing from one layer to another layer, and they diffract around
obstacles they encounter. Seismic waves also travel faster when rock is stiffer or less compressible.

EARTH’S LAYERED STRUCTURE

chemical differentiation – result from early period of heating whereby melting formed buoyant masses of molten
rock that rose toward Earth’s surface and solidified to produce a primitive crust. It established the three basic
divisions of Earth’s interior: (1) the iron-rich core, (2) the thin primitive crust, and (3) the largest layer called the
mantle.
Earth’s crust
- Oceanic crust is thinner, denser, and younger than continental crust. Oceanic crust also readily subducts,
whereas the less dense continental crust does not.
Earth’s mantle
The uppermost mantle and crust make up Earth’s rigid outer shell, called the lithosphere, which overlies the
asthenosphere—a solid but relatively weak layer. The lower mantle is a strong solid layer but capable of very
gradual flow.
Earth’s core is very dense and composed of a mixture of iron and nickel, with minor amounts of lighter elements.
The outer core is liquid, whereas the inner core is solid.