Seismic Waves
Seismic Waves
shear)
Sequence of Events
1) Tectonic loading of faults
2) Earthquakes
3) Seismic waves
4) Shaking (ground motion)
5) Structural failure
Seismic Waves
(Earthquake’s energy is transmitted through the
earth as seismic waves)
Two types of seismic waves
Body waves- transmit energy through earth’s
interior
Primary (P) wave- rocks vibrate parallel to direction
of wave
Compression and expansion (slinky example)
Secondary (S) wave- rocks move perpendicular to
wave direction
Rock shearing (rope-like or ‘wave’ in a stadium)
1. Measure time
between P and S
wave on
seismogram
2. Use travel-
time graph to get
distance to
epicenter
3-circle method: 3-circle steps:
1) Read S-P time from 3
seismograms.
north
2) Compute distance for
D each event/recording
1 D2 station pair (D1, D2, D3)
using S-P time formula.
3) Draw each circle of
radius Di on map.
4) Overlapping point is
the event location.
D3
Assumption: Source is
relatively shallow;
epicenter is relatively
close to hypocenter.
Magnitude and Intensity
Intensity
How Strong Earthquake Feels to Observer
Qualitative assessment of the kinds of damage
done by an earthquake
Depends on distance to earthquake & strength of
earthquake
Determined from the intensity of shaking and
damage from the earthquake
Magnitude
Related to Energy Release.
Quantitative measurement of the amount of
energy released by an earthquake
Depends on the size of the fault that breaks
Determined from Seismic Records
Measuring Earthquakes
Seismogram is visual record of arrival time and
magnitude of shaking associated with seismic
wave. Analysis of seismogram allows
measurement of size of earthquake.
Mercalli Intensity scale
Measured by the amount of damage caused in
human terms- I (low) to XII (high); drawback:
inefficient in uninhabited area
Richter Scale- (logarithmic scale)
Magnitude- based on amplitude of the waves
Related to earthquake total energy
Intensity
Geology
Type of Building
Observer!
Magnitude
Richter scale measures the magnitude of an earthquake,
based on seismogram independent of intensity
Amplitude of the largest wave produced by an event is
corrected for distance and assigned a value on an open-
ended logarithmic scale
The equation for Richter Magnitude is:
Gujarat (2001)
Size of an earthquake using the Richter’s Local Magnitude Scale is shown on the left
hand side of the figure above. The larger the number, the bigger the earthquake. The
scale on the right hand side of the figure represents the amount of high explosive
This figure was produced in cooperation with the US Geological
required to produce the energy released by the earthquake.
Survey, and the University of Memphis private foundations
Frequency of earthquakes