7/28/2019 EarthquakeTip01

1/2

What Causes Earthquakes?

EarthquakeTip 1LearningEarthquake DesignandConstruction

Figure 3:Major Tectonic Plates on the Earths surface

The Earth and its InteriorLong time ago, a large collection of material

masses coalesced to form the Earth. Large amount ofheat was generated by this fusion, and slowly as theEarth cooled down, the heavier and denser materialssank to the center and the lighter ones rose to the top.The differentiated Earth consists of the Inner Core(radius ~1290km), the Outer Core (thickness ~2200km),the Mantle (thickness ~2900km) and the Crust(thickness ~5 to 40km). Figure 1 shows these layers.

The Inner Core is solid and consists of heavy metals(e.g., nickel and iron), while the Crust consists of lightmaterials (e.g., basalts and granites). The Outer Core isliquid in form and the Mantle has the ability to flow.At the Core, the temperature is estimated to be

~2500C, the pressure ~4 million atmospheres and

density ~13.5 gm/cc; this is in contrast to ~25C, 1atmosphere and 1.5gm/cc on the surface of the Earth.

The Circulations

Convection currents develop in the viscousMantle, because of prevailing high temperature andpressure gradients between the Crust and the Core,like the convective flow of water when heated in abeaker (Figure 2). The energy for the abovecirculations is derived from the heat produced fromthe incessant decay of radioactive elements in therocks throughout the Earths interior. These convectioncurrents result in a circulation of the earths mass; hotmolten lava comes out and the cold rock mass goesinto the Earth. The mass absorbed eventually meltsunder high temperature and pressure and becomes a

part of the Mantle, only to come out again fromanother location, someday. Many such localcirculations are taking place at different regionsunderneath the Earths surface, leading to differentportions of the Earth undergoing different directionsof movements along the surface.

Plate TectonicsThe convective flows of Mantle material cause the

Crust and some portion of the Mantle, to slide on thehot molten outer core. This sliding of Earths masstakes place in pieces called Tectonic Plates. The surfaceof the Earth consists of seven major tectonic plates and

many smaller ones (Figure 3). These plates move indifferent directions and at different speeds from thoseof the neighbouring ones. Sometimes, the plate in thefront is slower; then, the plate behind it comes andcollides (and mountains are formed). On the otherhand, sometimes two plates move away from oneanother (and rifts are created). In another case, twoplates move side-by-side, along the same direction orin opposite directions. These three types of inter-plateinteractions are the convergent, divergent and transformboundaries (Figure 4), respectively. The convergentboundary has a peculiarity (like at the Himalayas) that

sometimes neither of the colliding plates wants to sink.The relative movement of these plate boundariesvaries across the Earth; on an average, it is of the orderof a couple to tens of centimeters per year.

Figure 2:Local Convective Currents in the Mantle

Crust

Mantle

Outer Core

Figure 1:Inside the Earth

Inner Core

PacificPlate

Indo-Australian

Plate

North AmericanPlate

Antarctic Plate

EurasianPlate

AfricanPlate

SouthAmerican

Plate

7/28/2019 EarthquakeTip01

2/2

IITK-BMTPC Earthquake Tip 1

What Causes Earthquakes? page 2

Figure 4: Types ofInter-Plate BoundariesDivergent Boundary

Figure 5:Elastic Strain Build-Up

and Brittle Rupture

Stage B

Figure 7: Type of Faults

Dip SlipFaults

Strike SlipFaults

Figure 6: Elastic Rebound TheoryTime(years)

Strength EnergyBuild-Up

Elastic

Stress

Energy

Release

CumulativeSlip

CASlip

AB

C

AB

C

Time(years)

The EarthquakeRocks are made of elastic material, and so elastic

strain energy is stored in them during thedeformations that occur due to the gigantic tectonicplate actions that occur in the Earth. But, the materialcontained in rocks is also very brittle. Thus, when therocks along a weak region in the Earths Crust reachtheir strength, a sudden movement takes place there(Figure 5); opposite sides of the fault (a crack in therocks where movement has taken place) suddenly slipand release the large elastic strain energy stored in theinterface rocks. For example, the energy releasedduring the 2001 Bhuj (India) earthquake is about 400times (or more) that released by the 1945 Atom Bomb

dropped on Hiroshima!!

The sudden slip at the fault causes the earthquake.a violent shaking of the Earth when large elastic strainenergy released spreads out through seismic wavesthat travel through the body and along the surface ofthe Earth. And, after the earthquake is over, theprocess of strain build-up at this modified interface

between the rocks starts all over again (Figure 6). Earthscientists know this as the Elastic Rebound Theory. Thematerial points at the fault over which slip occursusually constitute an oblong three-dimensionalvolume, with its long dimension often running intotens of kilometers.

Types of Earthquakes and FaultsMost earthquakes in the world occur along the

boundaries of the tectonic plates and are called Inter-plate Earthquakes (e.g., 1897 Assam (India) earthquake).A number of earthquakes also occur within the plate

itself away from the plate boundaries (e.g., 1993 Latur(India) earthquake); these are called Intra-plateEarthquakes. In both types of earthquakes, the slipgenerated at the fault during earthquakes is along bothvertical and horizontal directions (called Dip Slip)andlateral directions (called Strike Slip) (Figure 7), withone of them dominating sometimes.

Reading MaterialBolt,B.A., (1999), Earthquakes, Fourth Edition, W. H. Freeman and

Company, New York, USAhttp://earthquake.usgs.gov/faq/http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/general/handouts/

general_seismicity.htmlhttp://www.fema.gov/kids/quake.htm

Convergent Boundary

Transform Boundary

Stage A

Stage C

Slip

EQEQ

This release is a property of IIT Kanpur and BMTPC NewDelhi. It may be reproduced without changing its contentsand with due acknowledgement. Suggestions/commentsmay be sent to: eqtips@iitk.ac.in. Visit www.nicee.org orwww.bmtpc.org, to see previous IITK-BMTPC Earthquake Tips.

A ril 2002

EQ

Authored by:C.V.R.MurtyIndian Institute of Technology KanpurKanpur, India

Sponsored by:

Building Materials and Technology PromotionCouncil, New Delhi, India