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Chapter-1

An Introduction to Seismology

by Falguni Roy, B. Gangrade Seismology Division Bhabha Atomic Research Centre Mumbai 400 085
email : [email protected]

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An Introduction to Seismology 1.0 Introduction Seismology deals with the study of the earth and earth vibrations mainly caused by earthquakes. We study the seismic waves from earthquakes because they provide us information about the seismic source and about the interior of the Earth. Major results from the study of seismic waves include: 1. Locating the earthquake sources. 2. Measuring the relative sizes and energy release of earthquakes 3. Telling what is the fault geometry and how it slipped 4. Determining internal layering and structure of the Earth 5. Determining seismicity of a region In structural engineering, some of these results are of significant value particularly for the designing of earthquake resistant structures. . The sources of seismic vibrations can be classified into two categories viz. natural sources and man-made sources. The details of different types of seismic events are given below in the flow chart.

Seismic vibrations
Natural events Earthquakes Rock burst Volcanic esq. Tsunamis Microseisms Tectonic forces Collapse of mines Magma movement Undersea earthquakes Pressure variations on ocean surface & cyclones Nuclear. mining Dams, lakes Oil field, wells etc Traffic, machines Man-made events Explosions Reservoir seismicity Induced seismicity Cultural noise

1.1 Earths Interior, Plate tectonics and faults Five billion years ago the Earth was formed by a massive conglomeration of space materials and by releasing the heat energy, it has attained the present form. Dense materials sank to form core of the Earth, while lighter silicates, oxygen compounds and water formed the outer shell of the earth surface. The earth is divided into four main layers: the inner core, outer core,
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mantle, and crust (Figure 1.1). The outer core is liquid, while the inner core is solid. The mantle is solid but can deform slowly in a plastic manner. The crust is thin and is composed of the calcium and sodium aluminum-silicate minerals and is rocky and brittle in nature, so that when it fractures under stress earthquakes are produced.

Figure 1.1 Internal structure of earth. The crust together with the solid outer parts of the mantle down to a depth of about 100 km forms the lithosphere. Below the lithosphere is the asthenosphere, a region of relatively low strength. The theory of plate tectonics propounds that the earths lithospheric layer is broken into mainly a dozen or so large and small fragments called plates (Figure 1.2), which move relative to each other with an average speed of a few cm per year due to convection processes at depth. About 225 million years ago these fragments were together to form a super continent called PANGAEA. According to theory of continental drift put forward by Wegner. Pangaea broke up into continents we know of now. The differential motion between various plates is the cause of earthquake activity, which is mostly confined along the plate boundaries.

Figure 1.2 Present day tectonic plates When an earthquake occurs a near planar surface where material discontinuity occurs is created within the earth called fault. This fault becomes nucleating surface for further seismic
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activity. The stresses accumulated due to plate movement produces strain in the plate mostly along the boundary of the plates, which causes rupture of rocks along fault plane. The fracture, which originates at a point spreads all around, terminates and produces radiation of different modes of seismic waves. The faults are classified into three categories based on the way the rock blocks move on either side of the fault as depicted in Figure 1.3. These include normal, reverse and strike slip faults.

Strike-slip

Normal Figure 1.3 Different types of faults

Reverse

Strike slip faulting is one, which involves purely horizontal shearing motions of the two sides of the fault. If one looks across the fault and the other side moves to the right during an earthquake, it is called right-lateral strike-slip faulting. If it moves to the left, one has leftlateral strike-slip faulting. The San Andreas fault is a right-lateral strike-slip fault. For faulting, which involves vertical motions; there are a few important conventions. If the fault is a vertical plane, with purely vertical motions we call it dip-slip motion. If the fault plane is dipping (not vertical), there will be some rock above the fault and some below the fault. The rock above the fault is called the hanging wall, while the rock below the fault is called the footwall. If the faulting causes the upper block to move downward relative to the lower block, the fault is a normal fault. This is the type of fault usually found in regions of extension, where the crust is being pulled apart. This includes mid-ocean ridges where sea floor spreading is taking place as well as continental rifts, like in Eastern Africa, where the crust is breaking apart. If the hanging wall moves upward relative to the footwall, we have reverse faulting, and if the dip (angle from the horizontal) of the fault is less than 30 degrees we call it thrust faulting. Reverse and thrust faulting occur in regions of compression, where the surface is converging. This is common in subduction zones and in places where continents are colliding. The biggest thrust faults are those on the contact between underthrusting oceanic lithosphere and the overriding plate. The largest earthquakes tend to be thrust faulting events in subduction zones. On the largest scale, the plate boundaries of the Earth are all faults, across which the relative motions of the steadily moving plates are taking place. Since we have a pretty clear idea of how fast plates are moving and from fault geometries, and active measurements of motions using lasers and satellite methods we know the current directions of relative plate motions, we have good constraints on how fast various faults are accumulating deformation that will be released in earthquakes. 1.2 P Wave Radiation Pattern The amplitudes of elastic waves vary with distance from their source because of attenuation and
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geometric spreading. The amplitudes also depend on the angle at which the seismic ray leaves the source. For P-waves we observe that the maximum amplitude for compression and dilatation occur for direction oriented at 45 to the fault plane. The fault and auxiliary planes are nodal planes of zero amplitude. The sketches (Figure 1.4, on the left) show the radiation pattern of the P-wave amplitude (F is the fault plane). The radiation pattern of P wave leads to an earthquake source model represented by a pair of orthogonal couple perpendicular and parallel to the fault plane. The couple of force acting perpendicular to the fault plane is the result of the elastic reaction of the media surrounding the fault.

Figure 1.4 Radiation pattern of P waves and orthogonal couple 1.3 Seismographs When a strong earthquake occurs it gives rise to seismic waves which causes the shaking we feel. Seismic waves lose much of their energy while traveling over large distances. However, sensitive detectors such as seismometers can record these waves even if their amplitudes happen to be as small as few nanometers. When these detectors are connected to a system that produces a permanent recording, they are called seismographs. There are various types of seismometers, but they are all based on the fundamental principle that the differential motion between a free mass (which tends to remain at rest) and a supporting structure fixed to the ground (which moves with the vibrating earth) can be used to record seismic waves (Figure 1.5). A single seismograph pendulum works in only one direction, and cannot give a complete picture of wave motions from other directions. To overcome this problem, modern seismograph stations have three separate instruments to record seismic waves, one to record vertical ground motion and other two to record East-West and North-South components. Besides three component instruments, clocks are an important part of a seismograph system. Modern seismographs use broadband seismometers with bandwidths 300s/30s to 0.02s and using a high dynamic range digital system with 24-bit resolution acquire the data by computers and computer networks. The transmission of the data from field to local data center and communication between data centers are done through digital telemetry using wireless links, dialup lines and VSAT links.

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Horizontal

Vertical Figure 1.5

Vertical Electromagnetic

Basic principles of seismometry

1.4 Seismic waves Most of the energy released from the volume of strained rock around the fault goes into heat, as the sliding of rock heats up the fault surface. Some of the energy is released as seismic waves, which spread out through the rock, shaking the ground. An earthquake generates three major kinds of seismic waves viz. compressional (P), shear (S) and surface waves. P and S waves together are called body waves because they can travel through the body of the earth unlike the surface waves, which propagate along the surface of the earth. The particle motion for the P waves coincide with the direction of wave propagation as is the case with ordinary sound waves (Figure 1.6). The particles oscillate back and forth in the same direction as the wave is propagating, returning to their original position due to the restoring forces of the surrounding rock.

Figure-1.6 Particle motion of P waves

Figure-1.7 Particle motion of S waves

S waves (Figure 1.7) involve shearing motions perpendicular to the direction in which the wave disturbance is propagating. In a rock, the adjacent material has a restoring force that causes the shearing particles to return elastically to their original position. If we try to shear a fluid, there is no effective restoring force; so S waves cannot propagate in fluid or air.

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It is important to remember that waves spread in all directions away from the source, surrounding the source in the rock. So, at an instant of time after an earthquake fault slides, the source will be surrounded by an outward propagating P wave and an outward propagating S wave. The velocity of P wave, or the velocity of sound in a rock, is faster than the velocity of S wave so the P wavefront spreads through the rock faster. The P and S velocities are both controlled by material properties of the rock; in particular the P velocity is controlled by the bulk modulus or compressibility of the rock, its rigidity (resistance to shear), and its density. The shear velocity is controlled by rigidity and density. The outward propagating P and S waves spread through the Earth, with the amplitude of the wave decreasing as the wave travels further. This is because the energy is spread over a larger and larger surface as a function of increasing time. Eventually, the wave is too small to detect. The larger the initial input of energy (i.e. the larger the earthquake), the more distant the perceptible shaking will be. Because the Earth has layers, as well as a free surface, the P and S waves can bounce around inside the earth, analogous to echoing sound in a canyon. This gives rise to many paths by which P and S wave energy can travel from the source to each point on the Earth's surface. Thus, the ground motion recordings from earthquakes tend to be rather complex, with a sequence of arrivals that are mainly controlled by the Earth structure, not by the source (Figure -1.8).

Figure-1.8 Different ray paths inside the earth The earthquake faulting may last only a few seconds, while the ground shaking will be more prolonged because the P and S waves travel with different velocities and there are many paths with different total travel times for the energy to get to the recording station. The surface of the Earth causes P and S waves to interact with each other and with the layering of the crust and mantle to produce patterns of vibrations that we call surface waves. There are two main types of surface waves: Love waves and Rayleigh waves (Figure-1.9). Love waves travel faster than Rayleigh waves, but slower than S waves. Love waves involve only horizontal motions of the Earth, perpendicular to the direction in which the wave is propagating. They are trapped, reverberating S waves near the surface of the Earth. Rayleigh waves involve shaking in the vertical direction (up and down), as well as back and forth in the direction of propagation of the wave characterized by a retrograde, elliptical particle motion in
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a vertical plane. They are a mixture of P and S wave energy reverberating near the surface. These waves propagate along the surface, rather than through the body of the planet, thus, their energy is spread out on an expanding ring on the surface rather than over a spherical shell. This makes surface wave amplitudes larger than body wave amplitudes, and thus most damage from earthquake shaking is caused by Love or Rayleigh waves. The surface waves also play significant role in the identification of nuclear or chemical explosions from earthquakes. Another kind of seismic wave that propagates in a crustal wave-guide in the continental lithosphere is known as Lg or the surface shear wave whose energy departing downwards is wholly reflected back into the crust. The type of reflection occurring here is the total internal reflection. For a fixed source and receiver there may be many reflection paths, all totally reflected and thus trapped within the crust. The radiation pattern of Lg waves is more isotropic than that of P and S waves. This feature adds to the usefulness of Lg waves as a magnitude estimator for small events due to the fact that full azimuthal coverage is not essential and reliable magnitude estimation can be made from the data of only a few stations.

Figure-1.9 Particle motion of Rayleigh and Love waves 1.5 Locating earthquakes Whenever an earthquake occurs and seismic signals are recorded at different seismic stations, the first question comes to our mind is "where was its epicenter (i.e. the point on the earths surface vertically above the focus or hypocenter where a seismic rupture begins)". An earthquake location tells us what fault it was on and where damage, if any, likely to have occurred. When an earthquake occurs, it generates an expanding wavefront from the earthquake focus at a speed of several kilometers per second. Various signals are recorded, with a network of seismographs on the earth's surface. The times at which P waves arrive at each recording station are noted. One of the procedures to locate the earthquake source based on P-arrival times is as follows: A guess is made about the epicenter, source depth and origin time of the earthquake. Arrival time of P waves at each station is computed from the prior knowledge of seismic wave velocities inside the earth. These calculated arrival times are compared with the actual
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observed times at each station. The location is now changed a little so that difference between observed and calculated time reduces. This process is repeated till the time difference attains an absolute minimum. Mathematically, the problem is solved by setting up a system of linear equations, one for each station. The system of linear equations is solved by the method of least squares, which minimizes the sum of the squares of the differences between the observed, and the calculated arrival times. The process begins with an initial guessed hypocenter, performs several hypocentral adjustments and finally converges to a hypocenter that best fits the observed set of P wave arrival times at the seismic stations of the network. As the P waves travel faster than S waves the time difference between the arrivals of the P wave and the S wave depends on the distance the waves traveled from the source to the recording station. Over the time, many such measurements have been made and travel-time curves (i.e. time vs distance curves) for P, S and many other waves have been developed for the earth. Therefore, the knowledge of S-P time difference on a seismogram will provide the information about the distance of the source from the station. However, the source could have been anywhere on a circle whose radius is that distance centered on the station. If source distances from two stations are known, two locations are possible; the two intersecting points of two circles. If distances from three stations are known, the earthquake can be unambiguously located. This is known as principle of triangulation. This is another method of locating earthquakes, which may be used to get a quick estimate of the earthquake location, as it requires data from only three stations. However, the former method is more accurate and adopted by various international data centers. Recording of a three component seismograph can also be used to obtain a crude estimate of the earthquake location. If the vertical motion of the P wave is upward, the radial component of the P wave is directed away from the epicenter and if the vertical motion of the P wave is downward, the radial component of the P wave is directed back towards the epicenter. The amplitudes on the two horizontal components can then be used to obtain the vector projection of the P wave along the azimuth and to the seismic source. The distance of the seismic source is obtained from S-P time difference. Thus the knowledge of azimuth and distance from the recording station will help in identifying the event location. 1.6 Intensity and Magnitude We saw that the arrival times of waves at the recording stations are used to locate the event, and once it is known where the event was, we can use the amplitudes at different distances to determine how big the event was. The basic fact that helps in this effort is that the amplitudes of the waves get progressively smaller with distance, and knowing the distance, we can correct for that effect to tell how big the motions were right at the fault. This gives an estimate of the total energy put into the ground, which is proportional to how big the area of fault slip is and how much slip occurred. There are several measures of earthquake size that reflect the ground shaking amplitudes. The first is a qualitative measure called Intensity. This is actually a damage scale, in which the level of shaking felt or damage caused is categorized into ten or twelve categories (see Table I). Intensities tend to give higher damage for higher intensity values near the source. This does not use seismograms at all, but is very useful for historical events for which there are no seismic recordings available. Intensities are also practical, in the sense of reflecting human effects rather than scientific measures of the source.

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Seismograms, on the other hand, give seismic wave amplitudes that are used to determine earthquake magnitudes. These are based on the distance corrected amplitudes of seismic waves, but often have a mix of quantitative and empirical procedures. Magnitude scales are all logarithmic, meaning that they are based on powers of ten. For each increase in the magnitude value by one unit, the ground motions are 10 times larger. The energy required to produce 10 times larger motions is about 30 times larger. Before describing various magnitude scales we shall now see how energy and magnitude can be related. Let the ground displacement at the recording station is given by Y =A cos (2. t/T) , where A is the amplitude and T is the period of the wave. Ground velocity , v, will be v= -(2.A/T) sin(2. t/T)

Kinetic energy of a unit mass at recording station is (v2) , where is the density. Averaging over one cycle,(0 T), we get kinetic energy density as T e=1/2. /T v2 dt = 2A2/T2 0 Mean potential and kinetic energies are equal so the energy, E, becomes E=2e Integrating over spherical wavefront to correct for geometrical sreading, we obtain an equation of the form E = f(r, , c)(A/T) 2 Where r is the distance traveled and c is the velocity of the wave. log10(E) = log10( f(r, , c)) + 2log10 (A/T) We know that most of the magnitude scales are expressed as M= log10(A/T) + F(D,h) + Cs +Cr Where F is a correction term for distance(D) and depth (h) of the source , Cs is the source region correction and Cr is the receiver site correction. The correction terms Cs and Cr are specific to source and receiver sites therefore these terms are usually not included in the general relations for magnitudes. From the last two equations we see that it is possible to relate energy to magnitude if f(r, , c ) is known. The earthquake magnitude that is determined depends on which seismic wave is measured, and there are different magnitude scales for P waves, for Rayleigh waves, and for different periods of motion.

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The magnitude of an earthquake describes its energy release on a logarithmic scale. The Richter Scale is the earliest known scale for measuring the magnitude of earthquakes and was introduced in the 1930's, based on earthquakes in California only. Basically, this scale measures the maximum signal amplitude recorded on a standard seismograph, which is then corrected for distance and instrument gain to obtain the magnitude. To find the magnitude, one measures the maximum amplitude A from a photographic record of a seismometer using a metric ruler. The formula for determining the Richter magnitude is ML=log10(A) - log10(Ao) where Ao is the distance correction term for distances less than 600 km. The Richter scale concept evolved to include world-wide earthquakes of any distance and depth, and later evolved into two scales used in global earthquake catalogs: the Ms (surface wave) and mb (body wave) scales. For most shallow earthquakes, surface waves, or waves that propagate along the surface of the Earth, are the greatest amplitude waves recorded on a seismogram. Therefore, a scale based on the amplitude of the surface wave is natural and convenient. After measuring the maximum surface wave amplitude A (in microns), the surface wave magnitude is obtained as Ms=log10(A/T)+1.66log10(D)+3.30 where T is the measured wave period and D is the distance in degrees. Earthquakes occurring deep in the Earth do not generate large surface waves. Therefore, we also need a scale based on body waves, the seismic waves that travel through the Earth's interior or body. To determine body wave magnitude, we measure the maximum amplitude A from first 5 seconds of P wave data and then calculate mb=log10(A/T)+Q(D,h) where T is the measured wave period and Q is an empirical function of focal depth h and epicentral distance D. Currently the mb scale uses compressional body waves with a period of about 1 second, and the Ms scale uses Rayleigh surface waves with 18 to 22 second periods. In general, all these scales may yield different magnitudes for any particular earthquake. The most quantitative measure of earthquake size determined using seismograms is called the Seismic Moment. This is an energy based measure that accounts for the actual geometry of the faulting. The seismic moment M0 is given by the product of the rigidity, the fault area that ruptured and the amount of slip. That is M0 = A D (1) where D is Average displacement and A is Fault area. Radiated seismic energy, E, is related to the stress drop, (Difference between the initial stress and the final stress) , as

E .D.A/2 or E = M0/2

(2) (3)
(4)

or log( E)= log( /2) + log (M0)

Gutenberg and Richter found empirical relationships for Ms and mb with E as:
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Log E=11.8 + 1.5 Ms Log E= 5.8 + 2.4 mb

(5) (6)

One can use equation 3 to relate M0 to magnitude through equation 5 (assuming that Ms and moment magnitude, Mw, are equivalent). If we assume that the stress drop is constant and equal to ~ 30 bars then equation 3 reduces to E = 5*10-5 M0 Substituting E in equation 5 and replacing Ms by Mw we get, Mw= (logM0 /1.5) 10.73 This scale is tied to Ms but will not saturate because M0 does not saturate.

M0 can be estimated from :

1. Amplitudes of the long period surface waves, 2. Amplitudes of seismic body waves. 3. Spectra of seismic waves. Generally seismic moment is determined by making a computer model of the faulting that matches the observed amplitudes of the complete seismogram, accounting for any differences in excitation (strength of radiation) of the P, S, and surface waves caused by fault depth, geometry, and slip process.. While all other magnitude scales only work for a limited range of events, the Moment Magnitude scale is good for all events. Each magnitude scale was initially designed for a particular class of seismograph, and for specific types of seismic waves. For example, surface waves create the strongest disturbance only when the earthquake is shallow, perhaps upto around hundred kilometers of depth. Shallow earthquakes excite especially large surface waves whereas deep earthquakes do not generate nearly as much surface wave energy. Therefore, Ms generally underestimates the size of deep earthquakes. In constrast, body waves are well developed for both shallow and deep earthquakes, so mb can be used to compare them. However, we know that earthquakes do not radiate equal energy in all directions. For example, a magnitude estimated using a seismograph located directly North of an earthquake may not be the same as a magnitude estimated using a seismograph located North-East of the earthquake. While magnitude is a useful, simple, and widely understood concept, problems exist with assigning and interpreting magnitudes. Since seismologists define magnitude in terms of the response of a specific instrument at a specific distance and period, magnitude contains little information about the physics of the earthquake source. Lastly, all the magnitude scales, except Mw, do not measure the size of large earthquakes correctly because amplitudes of the seismic waves tend to become constant with increasing magnitudes at the measuring frequencies (1.2 Hz for ML, 1 Hz for mb and 0.05 Hz for Ms). This scale "saturation" occurs around magnitude 8 for the Ms scale, and around magnitude 6.5 for the mb scale. This means that a magnitude Mw=9.0 event will have a Ms estimate of ~ 8.0 and mb estimate of ~ 6.5 only. Various magnitude definitions are summarized in Table II.

Table - I
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Relation between epicentral intensity and magnitude for an earthquake at 20km depth
Magnitude
1.5 3 3.9 4 4.9

Intensity mm scale
I II III IV V

Description of effect and damage I. Not felt

II. Felt by very few in the upper floors III. Felt noticeably in upper floors Vibrations like passing truck IV. During day felt by many indoor. Windows, doors, dishes disturbed. Standing automobile rocked V. Some windows and doors broken. Many are awakened. Disturbance to tall objects like tree, pole VI. Heavy furniture moves. Damage to chimneys. People run outdoor VII. Considerable damage to poorly built buildings. Slight damage to good buildings VIII. Partial collapse of ordinary buildings and damage in specially designed buildings. Changes in well water. Fall of tall structures like stacks, columns IX. Considerable damage / partial collapse of well built structures. Ground cracked. X. Most of masonry and frame structures destroyed. Land slides. Rail bent. XI. Few structures remain. Broad fissures in the ground. Earth slumps XII. Damage total. Waves seen on the ground. Objects thrown into air.

5 5.9 6 6.9

VI VII VIII IX

>7

>X

Table-II Magnitude definitions used by National Earthquake Information Centre, Denever,USA

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Designator Mw Me

Name Moment magnitude Energy magnitude

Ms

Surface wave magnitude

mb

Compressional body wave magnitude Body wave magnitude using Lg waves

mbLg

ML

Local(Richter) magnitude

Magnitude formula Mw=(2/3) log Mo -10.7 Where Mo is the scalar moment for the best double couple in dyne-cm Me = (2/3) log( Es ) 2.9 Where Es is the radiated energy in Newtonmeters. Me , computed from the high frequency seismic data is a measure of seismic potential for damage Ms= log(A/T) + 1,66 log D + 3.3 Where A is the maximum ground amplitude in micrometers of the vertical component of the surface wave within the period range18 <T < 22s. T is period in seconds and D is epicentral distance in degrees and 200 < D < 1600 No depth correction for depths less than 50 km . mb = log (A/T) + Q(D,h) A is the ground amplitude in micrometers, Q is a function of D in degrees and depth h in km . mbLg = 3.75 +0.9 log D + log (A/T) for 0.50 < D < 40 mbLg = 3.30 +1.66 log D + log (A/T) for 40 < D < 300 Where A is the ground amplitude in micrometers , T is the period in seconds from the vertical component of ~ 1 second Lg waves and D is the distance in degrees ML = log (A) - log (Ao) Where A is the maximum amplitude in micrometers on short period seismograph (usually S wave amplitude) and log(Ao) is the distance correction for distances less than or equal to 600 km.

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