Earthquakes

Introduction An earthquake is a shaking motion of a portion of the earth's crust. this motion results from the passage of elastic waves traveling through the earth away from a place of rupture or faulting. The location of the rupture or faulting, which may be within or below the earth's crust, is called the focus. The point on the earth's surface directly above the focus is called the epicenter. Earthquake foci can occur down to a depth of 435 miles, although 85% of them occur near the surface (less than 40 mile depth). In this exercise you will use the records of an earthquake from several different locations to find the epicenter of the earthquake. Seismogram The waves radiating through the earth away from the focus can be recorded by an instrument known as a seismograph which produces a record known as a seismogram. Several types of waves can be detected by a seismograph. Two of these waves can be used to locate earthquake epicenters. These are: A. P-waves - also called primary or compressional waves. Four Important things to remember about P-waves: 1. They travel the fastest. 2. They travel in the same direction as the particles they vibrate (see diagram 1). 3. They travel through solids, liquids and gases. 4. They travel faster through denser materials (density increases with depth on the earth).

B. S-waves- also called secondary or shear waves. Four important things to remember about Swaves: 1. They travel slower than P-waves. 2. They travel to right angles to the vibration of the particles (see diagram 2). 3. S-waves cannot pass through liquids or gases. 4. They travel faster through denser materials.

Remember that p-waves will always reach the seismograph first because they travel faster and that s-waves only travel through solids. C. "LR (or LQ)" - waves are also called surface waves because they travel only near the surface of the earth. They travel slower than either the P or the S waves, and so they arrive later (and are shown after) either the P or the S wave on a seismogram. Travel - Time Curves Travel time curves are graphs which show how long it takes for a particular wave to travel a certain distance. Note the curvature of the S and P and the straight line for the surface waves. If the difference in the arrival times for the P and S at some particular station can be determined, then by using the travel time curves, the distance from that station to the epicenter can be obtained. Locating an Earthquake Epicenter To find the epicenter you need to use atleast three seismograms (diagram 3). From the seismograms you need to determine the arrival times of the p-waves and the s-waves, calculate the time difference and use the Earthquake P-wave and S-wave Travel Time Graph on page 11 in the reference tables. Turn to this graph in your reference tables now and follow the steps to determine the epicenter distance.

Step 1. Determine the arrival times of the p-wave and s-wave. Based on the sample seismogram the p-wave arrived at 0 minutes and the s-wave arrived at 5 minutes. Step 2. Calculate the time difference. S-wave arrival time minus P-wave arrival time equals time difference. Based on our sample we would have 5 minutes - 0 minutes = 5 minute time difference Step 3. Now turn to the Earthquake Time Travel Graph on page 11 in your reference tables. Place a sheet of paper along the Travel Time axis of the graph as shown in diagram 4 (only part of the graph is shown here) and mark the time difference calculated in step 2.

Step 4. Now slide the piece of paper across the graph until the bottom mark lines up with the pwave line and the top mark lines up with the s-wave line. Make sure the edge of the paper is parallel to the vertical lines on the graph. See diagram 5.

Step 5. Now read straight down the edge of the paper until it crosses the Epicenter Distance axis. This is the answer. Based on the sample seismogram the epicenter distance is 3,400 km.