Professional Documents
Culture Documents
North America
Plate
Right-lateral strike-slip
motion along the SAF
becomes compressional
at a bend in the fault line.
Pacific Plate
Northridge Earthquake, 1994
* Do you think this is a good use of our research dollars ? Why or Why not ?
Earthquakes
• An earthquake is a trembling or shaking of the
ground caused by the sudden release of energy
– Tectonic forces produce stresses on rocks that
eventually exceed their elastic limits, resulting in
brittle failure
• Intensity - a measure of
the effects an earthquake
produces (on both
structures and people)
– Modified Mercalli scale
Measuring the “Size” of Earthquakes
• Magnitude is a measure
of the amount of energy
released by an earthquake
– Richter scale
– Body waves
– Surface waves
M = 10 R
(M = ground movement, R = Richter scale)
If R = 1, then M = 10
If R = 2, then M = 100