The analysis of the seismicity data around the site under investigation is carried out to define the design or credible earthquake. The design earthquake is a term representing the largest earthquake and/or ground acceleration expected to struck the site over a certain time window. The approaches used to define the credible earthquake may be classified into deterministic and probabilistic.
The deterministic one inspects the seismic history around the site to pick the largest reported event in the catalogue. This event is termed as credible earthquake and certain increment is added to its magnitude as a safety factor. In general, the increment equals 0.5. The probabilistic method, on the other hand, applies probabilistic model to predict the
The San Andreas fault line has caused constant development nightmares for large urban areas such as San Francisco as well as the other cities built on top of it. Fault lines are one of the side effects of the earth’s tectonic plates shifting that can result in devastating earthquakes. Some of the most devastating earthquakes in our modern era have occurred along the San Andreas fault line due to a dense population. The most notable and destructive earthquake on the San Andreas fault line occurred in San Francisco in 1906. The reason this earthquake was so deadly was because of its magnitude and the city’s poor planning. This earthquake was a wakeup call for San Francisco and force the city to revolutionize its knowledge on earthquakes and how to protect their city. Today San Francisco is one of the most well prepared cities for an earthquake and has made great discoveries in earthquake safety measures. The 1906 earthquake in San Francisco has drastically changed how the city has developed its zoning and building code policies, and its earthquake research.
Despite decades of research and the use of modern technology, scientists are still not able to detect in time an imminent earthquake. Even though seismologists mostly know where the faults are and are able to closely monitor the rate of activity on them ranging from a scale of a year to a decade and even a century, a solid short-term day to month forecasting in order to identify the places at risk, still is an insoluble problem. Although this may be true, some scientists in diverse fields choose to follow a different and a rather controversial approach on the subject by studying the unusual animal
Earthquakes have afflicted the world since its inception. The sudden release of energy from volcanoes or displacing of earth plates can result in disasters of extreme magnitude. These usually naturally occurring phenomenon have been responsible from wiping out entire towns throughout history and until today continue to produce major loss of life and infrastructure. It can take years for a city or country to recover from a major event of this kind and when a third world country is involved, the result is usually exponentially worse than in a developed country. In the past decades Japan, Chile and Haiti have suffered the devastation an earthquake produces. This document will concentrate in Haiti, a small country in the Caribbean. On
Record your answer from Lab Exercise #1, Step 1, Question 2. What time in hours:minutes:seconds GMT did the S waves arrive?
• This earthquake may not have released all of the strain stored in its rocks next to the fault this reveals a potential earthquake in the Santa Cruz Mountains in the near future. The occurrence of the earthquake showed that the Earth did not exhaust all its strain and hence other earthquakes could be expected. However, the dates could not be predicted. The extent of the damage could have been much more devastating for the region, but with the earthquake occurring near the coast this made half of the felt area westward in the Pacific Ocean. The occurrence of aftershocks ten days later reinforces the unpredictability nature and hence makes Geology to be a study that is always evolving. In conclusion, the Earth and the study of cannot be exhausted as every natural occurrence provides a new puzzle to be solved.
Over more than 50 decades there has been multiple earthquakes that have been caused by the activity that takes place beneath and above the surface of the earth. For every earthquake there are various effects and consequences, these are generally not preventable but teachable moments. As we study and explore landforms we learn and better understand how today 's structures came about, what took place decades ago and where do we go from here. Thanks to the technology and inquiring minds we are able to study past events like the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and the 1964 Alaska earthquake. In comparing these two events we can get an overview of what happened and better prepare ourselves for something like that in the future.
Seismologists have recorded that most Oklahoma earthquakes generally strike within the 2.5 – 3.0 magnitude on average. While some have been recorded to spike up much higher which could potentially cause structural damage to homes. Earthquakes of large magnitude have the potential to create large-scale destruction to homes, which do not meet building code requirements for earthquakes of this magnitude. “It has implications for calculated risks of seismic hazard, and it will have an economic impact on the state if people have to start building to more stringent design standards (Brus).”
In recorded history, there have been 151 earthquakes in Nevada that were a magnitude of 3.5 or higher. As previously mentioned, the mountain ranges of Nevada are typically bound on one side or the other by a fault. There are quaternary faults that range in ages from less than 150 years to around 1.8 million years in existence. The property damage in Nevada from earthquakes was .2 million dollars between 1196 and 2014 based on information from department of energy for the state. As we studied in our textbook, earthquakes can by a number of things, such as shifting faults, or volcanic
Before an earthquake even occurs it is possible to predict roughly where and when it will happen due to detailed seismic records and sophisticated technology such as radon gas emissions, remote sensing and low-frequency electromagnetic activity. In MEDCs like the US, especially around California, dedicated groups of scientists devote their careers to the investigation of earthquake hazards and management. They have access to the latest technology, computers and forecasting to enable them to find out and report back to the wider population about any possible risks. However, in LEDCs like Iran, researching and educating their population about earthquakes is not a priority. Their main goal is to develop their profitable oil reserves and they are still relatively underdeveloped in comparison to the US with a GDP per capita of $818.7 billion compared with America’s $14.66 trillion. The fact that they are not fully developed as a nation puts them at an immediate disadvantage in terms of their ability to prepare for an earthquake.
According to our textbook, it appears that an earthquake poses a greater threat to the Pacific Northwest than a volcano does. The text states that “California’s San Andreas Fault runs diagonally from southeast to northwest for nearly 800 miles.” In the lecture notes, it shows a diagram of the earthquakes that have occurred since 1977 along the Pacific coast, and the area is riddled with earthquakes. The likelihood of a massive scale earthquake occurring in the Pacific Northwest has been predicted; however, our lecture states that we are unable to predict an earthquake and are only able to gauge the probability of one occurring. Those who would be in harm’s way would be those people who fall within the Mercalli Intensity scale area, and those
A hazard can best be defined as a 'situation that poses a level of threat to life, health, property or the environment.' The overall impact of earthquakes as a natural hazard varies greatly from one place and timeframe to another. As do the types of hazards, which are categorised into primary and secondary. Primary hazards are created by the direct seismic energy of an earthquake; this could include liquefaction, slope failure and tsunamis. These primary hazards can in turn trigger secondary hazards such as floods, fires, disease and destabilisation of infrastructure. A number of factors play a part in determining the severity
Earthquakes are environmental catastrophes which are unpreventable by human beings. While major earthquakes are not predictable, they could be further understood through scientific analysis of infrastructure evidence made by seismologists. The Hayward Fault in northern California poses a great seismic hazard for a megathrust earthquake. This paper utilizes environmental evidence along the fault line to further understand the nature of this major fault and the probability of a major earthquake occurrence.
Earthquakes have been recorded throughout history for thousands of years. Even before seismographs in early times, there are records and accounts of mysterious ground shaking. Earthquakes occur when rocks break along an underground fault (UPSeis, 2007). This, in return, causes vibrations through the earth which causes ground shaking. The magnitude of the shaking varies depending on how great the movement along the fault is; the greater the movement, the bigger the earthquake. Some earthquakes are huge and cause significant damage, while others are small and cause little or no damage what-so-ever. Earthquakes are unpredictable, and can happen at any time. It is uncertain where an earthquake will strike, but there is a greater risk
Earthquake Hazards occur when there are adverse effects on human activities. This can include surface faulting, ground shaking and liquefaction. In this essay I will be discussing the factors that affect earthquakes, whether human such as population density, urbanisation and earthquake mitigation or physical such as liquefaction, magnitude, landslides and proximity to the focus.
Thesis statement: In the speech, I will continue to improve the earthquake’s knowledge of my audience by analyzing cases; introduce the significant idea of earthquake prediction; deeply develop rescue methods.