Earthquakes
Earthquakes
Earthquakes
com
Created by Lisa Wald of the U.S. Geological Survey -Earthquake Hazards Program -- Thank you, Lisa!
What is an earthquake?
An earthquake is what happens when two blocks of the earth suddenly slip past one another. The surface where they slip is called the fault or fault plane. The location below the earths surface where the earthquake starts is called the hypocenter, and the location directly above it on the surface of the earth is called the epicenter. Sometimes an earthquake has foreshocks. These are smaller earthquakes that happen in the same place as the larger earthquake that follows. Scientists cant tell that an earthquake is a foreshock until the larger earthquake happens. The largest, main earthquake is called the mainshock. Mainshocks always have aftershocks that follow. These are smaller earthquakes that occur afterwards in the same place as the mainshock. Depending on the size of the mainshock, aftershocks can continue for weeks, months, and even years after the mainshock!
keep slowly moving around, sliding past one another and bumping into each other. We call these puzzle pieces tectonic plates, and the edges of the plates are called the plate boundaries. The plate boundaries are made up of many faults, and most of the earthquakes around the world occur on these faults. Since the edges of the plates are rough, they get stuck while the rest of the plate keeps moving. Finally, when the plate has moved far enough, the edges unstick on one of the faults and there is an earthquake.
www.thegreenfrognews.com
The whole seismograph moves as the earth it is attached to shakes, but the heavy mass does not move because of its inertia. The recording device measures how far the rest of the seismograph has moved with respect to the mass.
are first. Then the S waves follow and shake the ground also. If you are close to the earthquake, the P and S wave will come one right after the other, but if you are far away, there will be more time between the two. By looking at the amount of time between the P and S wave on a seismogram recorded on a seismograph, scientists can tell how far away the earthquake was from that location. However, they cant tell in what direction from the seismograph the earthquake was, only how far away it was. If they draw a circle on a map around the station where the radius of the circle is the determined distance to the earthquake, they know the earthquake lies somewhere on the circle. But where?
www.thegreenfrognews.com
Scientists then use a method called triangulation to determine exactly where the earthquake was (below). It is called triangulation because a triangle has three sides, and it takes three seismographs to locate an earthquake. If you draw a circle on a map around three different seismographs where the radius of each is the distance from that station to the earthquake, the intersection of those three circles is the epicenter (location of the earthquake)!
Earthquake Epicenter
Is there such a thing as earthquake weather? Can some animals or people tell when an earthquake is about to hit?
These are two questions that we cant answer just yet! If weather does affect earthquake occurrence, or if some animals or people can tell when an earthquake is coming, we do not yet understand how it works.
www.thegreenfrognews.com
EXPERIMENT:
Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich Faults
You can make your own small faults with a double-decker peanut butter & jelly sandwich! Have a parent or teacher help you! Heres how. Youll need: Three slices of bread....Peanut butter....Jelly ....Butter knife....Bread knife First make a double-decker sandwich. Make a regular sandwich and then put another layer of peanut butter and jelly topped with the third slice of bread. Now instead of cutting your sandwich in half vertically, cut it in half on an angle. Now try to make the different kinds of faults in the picture. Notice how the layers of peanut butter and jelly get moved, and which directions the hanging wall and the foot wall move.
There are three different types of earthquake faults: 1. STRIKE-SLIP FAULT The fault is vertical, and the blocks slide past one another horizontally. This occurs in areas where the crustal blocks are sliding past one another. 2. NORMAL FAULT The fault is at an angle, and the block above the fault (the hanging wall) moves down relative to the block below the fault (the foot wall). This occurs in areas where there is extension or pulling of the crustal blocks. 3. THRUST (REVERSE) FAULT The fault is at an angle, and the hanging wall moves up relative to the foot wall. This occurs in areas where the crustal blocks are being pushed together.
Illustration Credits:
Earths plates (from This Dynamic Earth: The Story of Plate Tectonics, USGS) A Cross-Section of the Earth (from This Dynamic Earth: The Story of Plate Tectonics, USGS) Seismograph, Triangulation and fault illustrations from the U.S.G.S.
www.thegreenfrognews.com
Seismic Waves
P Wave: The fastest wave, and therefore the first to arrive at a given location - also known as compressional waves, the P wave alternately compresses and expands material in the same direction it is traveling - it can travel through all layers of the Earth - it is generally felt by humans as a
EXPERIMENT:
You can make P waves and S waves with a slinky. All you need is a slinky and two people. With one person holding each end of the slinky, stretch it out so that it is laying flat on the floor or on a table. To make a P wave, one person quickly pushes toward, and then pulls the slinky away, from the other person just a couple of inches. Watch the P wave travel along the slinky to the other person. It may even reflect (bounce) off the end and come back to the original person! To make an S wave, one person quickly moves the slinky from side to side once a couple of inches. The S wave will travel along the slinky once again to the other person and may turn around and travel back. Notice that the P wave moved the slinky back and forth in the same direction as the wave was traveling, and the S wave moved the slinky back and forth perpendicular to the direction the wave was traveling.