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Class 4

The document discusses earthquakes and seismic hazard analysis. It defines an earthquake as the shaking of the earth's surface due to a sudden release of energy. It then discusses the various causes of earthquakes, including natural disturbances from volcanic or tectonic activity, and artificial disturbances from human activities. The document also covers basic earthquake terminology and classifications of earthquakes based on location, depth, cause, magnitude, and epicentral distance. Finally, it discusses methods of measuring earthquake size, including magnitude as measured on the Richter scale.

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Manish Aryal
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37 views

Class 4

The document discusses earthquakes and seismic hazard analysis. It defines an earthquake as the shaking of the earth's surface due to a sudden release of energy. It then discusses the various causes of earthquakes, including natural disturbances from volcanic or tectonic activity, and artificial disturbances from human activities. The document also covers basic earthquake terminology and classifications of earthquakes based on location, depth, cause, magnitude, and epicentral distance. Finally, it discusses methods of measuring earthquake size, including magnitude as measured on the Richter scale.

Uploaded by

Manish Aryal
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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3.

SEISMOLOGY AND
EARTHQUAKE
SEISMIC HAZARD ANALYSIS(MSTR502)

Er. Umesh Jung Thapa 1


Earthquake

Earth-quake = Shake of Earth

• The shaking of earth’s surface due to any reason which, results


in release of large amount of energy

 Every year: more than 10,000 earthquakes occur, but most of


them are not great
 Every day: There are about 50 earthquakes strong enough to
be felt locally
 Every few days: There is an earthquake strong enough to
damage structures

Er. Umesh Jung Thapa 2


Causes of EQ

1.Natural Disturbances
a. Volcanic causes
b. Tectonic cause

2. Artificial Disturbances

1. Natural Disturbances
a. Volcanic causes
 Very often, it produces sudden out brust or explosions
Not very deep and mild intensity
All volcanic eruptions do not produce EQ

Er. Umesh Jung Thapa 3


b. Tectonic cause
 The EQ which occur due to sudden release of energy as a results
of sudden slip of fault is called as tectonic earthquake
The slip may occur along the preexisting cracks/faults or along
new fault plane
More than 90% of total EQ are due to tectonic causes

2. Artificial Disturbances
Sometimes the surface of the earth vibrated due to manmade
or artificial disturbances such as nuclear tests and explosions,
mining blasts, large and deep excavation, vibration induced due
to heavy machinery etc.
Very low effects

Er. Umesh Jung Thapa 4


Basic terminology related to EQ

Er. Umesh Jung Thapa 5


Classification of EQ

1. Based on Location
a. Interplate EQ
 along the boundaries of the tectonic plates
b. Intraplate EQ
 away from the boundaries of the tectonic plates

2. Based on Focal Depth


a.Shallow EQ
 Focal depth < 70 Km
b. Intermediate EQ
 Focal depth, 70 Km to 300 Km
c. Deep EQ
Focal depth, >300 Km

Er. Umesh Jung Thapa 6


Classification of EQ…..

3. Based on their causes


a.Tectonic EQ
b. Non-Tectonic EQ

4. Based on Magnitude of EQ

Er. Umesh Jung Thapa 7


Classification of EQ…..

5. Based on epicentral distance

a.Local EQ
 The affected area is very less within 1° of the
epicenter of the EQ

b. Regional EQ
 The affected area is within 1°-10° of the epicenter of
the EQ

C. Teleseismic EQ
The affected area is greater than 10° of the epicenter
of the EQ

Er. Umesh Jung Thapa 8


Earthquake Size

 Earthquake size is defined in terms of:


1.Magnitude
2. Intensity

1.Magnitude

•Quantitative estimate of the EQ size


•It is the amount of energy released during an EQ
•It depends upon the size, nature, and location of an EQ
•Per EQ should have only one magnitude, but vary about ±0.3
unit because the magnitude value given by different
seismological observatories for an event may also vary
•Generally measured on “Richter Scale”

Er. Umesh Jung Thapa 9


Richter Magnitude (ML )

Dr. C. Richer studied (1930) seismic waves and found that:


1.At the same distance, seismograms of larger EQ have a
bigger amplitude than those of smaller EQ
2.For a given EQ, seismograms at farther distances have a
smaller wave amplitude than that at close distance. (i.e., wave
amplitude decreases with increase in epicentral distance)

•He proposed zero magnitude for an EQ.

i.e., Amplitude (A0 ) =1 µm


Distance= 100km
Natural frequency =1.25 Hz
Based on that, the Richter Magnitude (ML ) is given as:
ML =log10 A-log10A0………………………… (1)
Or ML =log10 (A/A0 )……………………………..(2)
Where, A=the recorded amplitude (in µm)
A0 =the magnitude for zero magnitude EQ (in µm)
Also, ML =log10 A+ Distance correction factor………(3) A=the
recorded amplitude (in mm)
Er. Umesh Jung Thapa 10
Richter Magnitude (ML )

Dr. C. Richer studied (1930) seismic waves and found that:


1.At the same distance, seismograms of larger EQ have a
bigger amplitude than those of smaller EQ
2.For a given EQ, seismograms at farther distances have a
smaller wave amplitude than that at close distance. (i.e., wave
amplitude decreases with increase in epicentral distance)

Er. Umesh Jung Thapa 11

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