Misplaced Pages

#493506

45-589: An east-west planar seismic zone associated with the Ryukyu Trench occurs off the east coast of Taiwan. This seismic zone is continuous laterally for 50 km and to 150 km depth. The hypocenters of earthquakes at this location outline a Wadati–Benioff zone indicating that the Philippine Sea plate is subducting at an angle of about 45° beneath the Eurasian plate in this area; the dip of

90-505: A mantle of silicates, surrounding a core of iron. In 1906 Richard Dixon Oldham identified the separate arrival of P waves , S-waves and surface waves on seismograms and found the first clear evidence that the Earth has a central core. In 1909, Andrija Mohorovičić , one of the founders of modern seismology, discovered and defined the Mohorovičić discontinuity . Usually referred to as

135-399: A month after the event. The first observations of normal modes were made in the 1960s as the advent of higher fidelity instruments coincided with two of the largest earthquakes of the 20th century the 1960 Valdivia earthquake and the 1964 Alaska earthquake . Since then, the normal modes of the Earth have given us some of the strongest constraints on the deep structure of the Earth. One of

180-412: A near-surface explosion, and are much weaker for deep earthquake sources. Both body and surface waves are traveling waves; however, large earthquakes can also make the entire Earth "ring" like a resonant bell. This ringing is a mixture of normal modes with discrete frequencies and periods of approximately an hour or shorter. Normal mode motion caused by a very large earthquake can be observed for up to

225-453: A particular location within a particular time-span, and they are routinely used in earthquake engineering . Public controversy over earthquake prediction erupted after Italian authorities indicted six seismologists and one government official for manslaughter in connection with a magnitude 6.3 earthquake in L'Aquila, Italy on April 5, 2009 . A report in Nature stated that the indictment

270-399: A region on a map for which a common areal rate of seismicity is assumed for the purpose of calculating probabilistic ground motions. An obsolete definition is a region on a map in which a common level of seismic design is required. A type of seismic zone is a Wadati–Benioff zone which corresponds with the down-going slab in a subduction zone. The world's greatest seismic belt, known as

315-518: A special meeting in L'Aquila the week before the earthquake occurred, scientists and officials were more interested in pacifying the population than providing adequate information about earthquake risk and preparedness. In locations where a historical record exists it may be used to estimate the timing, location and magnitude of future seismic events. There are several interpretative factors to consider. The epicentres or foci and magnitudes of historical earthquakes are subject to interpretation meaning it

360-569: A very short time frame in a seismic cycle . Engineering seismology is the study and application of seismology for engineering purposes. It generally applied to the branch of seismology that deals with the assessment of the seismic hazard of a site or region for the purposes of earthquake engineering. It is, therefore, a link between earth science and civil engineering . There are two principal components of engineering seismology. Firstly, studying earthquake history (e.g. historical and instrumental catalogs of seismicity) and tectonics to assess

405-574: Is paleoseismology . A recording of Earth motion as a function of time, created by a seismograph is called a seismogram . A seismologist is a scientist works in basic or applied seismology. Scholarly interest in earthquakes can be traced back to antiquity. Early speculations on the natural causes of earthquakes were included in the writings of Thales of Miletus ( c.  585 BCE ), Anaximenes of Miletus ( c.  550 BCE ), Aristotle ( c.  340 BCE ), and Zhang Heng (132 CE). In 132 CE, Zhang Heng of China's Han dynasty designed

450-538: Is called a seismograph . Networks of seismographs continuously record ground motions around the world to facilitate the monitoring and analysis of global earthquakes and other sources of seismic activity. Rapid location of earthquakes makes tsunami warnings possible because seismic waves travel considerably faster than tsunami waves. Seismometers also record signals from non-earthquake sources ranging from explosions (nuclear and chemical), to local noise from wind or anthropogenic activities, to incessant signals generated at

495-461: Is more gentle, reaching only 40-50° at 70 km depth. Ocean bottom seismography studies of the Ryukyu trench provide insight into the P wave velocity structure of the area. In the northern part of the trench, several transects have been studied, including a profile of the back arc region parallel to the trench, a transect spanning the trench, fore arc and back arc region, and a transect spanning

SECTION 10

#1732775705494

540-413: Is possible that 5–6 Mw earthquakes described in the historical record could be larger events occurring elsewhere that were felt moderately in the populated areas that produced written records. Documentation in the historic period may be sparse or incomplete, and not give a full picture of the geographic scope of an earthquake, or the historical record may only have earthquake records spanning a few centuries,

585-573: Is the scientific study of earthquakes (or generally, quakes ) and the generation and propagation of elastic waves through the Earth or other planetary bodies . It also includes studies of earthquake environmental effects such as tsunamis as well as diverse seismic sources such as volcanic, tectonic, glacial, fluvial , oceanic microseism , atmospheric, and artificial processes such as explosions and human activities . A related field that uses geology to infer information regarding past earthquakes

630-576: The Circum-Pacific seismic belt, is where a majority of the Earth's quakes occur. Approximately 81% of major earthquakes occur along this belt. The Circum-Pacific seismic belt has earned its own nickname and is often referred to as the Ring of Fire , a ring-like formation that encompasses a majority of the Pacific Ocean . The Notorious San Andreas Fault , responsible for many major quakes in

675-454: The VAN method . Most seismologists do not believe that a system to provide timely warnings for individual earthquakes has yet been developed, and many believe that such a system would be unlikely to give useful warning of impending seismic events. However, more general forecasts routinely predict seismic hazard . Such forecasts estimate the probability of an earthquake of a particular size affecting

720-583: The Wadati–Benioff zone constrain the dip angle of the Philippine Sea plate along the Ryukyu trench. In the Northern part of the Ryukyu trench, the dip of the Philippine Sea plate is shallow at shallow depth, reaching only about 11° in the first 50 km, and steeper at deeper depths, reaching 70° below about 70 km. In contrast, the slab dip in the central and southern parts of the Ryukyu trench

765-818: The West Coast of the United States , lies within the Circum-Pacific Seismic Belt or Ring of Fire. [REDACTED]  This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Geological Survey . This seismology article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Seismology Seismology ( / s aɪ z ˈ m ɒ l ə dʒ i , s aɪ s -/ ; from Ancient Greek σεισμός ( seismós ) meaning " earthquake " and -λογία ( -logía ) meaning "study of")

810-518: The "Moho discontinuity" or the " Moho ," it is the boundary between the Earth 's crust and the mantle . It is defined by the distinct change in velocity of seismological waves as they pass through changing densities of rock. In 1910, after studying the April 1906 San Francisco earthquake , Harry Fielding Reid put forward the " elastic rebound theory " which remains the foundation for modern tectonic studies. The development of this theory depended on

855-438: The Ryukyu volcanic arc. The transect perpendicular to the length of the trench images many distinct velocity layers. The sedimentary wedge created by subduction has four distinct layers with p-wave velocities of 1.8 km/s, 2.8-2.9 km/s, 3.5 km/s, and 4.5–5 km/s. In the area of this transect, the wedge reaches a thickness of 9 km at 50 km from the trench. Beneath the wedge are several seismic layers within

900-635: The Yilan Plain sits on the forearc side of the Ryukyu Trench system. This may indicate that the Yilan Plain represents a former spreading centre that sits trench-ward of the current spreading centre and volcanic arc. Near 122°E (about 100 km East of the Taiwan Coast), the Ryukyu Arc is displaced to the north relative to the eastern extent of the arc. One hypothesis is that a north trending dextral transform faults has displaced this section of

945-480: The arc to the north. A competing hypothesis claims that no transform fault motion is involved in the displacement, but rather the trench is continuous up to the northeast continental margin of Taiwan. A third hypothesis maintains that the trench is continuous through the continental margin right up to the northeastern Taiwan coastline, also without the existence of a dextral north–south trending fault. Ocean bottom seismography methods combined with earthquake studies of

SECTION 20

#1732775705494

990-607: The behaviour and causation of earthquakes. The earliest responses include work by John Bevis (1757) and John Michell (1761). Michell determined that earthquakes originate within the Earth and were waves of movement caused by "shifting masses of rock miles below the surface". In response to a series of earthquakes near Comrie in Scotland in 1839, a committee was formed in the United Kingdom in order to produce better detection methods for earthquakes. The outcome of this

1035-542: The considerable progress of earlier independent streams of work on the behavior of elastic materials and in mathematics. An early scientific study of aftershocks from a destructive earthquake came after the January 1920 Xalapa earthquake . An 80 kg (180 lb) Wiechert seismograph was brought to the Mexican city of Xalapa by rail after the earthquake. The instrument was deployed to record its aftershocks. Data from

1080-512: The earth to a resolution of several hundred kilometers. This has enabled scientists to identify convection cells and other large-scale features such as the large low-shear-velocity provinces near the core–mantle boundary . Forecasting a probable timing, location, magnitude and other important features of a forthcoming seismic event is called earthquake prediction . Various attempts have been made by seismologists and others to create effective systems for precise earthquake predictions, including

1125-456: The first attempts at the scientific study of earthquakes followed the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. Other notable earthquakes that spurred major advancements in the science of seismology include the 1857 Basilicata earthquake , the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, the 1964 Alaska earthquake , the 2004 Sumatra-Andaman earthquake , and the 2011 Great East Japan earthquake . Seismic waves produced by explosions or vibrating controlled sources are one of

1170-586: The first known seismoscope . In the 17th century, Athanasius Kircher argued that earthquakes were caused by the movement of fire within a system of channels inside the Earth. Martin Lister (1638–1712) and Nicolas Lemery (1645–1715) proposed that earthquakes were caused by chemical explosions within the Earth. The Lisbon earthquake of 1755 , coinciding with the general flowering of science in Europe , set in motion intensified scientific attempts to understand

1215-415: The first waves to appear on a seismogram as they are the fastest moving waves through solids. S-waves are transverse waves that move perpendicular to the direction of propagation. S-waves are slower than P-waves. Therefore, they appear later than P-waves on a seismogram. Fluids cannot support transverse elastic waves because of their low shear strength, so S-waves only travel in solids. Surface waves are

1260-477: The foundation of modern instrumental seismology and carried out seismological experiments using explosives. He is also responsible for coining the word "seismology." In 1889 Ernst von Rebeur-Paschwitz recorded the first teleseismic earthquake signal (an earthquake in Japan recorded at Pottsdam Germany). In 1897, Emil Wiechert 's theoretical calculations led him to conclude that the Earth's interior consists of

1305-432: The global seismographic monitoring has been for the detection and study of nuclear testing . Because seismic waves commonly propagate efficiently as they interact with the internal structure of the Earth, they provide high-resolution noninvasive methods for studying the planet's interior. One of the earliest important discoveries (suggested by Richard Dixon Oldham in 1906 and definitively shown by Harold Jeffreys in 1926)

1350-406: The interior of the materials; surface waves that travel along surfaces or interfaces between materials; and normal modes , a form of standing wave. There are two types of body waves, pressure waves or primary waves (P-waves) and shear or secondary waves ( S waves ). P-waves are longitudinal waves that involve compression and expansion in the direction that the wave is moving and are always

1395-553: The middle of the trench, and a zone in which the Philippine Plate subducts beneath low P-wave velocity material (Vp = 5 km/s) that coincides with the location of the M w 7.5 1968 Hyuganada earthquake. It has been hypothesized that the above structural heterogeneity, in particular the subducting paleo-arc crust and its associated bathymetric highs, is one reason why earthquakes in this region are not larger i.e. exceeding M w   8.0. The exact mechanism by which

Ryukyu Trench - Misplaced Pages Continue

1440-481: The ocean floor and coasts induced by ocean waves (the global microseism ), to cryospheric events associated with large icebergs and glaciers. Above-ocean meteor strikes with energies as high as 4.2 × 10 J (equivalent to that released by an explosion of ten kilotons of TNT) have been recorded by seismographs, as have a number of industrial accidents and terrorist bombs and events (a field of study referred to as forensic seismology ). A major long-term motivation for

1485-436: The ocean processes responsible for the global background seismic microseism . By the 1960s, Earth science had developed to the point where a comprehensive theory of the causation of seismic events and geodetic motions had come together in the now well-established theory of plate tectonics . Seismic waves are elastic waves that propagate in solid or fluid materials. They can be divided into body waves that travel through

1530-413: The oceanic crust. Separate ocean bottom seismography and multi-channel seismic studies provide insight into the structure of the northern end of the Ryukyu trench region. Features of note include a thick (7–12 km) low velocity (4–5 km/s) zone on the landward side of the trench, the existence of subducting paleo-arc crust near the top of the trench in contrast to simple oceanic crust located at

1575-481: The primary methods of underground exploration in geophysics (in addition to many different electromagnetic methods such as induced polarization and magnetotellurics ). Controlled-source seismology has been used to map salt domes , anticlines and other geologic traps in petroleum -bearing rocks , faults , rock types, and long-buried giant meteor craters . For example, the Chicxulub Crater , which

1620-400: The result of P- and S-waves interacting with the surface of the Earth. These waves are dispersive , meaning that different frequencies have different velocities. The two main surface wave types are Rayleigh waves , which have both compressional and shear motions, and Love waves , which are purely shear. Rayleigh waves result from the interaction of P-waves and vertically polarized S-waves with

1665-416: The seismograph would eventually determine that the mainshock was produced along a shallow crustal fault. In 1926, Harold Jeffreys was the first to claim, based on his study of earthquake waves, that below the mantle, the core of the Earth is liquid. In 1937, Inge Lehmann determined that within Earth's liquid outer core there is a solid inner core . In 1950, Michael S. Longuet-Higgins elucidated

1710-488: The slab changes dramatically from one end of the trench to the other as noted in the next section. Such depth and dip inferences of this area are consistent with the positions of the overlying Tatun and Chilung volcano groups of Taiwan. The region behind (N and NW of) the Ryukyu Arc is a bathymetric low known as the Okinawa Trough . The Yilan Plain of Taiwan could be the westward continuation of this trough, but

1755-417: The subduction of paleo-arc crust prevents sufficient stress build up for a larger earthquake is unknown. 26°20′N 128°40′E  /  26.333°N 128.667°E  / 26.333; 128.667 Seismic zone In seismology , a seismic zone or seismic belt is an area of seismicity potentially sharing a common cause. It can be referred to as an earthquake belt as well. It may also be

1800-476: The surface and can exist in any solid medium. Love waves are formed by horizontally polarized S-waves interacting with the surface, and can only exist if there is a change in the elastic properties with depth in a solid medium, which is always the case in seismological applications. Surface waves travel more slowly than P-waves and S-waves because they are the result of these waves traveling along indirect paths to interact with Earth's surface. Because they travel along

1845-399: The surface of the Earth, their energy decays less rapidly than body waves (1/distance vs. 1/distance ), and thus the shaking caused by surface waves is generally stronger than that of body waves, and the primary surface waves are often thus the largest signals on earthquake seismograms . Surface waves are strongly excited when their source is close to the surface, as in a shallow earthquake or

Ryukyu Trench - Misplaced Pages Continue

1890-591: Was caused by an impact that has been implicated in the extinction of the dinosaurs , was localized to Central America by analyzing ejecta in the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary , and then physically proven to exist using seismic maps from oil exploration . Seismometers are sensors that detect and record the motion of the Earth arising from elastic waves. Seismometers may be deployed at the Earth's surface, in shallow vaults, in boreholes, or underwater . A complete instrument package that records seismic signals

1935-409: Was that the outer core of the earth is liquid. Since S-waves do not pass through liquids, the liquid core causes a "shadow" on the side of the planet opposite the earthquake where no direct S-waves are observed. In addition, P-waves travel much slower through the outer core than the mantle. Processing readings from many seismometers using seismic tomography , seismologists have mapped the mantle of

1980-415: Was the production of one of the first modern seismometers by James David Forbes , first presented in a report by David Milne-Home in 1842. This seismometer was an inverted pendulum, which recorded the measurements of seismic activity through the use of a pencil placed on paper above the pendulum. The designs provided did not prove effective, according to Milne's reports. From 1857, Robert Mallet laid

2025-741: Was widely seen in Italy and abroad as being for failing to predict the earthquake and drew condemnation from the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Geophysical Union . However, the magazine also indicated that the population of Aquila do not consider the failure to predict the earthquake to be the reason for the indictment, but rather the alleged failure of the scientists to evaluate and communicate risk. The indictment claims that, at

#493506