Earthquake

I INTRODUCTION
Earthquake, shaking of the Earth’s surface caused by
rapid movement of the Earth’s rocky outer layer.
Earthquakes occur when energy stored within the Earth,
usually in the form of strain in rocks, suddenly releases.
This energy is transmitted to the surface of the Earth by
earthquake waves. The study of earthquakes and the
waves they create is called seismology (from the Greek
seismos, “to shake”). Scientists who study earthquakes are
called seismologists.
The destruction an earthquake causes depends on its
magnitude and duration, or the amount of shaking that
occurs. A structure’s design and the materials used in its
construction also affect the amount of damage the
structure incurs. Earthquakes vary from small,
imperceptible shaking to large shocks felt over thousands
of kilometers. Earthquakes can deform the ground, make
buildings and other structures collapse, and create
tsunamis (large sea waves). Lives may be lost in the
resulting destruction.
Earthquakes, or seismic tremors, occur at a rate of several
hundred per day around the world. A worldwide network
of seismographs (machines that record movements of the
Earth) detects about 1 million small earthquakes per year.
Very large earthquakes, such as the 1964 Alaskan
earthquake, which caused millions of dollars in damage,
occur worldwide once every few years. Moderate
earthquakes, such as the 1989 tremor in Loma Prieta,
California, and the 1995 tremor in Kōbe, Japan, occur
about 20 times a year. Moderate earthquakes also cause
millions of dollars in damage and can harm many people.
In the last 500 years, several million people have been
killed by earthquakes around the world, including over
240,000 in the 1976 T’ang-Shan, China, earthquake.
Worldwide, earthquakes have also caused severe property
and structural damage. Adequate precautions, such as
education, emergency planning, and constructing
stronger, more flexible, safely designed structures, can
limit the loss of life and decrease the damage caused by
earthquakes.
II ANATOMY OF AN EARTHQUAKE
Seismologists examine the parts of an earthquake, such as
what happens to the Earth’s surface during an earthquake,
how the energy of an earthquake moves from inside the
Earth to the surface, how this energy causes damage, and
the slip of the fault that causes the earthquake. Faults are
cracks in Earth’s crust where rocks on either side of the
crack have moved. By studying the different parts and
actions of earthquakes, seismologists learn more about
their effects and how to predict and prepare for their
ground shaking in order to reduce damage.
A Focus and Epicenter
The point within the Earth along the rupturing geological
fault where an earthquake originates is called the focus, or
hypocenter. The point on the Earth’s surface directly
above the focus is called the epicenter. Earthquake waves
begin to radiate out from the focus and subsequently form
along the fault rupture. If the focus is near the surface—
between 0 and 70 km (0 and 40 mi) deep—shallow-focus
earthquakes are produced. If it is intermediate or deep
below the crust—between 70 and 700 km (40 and 400 mi)
deep—a deep-focus earthquake will be produced.
Shallow-focus earthquakes tend to be larger, and therefore
more damaging, earthquakes. This is because they are
closer to the surface where the rocks are stronger and
build up more strain.
Seismologists know from observations that most
earthquakes originate as shallow-focus earthquakes and
most of them occur near plate boundaries—areas where
the Earth’s crustal plates move against each other (see
Plate Tectonics). Other earthquakes, including deep-focus
earthquakes, can originate in subduction zones, where one
tectonic plate subducts, or moves under another plate. See
also Geology; Earth.
B Faults
Stress in the Earth’s crust creates faults, resulting in
earthquakes. The properties of an earthquake depend
strongly on the type of fault slip, or movement along the
fault, that causes the earthquake. Geologists categorize
faults according to the direction of the fault slip. The
surface between the two sides of a fault lies in a plane,
and the direction of the plane is usually not vertical; rather
it dips at an angle into the Earth. When the rock hanging
over the dipping fault plane slips downward into the
ground, the fault is called a normal fault. When the
hanging wall slips upward in relation to the footwall, the
fault is called a reverse fault. Both normal and reverse
faults produce vertical displacements, or the upward
movement of one side of the fault above the other side,
that appear at the surface as fault scarps. Strike-slip faults
are another type of fault that produce horizontal
displacements, or the side by side sliding movement of
the fault, such as seen along the San Andreas fault in
California. Strike-slip faults are usually found along
boundaries between two plates that are sliding past each
other.
C Waves
The sudden movement of rocks along a fault causes
vibrations that transmit energy through the Earth in the
form of waves. Waves that travel in the rocks below the
surface of the Earth are called body waves, and there are
two types of body waves: primary, or P, waves, and
secondary, or S, waves. The S waves, also known as
shearing waves, move the ground back and forth.
Earthquakes also contain surface waves that travel out
from the epicenter along the surface of the Earth. Two
types of these surface waves occur: Rayleigh waves,
named after British physicist Lord Rayleigh, and Love
waves, named after British geophysicist A. E. H. Love.
Surface waves also cause damage to structures, as they
shake the ground underneath the foundations of buildings
and other structures.
Body waves, or P and S waves, radiate out from the
rupturing fault starting at the focus of the earthquake. P
waves are compression waves because the rocky material
in their path moves back and forth in the same direction
as the wave travels alternately compressing and
expanding the rock. P waves are the fastest seismic
waves; they travel in strong rock at about 6 to 7 km (about
4 mi) per second. P waves are followed by S waves,
which shear, or twist, rather than compress the rock they
travel through. S waves travel at about 3.5 km (about 2
mi) per second. S waves cause rocky material to move
either side to side or up and down perpendicular to the
direction the waves are traveling, thus shearing the rocks.
Both P and S waves help seismologists to locate the focus
and epicenter of an earthquake. As P and S waves move
through the interior of the Earth, they are reflected and
refracted, or bent, just as light waves are reflected and
bent by glass. Seismologists examine this bending to
determine where the earthquake originated.
On the surface of the Earth, Rayleigh waves cause rock
particles to move forward, up, backward, and down in a
path that contains the direction of the wave travel. This
circular movement is somewhat like a piece of seaweed
caught in an ocean wave, rolling in a circular path onto a
beach. The second type of surface wave, the Love wave,
causes rock to move horizontally, or side to side at right
angles to the direction of the traveling wave, with no
vertical displacements. Rayleigh and Love waves always
travel slower than P waves and usually travel slower than
S waves.
III CAUSES
Most earthquakes are caused by the sudden slip along
geologic faults. The faults slip because of movement of
the Earth’s tectonic plates. This concept is called the
elastic rebound theory. The rocky tectonic plates move
very slowly, floating on top of a weaker rocky layer. As
the plates collide with each other or slide past each other,
pressure builds up within the rocky crust. Earthquakes
occur when pressure within the crust increases slowly
over hundreds of years and finally exceeds the strength of
the rocks. Earthquakes also occur when human activities,
such as the filling of reservoirs, increase stress in the
Earth’s crust.
A Elastic Rebound Theory
In 1911 American seismologist Harry Fielding Reid
studied the effects of the April 1906 California
earthquake. He proposed the elastic rebound theory to
explain the generation of certain earthquakes that
scientists now know occur in tectonic areas, usually near
plate boundaries. This theory states that during an
earthquake, the rocks under strain suddenly break,
creating a fracture along a fault. When a fault slips,
movement in the crustal rock causes vibrations. The slip
changes the local strain out into the surrounding rock. The
change in strain leads to aftershocks (smaller earthquakes
that occur after the initial earthquake), which are
produced by further slips of the main fault or adjacent
faults in the strained region. The slip begins at the focus
and travels along the plane of the fault, radiating waves
out along the rupture surface. On each side of the fault,
the rock shifts in opposite directions. The fault rupture
travels in irregular steps along the fault; these sudden
stops and starts of the moving rupture give rise to the
vibrations that propagate as seismic waves. After the
earthquake, strain begins to build again until it is greater
than the forces holding the rocks together, then the fault
snaps again and causes another earthquake.
B Human Activities
Fault rupture is not the only cause of earthquakes; human
activities can also be the direct or indirect cause of
significant earthquakes. Injecting fluid into deep wells for
waste disposal, filling reservoirs with water, and firing
underground nuclear test blasts can, in limited
circumstances, lead to earthquakes. These activities
increase the strain within the rock near the location of the
activity so that rock slips and slides along pre-existing
faults more easily. While earthquakes caused by human
activities may be harmful, they can also provide useful
information. Prior to the Nuclear Test Ban treaty,
scientists were able to analyze the travel and arrival times
of P waves from known earthquakes caused by
underground nuclear test blasts. Scientists used this
information to study earthquake waves and determine the
interior structure of the Earth.
Scientists have determined that as water level in a
reservoir increases, water pressure in pores inside the
rocks along local faults also increases. The increased
pressure may cause the rocks to slip, generating
earthquakes. Beginning in 1935, the first detailed
evidence of reservoir-induced earthquakes came from the
filling of Lake Mead behind Hoover Dam on the Nevada-
Arizona state border. Earthquakes were rare in the area
prior to construction of the dam, but seismographs
registered at least 600 shallow-focus earthquakes between
1936 and 1946. Most reservoirs, however, do not cause
earthquakes.
IV DISTRIBUTION
Seismologists have been monitoring the frequency and
locations of earthquakes for most of the 20th century.
Seismologists generally classify naturally occurring
earthquakes into one of two categories: interplate and
intraplate. Interplate earthquakes are the most common;
they occur primarily along plate boundaries. Intraplate
earthquakes occur where the crust is fracturing within a
plate. Both interplate and intraplate earthquakes may be
caused by tectonic or volcanic forces.
A Tectonic Earthquakes
Tectonic earthquakes are caused by the sudden release of
energy stored within the rocks along a fault. The released
energy is produced by the strain on the rocks due to
movement within the Earth, called tectonic deformation.
The effect is like the sudden breaking and snapping back
of a stretched elastic band.
B Volcanic Earthquakes
Volcanic earthquakes occur near active volcanoes but
have the same fault slip mechanism as tectonic
earthquakes. Volcanic earthquakes are caused by the
upward movement of magma under the volcano, which
strains the rock locally and leads to an earthquake. As the
fluid magma rises to the surface of the volcano, it moves
and fractures rock masses and causes continuous tremors
that can last up to several hours or days. Volcanic
earthquakes occur in areas that are associated with
volcanic eruptions, such as in the Cascade Mountain
Range of the Pacific Northwest, Japan, Iceland, and at
isolated hot spots such as Hawaii.
V LOCATIONS
Seismologists use global networks of seismographic
stations to accurately map the focuses of earthquakes
around the world. After studying the worldwide
distribution of earthquakes, the pattern of earthquake
types, and the movement of the Earth’s rocky crust,
scientists proposed that plate tectonics, or the shifting of
the plates as they move over another weaker rocky layer,
was the main underlying cause of earthquakes. The theory
of plate tectonics arose from several previous geologic
theories and discoveries. Scientists now use the plate
tectonics theory to describe the movement of the Earth’s
plates and how this movement causes earthquakes. They
also use the knowledge of plate tectonics to explain the
locations of earthquakes, mountain formation, and deep
ocean trenches, and to predict which areas will be
damaged the most by earthquakes. It is clear that major
earthquakes occur most frequently in areas with features
that are found at plate boundaries: high mountain ranges
and deep ocean trenches. Earthquakes within plates, or
intraplate tremors, are rare compared with the thousands
of earthquakes that occur at plate boundaries each year,
but they can be very large and damaging.
Earthquakes that occur in the area surrounding the Pacific
Ocean, at the edges of the Pacific plate, are responsible
for an average of 80 percent of the energy released in
earthquakes worldwide. Japan is shaken by more than
1,000 tremors greater than 3.5 in magnitude each year.
The western coasts of North and South America are very
also active earthquake zones, with several thousand small
to moderate earthquakes each year.
Intraplate earthquakes are less frequent than plate
boundary earthquakes, but they are still caused by the
internal fracturing of rock masses. The New Madrid,
Missouri, earthquakes of 1811 and 1812 were extreme
examples of intraplate seismic events. Scientists estimate
that the three main earthquakes of this series were about
magnitude 8.0 and that there were at least 1,500
aftershocks.
VI EFFECTS
Ground shaking leads to landslides and other soil
movement. These are the main damage-causing events
that occur during an earthquake. Primary effects that can
accompany an earthquake include property damage, loss
of lives, fire, and tsunami waves. Secondary effects, such
as economic loss, disease, and lack of food and clean
water, also occur after a large earthquake.
A Ground Shaking and Landslides
Earthquake waves make the ground move, shaking
buildings and causing poorly designed or weak structures
to partially or totally collapse. The ground shaking
weakens soils and foundation materials under structures
and causes dramatic changes in fine-grained soils. During
an earthquake, water-saturated sandy soil becomes like
liquid mud, an effect called liquefaction. Liquefaction
causes damage as the foundation soil beneath structures
and buildings weakens. Shaking may also dislodge large
earth and rock masses, producing dangerous landslides,
mudslides, and rock avalanches that may lead to loss of
lives or further property damage.
B Fire
Another post-earthquake threat is fire, such as the fires
that happened in San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake
and after the devastating 1923 Tokyo earthquake. In the
1923 earthquake, about 130,000 lives were lost in Tokyo,
Yokohama, and other cities, many in firestorms fanned by
high winds. The amount of damage caused by post-
earthquake fire depends on the types of building materials
used, whether water lines are intact, and whether natural
gas mains have been broken. Ruptured gas mains may
lead to numerous fires, and fire fighting cannot be
effective if the water mains are not intact to transport
water to the fires. Fires can be significantly reduced with
pre-earthquake planning, fire-resistant building materials,
enforced fire codes, and public fire drills.
C Tsunami Waves and Flooding
Along the coasts, sea waves called tsunamis that
accompany some large earthquakes centered under the
ocean can cause more death and damage than ground
shaking. Tsunamis are usually made up of several oceanic
waves that travel out from the slipped fault and arrive one
after the other on shore. They can strike without warning,
often in places very distant from the epicenter of the
earthquake. Tsunami waves are sometimes inaccurately
referred to as tidal waves, but tidal forces do not cause
them. Rather, tsunamis occur when a major fault under
the ocean floor suddenly slips. The displaced rock pushes
water above it like a giant paddle, producing powerful
water waves at the ocean surface. The ocean waves spread
out from the vicinity of the earthquake source and move
across the ocean until they reach the coastline, where their
height increases as they reach the continental shelf, the
part of the Earth’s crust that slopes, or rises, from the
ocean floor up to the land. Tsunamis wash ashore with
often disastrous effects such as severe flooding, loss of
lives due to drowning, and damage to property.
Earthquakes can also cause water in lakes and reservoirs
to oscillate, or slosh back and forth. The water oscillations
are called seiches (pronounced saysh). Seiches can cause
retaining walls and dams to collapse and lead to flooding
and damage downstream.
D Disease
Catastrophic earthquakes can create a risk of widespread
disease outbreaks, especially in underdeveloped countries.
Damage to water supply lines, sewage lines, and hospital
facilities as well as lack of housing may lead to conditions
that contribute to the spread of contagious diseases, such
as influenza (the flu) and other viral infections. In some
instances, lack of food supplies, clean water, and heating
can create serious health problems as well.
VII REDUCING DAMAGE
Earthquakes cannot be prevented, but the damage they
cause can be greatly reduced with communication
strategies, proper structural design, emergency
preparedness planning, education, and safer building
standards. In response to the tragic loss of life and great
cost of rebuilding after past earthquakes, many countries
have established earthquake safety and regulatory
agencies. These agencies require codes for engineers to
use in order to regulate development and construction.
Buildings built according to these codes survive
earthquakes better and ensure that earthquake risk is
reduced.
Tsunami early warning systems can prevent some damage
because tsunami waves travel at a very slow speed.
Seismologists immediately send out a warning when
evidence of a large undersea earthquake appears on
seismographs. Tsunami waves travel slower than seismic
P and S waves—in the open ocean, they move about ten
times slower than the speed of seismic waves in the rocks
below. This gives seismologists time to issue tsunami
alerts so that people at risk can evacuate the coastal area
as a preventative measure to reduce related injuries or
deaths. Scientists radio or telephone the information to the
Tsunami Warning Center in Honolulu and other stations.
Engineers minimize earthquake damage to buildings by
using flexible, reinforced materials that can withstand
shaking in buildings. Since the 1960s, scientists and
engineers have greatly improved earthquake-resistant
designs for buildings that are compatible with modern
architecture and building materials. They use computer
models to predict the response of the building to ground
shaking patterns and compare these patterns to actual
seismic events, such as in the 1994 Northridge,
California, earthquake and the 1995 Kōbe, Japan,
earthquake. They also analyze computer models of the
motions of buildings in the most hazardous earthquake
zones to predict possible damage and to suggest what
reinforcement is needed. See also Engineering: Civil
Engineering.
A Structural Design
Geologists and engineers use risk assessment maps, such
as geologic hazard and seismic hazard zoning maps, to
understand where faults are located and how to build near
them safely. Engineers use geologic hazard maps to
predict the average ground motions in a particular area
and apply these predicted motions during engineering
design phases of major construction projects. Engineers
also use risk assessment maps to avoid building on major
faults or to make sure that proper earthquake bracing is
added to buildings constructed in zones that are prone to
strong tremors. They can also use risk assessment maps to
aid in the retrofit, or reinforcement, of older structures.
In urban areas of the world, the seismic risk is greater in
nonreinforced buildings made of brick, stone, or concrete
blocks because they cannot resist the horizontal forces
produced by large seismic waves. Fortunately, single-
family timber-frame homes built under modern
construction codes resist strong earthquake shaking very
well. Such houses have laterally braced frames bolted to
their foundations to prevent separation. Although they
may suffer some damage, they are unlikely to collapse
because the strength of the strongly jointed timber-frame
can easily support the light loads of the roof and the upper
stories even in the event of strong vertical and horizontal
ground motions.
B Emergency Preparedness Plans
Earthquake education and preparedness plans can help
significantly reduce death and injury caused by
earthquakes. People can take several preventative
measures within their homes and at the office to reduce
risk. Supports and bracing for shelves reduce the
likelihood of items falling and potentially causing harm.
Maintaining an earthquake survival kit in the home and at
the office is also an important part of being prepared.
In the home, earthquake preparedness includes
maintaining an earthquake kit and making sure that the
house is structurally stable. The local chapter of the
American Red Cross is a good source of information for
how to assemble an earthquake kit. During an earthquake,
people indoors should protect themselves from falling
objects and flying glass by taking refuge under a heavy
table. After an earthquake, people should move outside of
buildings, assemble in open spaces, and prepare
themselves for aftershocks. They should also listen for
emergency bulletins on the radio, stay out of severely
damaged buildings, and avoid coastal areas in the event of
a tsunami.
In many countries, government emergency agencies have
developed extensive earthquake response plans. In some
earthquake hazardous regions, such as California, Japan,
and Mexico City, modern strong motion seismographs in
urban areas are now linked to a central office. Within a
few minutes of an earthquake, the magnitude can be
determined, the epicenter mapped, and intensity of
shaking information can be distributed via radio to aid in
response efforts.
VIII STUDYING EARTHQUAKES
Seismologists measure earthquakes to learn more about
them and to use them for geological discovery. They
measure the pattern of an earthquake with a machine
called a seismograph. Using multiple seismographs
around the world, they can accurately locate the epicenter
of the earthquake, as well as determine its magnitude, or
size, and fault slip properties.
A Measuring Earthquakes
An analog seismograph consists of a base that is anchored
into the ground so that it moves with the ground during an
earthquake, and a spring or wire that suspends a weight,
which remains stationary during an earthquake. In older
models, the base includes a rotating roll of paper, and the
stationary weight is attached to a stylus, or writing utensil,
that rests on the roll of paper. During the passage of a
seismic wave, the stationary weight and stylus record the
motion of the jostling base and attached roll of paper. The
stylus records the information of the shaking seismograph
onto the paper as a seismogram. Scientists also use digital
seismographs, computerized seismic monitoring systems
that record seismic events. Digital seismographs use
rewriteable, or multiple-use, disks to record data. They
usually incorporate a clock to accurately record seismic
arrival times, a printer to print out digital seismograms of
the information recorded, and a power supply. Some
digital seismographs are portable; seismologists can
transport these devices with them to study aftershocks of
a catastrophic earthquake when the networks upon which
seismic monitoring stations depend have been damaged.
There are more than 1,000 seismograph stations in the
world. One way that seismologists measure the size of an
earthquake is by measuring the earthquake’s seismic
magnitude, or the amplitude of ground shaking that
occurs. Seismologists compare the measurements taken at
various stations to identify the earthquake’s epicenter and
determine the magnitude of the earthquake. This
information is important in order to determine whether the
earthquake occurred on land or in the ocean. It also helps
people prepare for resulting damage or hazards such as
tsunamis. When readings from a number of observatories
around the world are available, the integrated system
allows for rapid location of the epicenter. At least three
stations are required in order to triangulate, or calculate,
the epicenter. Seismologists find the epicenter by
comparing the arrival times of seismic waves at the
stations, thus determining the distance the waves have
traveled. Seismologists then apply travel-time charts to
determine the epicenter. With the present number of
worldwide seismographic stations, many now providing
digital signals by satellite, distant earthquakes can be
located within about 10 km (6 mi) of the epicenter and
about 10 to 20 km (6 to 12 mi) in focal depth. Special
regional networks of seismographs can locate the local
epicenters within a few kilometers.

All magnitude scales give relative numbers that have no

physical units. The first widely used seismic magnitude
scale was developed by the American seismologist
Charles Richter in 1935. The Richter scale measures the
amplitude, or height, of seismic surface waves. The scale
is logarithmic, so that each successive unit of magnitude
measure represents a tenfold increase in amplitude of the
seismogram patterns. This is because ground
displacement of earthquake waves can range from less
than a millimeter to many meters. Richter adjusted for this
huge range in measurements by taking the logarithm of
the recorded wave heights. So, a magnitude 5 Richter
measurement is ten times greater than a magnitude 4;
while it is 10 x 10, or 100 times greater than a magnitude
3 measurement.
Today, seismologists prefer to use a different kind of
magnitude scale, called the moment magnitude scale, to
measure earthquakes. Seismologists calculate moment
magnitude by measuring the seismic moment of an
earthquake, or the earthquake’s strength based on a
calculation of the area and the amount of displacement in
the slip. The moment magnitude is obtained by
multiplying these two measurements. It is more reliable
for earthquakes that measure above magnitude 7 on other
scales that refer only to part of the seismic waves,
whereas the moment magnitude scale measures the total
size. The moment magnitude of the 1906 San Francisco
earthquake was 7.6; the Alaskan earthquake of 1964,
about 9.0; and the 1995 Kōbe, Japan, earthquake was a
7.0 moment magnitude; in comparison, the Richter
magnitudes were 8.3, 9.2, and 6.8, respectively for these
tremors.
Earthquake size can be measured by seismic intensity as
well, a measure of the effects of an earthquake. Before the
advent of seismographs, people could only judge the size
of an earthquake by its effects on humans or on geological
or human-made structures. Such observations are the
basis of earthquake intensity scales first set up in 1873 by
Italian seismologist M. S. Rossi and Swiss scientist F. A.
Forel. These scales were later superseded by the Mercalli
scale, created in 1902 by Italian seismologist Giuseppe
Mercalli. In 1931 American seismologists H. O. Wood
and Frank Neumann adapted the standards set up by
Giuseppe Mercalli to California conditions and created
the Modified Mercalli scale. Many seismologists around
the world still use the Modified Mercalli scale to measure
the size of an earthquake based on its effects. The
Modified Mercalli scale rates the ground shaking by a
general description of human reactions to the shaking and
of structural damage that occur during a tremor. This
information is gathered from local reports, damage to
specific structures, landslides, and peoples’ descriptions
of the damage.
B Predicting Earthquakes
Seismologists try to predict how likely it is that an
earthquake will occur, with a specified time, place, and
size. Earthquake prediction also includes calculating how
a strong ground motion will affect a certain area if an
earthquake does occur. Scientists can use the growing
catalogue of recorded earthquakes to estimate when and
where strong seismic motions may occur. They map past
earthquakes to help determine expected rates of repetition.
Seismologists can also measure movement along major
faults using global positioning satellites (GPS) to track the
relative movement of the rocky crust of a few centimeters
each year along faults. This information may help predict
earthquakes. Even with precise instrumental measurement
of past earthquakes, however, conclusions about future
tremors always involve uncertainty. This means that any
useful earthquake prediction must estimate the likelihood
of the earthquake occurring in a particular area in a
specific time interval compared with its occurrence as a
chance event.
The elastic rebound theory gives a generalized way of
predicting earthquakes because it states that a large
earthquake cannot occur until the strain along a fault
exceeds the strength holding the rock masses together.
Seismologists can calculate an estimated time when the
strain along the fault would be great enough to cause an
earthquake. As an example, after the 1906 San Francisco
earthquake, the measurements showed that in the 50 years
prior to 1906, the San Andreas fault accumulated about
3.2 meters (10 feet) of displacement, or movement, at
points across the fault. The maximum 1906 fault slip was
6.5 meters (21 feet), so it was suggested that 50 years x
6.5 meters/3.2 meters (21 feet/10 feet), about 100 years,
would elapse before sufficient energy would again
accumulate to produce a comparable earthquake.
Scientists have measured other changes along active
faults to try and predict future activity. These
measurements have included changes in the ability of
rocks to conduct electricity, changes in ground water
levels, and changes in variations in the speed at which
seismic waves pass through the region of interest. None of
these methods, however, has been successful in predicting
earthquakes to date.
Seismologists have also developed field methods to date
the years in which past earthquakes occurred. In addition
to information from recorded earthquakes, scientists look
into geologic history for information about earthquakes
that occurred before people had instruments to measure
them. This research field is called paleoseismology (paleo
is Greek for “ancient”). Seismologists can determine
when ancient earthquakes occurred.
C The Earth’s Interior
Seismologists also study earthquakes to learn more about
the structure of the Earth’s interior. Earthquakes provide a
rare opportunity for scientists to observe how the Earth’s
interior responds when an earthquake wave passes
through it. Measuring depths and geologic structures
within the Earth using earthquake waves is more difficult
for scientists than is measuring distances on the Earth’s
surface. However, seismologists have used earthquake
waves to determine that there are four main regions that
make up the interior of the Earth: the crust, the mantle,
and the inner and outer core.
The intense study of earthquake waves began during the
last decades of the 19th century, when people began
placing seismographs at observatories around the world.
By 1897 scientists had gathered enough seismograms
from distant earthquakes to identify that P and S waves
had traveled through the deep Earth. Seismologists
studying these seismograms later in the late 19th and
early 20th centuries discovered P wave and S wave
shadow zones—areas on the opposite side of the Earth
from the earthquake focus that P waves and S waves do
not reach. These shadow zones showed that the waves
were bouncing off some large geologic interior structures
of the planet.
Seismologists used these measurements to begin
interpreting the paths along which the earthquake waves
traveled. In 1904 Croatian seismologist Andrija
Mohoroviić showed that the paths of P and S waves
indicated a rocky surface layer, or crust, overlying more
rigid rocks below. He proposed that inside the Earth, the
waves are reflected by discontinuities, chemical or
structural changes of the rock. Because of his discovery,
the interface between the crust and the mantle below it
became known as the Mohoroviić, or Moho
Discontinuity.
In 1906 Richard Dixon Oldham of the Geological Survey
of India used the arrival times of seismic P and S waves to
deduce that the Earth must have a large and distinct
central core. He interpreted the interior structure by
comparing the faster speed of P waves to S waves, and
noting that P waves were bent by the discontinuities such
as the Moho Discontinuity. In 1914 German American
seismologist Beno Gutenberg used travel times of seismic
waves reflected at this boundary between the mantle and
the core to determine the value for the radius of the core
to be about 3,500 km (about 2,200 mi). In 1936 Danish
seismologist Inge Lehmann discovered a smaller center
structure, the inner core of the Earth. She estimated it to
have a radius of 1,216 km (755 mi) by measuring the
travel times of waves produced by South Pacific
earthquakes. As the waves passed through the Earth and
arrived at the Danish observatory, she determined that
their speed and arrival times indicated that they must have
been deflected by an inner core structure. In further
studies of earthquake waves, seismologists found that the
outer core is liquid and the inner core is solid.
IX EXTRATERRESTRIAL QUAKES
Seismic events similar to earthquakes also occur on other
planets and on their satellites. Scientific missions to
Earth’s moon and to Mars have provided some
information related to extraterrestrial quakes. The current
Galileo mission to Jupiter’s moons may provide evidence
of quakes on the moons of Jupiter.
Between 1969 and 1977, scientists conducted the Passive
Seismic Experiment as part of the United States Apollo
Program. Astronauts set up seismograph stations at five
lunar sites. Each lunar seismograph detected between 600
and 3,000 moonquakes every year, a surprising result
because the Moon has no tectonic plates, active
volcanoes, or ocean trench systems. Most moonquakes
had magnitudes less than about 2.0 on the Richter scale.
Scientists used this information to determine the interior
structure of the Moon and to examine the frequency of
moonquakes.
Besides the Moon and the Earth, Mars is the only other
planetary body on which seismographs have been placed.
The Viking 1 and 2 spacecraft carried two seismographs
to Mars in 1976. Unfortunately, the instrument on Viking
1 failed to return signals to Earth. The instrument on
Viking 2 operated, but in one year, only one wave motion
was detected. Scientists were unable to determine the
interior structure of Mars with only this single event.
Contributed By:
Bruce Bolt
Microsoft ® Encarta ® Encyclopedia 2005. © 1993-
2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.