ENGINEERING SEISMOLOGY

G. R. Dodagoudar
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

I I T MADRAS, CHENNAI - 600 036.

Outline of Presentation
(Engineering Seismology)
Definitions
Composition of the Earth
Occurrence and Causes of Earthquakes
Seismology and Plate Tectonics
Contributions of Seismology to Plate Tectonics
Earthquake Mechanisms
Seismic (Earthquake) Waves
Locating Earthquakes
Describing Earthquakes (Size of Earthquakes)
Intensity and Magnitude

Seismotectonics
Concluding Remarks

Definitions
Geology: The study of the planet earth -Geophysics: The study of the earth by physical
methods
Geomorphology: The study of the character and origin
of landforms, such as mountains, valleys, etc.
Seismology:
Developed from a need to understand the
internal structure and behaviour of the earth.
Advances in seismology have produced a
good understanding of the mechanisms and
rates of occurrence of earthquakes in most
seismically active areas of the world.

Earthquake: The vibrations of the Earth caused by the

passage of seismic waves radiating from some
source of elastic energy.
Tectonics: Related to rocks of the lithosphere and of
the asthenosphere and its kinematics
Fault: Structural feature A fracture along which the
blocks of crust on either side have moved relative
to one another parallel to the fracture.
Focus or Hypocenter: The point in the interior of the
earth at which rupture is initiated during an
earthquake.
Earthquake Seismology: Strong motion seismology
Strong motion accelerograph

In the Beginning
Four billion six hundred million years ago the
Earth is born from a cloud of dust and fire
orbiting the sun.
In the beginning there are no seas upon the
barren Earth.
The sun blisters down as poisonous gases swirl
about. Racked with volcanoes, bombarded by
asteroids and comets, Earth is incredibly hot
with a sea of molten rock covering its surface.
The early Earth is a world in slow turmoil for
many, many thousands of years.

Earth and Atmospheric Sciences

The geologic processes

we see in action today
have worked in much the
same way throughout
geologic time

Composition of earth
We live on a wonderful planet, called the Earth.
Geology Deals with the study of the Earth.

Composition of Earth
In studying plate tectonics we will be
concerned with the mechanical properties
of parts of the earth, such as their
strength, elasticity, and viscosity.
Although such properties do depend on
pressure, temperature, and the state of
stress, they are most sensitive to the
composition of the material in question.

Composition and Differentiation

Occurrence and causes of earthquakes

What is an Earthquake ?
An earthquake is a sudden movement
of the ground that releases elastic
energy stored in the rocks and generates
seismic waves.
After the initial ground movement along
the fault, seismic waves propagate
outward and vibrate the ground.

Why Do Earthquakes occur?

SHORT ANSWER: Most earthquakes occur
naturally as a consequence of the
cooling of the Earth.
Earth was very hot when it formed 4.5
billion years ago.
LONG ANSWER: involves plate
tectonics and mantle convection

Where Do Earthquakes occur?

Earthquakes occur along geological
structures known as faults.
A fault is a fracture in a rock that has
been offset.
Faults generally occur in groups known
as fault zones.

How are Earthquakes Described?

By Location:
We use two numbers to describe where an
earthquake has occurred: latitude and
longitude

Latitude varies from 90 S to 90 N, or -90

to +90
Longitude varies from 180 W to 180 E,
or -180 to + 180
These two numbers together are known
as the earthquakes epicenter

How are Earthquakes Described?

By Time:
The time when an earthquake starts is known
as the origin time
Origin times are reported in terms of Universal
Time (UT) formerly known as Greenwich Mean Time
(GMT)
Sometimes the day and month are combined
into the julian day which is the day of the year
Example:
2002 073 20:23:14.2 , means March 14, 2002 at
3:23:14.2 pm (St. Louis time)

Effects of Earthquakes

 The world's earthquakes are not randomly

distributed over the Earth's surface.
They tend to be concentrated in narrow zones.
Why is this? And why are volcanoes and
mountain ranges also found in these
zones, too?
An explanation is to be found in plate tectonics

Seismology
Seismology deals with the generation and
propagation of seismic waves.
Seismology is the primary level for the
study of the earth's interior because little of
the planet is accessible to direct
observation.
The surface can be mapped and explored,
and drilling has penetrated to the depths up
to 13 km, through great expenses.
Information about deeper depth (approx.
6371 km) is obtained primarily from
indirect methods.

Why to Study Seismology?

To measure the earth's interior and the distribution
of the physical properties.
The existence of the earth's shallow crust, deeper
mantle, liquid outer core, and solid inner core are
inferred from variation in seismic velocity with
depth.
Near the surface, provides detailed crusted images
that reveal information about the location of
economic resources like oil and minerals.
Deeper in the earth, provides the basic data for
understanding earth's dynamic history and
evolution, including the process of mantle
convection.

Mantle Convection

Seismology and Plate Tectonics

Seismology: detailed characterisation of the str.
How are earthquakes connected with plate
tectonics?
What drives the plates?
Plate tectonics is a relatively new theory that
has revolutionized the way geologists think
about the Earth.
The surface of the Earth is broken into
large plates.
The size and position of these plates
change over time

Plate Tectonics
The story of Plate Tectonics is a fascinating
story of continents drifting majestically from
place to place breaking apart, colliding and
grinding against each other --Plate Tectonics describes the intricate design of
a complex, living planet in a state of dynamic
flux.

Plate Tectonics
Unifying theory of the geological operations

of the earth
Ideas of Continental Drift had been around
for hundreds of years, based largely on
similarities of rocks and fossils
Unifying ideas developed in the 1960s
based on seismic data, paleomagnetism
data, bathymetric data, and geophysics

 The edges of these plates, where they move against

each other, are sites of intense geologic activity, such
as earthquakes, volcanoes and mountain building.
Plate tectonics is a combination of two earlier ideas,
continental drift and sea-floor spreading.
Continental drift is the movement of continents over
the Earth's surface and their change in position
relative to each other.
Sea-floor spreading is the creation of new oceanic crust
at mid-ocean ridges and movement of the crust away
from the mid-ocean ridges.

The map of earthquake epicenters provides

strong support for the theory of plate
tectonics.
The most widely accepted explanation of the
source of plate movement relies on the
requirement of thermo mechanical equilibrium
of the earths materials.

Plate Tectonics
Plate Boundaries
Spreading Ridge Boundaries
Subduction Zone Boundaries
Transform Fault Boundaries

Faults
Fault Geometry
Fault Movement
Dip Slip Movement
Strike-Slip Movement

Elastic Rebound Theory

Plate Boundaries and Plate Boundary Interactions

Plate Boundaries: Distribution of Earthquakes

Subduction zone boundaries are often

found near the edges of continents.
The earthquakes in these tectonically
active boundary regions are called plateedge earthquakes.
The very hazardous shallow earthquakes
of Chile, California, Southern Mexico,
Japan, Taiwan, The Philippines, Indonesia,
New Zealand, and The Alpine-CancasionsHimalayan belt are of plate-edge-type.

Faults

Faults

Faults
Theory of plate tectonics generally assigns the
relative movement of plates to one of the three
preceding types of plate boundaries.
But locally the movement between two portions of the
crust will occur on new or preexisting offsets in the
geologic structure of the crust known as faults.
Faults may range in length from a few meters to
many kilometers and extend from the ground surface
to depth of several tens of kilometers.
Their presence may be obvious, as reflected in
surficial topography, or they may be very difficult to
detect.
Faults are drawn on a geological map as continuous
or broken lines.

Fault Geometry

Described in terms of the fault

plane and the direction of slip
along the plane
The orientation of the fault
plane is described by its strike
and dip
The strike of a fault is the
horizontal line produced by the
intersection of the fault plane
and a horizontal plane.
The downward slope of a fault
plane is described by the dip
angle, which is the angle
between the fault plane and a
horizontal plane measured
perpendicular to the strike.
A vertical fault would have an
angle of 90.

Geometric notation for description

of fault plane orientation

Classification of fault
Classification of faults
depends only on the
geometry and direction
of relative slip.
A
Strike-slip
fault
involves displacements
of rock laterally, parallel
to the strike.
If when we stand on one
side of a fault and see the
motion on the other side,
i.e., from left to right, the
fault is right lateral
strike-slip.

Classification of fault
A special type of reverse fault
is a thrust fault, which occurs
when the fault plane has a
small dip angle.
In blind thrust faults, the slip
surface does not penetrate to
the ground surface.
In most cases, fault slip is a
mixture of strike-slip and
dip-slip and is called oblique
faulting.

Dip-Slip Fault
Dip slip faults are classified
according to the direction of
movement and dip angle.
A normal fault is one in which
the rock of the inclined fault
surface moves downward
relative to the underlying
crust. Fault with almost
vertical slip are also included
in this category.
A reverse fault is one in which
the crust above the inclined
fault surface moves upward
relative to the block below the
fault.

Diagram showing the three main

types of fault motion

Elastic Rebound Theory

The elastic rebound model proposed by H.F.Reid
after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake is a useful
guide to how an earthquake may occur.
In this model, materials at distances on opposite
sides of the fault move relative to each other, but
friction on the fault locks it and prevents the
sides from slipping.
Eventually the strain accumulated in the rock is
more than the rock on the fault can withstand, and
the fault slips, resulting an earthquake.

Elastic Rebound Theory

The model illustrated in the
figure by the changes to five
parallel lines, drawn normal to
the trace of the fault in the
unstrained state.
Suppose they have steadily
increasing shear forces on two
blocks or rocks separated by
existing fault. Because of
friction,
there
is
low
movement.
Far from the trace of the fault
in the five lines, they are
straight and parallel, but close
to it they are bent.

Elastic Rebound Theory

Finally, the strain becomes more than
the fault can support, and weaker
part of the fault suddenly slips, and
this rupture extends rapidly along
part of the fault plane, allowing the
blocks on either side of it to jerk into
a less strained state.
The relative displacement that has
been taking place preferably between
the adjacent plates during years or
decades is achieved the fault plane in
a few seconds.
The strained rocks adjacent to the
fault rebound suddenly. The
accumulated strain energy is released
with the seismic speed of the ruptured
rocks which is several km/sec.

Elastic Rebound Theory

The
segments
BCDE
undergo compression, while
BCDE experience dilatation.
The entire length of the fault
plane is not displaced, only on
the region at which the
breaking point has been
exceeded.
The greater the length of the
fault plane that is activated, the
larger
is
the
ensuring
earthquake.

Classification of Earthquakes (mode of generation)

Tectonic earthquakes -- Rocks below the earths surface break
suddenly in response to various geological forces.
Volcanic earthquakes -- Due to eruption of volcanoes.
Collapse earthquakes --Arising from underground collapse of
mines or caves.
Explosion earthquakes -- Originating from man-made
underground nuclear explosions.
Reservoir induced earthquakes -- Due to filling of reservoirs
after construction of dams.
About 90% of all earthquakes result from Tectonic events,
primarily movements on faults.

Intraplate earthquakes
The simple plate-tectonic theory
Important one for a general understanding of earthquakes
It does not explain all seismicity in detail, for within continental
regions, away from boundaries, larger devastating earthquakes
sometimes occur.

Intraplate earthquakes can be found on nearby every

continent.
The 1976 Tangshan (China) and 1993 Marathawada (India)
earthquakes are most recent earthquakes of damaging
intraplate earthquakes.
The interrelationship between among spreading ridge,
subduction zone, and transform fault plate boundaries

Plate Tectonics
Supporting data includes

Continental drift
Biologic species distribution
Geologic correlation
Earthquake distribution
Volcano distribution
Seafloor magnetic anomalies

Plate Tectonics
Driven by convection of heat from earths core
Continental drift was an early concept.
Plate boundary processes
- Seafloor spreading (divergent boundary)
- Subduction (convergent boundary)
- Transform fault (right or left-lateral)
Crust is created at spreading boundaries and
consumed (recycled) in subduction zones.

 In summary, plate tectonics is a blunt, but,

nevertheless, strong tool in earthquake prediction.
It tells us where 90 percent of the Earth's major

earthquakes are likely to occur. It cannot tell us

much about exactly when they will occur.
For that, we must study in detail the plate
boundaries themselves.
Perhaps the most important role of plate tectonics
is that it is a guide to the use of finer techniques
for earthquake prediction.

Contributions -- Plate Tectonics

Earthquakes will characterise the present-day
motions of the lithosphere, while geology and
paleomagnetics describe motions in the past.
Simply locating earthquakes on the globe

shows a rough outline of plates and their

boundaries
We can analyse earthquakes to describe the
type or mechanism of plate-tectonic
deformations

Plate Tectonics and People

Over geologic time, plate movements in
line with other geologic processes, such
as glacial and stream erosion, have created
some of nature's most magnificent scenery.
The Himalayas, the Swiss Alps, and the
Andes are some spectacular examples. Yet
violent earthquakes related to plate tectonics
have caused terrible catastrophes.

Earthquake Mechanisms
Three fundamental types of deformation:
-create any type of faulting by
mixing them in different proportions.
All of these faults are shear or sliding
dislocations that produce no net volume
change or net rotation.

Fault Mechanics - Sudden fault-slip

Faults actually slip only over part of their length in
any given earthquakes
Elastic rebound cycle causes earthquakes

Behaviour is due to interaction between 2

systems
Rock surrounding fault - elastic distortion
Rock in fault zone - frictional sliding

 Relative motions cause rocks to strain out

of shape, generating elastic stress.

When the stress exceeds the strength of the
fault zone, the accumulated strain will
suddenly release in an earthquake.
Q 1: What does the term elastic imply
about the mathematical relation between
stress and strain?
Q 2: Does the length of the rebound curvature
tell you anything about the fault above?

Earthquake Mechanism
The sudden movement of the fault releases a
great deal of energy, which then travels
through the earth in the form of seismic waves.
The seismic waves travel great distances
before finally losing most of their energy.
From the focus -- two types of body
waves (P and S), and two types of
surface waves (Love and Rayleigh,
which are S-waves trapped near
the surface) radiate in all directions.

Earthquake Mechanism

Q : What are the directions of the

maximum and minimum principal
strains for each mechanism?

Earthquake Mechanism
The body waves do not radiate in all directions
with the same strength, however. Above are
radial plots of relative wave amplitude in all
directions in a plane through a shear dislocation.
The P-wave radiation pattern at left shows that
the strongest compressions (C) and dilatations
(D) radiate at 450 angles from the fault plane.
The S-wave radiation pattern at right shows
that the strongest shear waves radiate at
directions parallel and perpendicular to the fault
plane.

Earthquake Mechanism

Earthquake Mechanisms
The double-couple origin of earthquake motions
divides the area around the focus into quadrants
revealing different directions of motion.
For the P-wave recordings above, initial motions
will be up if the wave originated in a compressive
quadrant, and down if from a dilatational quadrant.
Note that two planes separate the quadrants: the real fault
plane; and an indistinguishable auxiliary plane.

The object of finding an earthquake focal

mechanism is to describe the orientations of these
planes.

Seismic Waves

Sensitive seismographs record the passing

ground motions of the seismic waves with
respect to time, noting the motions of an
inertial mass against the moving ground.

Seismographs measuring the three

orthogonal components of ground
motion at a seismic station

Seismogram Interpretation

(a) Body and surface wave paths from an earthquake located southsoutheast of a station
(b) Seismograms from each of the three seismometers, responding to
arrivals of the body and surface waves

Three components of strong ground acceleration recorded in

the parking lot outside the Hollywood storage building about
20 km from the fault rupture in the 1971 San Fernando
earthquake, California

Seismic Waves
The part of the elastic energy radiated from
an earthquake as seismic waves takes two
forms: compressional (P) and shear (S).

Body waves
Travel through the body of the soil or rock
P-waves and S-waves - In P-waves the particle motion is in the
direction of propagation of the wave
In S-waves the particle motion is transverse
to the direction of propagation.
P-Waves
Fastest moving wave
Particles move back and forth in compression
and extension.

S-Waves
S for secondary
Particle motion is transverse to the
direction of propagation, so these waves
are also called shear waves.

S - Waves
In an S-wave the particle motions can be in any
direction in a plane perpendicular to the direction of
propagation.
Convenient to divide this motion into two
components: one in which all the particle motion
is horizontal, and the other containing the
remaining portion of the motion.
Because the particles move horizontally, the first is
called an SH wave. In addition, the particles may
have some vertical motion in the second
component, it is called an SV wave.

 On seismograms
Seismic
Wavesit is easy to separate P-waves

from S-waves because they travel at different

speeds, Vp and Vs:

where k is the incompressibility property of the rock,

is the rigidity (or resistance to shear), and is the mass density.
Q -1: Why will P-waves arrive first at a seismograph,
and S-waves later?
Q - 2: As rocks age and become more deeply buried,
Vp and Vs generally increase. Why?

 The ratio of vp to vs is
vp/vs = [2(1-)/(1-2)]1/2
Always greater than 1.0 for realistic
values of Poissons ratio.
When Poissons ratio is 0.25, this ratio
becomes 1.73 -- frequently cited as typical
of the ratio of the two velocities.

Surface Waves
In addition to the body waves, stress waves occur
at the surface of an elastic medium. The most
important of these are Rayleigh waves.
In these waves the particle motion describes an
ellipse whose horizontal axis is in the direction of
propagation.
The amplitude of motion in Rayleigh waves
decreases with depth.
The velocity of propagation is a function of
Poissons ratio, but it is approximately 90
percent of the shear wave velocity.

Reflection, refraction, and

transformation of body waves

Earthquake Terms

The point at which rupture

begins and the first seismic
waves originate is called the
focus or hypocenter.
The epicenter is the point on
the ground surface that lies
directly above the focus.
The focal depth is the depth of
the focus below the ground
surface.
The epicentral distance is the
distance from the epicenter to
the point of interest on the
surface of the earth (site or
observer) and the distance
between the site or observer and
the focus is focal distance or
hypocentral distance.

Notation for description

of earthquake location

Locating Earthquakes
The location of earthquake is often initially
specified in terms of the location of its
epicenter.
Preliminary location is based on the
relative arrival time of P and S-waves at a
set of at least three seismographs.

Locating an earthquake using first arrivals

Locating Earthquakes
Subtract the arrival time at a seismograph
of the P wave from the arrival time of the S
wave (to find the S-P time t).
-- this fact means that you can multiply the S-P
time by a factor 8 km/s to get a generally
reliable estimate of the distance of the
earthquake from the seismograph.

Locating Earthquakes
Since P-waves travel faster than S-waves, they will arrive
first at a given seismograph.
The difference in arrival times will depend on the
difference between P and S-wave velocities, and the
distance of the seismograph and the focus of the
earthquake according to

where

t p s
d
1 1
Vs
vp

tp-s - Difference in time between the first P and S - wave arrivals,

vp - P-wave velocity (3000 to 8000 m/s in bed rock), and
vs S-wave velocity (2000 to 5000 m/s in bed rock).

Locating Earthquakes
Of course the distance we get from the S-P time
is the distance along the travel path of the
seismic waves, so we have to adjust for the
earth's spherical shape.

 Using any single seismograph, it is possible to

determine the epicentral distance but not the
direction of the epicenter.
As we do not know the direction of the
earthquake, we can locate the source only on arc
centered on the seismogram station, but if the
procedure is repeated for other stations then each
distance can be drawn as an arc and their
location locates the earthquake
More refined estimates of the epicentral distances
for the epicentral location are made using
multiple seismographs, a 3-D seismic velocity
model of the earth and numerical optimization
techniques.

Locating Earthquakes
Given the S-P times and distances of an
earthquake from three stations, we can
triangulate to find its location.

Locating Earthquakes
Q - 1: Why do we need at least three
stations to get a location?
Q - 2: How would location errors appear?
What earthquakes are likely to have
the greatest location errors?

Earthquakes
Locating
Simply locating
earthquakes around the world
over the past 100 years (black dots above)
produces a striking pattern.
Earthquakes are not evenly spread around the
earth, but occur in continuous but thin belts or
zones surrounding areas of far lower seismicity.
The earth tectonic deformation is largely confined
to zones of interaction between apparently rigid
regions. Note that the pattern is more diffuse on
the continents than it is in the oceans.

Locating Earthquakes
Q : Are there any cultural or
technological factors
affecting the earthquake
distributions on this map?

Describing Earthquakes
Intensity and magnitude
The intensity of an earthquake
is an assessment of its effects
at a particular location.
(Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale -- I to XII)

The magnitude of an earthquake

is a measure of the amount of
energy released.

Describing Earthquakes
By size:

The oldest method for describing the size of an

earthquake is its maximum intensity (amount of
damage caused)
These methods were used extensively in the past
before seismometers had been invented
(seismometers have been around for only about
100 years)
The most well known intensity scale is known as
the Modified Mercalli Intensity scale. It varies from
I for very small damage to XII for very extensive
damage

Describing Earthquakes

Definition of modified Mercalli intensity V:

Felt by nearly everyone, many awakened.

Some dishes, windows, and so on broken;
cracked plaster in a few places; unstable
objects overturned. Disturbances of trees,
poles, and other tall objects sometimes
noticed. Pendulum clocks may stop.

Describing Earthquakes
By size:

The more modern method of describing

earthquake size is by magnitude
Magnitudes are related to the size of the
waves that are recorded by seismometers
Magnitudes are much more accurate than
maximum intensities in describing
earthquake size
More objective and quantitative measure
came with the development of modern
instrumentation

Describing Earthquakes
By size:
The four main magnitude scales are:

ML (Local magnitude)
Ms (Surface wave magnitude)
mb (Body wave magnitude)
Mw (Moment magnitude)

Each one has plus and minus points.

Richter Local Magnitude

The magnitude scales used today stem from the
one introduced by Richter in 1955. This scale was
designed by the network of Wood - Anderson
seismometers.
Richter designed the magnitude of a local
earthquake as the logarithm to base ten of the
maximum seismic wave amplitude in microns
recorded on a WoodAnderson seismograph
located at a distance of 100 km from the
earthquake epicenter.

Charles Richter
Inventor of the Richter Scale

 An increase of 1 in magnitude means the

amplitude is 10 times as large (the energy is
about 30 times as large)
The fundamental period of the WoodAnderson seismograph is 0.8 second and
therefore it selectively amplifies these seismic
waves with a period ranging approximately
from 0.5 to 1.5 seconds.
Because the natural period of many building
structures are within this range, the local
Richter magnitude remains of value to
engineers.

Definition of local Richter magnitude

Surface Wave Magnitude

At large epicentral distances (more than 200 km ), body
waves have usually been attenuated and scattered
sufficiently that the resulting motion is dominated by
surface waves.
Gutenberg defined a magnitude scale (Ms) which is based
on the measuring amplitude of Rayleigh waves with a
period of 20 sec.
The surface wave magnitude is obtained from

Ms = logA + 1.66 log + 2.0

where A = max. ground displacement in micrometers
= epicentral distance of the seismometer
measured in degrees (360 degrees = --)

 The surface wave magnitude is based on the

max. ground displacement amplitude
therefore it can be determined from any
type of seismograph.
The surface wave magnitude is most
commonly used to describe the size of
shallow (less than about 70 km focal depth),
distant (farther than about 1000 km)
moderate to large earthquakes.

Body Wave Magnitude

Deep focus earthquakes have only small or insignificant
trains of surface waves. But the amplitude of body waves is
not sensitive to the focal depth.
An equation -- proposed by Gutenberg in 1945 can be used
to calculate a body wave magnitude (mb) from the
maximum amplitude of the ground motion associated with
P - waves having a period of about 1-5 sec.

mb = logA - logT - 0.01 + 5.9

where A is the P - wave amplitude in micrometers,
T is the period of P - wave and
is the epicentral distance.

Moment Magnitude
Magnitude estimates based on both body waves
and surface waves are dependent on the period of
the portion of the wave train with maximum
amplitude.
The area A of the fractured segment and the
distance D by which it slipped can be inferred.
Together with the rigidity modulus of the rocks
adjacent to the fault, these quantities define the
seismic moment Mo of the earthquake, assuming
that the displacement and rigidity are constant
over the area of the rupture
Mo = A D

Seismic Moment
The seismic moment is a measure of the size of
an earthquake based on the area of fault rupture, the
average amount of slip, and the force that was
required to overcome the friction sticking the rocks
together that were offset by faulting.
Seismic moment can also be calculated from the
amplitude spectra of seismic waves.

Moment Magnitude (Mw)

The seismic moment can be used to obtain moment
magnitude (Mw):

Mw

log M o
10.7
1.5

where
Mo is the seismic moment in dyne-cm.
Moment magnitude has largely replaced Ms in
scientific evaluation of earthquake size, although
Ms is often quoted in reports in the media.

Describing Earthquakes

Moment magnitude was

developed to achieve a single
unified magnitude scale
applicable to earthquakes of
all sizes, depths and
locations

Describing Earthquakes

Describing Earthquakes
The sudden release of stored elastic potential

energy during an earthquake releases both

heat energy and seismic waves. The total
energy is called the moment M0.

By essentially taking the logarithm of the moment, we

can create a magnitude rating. Every earthquake has a
unique total energy, and therefore a unique magnitude.
Q : What is the magnitude of the largest earthquake ever?
The largest possible? The smallest?

Describing Earthquakes

Given the fairly constant relation between t

and distance -- use the above empirical
equation with a calibrated seismograph to
estimate an earthquake's magnitude.

Magnitude Saturation
As the total amount of energy released during an
earthquake increases, however, the ground-shaking
characteristics do not necessarily increase at the
same rate.
For strong earthquakes, the measured groundshaking characteristics become less sensitive to the
size of earthquake than for smaller earthquakes.
This phenomenon is referred to as "saturation", the
body wave and Richter local magnitudes saturate at
magnitudes of 6 to 7 and the surface wave
magnitude saturates at about Ms = 8.

 Moment magnitude scale (Mw) is the only

magnitude scale which does not suffer from the
above mentioned saturation problem for great
earthquakes.
It is due to the fact that it is directly based on the
forces that work at the fault rupture to produce the
earthquake and the recorded amplitude of specific
types of seismic waves.
The relationship between the various magnitudes is
shown. Saturation of the instrumental scales is
indicated by their flattening at higher magnitude
values.

Saturation of various magnitude scales

 Bolt (2001) suggests the use of different scales for

measuring shallow earthquake of various
magnitudes:
MD

- for magnitudes less than 3

ML and mb

- for magnitudes between 3 and 7

MS

- for magnitude between 5 and 7.5

Mw

- for all magnitude

Amplification of seismic waves by various

seismographs

Earthquake Energy
The total seismic energy released during an
earthquake is often estimated from the following
empirical formula proposed by Gutenberg and
Richter (1956) :
log E = 11.8 + 1.5 MS
where E is expressed in ergs. This relationship is
also applicable to moment magnitude as well. It
implies that a unit change in magnitude
corresponds to a 101.5 or 32 - fold increase in
seismic energy.

Seismotectonics

They proposed that the forces applied at the plate boundaries which
subsequently drive deformation within the plate.

Seismotectonic setting

The Fault Plane solution of 1980s earthquakes

Rastogi (1992)

The Axis of compression and tension

of 1980s earthquakes

Seismotectonic setting

The significant Earthquakes occurred in the Indian Shield regions

(M = 6.0 and above) with broad tectonic units
Ramalingeswara Rao (2000)

Seismotectonic setting

Observed that the locations of 1967-Koyna, 1993-Killari, and 1997-Jabalpur earthquakes

have fallen in the proximities of the intersections of one or two faults.
Ramalingeswara Rao (2000)

Seismotectonic setting

Chennai

Ramasamy &
Balaji (1995)

Seismotectonic setting

The lineaments in
Southern Granulite
Terrain (SGT) Craton

The lineaments in Transient Zone (TZ)

The lineaments in Cuddapah Basin (CB)

Concluding Remarks
The earth has a layered structurethe surficial crust is underlain
in turn by the mantle, the outer core, and the inner core.
The crust is broken in number of large plates and smaller
platelets. Shear stresses on the bottom of the plates, caused by the
lateral movement of the convecting mantle, and gravitational
forces cause the plates to move with respect to each other.
There are three different types of plate boundaries and their
characteristics influence the amount of strain energy that can
built near them.
The subduction zone boundaries can produce the largest
earthquakes, followed by transform fault boundaries and then
spreading ridge boundaries.

Concluding Remarks
Fault movement is divided into dip-slip components
(normal and reverse faulting) and strike-slip components
(left lateral and right lateral faulting).
The overwhelming majority of earthquakes of engineering
significance are generated by strain rebound associated
with fault movement caused by tectonic processes.
Earthquake intensity is a qualitative measure of the effects
of an earthquake at a particular location. Isoseismal maps
can be used to describe the spatial variation of intensity
for a given earthquake.
Most magnitudes scales are based on measured ground
motion characteristics.
Earthquake magnitude scales are logarithmic, hence a unit
change in magnitude corresponds to a 10 fold change in
the magnitude parameter.

Stress drop