Earthquakes: An Application of Mathematics
The October 13, 2010 earthquake triggered a large buzz across Oklahoma University’s Norman campus, startling students walking to class or sitting in the middle of calculus. This magnitude 4.3 earthquake was 10 miles southeast of Norman and was felt as far north as Stillwater. To many students, the few seconds of shaking was unrecognizable as an earthquake because Oklahoma’s seismicity is not well known. In reality, Oklahoma experiences multiple earthquakes, almost daily; they are usually just not strong enough to be felt. While understanding how and why earthquakes occur in Oklahoma involves knowledge of faults and rock types, the methods involved in locating the epicenter of an earthquake and determining its magnitude require an awareness of the mathematical principles involved
The focus of an earthquake is the spot within the earth where the earthquake originates, where the fault is first ruptured. The epicenter of an earthquake is the location on the earth’s surface directly above the focus. When attempting to locate the epicenter of an earthquake, an understanding of seismic waves is crucial. There are two types of seismic waves, body waves and surface waves. Love and Raleigh waves are surface waves that travel across the earth’s surface and are responsible for a majority of the shaking felt during an earthquake. The two types of body waves, p and s-waves are more useful in determining information about earthquakes. Body waves travel throughout the interior of the earth, propagating from the focus of the earthquake eventually reaching seismograph stations. The arrival times of p and s-waves are used to locate the epicenter of the earthquake as the waves are recorded onto ...
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...here are debates about which scale is the most precise, although most seismologists claim the moment magnitude scale to be the most consistently accurate.
Works Cited
http://eqseis.geosc.psu.edu/~cammon/HTML/Classes/IntroQuakes/Notes/waves_and_interior.html
http://eqseis.geosc.psu.edu/~cammon/HTML/Classes/IntroQuakes/Notes/waves_and_interior.html
http://www.tulane.edu/~sanelson/geol204/eqcauses.htm
http://www.tulane.edu/~sanelson/geol204/eqcauses.htm
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/topics/measure.php
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http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/topics/measure.php
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/topics/measure.php
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/topics/measure.php
http://www.okgeosurvey1.gov/media/Oct13-2010-FactSheet_Revision2.pdf
Earthquakes are a natural part of the Earth’s evolution. Scientific evidence leads many geologists to believe that all of the land on Earth was at one point in time connected. Because of plate tectonic movements or earthquakes, continental drift occurred separating the one massive piece of land in to the seven major continents today. Further evidence supports this theory, starting with the Mid-Atlantic ridge, a large mass of plate tectonics, which are increasing the size of the Atlantic Ocean while shrinking the Pacific. Some scientists believe that the major plate moveme...
When the quake, registering 6.1 on the Richter scale, first struck, it was thought to be centered along the Old Whittier Fault. However, after extensive study, it was determined that it was actually the result of a "new" fault, or a fault that had not previously been discovered by scientists.
Boom! Crash! Sound echo everywhere. People scream all around you. A deadly 7.1 magnitude earthquake has just hit your town. On October 14, 2013 this happened in the Philippines (B-Essay). There were 3,512,281 affected individuals and 36,645 houses damaged (Doc. D). 39 roads and 18 bridges were in disrepair (Doc. D). People respond in certain ways after a natural disaster. They band together and react with Red Cross and government, Evacuation centers, and Gathering supplies.
Healy, J. H., Rubey, W. W., Griggs, D. T., & Raleigh, C. B. (1968, September). The Denver Earthquakes. Science, 161(3848), 1301-1310. Retrieved from JSTOR database.
Geology 2400 is a course where students are taught different examination of the earth such as the solar system, interior surface of the earth, atmosphere, and relationships of earth systems such as natural disasters. Three essential concepts I mastered was: earthquake’s wave, the planets, and minerals. First, one scheme of a natural disaster is an earthquake. An earthquake is the violent shaking of the ground which sometimes causes great destructions. Earthquakes happened due to seismic waves. A seismic wave is a wave in the earth that is produced by an earthquake. In addition, body waves play a big role in earthquakes. Primary wave (P), is the fastest and it is compressional meaning it can pass through liquids gasses and solids. A secondary wave(S) is the second fastest wave that is shearing, meaning it can only go through solids. Nest, the surface waves also known as the L waves, travel along the surface. For example, these types of waves look like “ripples” moving vertically up and down in motion. On the contrary, love waves (LQ) are horizontal waves and
benchmark for the future, and integrated investigation into the effects of earthquakes in the U.S.
Mr. Adams describes the San Francisco earthquake as his most profound human suffering experience because the horror of shaking floors, parts of his mom’s house collapse to the floor, and got a broken nose from stumbling into a brick wall (Ansel Adams & The 1906 Earthquake 2008). Earthquakes are part of natural disasters of the earth and normally caused by shaking ground and rapid movement of one block of rock slipping past another a long fractures in the earth crust called faults. Faults that are usually locked excluding abrupt movements, which slippage creates an earthquake (Lutgens, F. & Tarbuck, E.
What are earthquakes? An earthquake is what happens when two pieces of the earth suddenly slip past one another. The surface where they slip is called the fault or fault plane. The location below the earth’s 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, or focus.
Most earthquakes result from energy being released along plate boundaries and as such “earthquakes are manifestation of earth’s dynamic nature to the fact that earth is an internally active planet” (Hough). After an earthquake’s continuing adjustments along a fault may then generate a series of earthquakes. These certain earthquakes are known as aftershocks. Aftershocks can be as large, destructive and damaging as the first original earthquake that happened or it can be less destructive to not even knowing that this has occurred.
This earthquake that only lasted 48 seconds was along the San Andreas fault, originating in the Francisco Bay area. The significance or magnitude of the earthquake could not be properly measured on the contemporary Richter scale gauge because it was not invented until 1935. When the earth had stopped moving and shaking people had realized what happened, immediately power lines came down, , the force of this horrific, monstrous quake tore apart buildings and roads. Water lines burst causing a mess, bacteria, debris, sewage everyplace, and gas lines twisted until they erupted, the result ignited a major series of fires and explosions throughout the city. (Schmachtenburg
Earthquakes play a major role into understanding the composition and materials that exist within the Earth (Merali and Skinner, 2009, p.252). Earthquakes are the main source of insight into the inner workings of the earth, due to the nature of the seismic waves they produce. P and S waves are reflected and refracted at different boundaries within the earth, and this enables seismologists to make inferences about the internal composition and structural of planet Earth. (Merali and Skinner, 2009, p.252).
Before examining the Northridge event, understanding the naturally occurring hazard that is an earthquake will help to better understand exactly what happened and why it was such an important geological event. With four distinct layers, two layers, the crust and upper portion of the mantle, compose the skin that is the surface layer of the Earth. The crust is not a single, continuous piece. It is actually several different pieces, or plates, that come together to form the puzzle that comprises the surface of the Earth. These plates are in constant motion rubbing against one another. These areas, known as fault lines, where the plates rub up against one another have spots where one plate ”gets stuck while the rest of the plate keeps moving. When the plate has moved far enough, the edges unstick and is how most of the earthquakes around the world occur” (Wald, 2012). The energy stored from the friction of the two plate...
The epicenter of the earthquake in Alaska was about 10km east of the College Fiord, approximately 90km west of Valdez and 120km east of Anchorage, Alaska largest city. The earthquake was felt about 1,300,000 square kilometers away from the epicenter. (Christensen, Doug PhD.) About 30 kilometers deep, the first slip occurred under northern Prince William Sound, and an 800 kilometer rupture in the rocks extended horizontally, roughly parallel to the Aleutian trench. (Bolt) The cause of this massive earthquake was the vertical displacement of northwest motion of the Pacific plate. Also, it was estimated that about 200,000 square kilometers of the crust were deformed, making this the greatest area of vertical displacement ever measured. (Bolt)
Earthquakes belong to the class of most disastrous natural hazards. They result in unexpected and tremendous earth movements. These movements results from dissemination of an enormous amount of intense energy in form of seismic waves which are detected by use of seismograms. The impact of earthquakes leaves behind several landmarks including: destruction of property, extensive disruption of services like sewer and water lines, loss of life, and causes instability in both economic and social components of the affected nation (Webcache 2).
Powerful forces of nature can cause destruction to lives and property. While the continuing study of earthquakes and volcanoes helps us determine and better understand their powers, they continue to be natural phenomena that we need to learn even more about. Even with many differences in these two forces of nature, it is interesting that they also have commonalities. There are numerous similarities and differences between earthquakes and volcanoes.