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Thrust Fault –
- Pieces are pushed together
- One block pushed up fault line
Strike-Slip Fault –
- Blocks grind next to each other
on same plane
Earthquakes
• Earthquake: shaking or trembling of the
ground caused by the sudden release of
energy, usually as a result of faulting,
which involves the displacement of rocks
along fractures
• Aftershocks: earthquakes from continued
adjustments along a fault; usually smaller
than the initial quake
Elastic Rebound Theory
• Rocks undergoing deformation bend and
store energy
• When strength of rock is exceeded, they
rupture and release energy – the
earthquake
• Rocks rebound to original, undeformed
shape
Fault
Fence
Surface
Undisturbed
material
Wavelength Focus
Secondary wave (S-wave) Stepped Art
Fig. 8-7, p. 156
Surface Waves
• Travel at or just below the surface
• Slower than body waves
• R-waves (Rayleigh waves)
– Particles move in elliptical path, like water
waves
• L-waves (Love waves)
– Faster than R-waves
– Particles move back forth in horizontal plane
perpendicular to direction of travel
Earthquake Magnitude
• Quantitative measure: amount of energy
released
• Richter Magnitude Scale: total amount of
energy released at earthquake source
• Measure amplitude of largest seismic
wave
• Logarithmic: each whole-number increase
is a 10-fold increase in amplitude, but a
30-fold increase in energy
Earthquake Magnitude, cont.
• Richter Magnitude Scale underestimates energy
of very large quakes
– Only measures peak energy, not duration
• Seismic-moment magnitude scale:
– Strength of rocks
– Area of fault rupture
– Amount of movement of rocks adjacent to fault
• 1964 Alaska earthquake:
– 8.6 Richter
– 9.2 seismic-moment