EARTHQUAKE

Suman Prasad Mehta 2008JE0319 Integrated Applied Geophysics

DEFINATION
An earthquake is a series of vibrations on the earth's surface caused by the generation of elastic (seismic) waves due to sudden rupture within the earth during release of accumulated strain energy.
This only occurs where the earth is solid and therefore can only occur within about 100 miles of the surface

CAUSES OF EARTHQUAKE
Motion of the continental crust.
Faulting may be considered as an immediate cause of an earthquake. Due to constant movement of plates, deformation is caused which results to generations of strain energy.

Example : Indian plate is moving in north-northeast direction and colliding with Eurasian plate along the Himalayas.

TERMINOLOGY
HYPOCENTER The hypocenter is the point within the earth where an earthquake rupture starts.

Also commonly termed the focus.

EPICENTER The epicenter is the point on the earth's surface vertically above the hypocenter (or focus), point in the crust where a seismic rupture begins.

TERMS RELATED TO EARTHQUAKE

FORESHOCK
Foreshocks are relatively smaller earthquakes that precede the largest earthquake in a series, which is termed the mainshock. Not all mainshocks have foreshocks.
But cant be considered as the fore warning of an earthquake.

AFTERSHOCK
Aftershocks are earthquakes that follow the largest shock of an earthquake sequence. Aftershocks can continue over a period of weeks, months, or years

SEISMIC WAVES
A seismic wave is an elastic wave generated by an impulse such as an earthquake or an explosion.

TYPES OF SEISMIC WAVES

- BODY WAVES P and S - SURFACE WAVES

R and L

BODY WAVES
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 or primary waves fastest waves travel through solids, liquids, or gases compressional wave, material movement is in the same direction as wave movement S or secondary waves slower than P waves travel through solids only shear waves - move material perpendicular to wave movement

PROPAGATION OF :PRIMARY WAVES SECONDARY WAVES

SURFACE WAVES : R AND L

A surface wave is a seismic wave that is trapped near the surface of the earth. Travels just below or along the grounds surface Slower than body waves; rolling and side-to-side movement Especially damaging to buildings

SEISMOGRAPH
A seismograph, or seismometer, is an instrument used to detect and record the vibration and disturbance in the earth crust ,that may be an earthquakes

It consists of a mass attached to a fixed base. During an earthquake, the base moves and the mass does not. The motion of the base with respect to the mass is commonly transformed into an electrical voltage. The electrical voltage is recorded on paper, magnetic tape, or another recording medium

HOW IS AN EARTHQUAKES EPICENTER LOCATED?

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.

HOW IS AN EARTHQUAKES EPICENTER LOCATED?

Time-distance graph showing the average travel times for P- and Swaves.
The farther away a seismograph is from the focus of an earthquake, the longer the interval between the arrivals of the P- and S- waves

HOW IS AN EARTHQUAKES EPICENTER LOCATED?

Three seismograph stations are needed to locate the epicenter of an earthquake A circle where the radius equals the distance to the epicenter is drawn The intersection of the circles locates the epicenter

INTENSITY OF AN EARTHQUAKE
It is the rating of the effect of an earthquake at a particular place, based on the observations of the damaged areas It describes the severity of an earthquake in terms of its effects on the earth's surface and on humans and their structures.

Giuseppe Mercalli , an Italian volcanologist developed the Mercalli Intensity Scale. This scale measures the intensity of shaking with numbers from I to XII

Giuseppe Mercalli 1850 - 1914

MAGNITUDE OF AN EARTHQUAKE
Magnitude is intended to be a rating of a given earthquake independent of the place of observation.

It is measured on a scale proposed by Charles F. Richter who was an American seismologist and physicist , born in April 26 1900 Hamilton ,Ohio Worked for a long time in California institute of technology.

Charles F. Richter 1900 - 1985

First a seismograph is obtained from the seismic station . Amplitude of the largest wave produced by an event is corrected for distance and assigned a value on an open-ended logarithmic scale

FEATURES OF THE TWO SCALE

SOME IMPORTANT EARTHQUAKE IN INDIA

BHUJ , 2001 Date : Magnitude : Depth : Epicenter : Casualties : 26th January ,2001 7.7 16 kilometer 23.442N 70.310E 19,727 dead, 166,000 injured .

This was one of the biggest earthquake in the history of India and it Occurred due to the relative motion between the Eurasian plate and Indian plates.

 Jabalpur 1997

Date : Magnitude : Depth : Epicenter : Casualties :

22nd May,1997 6.0 35 kilometer 23.18 N , 80.02 E 39 dead,

Latur 1993 The Latur (Killari), Maharashtra, earthquake of September 30, 1993 Its epicentre was located in a region considered to be aseismic. magnitude 6.3 and focal depth less than 10 km

WORLD SEISMIC ZONE

EPICENTERS LOCATION

SEISMIC ZONE OF INDIA

NETWORK OF SEISMOLOGICAL OBSERVATORIES IN INDIA

REFERENCES
ELEMENTARY SEISMOLOGY http://earthquake.usgs.gov/ http://www.iris.edu/USArray http://bssaonline.org by Charles F. Richter