Chapter 8

1. Chapter 8 Earthquakes and Earth’s Interior

2. What is an earthquake? • An earthquake is the vibration of Earth produced by the rapid release of energy. • Example: 1906 San Francisco Earthquake. • Earthquakes usually occur when rocks under stress suddenly shift along a fault. • Stress: A force that can change the size and shape of rocks. • Fault: Fractures in the Earth where movement occurred. • The area along a fault where slippage first occurs is called the focus of an earthquake. • The point on the earth’s surface directly above the focus is called the epicenter. • When an earthquake occurs, seismic waves radiate outward in all directions from the focus.

3. What is an earthquake?

4. A fault is • A place on Earth where earthquakes cannot occur. • A fracture in the Earth where movement has occurred. • The place on Earth’s surface where structures move during an earthquake. • Another name for an earthquake.

5. An earthquake’s epicenter is • The place on the surface directly above the focus. • A spot halfway between the focus and the surface. • The spot below the focus. • Any spot along the nearest fault.

6. When an earthquake occurs, energy radiates in all directions from its source, which is called the • Epicenter. • Focus. • Fault. • Seismic Center.

7. Earthquakes are usually associated with • Violent weather. • Faults. • Large cities. • The east coast of North America.

8. What is an earthquake? • Geologists explain many earthquakes by the elastic rebound hypothesis. • This hypothesis states that when the stress in rocks becomes to great, they fracture, separate, and spring back to their original shape, or rebound. • As they fracture and slip into new positions, rocks along a fault release energy in the form of vibrations called seismic waves.

9. What is an earthquake?

10. Which of the following causes earthquakes? • Elastic Rebound. • Richter Scale. • Release of Heat. • Frictional Heating.

11. The hypothesis that explains the release of energy during an earthquake is called the • Richter Hypothesis. • Moment Magnitude Hypothesis. • Vibration Hypothesis. • Elastic Rebound Hypothesis.

12. Most earthquakes are produced by the rapid release of which kind of energy stored in rock subjected to great forces? • Chemical • Thermal • Elastic • Mechanical

13. During an earthquake, the ground surface • Moves only in a horizontal direction. • Moves only in a vertical direction. • Can move in any direction. • Does not move.

14. What is an earthquake? • This release of energy often increases the stress in other rocks along the fault, causing them to fracture and spring back. • This reaction is the reason that major earthquakes are usually followed by a series of smaller tremors called aftershocks. • These aftershocks are usually much weaker than the main earthquake, but they can sometimes destroy structures weakened by the main quake.

15. What is an earthquake? • Small earthquakes called foreshocks often come before a major earthquake. • These can happen days or even years before the major quake. • The San Andreas Fault is the most studied fault system in the world. • Studies have shown that displacement has occurred along segments that are 100 to 200-kilometers long (63 to 125-miles). • Some segments move slowly, which is known as fault creep. • Other segments regularly slip and produce small earthquakes. • Some segments stay locked and store elastic energy for hundreds of years before they break and cause great earthquakes.

16. The adjustments of materials that follow a major earthquake often generate smaller earthquakes called • Foreshocks. • Surface waves. • Aftershocks. • Body waves.

17. Major earthquakes are sometimes preceded by smaller earthquakes called • Aftershocks. • Focus shocks. • Surface waves. • Foreshocks.

18. The slow continuous movement that occurs along some fault zones is referred to as • Slip. • Creep. • Fracture. • A foreshock.

19. Small foreshocks that precede a major earthquake occur • From the day of the major earthquake to days after the earthquake. • Only on the day of the major earthquake. • Days or years before the major earthquake. • Only on the day before the major earthquake.

20. Measuring earthquakes • The study of earthquake waves, or seismology dates back almost 2000 years. • The first attempts to discover the direction of earthquakes were made by the Chinese. • Seismic waves can be detected and recorded by using an instrument called a seismograph. • Seismos = shake; graph = write. • A seismograph consists of three separate sensing devices. • One device records the vertical motion of the ground. • The other two record horizontal motion in the east-west and north-south directions.

21. Measuring earthquakes

22. Measuring earthquakes • Modern seismographs amplify and electronically record ground motion, producing a trace, called a seismogram. • Seismos = shake; gram = what is written.

23. The trace that records an earthquake from seismic instruments is called a • Seismograph. • Seismogram. • Richtergram. • Magnitude.

24. What instrument records earthquake waves? • Seismogram • Seismograph • Richter scale • Barometer

25. Measuring earthquakes • Scientists have determined that earthquakes generally produce three major types of seismic waves. • Primary Waves (P-Waves). • Secondary Waves (S-Waves). • Surface Waves. • Each type of waves travels at a different speed and causes different movements in the earth’s crust.

26. Measuring earthquakes • Primary Waves (P-Waves): • Move the fastest and are therefore the first to be recorded by a seismograph. • Travel 1.7 times faster than S-waves. • P-waves moving through the earth can travel through solids and liquids. • The more rigid the material, the faster the P-waves travel through it. • P-waves are compression waves (push-pull waves), meaning that they cause rock particles to move together and apart along the direction of the waves.

27. Measuring earthquakes • Secondary Waves (S-Waves): • Are the second waves to be detected on a seismograph. • Unlike P-waves, S-waves can only travel through solid material. • S-waves cannot be detected on the side of the earth that is opposite the earthquake’s epicenter. • S-waves are shear waves, meaning that they cause rock particles to move at right angles to the direction in which the waves are traveling.

28. Measuring earthquakes • When P and S reach the earth’s surface, their energy can be converted into a third type of seismic wave. • Surface Waves: • Are the slowest-moving waves and therefore are the last to be recorded on the seismograph. • Travel at about 90% of the speed of the S-waves. • Surface waves, which cause the surface to rise and fall, are particularly destructive when traveling through loose earth. • Most destructive wave.

29. Measuring earthquakes

30. Measuring earthquakes • To determine how far an earthquake is from a given seismograph, scientists plot the difference between arrival times of the two waves. • Then they consult a standard graph that translates the difference in arrival times into distance from the epicenter. • For scientists to locate the epicenter, they need information from at least three seismograph stations at different locations.

31. Measuring earthquakes

32. Which seismic waves travel most rapidly? • P waves • S waves • Surface waves • Tsunamis

33. Which one of the following statements is true about P waves? • They travel only through solids. • They travel faster than S waves. • They are the most destructive type of seismic wave. • They cannot be recorded on a seismograph.

34. Which seismic waves compress and expand in the direction the waves travel? • P waves • S waves • Surface waves • Transverse waves

35. A seismogram shows that P waves travel • At the same speed as surface waves. • More slowly than S waves. • At the same speed as S waves. • Faster than S waves.

36. Which of the following is not a characteristic of S waves? • They travel more slowly than P waves. • They temporarily change the volume of material by compression and expansion. • They shake particles at right angles to the direction the waves travel. • They cannot be transmitted through water or air.

37. Overall, which seismic waves are the most destructive? • P waves • S waves • Compression waves • Surface waves

38. What is the minimum number of seismic stations that is needed to determine the location of an earthquake’s epicenter? • 2 • 1 • 4 • 3

39. A travel-time graph can be used to find the • Focus of an earthquake. • Strength of an earthquake. • Damage caused by an earthquake. • Distance to the epicenter of an earthquake.

40. The distance between a seismic station and the earthquake epicenter is determined from the • Calculation of the earthquake magnitude. • Intensity of the earthquake. • Arrival times of P and S waves. • Measurement of the amplitude of the surface wave.

41. Measuring earthquakes • About 95% of the major earthquakes occur in a few narrow zones. • Circum-Pacific Belt, Mediterranean-Asian Belt, and the Mid-Ocean Ridges. • Most of the earthquakes occur around the outer edge of the Pacific Ocean.

42. Measuring earthquakes

43. Measuring earthquakes • Historically, scientists have used two different types of measurements to describe the size of an earthquake – intensity and magnitude. • Intensity is a measure of the amount of earthquake shaking at a given location based on the amount of damage. • Magnitudes are a measure of the size of seismic waves or the amount of energy released at the source of the earthquake. • Intensity is not a quantitative measurement because it is based on uncertain personal damage estimates. • Magnitude is a quantitative measurement.

44. An earthquake’s magnitude is a measure of the • Size of seismic waves it produces. • Amount of shaking it produces. • Number of surface waves it produces. • Damage it causes.

45. The amount of shaking produced by an earthquake at a given location is called the • Intensity. • Magnitude. • Epicenter. • Richter magnitude.

46. Measuring earthquakes • Seismologists express magnitude using a magnitude scale, such as the Richter Scale or the Moment Magnitude Scale. • The Richter Scale is based on the amplitude of the largest seismic wave recorded on the seismogram. • The Richter scale is a power of 10 scale. • Example: The amount of ground shaking for a 5.0 earthquake is 10 times greater than the shaking produced by an earthquake of 4.0 on the Richter scale. • The Richter Scale is only useful for small, shallow earthquakes within about 500-kilometers of the epicenter. • Most of the earthquake measurements you hear on news reports use the Richter Scale.

47. Measuring earthquakes • The Moment Magnitude is derived from the amount of displacement that occurs along a fault zone. • It is calculated using several factors: • Average amount of movement along the fault. • The area of the surface break. • The strength of the broken rock. • Equation form: (surface area of fault) × (average displacement along fault) × (rigidity of rock) • Moment magnitude is the most widely used measurement for earthquakes because it is the only magnitude scale that estimates the energy released by earthquakes.

48. Measuring earthquakes

49. Measuring earthquakes

50. The scale most widely used by scientists for measuring earthquakes is the • Seismic scale. • Richter scale. • Moment magnitude scale. • Epicenter magnitude scale.