Earthquakes

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Earthquakes. What are Earthquakes?. The shaking or trembling caused by the sudden release of energy Usually associated with faulting or breaking of rocks Described by the Elastic Rebound Theory. What is the Elastic Rebound Theory ?. Explains how energy is stored in rocks - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Transcript of Earthquakes

What are Earthquakes?

The shaking or trembling caused by the sudden release of energyUsually associated with faulting or breaking of rocksDescribed by the Elastic Rebound Theory

What is the Elastic Rebound Theory?Explains how energy is stored

in rocks–Rocks bend until the

strength of the rock is exceeded

–Rupture occurs and the rocks quickly rebound to an undeformed shape

–Energy is released in waves that radiate outward from the fault

What is the Elastic Rebound Theory?

Elastic Rebound

Type of Faults (A Review)

Normal

Reverse

Strike-Slip

Seismic Waves

Through no fault of our own, seismic waves are generated from the breaking of the rock

These waves of energy that travel through the Earth after an earthquake

• Some of these waves are what you feel during an earthquake

Types of WavesSurface – travel along the surface, cause the most damage (Your teacher may divide these further into Love and Raleigh Waves) (Slower than Body)Body – travel through the Earth• P waves- pushes and pulls the rock

(twice as fast as S wave)• S wave – slower, displaces rock at

right angles, don’t travel through liquidsP & S AnimationP,S & Surface AnimationAnother P,S & Surface Animation

Seismic Wave Motion

Proof of Moho (Mohorovičić discontinuity)

• Moho: The dept at which the P-wave velocity exceeds 8.1 Km/S is referred to as the moho (after the seismologist Mohorovicic). The moho is both a seismic and a compositional boundary, marking the transition between crust and mantle materials.

Proof of Moho

Notice the increase in velocity around 80 meters, just before the transition to the mantle!

Focus and EpicenterFocus: the point at which energy is released, causing the earthquake

Epicenter: the point on the surface of the Earth that is directly above the earthquake focus.

Earthquakes generate seismic waves which can be detected

with a sensitive instrument called a seismograph.

Seismographs

Perhaps the earliest seismograph was invented in

China A.D. 136 by a m an named Choko.

Richter Scale Measures magnitude of an earthquake1-102 is the smallest able to be felt by humans

Mercalli Scale

Measures intensityUses Roman numeralsI – XIII – no damageXII – total damage

Tsunami Damage, Gleebruk, Indonesia

Chedi Resort, Phuket, Thailand, wave height ~4+ m (?, from estimates of water level from beach umbrellas on grassy area above the beach)

Damage in Banda Aceh

Earthquake and Tsunami Damage, Banda Aceh, Sumatra

Earthquake and Tsunami Damage,

Sri Lanka

Geist, Titov and Synolakis, Tsunami: Wave of Change, Scientific American, January, 2006.

Train and tracks destroyed, SW coast of Sri Lanka

Tsunami wave trough, Sri Lanka coast

Commonly, the water recedes (a wave trough) significantly for a few minutes before the first wave crest arrives. People often go out to explore the beach or gather fish or shells at that time.

Tsunami wave, Sri Lanka; note strong current

Banda Aceh, Sumatra, before tsunamihttp://geo-world.org/tsunami/

Banda Aceh, Sumatra, after tsunamiAlso: http://www.digitalglobe.com/

Another Hazard Associated with Earthquakes

Liquefaction

San Francisco are built on sandy soil or fill. Many homes built on this type of soil were badly damaged during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake by liquefaction.

Liquefaction occurs in saturated soils, that is, soils in which the space between individual particles is completely filled with water. This water exerts a pressure on the soil particles that influences how tightly the particles themselves are pressed together.

Model of liquefaction

Example of liquefaction

Latest Earthquakes in the World Past 7 days

The End