Updated: August 2025
Earthquake Engineering
Lecture 2
Sasanka Borah, PhD
Civil Engineering Department, Assam Engineering College
Seismology
Core of the Earth
Alfred Wegener
Continental Drift Theory
Plate tectonics
Convection currents
Movement of Plate Boundaries
Faults, Dip and Strike
Elastic Rebound Theory
Terminology
Factors on which Earthquake Characteristic depends on
Earthquake Basic Terminology
or
Hypocenter
Earthquake Basic Terminology
Focus / Hypocenter: is the region on the fault, where rupture initiates.
Epicenter: is the location on the earth surface vertically above the focus.
Anti-Center: is the point on earth’s surface diametrically opposite to the
epicenter.
Epicentral Distance : is the distance from epicenter to any place of
interest.
Focal depth: is the depth of the focus from the epicenter.
Earthquakes are sometime classified into shallow focus, intermediate
focus and deep focus earthquakes based on its focal depth. Most of the
damaging earthquakes are shallow focus earthquakes.
Co-Seismal line: An imaginary line which joins the points at which the
earthquake waves have arrived at the earth’s surface at the same time.
Iso-Seismal line: A line or map joining points of equal seismic intensity
produced by an earthquake.
In homogeneous grounds with plain surfaces, the Iso-Seismals
and Co-Seismals coincide (which is rare).
Earthquake
Earthquake is the vibration of earth’s surface caused by waves
coming from a source of disturbance inside the earth. Most earthquakes
of engineering significance are of tectonic origin and is caused by slip
along geological faults.
Earthquake Effects - Ground Shaking
Northridge, CA 1994
Earthquake Effects - Ground Shaking
Northridge, CA 1994
Earthquake Effects - Ground Shaking
Loma Prieta, CA 1989
KGO-TV News ABC-7
Earthquake Effects - Ground Shaking
Kobe, Japan 1995
Earthquake Effects - Ground Shaking
Kobe, Japan 1995
Earthquake Effects - Surface Faulting
Landers, CA 1992
Earthquake Effects - Liquefaction
Source: National Geophysical Data Center
Niigata, Japan 1964
Earthquake Effects - Landslides
Source: National Geophysical Data Center
Turnagain Heights, Alaska,1964 (upper left inset);
Santa Cruz Mtns, California , 1989
Earthquake Effects - Fires
Loma Prieta, CA 1989
KGO-TV News ABC-7
Earthquake Effects - Tsunamis
1957 Aleutian Tsunami
Photograph Credit: Henry Helbush. Source: National Geophysical Data Center
Earthquake characteristics depend on
1. Stress drop during the slip
2. Total fault displacement
3. Size of slipped area
4. Roughness of the slipping process
5. Fault shape( Normal fault, Reverse fault, Strike slip fault)
6. Proximity of the slipped area to the ground surface
7. Soil condition
Earthquake Waves
Classification
Earthquake Waves
Body Waves Surface Waves
Secondary
Primary Waves Love Waves Raleigh Waves
Waves
Body Waves
Traveling through the interior of the earth, body
waves arrive before the surface waves emitted by an
earthquake. These waves are of a higher frequency than
surface waves.
Primary Waves or P-Waves
These are known as primary waves, push-pull
waves, longitudinal waves, compressional
waves, etc. These waves propagate by longitudinal
or compressive action, which mean that the
ground is alternately compressed and dilated in the
direction of propagation. P waves are the fastest
among the seismic waves and travel as fast as
8 to 13 km per second. Therefore, when an
earthquake occurs, these are the first waves to reach
any seismic station and hence the first to be
recorded. The P waves resemble sound waves
because these too are compressional or longitudinal
waves in nature. Hence, the particles vibrate to and
fro in the direction of propagation (i.e. longitudinal
particle motion). These waves are capable of
traveling through solids, liquids and gases.
Secondary Waves or S-Waves
These are also called shear waves, secondary
waves, transverse waves, etc. Compared to P waves,
these are relatively slow and travel at a rate of 5
to 7 km per second. . These are transverse or shear
waves, which mean that the ground is displaced
perpendicularly to the direction of propagation. In
nature, these are like light waves, i.e., the waves move
perpendicular to the direction of propagation. Hence,
transverse particle motion is characteristic of these
waves. These waves are capable of traveling only
through solids. If the particle motion is parallel to
prominent planes in the medium they are also called
SH waves. On the other hand, if the particle motion
is vertical, they are called SV waves.
Surface Waves
When the vibratory wave energy is propagating near the surface of the earth rather
than deep in the interior, two other types of waves known a Rayleigh and Love waves
can be identified. These are called surface waves because their journey is confined to
the surface layers of the earth only. Surface waves travel through the earth crust and
does not propagate into the interior of earth unlike P or S waves. Surface waves are
the slowest among the seismic waves. Therefore, these are the last to be recorded in
the seismic station at the time of occurrence of the earthquake. They travel at the
rate of 4 to 5 km per second. Complex and elliptical particle motion is
characteristic of these waves. These waves are capable of travelling through solids and
liquids. They are complex in nature and are said to be of two kinds, namely, Raleigh
waves and Love waves.
Recording Earthquakes
The vibratory motion produced during an earthquake
could be measured in terms of displacement, velocity
or acceleration.
The instruments that measure the ground
displacements and are called Seismometers or
Seismographs.
Seismometer/Seismograph
1
7
6 2
5 3
Three components 4
Sensor (1,2,6 &7) A Typical Seismometer/Seismograph
Recorder (3,4&5)
1-String
Timer (Motor rotating the drum) 2-Pendulum Bob
3-Rotating Drum
By varying the characteristics of equipment 4-Chart Paper
one could record displacement, velocity or 5-Pen
acceleration during an earthquake 6-Support
7-Magnet
Invented in 132 A.D. by
the Chinese astronomer
and mathematician
Chang Heng
AC-63 GeoSIG triaxial force- GSR-18
balanced accelerometers GeoSIG 18-bit digitizers
with external GPS
Source: https://schoolworkhelper.net/earthquakes-seismographs-technology/
Want to see how a modern
seismometer work, visit the link below.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJCZua4hvtV/
