Physics of Earthquakes
Introduction
A failure in the interior of the Earth’s crust is the cause of most earthquakes. Once the stress inside the crust grows beyond the strength for that location of the crust, a failure occurs within the crust and seismic waves, which we know as earthquakes, are radiated outward. It was once thought that this description of seismic activity was the cause for all earthquakes, but now seismologists know the way earthquakes form and start is a very diverse process. Most earthquakes are classified in the category of being brittle failures, which generate strong seismic waves; some earthquakes involve slow slip motion. There is also evidence to suggest that some earthquakes are more of a thermal process due to large amounts of heat generation, rather than large seismic activity. (Scholz 2002) Also, some earthquakes are not the result of faulting however, but caused by large landslides. In the early days of seismology, these differences were noticed qualitatively but the technology available during that time made it hard to accurately tell the difference. Before an earthquake takes place, there is a large buildup of potential energy. The energies involved in earthquakes can be described by the elastic strain energy W, plus the radiated energy Er, the energy mechanically dissipated during an earthquake, Eg and the thermal energy due to heat dissipation, Eh. Since this equation is a description of potential energies, the actual event of an
Volcanoes and Earthquakes are two of the most intriguing natural disasters that can occur on earth. Unlike hurricanes and tornadoes, they can awaken at almost any point in time throughout the year. These two natural disasters are also different from others because they occur on the layers of the earth itself. Volcanoes, while large to us, are actually small, conical patches of earth that spurt and ooze hot molten lava from the core, and can destroy areas of land triple their size. Earthquakes, on the other hand, are severe jolts felt on land due to the movement of earths tectonic plates. Some may describe earthquakes as being similar to riding a bike down a flight of stairs. The impact of an earthquakes can take down even the largest buildings and strongest structures. All natural disasters can have damaging effects on land, some more than others, and all can be measured or predicted in different ways. Although earthquakes and volcanoes are similar to each other, the two are still very comparable. A few of these similarities and differences include the cause of their occurrence, and how their occurrence impacts the environment.
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.
Have you ever been in a deadly earthquake? In 2013, the people of the Philippines experienced one. A 7.1 magnitude earthquake that affected around 43,000 people with 2,211 aftershocks that ended up killing a total of 185 people. Earthquakes are known as one of the most dangerous natural disasters. This horrific event happened October 15th, 2013. The earthquake hit hardest in the central Philippines, it was reported to be caused by the East Bohol Fault. People act in a response to a natural disaster by gathering resources, spreading word, and government aid.
This land assessment will recommend which community would be the best and safest place to live. Hazard City is made of up of five communities. Riverside is a mobile home community with most of the current homes located upon the sandy soils of the floodplain. Downtown consists nearly of one-to-three story buildings constructed of unreinforced brick and masonry. Ralston contains mostly large wood-framed, single family, Victorian-style homes built in the late 1800's. Hickory Estates contains of single-family, multi-story, wood-frame homes that were all built before World War II. Walnut Heights is a planned, gated residential community of single-family homes founded in 1981.
Earthquakes are caused when two blocks of earth suddenly slip past one another. The surface where the two blocks slip is called the fault. The earthquake starts below the earth’s surface at the hypocenter, and the location above the hypocenter is called the epicenter. Earthquakes can have foreshocks which is a smaller earthquake that happens before the larger quake. Earthquake can also
The most common cause of earthquakes is movement along faults. Earth’s crust is divided into tectonic plates, which grind past each other at fault boundaries. As tectonic plates move,
The energy originates from the hypocenter which is usually deep below the earth’s surface. The epicenter is exactly above the hypocenter. There are three types of waves which occur during an earthquake: compressional (P) waves, seismology (S) waves, and surface waves. There are four different types of fault lines which include: normal faulting, reverse faulting, and strike slip, oblique slip. Earthquakes have different consequences on different landscapes. Some earthquakes cause surface faulting which appears as a crack on the ground. It is possible for ground failure to occur which can generate liquefaction, lateral spreads, landslides, etcetera. Depending on the location of the earthquake, it can cause secondary threats such as tsunami, building fires, dam failures and other disastrous
Earthquakes are a sudden and violent shaking of the ground, sometimes causing great destruction, as a result of movements within the earth's crust. You can’t know when or how much the damage of the shock will be. I think that predicting earthquakes is a bad science because of how often and not they happen.
Helens exploded but what is an earthquake? Earthquakes are the earth-shaking vigorously because the earth crust is moving which is caused by the tectonic plates. The lithosphere is made up of the earth crust and the uppermost mantle which is broken into the tectonic plate, that slowly move over a mechanically weaker layer, the asthenosphere, which is part of the upper mantle. These plates have different boundaries in the world, where two different plates meet, all of the boundaries are shown in this map. These plates are pushed together from interior earth, the plate's often collided near the boundaries causing volcanic eruption, earthquakes and tsunamis. There are different types of collision that cause different effects on our earth. Convergent boundaries- when two plates slide up against each other and one may be subducting under another . Divergent boundaries- are two plates pulling away from each other, which can create new
There are about 15 tectonic or lithospheric plates on the earth’s surface, which have different size and move relative to one another over the earth’s surface. As a result, the crust around the boundaries of the plates bends or deforms, accumulating strong energy during these processes (Briggs, 2006). When the strain becomes too great to bear by the crust in the future, the crust will snap or slip causing earthquakes. As a type of geophysical hazard, earthquakes are inevitable for mankind living on the Earth, which destroy tremendous buildings, and take human life away. However, influences of earthquakes can be reduced if people take appropriate actions. This report provide an overview of two earthquakes that happened in
Earthquakes are an example of seismic activity created by plate boundaries. They can be caused by the subduction of oceanic crust which is densest at 2.9 g/cm3 under continental crust which weighs 2.7g/m3 at destructive plate boundaries. Earthquakes can also occur along conservative plate boundaries such as that shared by the Pacific and North American plates which move at 5-9 cm/year and 2-3 cm/year respectively causing the 1994 Los Angeles earthquake along the San Andreas fault alongside which lies the San Gregorio and Hayward faults. Earthquakes have different impacts dependent on the location of their foci, the point at which they originate from underground, the presence of land in the surrounding areas, but also the human factors such
Most of the worst earthquakes are associated with changes in the shape of the Earth's outermost shell, particularly the crust. These so called tectonic earthquakes are generated by the rapid release of strain energy that is stored within the rocks of the crust, which on continents is about 22 miles thick. A small proportion of earthquakes are associated with human activity. Dynamite or atomic explosions, for example, can sometimes cause mild quakes. The injection of liquid wastes deep into the Earth and the pressures
Earthquakes, they destroy, kill, and demolish. Earthquakes have been recorded for a long time. Records have been and always will continue to be recorded for centuries. Earthquakes are recorded by instruments called seismographs. The recording that they make is called a seismogram. These drum sized tubes of decades of earthquakes are more than likely stored in science labs. Earthquakes however, are the releasing of stored energy from plate tectonics. Plate tectonics is the study of 7 massive pieces of rock called continents. They build up energy from pressurized rock that is pushed against each other. When it releases it is like ripples in the water but those ripples are about 10 times the size, plus the waves can go through the earth and hit outer parts of the earth on the other side. Yet, because of different types of materials, the waves will never pass straight through the earth. The thing that powers plate tectonics is convection currents.
“An earthquake is what happens when two blocks of the earth suddenly slip past one another.” (Wald). The earthquake is one of the most dangerous events than can happen in the world, with the past of the time, the scientists are trying to create an artifact that could help to detect when an earthquake happen and what could be the magnitude and effects that could occur. In this time the technology has to many benefits but by the moment there isn’t an artifact or item that could detected or at least prevent the population about this dangerous event.
Earthquakes occur as a result of the abrupt release of energy in the Earth’s crust that creates a series of waves known as seismic waves. Earth quakes greatly affect people whether they are living in economically disadvantaged countries or in economically developed countries. However, the way each of them responds to the hazard is different.