NSCI 201: EARTH SCIENCE

Group 3 (BSED 2-C)

Bito-on, Peter Junhick
Inobe, Ma. Victoria – focal person
Mangilaya, Mary Shiey
Palmes, Richlane Chrisha
Samson, Dorothy

Define the following concepts:

A. Plastic deformation - the permanent distortion that occurs when a material is subjected to
tensile, compressive, bending, or torsion stresses that exceed its yield strength and cause it to
elongate, compress, buckle, bend, or twist.

B. Earthquake - any sudden shaking of the ground caused by the passage of seismic waves
through Earth’s rocks

C. Seismic waves - are waves of energy that travel through the Earth's layers, and are a
result of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, magma movement, large landslides and large man-
made explosions that give out low-frequency acoustic energy

D. Seismology - the study of earthquakes and seismic waves that move through and around
the earth

E. Focus - the point where the rocks start to fracture. It is the origin of the earthquake.

F. Epicenter -the point on the earth's surface directly above an earthquake or atomic explosion

G. Body wave - A body wave is a seismic wave that moves through the interior of the earth,
as opposed to surface waves that travel near the earth's surface. P and S waves are body
waves. Each type of wave shakes the ground in different ways.

H. Surface wave – a surface wave is a seismic wave that is trapped near the surface of the
earth.

I. P wave – or compressional wave, is a seismic body wave that shakes the ground back and
forth in the same direction and the opposite direction as the direction the wave is moving.

J. S wave - or shear wave, is a seismic body wave that shakes the ground back and forth
perpendicular to the direction the wave is moving.

K. Seismograph – instrument used to record the motion of the ground during an earthquake.
They are installed in the ground throughout the world and operated as part of a seismographic
network.

L. Seismogram – a record written by a seismograph in response to ground motions produced

by an earthquake, explosion, or other ground-motion sources.
M. Mercalli scale – a twelve-point scale for expressing the local intensity of an earthquake,
ranging from I (virtually imperceptible) to XII (total destruction).

N. Richter scale – a numerical scale for expressing the magnitude of an earthquake on the
basis of seismograph oscillations. The more destructive earthquakes typically have magnitudes
between about 5.5 and 8.9; the scale is logarithmic and a difference of one represents an
approximate thirtyfold difference in magnitude.

O. Moment Magnitude - uses seismograms plus what physically occurs during an earthquake
(which can also be derived from seismograms), known as the "seismic moment". The seismic
moment defines how much force is needed to generate the recorded waves. This is more
effective for large earthquakes than other scales.

P. Time-travel curve – a graph of the time that it takes for seismic waves to travel from the
epicenter of an earthquake to seismograph stations at varying distances away.

Q. Benioff zone – sometimes referred to as the seismic zone or seismic plane, is a dipping
planar concentration of earthquake hypocenters that extends up to 700 km into the earth. It is
named after H. Benioff, who first described it in detail (Benioff, 1949).

R. Foreshocks – are earthquakes that occur prior to the mainshock, which is defined as the
largest magnitude event in an earthquake sequence.

S. Liquefaction - a process by which water-saturated sediment temporarily loses strength and

acts as a fluid, like when you wiggle your toes in the wet sand near the water at the beach.
This effect can be caused by earthquake shaking.

T. Tsunami - is a sea wave of local or distant origin that results from large-scale seafloor
displacements associated with large earthquakes, major submarine slides, or exploding volcanic
islands.

U. Mohorovicic discontinuity - referred to as the Moho discontinuity or the Moho, is the

boundary between the Earth's crust and the mantle. It is defined by the distinct change in
velocity of seismological waves as they pass through changing densities of rock.

V. 660 kilometers discontinuity - the seismic discontinuity at a depth of approximately 660

km (the 660) as the boundary between upper and lower mantle plays an important role in the
dynamic state of the Earth's interior.
REFERENCES:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/dictionary.cambridge.org/us/amp/english/epicenter

https://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/glossary

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/materials-science

https://www.britannica.com/science/earthquake-geology

https://www.kids-fun-science.com/earthquake-focus.html

https://www.iris.edu/hq/inclass/animation/traveltime_curves_how_they_are_created