Earthquakes and Seismotectonics

Chapter 5
 What Creates Earthquakes?
• The term “Earthquake” is ambiguous:
• Applies to general shaking of the ground and to the source of the shaking
• We will talk about both, but are mainly concerned with the latter
• Earthquakes occur due to
• Sudden motion on a fault
• Formation of a new fault
• Slip on an existing fault
• Movement of magma / explosion of a volcano
• Landslides
• Meteorite impacts
• Underground nuclear bomb tests / mine collapses
Offset
 Earthquake Terminology
• Hypocenter (Focus): actual location of the earthquake at depth
• Epicenter: location on the surface of the Earth above the hypocenter
• Hanging Wall: top block of a fault (where a light would hang from)
• Footwall: bottom block of a fault (where you would stand)
 Types of Faults
• In general, faults come in three different types: Normal, Reverse,
and Strike-Slip
• Shallow angle (< 30 ) reverse faults are called thrust faults
• Faults that have a mix of slip styles are called oblique slip faults

See: Fault
animations
online
Why are there different types of faults?
• Normal Faults: from stretching of or extending rock; points on
opposite sides of a fault are father apart after an earthquake
• Reverse Faults: from contracting or squishing rock; points on
opposite sides of the fault are closer together after an earthquake
• Strike-Slip: can form in either areas of stretching or squishing,
material slides laterally past each side of the fault.
– Described by sense of motion:
• Right-lateral (Dextral)

• Left-lateral (Sinistral)
 Formation of Faults
• Faults and thus earthquakes form because of stress & strain
– Plate motion causes rocks to deform or bend
– Stress and strain become localized
– Eventually the strength of the rock is overcome
– BAM!! The rock ruptures and snaps forward releasing the accumulated
stress/strain.
• The process is known as elastic rebound theory
A through-going fault
Elastic strain: New cracks form and forms and sliding occurs
strain that is recoverable link together causing a stress drop
 Faults & Friction
• Like a brick sliding across a table, faults, too, are subject to friction

• Friction, on the micro-scale, is caused by asperities, bumps and

irregularities along a surface that resist sliding

• All other factors equal, faults with more cumulative slip may be
smoother and therefore have lower friction (e.g. the San Andreas
Fault has very low friction)
• Once a fault is formed it is a permanent scar that is weaker than the
surrounding rock
 Stick Slip Behavior

- Without stick slip behavior, large earthquakes would not happen!

- Faults would constantly move (i.e. creep) and not build up significant stress
 The Earthquake Cycle: A Simple View
[ Step 2 ]
[ Step 1 ]
- Plate motion continues
- Plate motion continues
[ Initial Conditions ] - Stress/strain exceeds rock strength
- Stress/strain is localized on fault
- Plate motion begins - The fault slips (ruptures)
- Fence is strained/deformed
- Fence is straight - Fence is broken into two
- Deformation is recoverable (elastic)
undeformed pieces
 Measuring Motion Across a Fault

M7.8 1906 Great San Francisco Earthquake

 Locating Earthquakes
• Often we don’t see surface
rupture after an EQ
– Earthquakes occur deep in the
Earth.
• To locate EQ’s we can’t just
look at first arrivals of P-waves
– Time = 0 is unknown
– Seismic velocity is non-uniform
– Can only get a potential
epicentral area
• Instead we rely on the
difference in arrival times
– vs ≈ 0.55 vp
 Locating Earthquakes
• Because P-waves travel fastest, they will always be recorded first
– The farther from the source, the more S-wave lag.
• If we calculate the difference in arrival times of S- and P-waves,
we can then calculate the distance to epicenter
– Called the S-P interval
 S-P Intervals
• The S-P time only tells
distance, not direction
• A minimum of three
stations are needed to
calculate epicenter
location
– Called triangulation
 Triangulation
• One station gives
infinite possible
epicentral locations
• Two stations give two Station #1
possible locations
• Three stations give
one location
• In practice there is
some error
• The epicenter is
located where these
circles from multiple Station #2
Station #3
stations all intersect
 Triangulation
• One station gives
infinite possible
epicentral locations
• Two stations give two
possible locations
• Three stations give
one location
• In practice there is
some error
• The epicenter is
located where these
circles from multiple
stations all intersect
 How is Earthquake Depth Determined?
• Seismologists determine hypocenter depth by:
– Determining the arrival of the pP ray
– Calculating the p-pP lag time and plugging it into an equation
• Hypocenter depth also effects S-P intervals, but this is
usually accounted for
– Most regions have earthquakes at a limited range of depth
 Fault Plane Solutions
• Along with hypocenter location, seismograms can be
used to determine the type of fault that caused the EQ

• …But first we need to review how to quantify the

orientation of a plane!
Measuring Orientation: Strike and Dip
• In order to characterize geologic
structures, one must be able to quantify
the orientation of structures.
For Planar features we use:
• Strike: The orientation of the
intersection line between a horizontal
surface and the feature of interest.
Measured with a compass.
– E.g. north, N45W, 285, etc…
• Dip: The acute angle between the
feature of interest and a horizontal
plane.
– E.g. 0 = horizontal 90 = vertical
For linear features we use:
• Trend: the trend of the line if
you were looking down on the
feature from above
– E.g. north, NW, 320, 090,
etc…
• Plunge: Acute angle between
the line and a horizontal
– E.g. 46 , 75 , etc…
 Fault Plane Solutions
• Consider a peg struck by a hammer…
– Only P-waves to the N-S
• Greatest amplitude directly ahead and behind…i.e. N-S
• Amplitude decreases away from N-S direction
• Dilatational first arrival to the S How do we know if the
• Contractional first arrival to the N first arrival is dilatational
– Only S-waves to E-W or contractional?
• same is true for S-waves…almost
• all first arrivals have the same sense of motion
– S-waves are of little to no help in determining the fault orientation
Faults Generate Contraction and Extension
• The hammer and peg example is too simple
• Both sides of a fault move
– Contraction and extension are both generated during slip
Geologists call this
• σ1
• maximum compressive
stress direction
Seismologists call this
• P-axis (sometimes C-axis) Extension Contraction
• Pressure axis (compression
axis)

Geologists call this

• σ3 Contraction Extension
• minimum compressive
stress direction
Seismologists call this
• T-axis
Fault in a Box
• Tension axis
 Focal Mechanisms
• Both sides of a fault move, so the radiation pattern is more complex.
• Seismologists use the pattern of first arrivals to determine several
properties of the causative fault
– strike, dip, and slip vector rake.
– we call these focal mechanisms, moment tensors, or beach balls

Contraction Extension

Extension Contraction
 The Double Couple Mechanism
• Before an earthquake, rock is sheared
• The rock cannot rotate, so there must be other stresses involved.
 The Double Couple Mechanism
• If two shear stresses are involved
– the rock can undergo shear strain without rotating
– called the double couple
• but this causes ambiguity in the focal mechanism solution…
 The Auxiliary Plane
• Because of the double couple
– no rotation is allowed
• Focal mechanisms predict two potential fault planes
collectively called: nodal planes
– the fault plane
– the auxillary plane
 Which Plane is the Fault?
• What are the two
potential fault
orientations?
• How do we know
which is the real
fault?
– Sometimes logic
combined with a
little Occam’s Razor
– Aftershocks &
Historical seismicity
– How else could we
determine the fault
plane?
Geology!!!
 The Focal Sphere
• The process just outlined is fine for strike-slip events, but we
need a general method for any type of fault.
• To do this we use the focal sphere
– just like your favorite part of structural geology
• Stereonets!!!
 Strike & Dip: The Stereonet Way
• Strike = 090
• Dip = 90⁰
• Dip Direction = N/A
 Strike & Dip: The Stereonet Way
• Strike = 000
• Dip = 90⁰
• Dip Direction = N/A
 Strike & Dip: The Stereonet Way
• Strike = 000
• Dip = 80⁰
• Dip Direction = East

+
 Strike & Dip: The Stereonet Way
• Strike = 000
• Dip = 60⁰
• Dip Direction = East

+
 Strike & Dip: The Stereonet Way
• Strike = 000
• Dip = 45⁰
• Dip Direction = East

+
 Strike & Dip: The Stereonet Way
• Strike = 000
• Dip = 30⁰
• Dip Direction = East

+
 Strike & Dip: The Stereonet Way
• Strike = 000
• Dip = 10⁰
• Dip Direction = East

+
 Strike & Dip: The Stereonet Way
• Strike = 045
• Dip = 45⁰
• Dip Direction = SE

+
 Strike & Dip: The Stereonet Way
• Strike = 135
• Dip = 80⁰
• Dip Direction = SW

+
 Strike & Dip: The Stereonet Way
• Strike = 280
• Dip = 60⁰
• Dip Direction = NE

+
 Beach Balls For Standard Fault Types
• For faults with pure dip-slip or pure strike-slip motion the
focal mechanisms are relatively straightforward
 Focal Mechanisms For Oblique Slip
• Focal mechanisms can also
determine the direction of slip
– Called the slip vector rake, or just “rake”
– 180 ≥ rake ≥ -180
– 0 = left-lateral, 180/-180 right-lateral
– 90 = reverse slip -90 = normal slip
– 45 = ? 120 = ?
 Calculating Focal Mechanisms
• Although it is impractical to put
seismometers deep in the ground,
we can still detect waves that are
radiated in all directions from a
hypocenter
• We can trace P-waves back to their
source using:
– inverse methods
– the ray parameter, p
• We can then calculate the take-off
angle
– relative to vertical
– this tells seismologists where to plot
each station on the focal sphere
(stereonet)
– can get azimuth to source from
triangulation
Calculating Focal Mechanisms
 Odd Focal Mechanism?
• Really think about what the focal sphere represents…
– Why are certain parts are black and others white?
– This is all black?
• What could cause this?