Earthquake Characteristics
Dana Desonie, Ph.D.
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Printed: November 29, 2012
AUTHOR
Dana Desonie, Ph.D.
www.ck12.org
C ONCEPT
Concept 1. Earthquake Characteristics
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Earthquake Characteristics
• Define earthquakes, and explain how they occur.
Does ground shaking cause the greatest damage in an earthquake?
This photo shows the Mission District of San Francisco burning after the 1906 earthquake. The greatest damage
in earthquakes is often not from the ground shaking but from the effects of that shaking. In this earthquake, the
shaking broke the gas mains and the water pipes so that when the gas caught fire there was no way to put it out.
Do you wonder why the people standing in the street are looking toward the fire rather than running in the opposite
direction?
Earthquake!
An earthquake is sudden ground movement caused by the sudden release of energy stored in rocks. Earthquakes
happen when so much stress builds up in the rocks that the rocks rupture. The energy is transmitted by seismic
waves. Earthquakes can be so small they go completely unnoticed, or so large that it can take years for a region to
recover.
Elastic Rebound Theory
The description of how earthquakes occur is called elastic rebound theory (Figure 1.1).
Elastic rebound theory in an animation: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/animations/animation.php?flash_title=El
astic+Rebound&flash_file=elasticrebound&flash_width=300&flash_height=350.
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FIGURE 1.1
Elastic rebound theory. Stresses build on both sides of a fault, causing the
rocks to deform plastically (Time 2). When the stresses become too great,
the rocks break and end up in a different location (Time 3). This releases
the built up energy and creates an earthquake.
Focus and Epicenter
In an earthquake, the initial point where the rocks rupture in the crust is called the focus. The epicenter is the point
on the land surface that is directly above the focus (Figure 1.2).
FIGURE 1.2
In the vertical cross section of crust, there
are two features labeled - the focus and
the epicenter, which is directly above the
focus.
In about 75% of earthquakes, the focus is in the top 10 to 15 kilometers (6 to 9 miles) of the crust. Shallow
earthquakes cause the most damage because the focus is near where people live. However, it is the epicenter of an
earthquake that is reported by scientists and the media.
Summary
• A sudden release of energy stored in rocks causes an earthquake.
• The focus is where the rocks rupture. The epicenter is the point on the ground directly above the focus.
• Most earthquakes are shallow; these do the most damage.
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Concept 1. Earthquake Characteristics
Practice
Use this resource to answer the questions that follow.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/savageearth/animations/earthquakes/main.html
1. What causes an earthquake?
2. What is the focus?
3. Which waves travel the fastest?
4. Which waves cannot travel through the core?
5. What happens to the waves as distance increases?
Review
1. How does elastic rebound theory describe how an earthquake takes place?
2. Where is an earthquake’s focus? Where is its epicenter?
3. Why do shallow earthquakes cause the most damage?
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