Earthquake Hazards Program

A

Acceleration/peak acceleration

When you push on the gas pedal in the car or put on the brakes, the car goes faster or slower. When it is changing from one speed to another, it is accelerating (faster) or decelerating (slower). This change from one speed, or velocity, to another is called acceleration. Technically, then, acceleration is how much the velocity changes in a unit time. During an earthquake when the ground is shaking, it also experiences acceleration. The peak acceleration is the largest increase in velocity recorded by a particular station during an earthquake.

Three graphs with the x-axis labelled "Time (s)": the first labelled "Acceleration (cm/s^2)," the second labelled "Velocity (cm/s)," and the third labelled "Displacement (cm)."

Accelerogram

The recording of the acceleration of the ground during an earthquake.

Photo of a black, square device with rounded corners on a green background

Accelerograph

An instrument that records the acceleration of the ground during an earthquake, also commonly called an accelerometer.

Accretionary wedge

Sediments, the top layer of material on a tectonic plate, that accumulate and deform where oceanic and continental plates collide. These sediments are scraped off the top of the downgoing oceanic crustal plate and are appended to the edge of the continental plate.

Photo showing a crack in the brown ground with a mountain in the background.

Active fault

A fault that is likely to have another earthquake sometime in the future. Faults are commonly considered to be active if they have moved one or more times in the last 10,000 years.

Aftershocks

Earthquakes that follow the largest shock of an earthquake sequence. They are smaller than the mainshock and within 1-2 rupture lengths distance from the mainshock. Aftershocks can continue over a period of weeks, months, or years. In general, the larger the mainshock, the larger and more numerous the aftershocks, and the longer they will continue.

Alluvium

Loose gravel, sand, silt, or clay deposited by current or past streams.

Amplification

Shaking levels at a site may be increased, or amplified, by focusing of seismic energy caused by the geometry of the sediment velocity structure, such as basin subsurface topography, or by surface topography.

Amplitude

The size of the wiggles on an earthquake recording.

$A diagram on a white background depicting the tectonic components of a volcanic arc, including the back arc spreading center, back arc convection cell, zone of fractional melting, outer arc trough, outer arc ridge, subducting oceanic lithosphere, and asthenosphere.$

Arc

A chain of volcanoes (volcanic arc) that sometimes forms on the land when an oceanic plate collides with a continental plate and then slides down underneath it (subduction)

Evidence of Fault Creep Along the Hayward Fault

Aseismic

A fault on which no earthquakes have been observed.

Asperity

An area on a fault that is stuck. The earthquake rupture usually begins at an asperity.

A diagram on a blue background showing a slice of the Earth's lithosphere, including continental crust (green), oceanic crust (maroon), asthenosphere (pink), and the upper mantle (yellow).

Asthenosphere

The ductile part of the earth just below the lithosphere, including the upper mantle. The asthenosphere is about 180 km thick.

Photo of a reflection in water with ripples

Attenuation

When you throw a pebble in a pond, it makes waves on the surface that move out from the place where the pebble entered the water. The waves are largest where they are formed and gradually get smaller as they move away. This decrease in size, or amplitude, of the waves is called attenuation. Seismic waves also become attenuated as they move away from the earthquake source.

B

$A diagram on a white background depicting the tectonic components of a volcanic arc, including the back arc spreading center, back arc convection cell, zone of fractional melting, outer arc trough, outer arc ridge, subducting oceanic lithosphere, and asthenosphere.$

Backarc

The region landward of the volcanic chain on the other side from the subduction zone.

Basement

Harder and usually older igneous and metamorphic rocks that underlie the main sedimentary rock sequences (softer and usually younger) of a region and extend downward to the base of the crust.

Bedrock

Relatively hard, solid rock that commonly underlies softer rock, sediment, or soil; a subset of the basement.

Benioff zone

A dipping planar (flat) zone of earthquakes that is produced by the interaction of a downgoing oceanic crustal plate with a continental plate. These earthquakes can be produced by slip along the subduction thrust fault or by slip on faults within the downgoing plate as a result of bending and extension as the plate is pulled into the mantle. Also known as the Wadati-Benioff zone.

Blind thrust fault

A thrust fault that does not rupture all the way up to the surface so there is no evidence of it on the ground. It is "buried" under the uppermost layers of rock in the crust.

wiggly red line across page from left to right

Body wave

A seismic wave that moves through the interior of the earth, as opposed to surface waves that travel near the earth's surface. P and S waves are body waves. Each type of wave shakes the ground in different ways.

A sketch of the thinner crust and thicker mantle. The crust and top portion of the mantle are labelled "Lithosphere "strong'" and the bottom portion of the mantle (bottom) labelled "Asthenosphere "weak.'"

Brittle-ductile boundary

The depth in the crust where the crust changes from being brittle (tending to break) above, to being ductile (tending to bend) below. Most earthquakes occur in the brittle portion of the crust above the brittle-ductile boundary.

C

A diagram with 3 yellow squares with arrows pointing to indicate steps. The first yellow square has all white dots and is labelled "Time 1: pure parent isotope," the second/middle yellow square has half white dots and half green dots (labelled as the daughter isotopes) and is labelled "After 1 half life: 1/2 parent and 1/2 daughter isotope," and the third yellow square has a quarter white dots and three-quarters green dots and is labelled "After 2 half lives: 1/4 parent and 3/4 daughter isotopes."

Carbon 14 age

An absolute age obtained for geologic materials containing bits or pieces of carbon using measurements of the proportion of radioactive carbon (14 C) to daughter carbon (12 C). These dates are independently calibrated with calendar dates. This is used to determine when past earthquakes occurred on a fault.

A diagram showing three stress types on cubes: the first is labelled "tensional stress" with arrows pointed outwards, the second is labelled "compressional stress" with arrows pointed inwards, and the third is labelled "shear stress" with arrows pointed parallel to each other.

Compressional stress

The stress that squeezes something. It is the stress component perpendicular to a given surface, such as a fault plane, that results from forces applied perpendicular to the surface or from remote forces transmitted through the surrounding rock.

Core

The innermost part of the earth. The outer core extends from 2500 to 3500 miles below the earth's surface and is liquid metal. The inner core is the central 500 miles and is solid metal. (See also Earthquake ABC)

Photograph showing cracks from a fault on a pavement road with a group of people standing by a rock outcrop in the background.

Creep/fault creep

Slow, more or less continuous movement occurring on faults due to ongoing tectonic deformation. Faults that are creeping do not tend to have large earthquakes.

Crust

The outermost major layer of the earth, ranging from about 10 to 65 km in thickness worldwide. The uppermost 15-35 km of crust is brittle enough to produce earthquakes.

D

Photo of a deformed rock with folds and cracks, with a rock hammer for scale and labelled "P Gore 1976".

Deformation

A change in the original shape of a material. When we are talking about earthquakes, deformation is due to stress and strain.

A diagram showing how dip is the angle of a fault from the horizontal surface.

Dip

The angle that a planar geologic surface (for example, a fault) is inclined from the horizontal.

Directivity

An effect of a fault rupturing whereby earthquake ground motion in the direction of rupture propagation is more severe than that in other directions from the earthquake source.

Displacement

The difference between the initial position of a reference point and any later position. The amount any point affected by an earthquake has moved from where it was before the earthquake.

E

Image of graph with seismic waves (squiggles) on it

Earthquake

A term used to describe both sudden slip on a fault AND the ground shaking that occurs from the radiated seismic energy during the slipping event. The sudden slip can be caused by stress changes in the earth or volcanic/magmatic activity.

Map of the United States with color gradient showing seismic hazard with the highest hazard being concentrated on the west coast in red.

Earthquake hazard

Anything associated with an earthquake that may affect the normal activities of people. This includes surface faulting, ground shaking, landslide, liquefaction, tectonic deformation, tsunamis, and seiches.

Earthquake risk

The probable building damage, and number of people that are expected to be hurt or killed if a likely earthquake on a particular fault occurs. Earthquake risk and earthquake hazard are occasionally incorrectly used interchangeably.

Epicenter

The point on the earth's surface vertically above the hypocenter (or focus), point in the crust where a seismic rupture begins.

F

Fault

A fracture along which the blocks of crust on either side have moved relative to one another parallel to the fracture.

Photo of a rock outcrop with cracks with a pen placed for scale

Fault gouge

Crushed and ground-up rock produced by friction between the two sides when a fault moves.

Fault plane

The planar (flat) surface along which there is slip during an earthquake.

Fault scarp

The feature on the surface of the earth that looks like a step caused by slip on the fault.

Fault trace

The intersection of a fault with the ground surface; also, the line commonly plotted on geologic maps to represent a fault.

First motion

On a seismogram, the first motion is the direction of ground motion as the P wave arrives at the seismometer. Upward ground motion indicates an expansion in the source region; downward motion indicates a contraction.

Focal depth

The depth of an earthquake hypocenter.

5 diagrams of stereonets for reverse, normal, strike-slip, low-angle reverse, and oblique faults.

Focal mechanism solution/fault plane solution

A way of showing the fault and the direction of slip on it from an earthquake, using circles with two intersecting curves that look like beach balls. Also called a focal-mechanism solution. See also moment tensor

$A diagram on a white background depicting the tectonic components of a volcanic arc, including the back arc spreading center, back arc convection cell, zone of fractional melting, outer arc trough, outer arc ridge, subducting oceanic lithosphere, and asthenosphere.$

Forearc

The region between the subduction zone and the volcanic chain (volcanic arc).

Seismic record with red, blue, and black waves. The largest seismic wave is labelled "Main shock," the second largest is labelled "Aftershock," and the third largest is labelled "foreshock.""

Foreshocks

Relatively smaller earthquakes that precede the largest earthquake in a series, which is termed the mainshock. Not all mainshocks have foreshocks.

Frequency

The number of times something happens in a certain period of time, such as the ground shaking up and down or back and forth during an earthquake.

G

Drawing of Isaac Newton sitting on a hill under an apple tree

G or g

The acceleration of gravity 9.8 (m/s2) or the strength of the gravitational field (N/kg) (which it turns out is equivalent). When acceleration acts on a physical body, the body experiences the acceleration as a force. The force we are most experienced with is the force of gravity, which causes us to have weight. The equation for the force of gravity is F = mg, at the surface of the earth, or F = GMm/r2 at a distance r from the center of the earth (where r is greater than the radius of the earth). G is the proportionality constant 6.67x10-11 (N-m2/kg2) in Newton's law of gravity. When there is an earthquake, the forces caused by the shaking can be measured as a percentage of gravity, or percent g. For example: The shaking at a particular location is measured as an acceleration of 11 feet per second, or 11*12*2.54 cm/sec/sec = 335 cm/sec/sec. The acceleration due to gravity is 980 cm/sec/sec, so the measured shaking is 335/980, or 0.34 g. As a percentage, this is 34% g.

Photo of a snowy area with an instrument placed on the ground. The instrument looks like a small pyramid on top of a tripod.

Geodesy/geodetic

The science of determining the size and shape of the earth and the precise location of points on its surface. / The use of geodesy for measurements.

Geologic time scale

A chronological sequence of geologic events usually represented in the form of a chart showing names of various rock layers and indicating the estimated duration of each geologic unit.

Photo of mountains in Zion Canyon with trees in the foreground

Geology

The study of the planet earth- the materials it is made of, the processes that act on those materials, the products formed, and the history of the planet and its life forms since its origin.

Geomorphology

The study of the character and origin of landforms, such as mountains, valleys, etc.

Photo of GPS site with a white instrument on a white tripod and a solar panel

Geophysics

The branch of earth science which employs physical measurements and mathematical models to explore and analyze the structure and dynamics of the solid Earth and similar bodies and their fluid envelopes.

Photo of a bridge over a valley with a semi-transparent textbox labelled "www.worldweb.com. Photo c Jim Forrest"

Geotechnical

Referring to the use of scientific methods and engineering principles to acquire, interpret, and apply knowledge of earth materials for solving engineering problems.

Graben

A down-dropped block of the earth's crust resulting from extension, or pulling, of the crust.

Gravity

The attraction between two masses, such as the earth and an object on its surface. Commonly referred to as the acceleration of gravity. Changes in the gravity field can be used to infer information about the structure of the earth's lithosphere and upper mantle.

Great circle

The shortest path between two points on the surface of a sphere lies along a great circle.

A photo of an asphalt ground with extensive cracking

Ground failure

A general reference to landslides, liquefaction, lateral spreads, and any other consequence of shaking that affects the stability of the ground.

Ground motion

The movement of the earth's surface from earthquakes or explosions. Ground motion is produced by waves that are generated by sudden slip on a fault or sudden pressure at the explosive source and travel through the earth and along its surface.

H

Cross-section of the ground to show the layers: the top layer is brown with green grass and labelled "Surface," the second layer is green and labelled "Layer 1," the third layer is orange and labelled "Layer 2," and the bottom layer is significantly larger and has a grayscale gradient that gets lighter going downward and is labelled "Half-space."

Halfspace

A mathematical model used to approximate the earth when performing some calculations in seismology. The model is much simpler than the real earth.

Harmonic tremor

Continuous rhythmic earthquakes that can be detected by seismographs. Harmonic tremors often precede or accompany volcanic eruptions.

Plot showing two waves, one with lower frequency labelled 440 Hz and another with higher frequency labelled 880 Hz

Hertz (Hz)

A unit of measurement named in honor of Heinrich Hertz, the German physicist who in 1887 first produced electromagnetic waves. Expresses the frequency in cycles per second; 1 Hz = 1 cycle of rise and fall of a wave per second .

Holocene

The past 10,000 years. It includes most of the time since the end of the most recent ice age. If slip has occurred on a fault during the Holocene, the fault is commonly considered active.

Horst

A horst is found together with a graben in an extensional environment. The graben are the downdropped blocks and the horst are the upthrown blocks that lie next to the graben.

Hypocenter/focus

The point within the earth where an earthquake rupture starts. The epicenter is the point directly above it at the surface of the Earth. Also commonly termed the focus.

I

Example of difference in shaking intensity of two earthquakes

Intensity/Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale (MMI)

A number (written as a Roman numeral) describing the severity of an earthquake in terms of its effects on the earth's surface and on humans and their structures. Several scales exist, but the ones most commonly used in the United States are the Modified Mercalli scale and the Rossi-Forel scale. There are many intensities for an earthquake, depending on where you are, unlike the magnitude, which is one number for each earthquake.

A map of Asia with colored dots. The earthquakes (colored dots) in the middle of the continent are intraplate events. Those near the ocean boundary are at the boundary between two plates (interplate).

Interplate

Pertains to processes between the earth's crustal plates.

Interplate coupling

The ability of a fault between two plates to lock and accumulate stress. Strong interplate coupling means that the fault is locked and capable of accumulating stress, whereas weak coupling means that the fault is unlocked or only capable of accumulating low stress.

Intraplate

Pertains to processes within the plates.

1811-1812 New Madrid Earthquakes Isoseismal Map

Isoseismal (line)

A contour or line on a map bounding points of equal intensity for a particular earthquake.

K

Kinematic

The general movement patterns and directions of the earth's rocks that produce rock deformation.

L

Photo of a hillside with a large amount of landmass sliding down the hill, right next to a town with buildings.

Landslide

A movement of surface material down a slope.

Late Quaternary

Refers informally to the past 0.5-1.0 million years. Faults that have slipped during this time are sometimes considered active.

Lateral spread or flow

Terms referring to landslides that commonly form on gentle slopes and that have rapid fluid-like flow movement, like water.

Graph with scattered dots with a diagonal line going downward from left to right in between the dots

Least-squares fit

When plotting data points on a graph, the least-squares-fit is the line or curve that comes closest to going through all the points.

Block diagram showing the left coastal block moving forward and parallel as the right block moves away

Left-lateral

If you were to stand on the fault and look along its length, this is a type of strike-slip fault where the left block moves toward you and the right block moves away. See also right-lateral.

Photo of a leaning transmission tower being held up by lifeline cables in a wooded area

Lifelines

Structures that are important or critical for a community to function, such as roadways, pipelines, powerlines, sewers, communications, and port facilities.

Photo of sand being ejected through cracks, forming holes along railroad tracks

Liquefaction

A process by which water-saturated sediment temporarily loses strength and acts as a fluid, like when you wiggle your toes in the wet sand near the water at the beach. This effect can be caused by earthquake shaking.

Lithology

The description of rock composition (what it is made of) and texture.

Lithosphere

The outer solid part of the earth, including the crust and uppermost mantle. The lithosphere is about 100 km thick, although its thickness is age dependent (older lithosphere is thicker).The lithosphere below the crust is brittle enough at some locations to produce earthquakes by faulting, such as within a subducted oceanic plate.

Locked fault

A fault that is not slipping because frictional resistance on the fault is greater than the shear stress across the fault (it is stuck). Such faults may store strain for extended periods that is eventually released in an earthquake when frictional resistance is overcome.

Diagram of a figure with a cube form made up of smaller cubes bent into waves and then going straight

Love wave

A surface wave having a horizontal motion that is transverse (or perpendicular) to the direction the wave is traveling.

M

Geologic time scale showing eras, periods, and notable events in terms of millions of years ago

Ma

An abbreviation for one million years ago (Megannum).

Diagram of a mid-ocean ridge showing magnetic polarity progression

Magnetic polarity reversal

A change of the earth's magnetic field to the opposite polarity. This has occurred at irregular intervals during geologic time. Polarity reversals can be preserved in sequences of magnetized rocks and compared with standard polarity-change time scales to estimate geologic ages of the rocks. Rocks created along the oceanic spreading ridges commonly preserve this pattern of polarity reversals as they cool, and this pattern can be used to determine the rate of ocean ridge spreading. The reversal patterns recorded in the rocks are termed sea-floor magnetic lineaments.

Magnitude

A number that characterizes the relative size of an earthquake. Magnitude is based on measurement of the maximum motion recorded by a seismograph. Several scales have been defined, but the most commonly used are (1) local magnitude (ML), commonly referred to as "Richter magnitude", (2) surface-wave magnitude (Ms), (3) body-wave magnitude (Mb), and (4) moment magnitude (Mw). Scales 1-3 have limited range and applicability and do not satisfactorily measure the size of the largest earthquakes. The moment magnitude (Mw) scale, based on the concept of seismic moment, is uniformly applicable to all sizes of earthquakes but is more difficult to compute than the other types. All magnitude scales should yield approximately the same value for any given earthquake.

Two fault lines with circles showing their aftershocks

Mainshock

The largest earthquake in a sequence, sometimes preceded by one or more foreshocks, and almost always followed by many aftershocks.

Mantle

The part of the earth's interior between the metallic outer core and the crust.

Map of the San Francisco Bay Area, California with colored spots showing liquefaction potential

Microzonation

The identification of separate individual areas having different potentials for hazardous earthquake effects.

Moho

The boundary between the crust and the mantle in the earth. This is a depth where seismic waves change velocity and there is also a change in chemical composition. Also termed the Mohorovicic' discontinuity after the Croatian seismologist Andrija Mohorovicic' (1857-1936) who discovered it. The boundary is between 25 and 60 km deep beneath the continents and between 5 and 8 km deep beneath the ocean floor.

Moment tensor

A mathematical representation of the movement on a fault during an earthquake, comprising of nine generalized couples, or nine sets of two vectors. The tensor depends of the source strength and fault orientation. It is often represented with "beach balls" just like the focal mechanism (or fault plane solution).

N

Natural frequency

The frequency at which a particular object or system vibrates when pushed by a single force or impulse, and not influenced by other external forces or by damping. If you hold a slinky by one end and let it hang down and then give it one push up from the bottom, the rate of up-and-down motion is its natural frequency.

cartoon of two blocks of offset earth crust at an angle

Normal fault/dip-slip fault/thrust fault

Normal, or dip-slip, faults are inclined fractures where the blocks have mostly shifted vertically. If the rock mass above an inclined fault moves down, the fault is termed normal, whereas if the rock above the fault moves up, the fault is termed reverse. A thrust fault is a reverse fault with a dip of 45 degrees or less. Oblique-slip faults have significant components of different slip styles.

Normal stress

That stress component perpendicular to a given plane. If you lean against a door after you close it, you are applying normal stress to the door. Normal stress can either be compressional or tensional.

O

Diagram showing an oceanic ridge forming as the lithosphere separates

Oceanic spreading ridge

The fracture zone along the ocean bottom where molten mantle material comes to the surface, thus creating new crust. This fracture can be seen beneath the ocean as a line of ridges that form as molten rock reaches the ocean bottom and solidifies.

Oceanic trench

A linear depression of the sea floor caused by the subduction of one plate under another.

P

Diagram showing P waves (small jolt or light shaking or not felt), S waves (larger jolt or strong shaking), and surface waves (rolling motion))

P wave/compressional wave

A P wave, or compressional wave, is a seismic body wave that shakes the ground back and forth in the same direction and the opposite direction as the direction the wave is moving.

USGS and university geologists standing on trench walls and using ladder to look at and study the wall

Paleoseismicity

Earthquakes recorded geologically, most of them unknown from human descriptions or seismograms. Geologic records of past earthquakes can include faulted layers of sediment and rock, injections of liquefied sand, landslides, abruptly raised or lowered shorelines, and tsunami deposits.

Person in yellow hat sitting on the ground and looking into a green valley with clouds surrounding snow-topped mountains

Pedogenic

Pedogenic means pertaining to processes that add, transfer, transform, or remove soil constituents.

Period

The time interval required for one full cycle of a wave.

World map with different colored outlines to show tectonic plates

Plate tectonics

The theory supported by a wide range of evidence that considers the earth's crust and upper mantle to be composed of several large, thin, relatively rigid plates that move relative to one another. Slip on faults that define the plate boundaries commonly results in earthquakes. Several styles of faults bound the plates, including thrust faults along which plate material is subducted or consumed in the mantle, oceanic spreading ridges along which new crustal material is produced, and transform faults that accommodate horizontal slip (strike slip) between adjoining plates.

Pleistocene

The time period between about 10,000 years before present and about 1,650,000 years before present. As a descriptive term applied to rocks or faults, it marks the period of rock formation or the time of most recent fault slip, respectively. Faults of Pleistocene age may be considered active though their activity rates are commonly lower than younger faults.

Poisson distribution

A probability distribution that characterizes discrete events occurring independently of one another in time.

Q

Photo of ripples in a pond with the reflection of a cloudy sky

Q

The inverse of attenuation. A high Q means a low attenuation.

Quaternary

The geologic time period comprising about the last 1.65 million years.

R

Radiometric

Pertaining to the measurement of geologic time by the analysis of certain radioisotopes in rocks and their known rates of decay.

Rayleigh wave

A seismic surface wave causing the ground to shake in an elliptical motion, with no transverse, or perpendicular, motion.

A stress vs time graph showing fault strength and an offset across fault vs time graph

Recurrence interval/return period

The recurrence interval, or return period, is the average time span between earthquake occurrences on a fault or in a source zone.

Illustration showing a wave reflecting off of the boundary between Rock Type 1 and Rock Type 2

Reflection

The energy or wave from an earthquake that has been returned (reflected) from an boundary between two different materials within the earth, just as a mirror reflects light.

Illustration showing an angled downward vector in two scenarios: The first shows a vector going through Rock Type 1 and then getting a less steep slope in Rock Type 2, meaning the velocity in rock type 2 is greater than velocity in rock type 1; and the second shows a vector going through Rock Type 1 and then getting a more steep slope in Rock Type 2, meaning the velocity in rock type 2 is less than velocity in rock type 1

Refraction

Refraction is (1) the deflection, or bending, of the ray path of a seismic wave caused by its passage from one material to another having different elastic properties. (2) bending of a tsunami wave front owing to variations in the water depth along a coastline.

Regression analysis

A statistical technique applied to data to determine, for predictive purposes, the degree of correlation of a dependent variable with one or more independent variables, in other words, to see if there is a strong or weak cause and effect relationship between to things. See also: least-squares.

Residual

The difference between the measured and predicted values of some quantity.

Richter scale

The Richter magnitude scale was developed in 1935 by Charles F. Richter of the California Institute of Technology as a mathematical device to compare the size of earthquakes. The magnitude of an earthquake is determined from the logarithm of the amplitude of waves recorded by seismographs. Adjustments are included for the variation in the distance between the various seismographs and the epicenter of the earthquakes. On the Richter Scale, magnitude is expressed in whole numbers and decimal fractions. For example, a magnitude 5.3 might be computed for a moderate earthquake, and a strong earthquake might be rated as magnitude 6.3. Because of the logarithmic basis of the scale, each whole number increase in magnitude represents a tenfold increase in measured amplitude; as an estimate of energy, each whole number step in the magnitude scale corresponds to the release of about 31 times more energy than the amount associated with the preceding whole number value.

Block diagram showing the right coastal block moving forward and parallel as the left block moves away

Right-lateral

If you were to stand on the fault and look along its length, this is a type of strike-slip fault where the right block moves toward you and the left block moves away.

Ring of Fire

The "Ring of Fire", also called the Circum-Pacific belt, is the zone of earthquakes surrounding the Pacific Ocean- about 90% of the world's earthquakes occur there. The next most seismic region (5-6% of earthquakes) is the Alpide belt (extends from Mediterranean region, eastward through Turkey, Iran, and northern India.

Rupture front

The instantaneous boundary between the slipping and locked parts of a fault during an earthquake. Rupture in one direction on the fault is referred to as unilateral. Rupture may radiate outward in a circular manner or it may radiate toward the two ends of the fault from an interior point, behavior referred to as bilateral.

Rupture velocity

The speed at which a rupture front moves across the surface of the fault during an earthquake.

S

Diagram of S waves showing a block diagram with equal wave sizes

S wave/shear wave

An S wave, or shear wave, is a seismic body wave that shakes the ground back and forth perpendicular to the direction the wave is moving.

Photo of light gray sand with a dark hole

Sand boil

Sand and water that come out onto the ground surface during an earthquake as a result of liquefaction at shallow depth.

Sea-floor spreading

Sea-floor spreading is what happens at the mid-oceanic ridge where a divergent boundary is causing two plates to move away from one another resulting in spreading of the sea floor. As the plates move apart, new material wells up and cools onto the edge of the plates.

Photo of snowy mountains in the background with pine trees in the foreground

Secular

Refers to long-term changes that take place slowly and imperceptibly. Commonly used to describe changes in elevation, tilt, and stress or strain rates that are related to long-term tectonic deformation. For example, a mountain that is growing is getting taller so slowly that we cannot see it happen, but if we were to measure the elevation one year and then the next, we could see that it has grown taller.

Outline of California showing the line of the San Andreas

Segmentation

The breaking up of a fault along its length into several smaller faults. This can happen as a result of other faults crossing it, topography changes, or bends in the strike of the faults. Segmentation can limit the length of faulting in a single earthquake to some fraction of the total fault length, thus also limiting the size of the earthquake.

Seiche

The sloshing of a closed body of water from earthquake shaking. Swimming pools often have seiches during earthquakes.

Diagram of cross-sections with labelled gaps in the San Andreas Fault

Seismic gap

A section of a fault that has produced earthquakes in the past but is now quiet. For some seismic gaps, no earthquakes have been observed historically, but it is believed that the fault segment is capable of producing earthquakes on some other basis, such as plate-motion information or strain measurements.

Diagram showing a blob shape with a D and an arrow pointing right and a labelled reupture. The height is labelled "W" and the length is "L." The top line is labelled "Surface" and the bottom line is labelled "Base of seismogenic zone"

Seismic moment

A measure of the size of an earthquake based on the area of fault rupture, the average amount of slip, and the force that was required to overcome the friction sticking the rocks together that were offset by faulting. Seismic moment can also be calculated from the amplitude spectra of seismic waves.

Illustration of a person hammering a plate on the ground. The ground has two layers: yellow sediment and gray bedrock. The hammering is creating arrows, one angled down from the point of impact and multiple angled up evenly spaced apart after hitting the bedrock layer.

Seismic refraction

A seismic refraction or seismic reflection line is a set of seismographs usually lined up along the earth's surface to record seismic waves generated by an explosion for the purpose of recording reflections and refractions of these waves from velocity discontinuities within the earth. The data collected can be used to infer the internal structure of the earth.

Seismic wave

An elastic wave generated by an impulse such as an earthquake or an explosion. Seismic waves may travel either along or near the earth's surface (Rayleigh and Love waves) or through the earth's interior (P and S waves).

Map of the central US (Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee) with red lines and red, yellow, and blue circles representing earthquake magnitude

Seismic zone

An area of seismicity probably sharing a common cause. Example: "The New Madrid Seismic Zone."

Seismicity

The geographic and historical distribution of earthquakes.

Seismogenic

Capable of generating earthquakes. The base of the seismogenic zone is the top of the more ductile asthenosphere.

Seismogram

A record written by a seismograph in response to ground motions produced by an earthquake, explosion, or other ground-motion sources.

Black and white side-view photo of Charles Richter looking at a paper on a desk

Seismology

The study of earthquakes and the structure of the earth, by both naturally and artificially generated seismic waves.

Seismometer/seismograph

A seismometer, or seismograph, is an instrument used to detect and record earthquakes. Generally, it consists of a mass attached to a fixed base. During an earthquake, the base moves and the mass does not. The motion of the base with respect to the mass is commonly transformed into an electrical voltage. The electrical voltage is recorded on paper, magnetic tape, or another recording medium. This record is proportional to the motion of the seismometer mass relative to the earth, but it can be mathematically converted to a record of the absolute motion of the ground. Seismograph generally refers to the seismometer and its recording device as a single unit.

Shadow zone

The area of the earth from angular distances of 104 to 140 degrees from a given earthquake that does not receive any direct P waves. The shadow zone results from S waves being stopped entirely by the liquid core and P waves being bent (refracted) by the liquid core.

Shear stress

The stress component parallel to a given surface, such as a fault plane, that results from forces applied parallel to the surface or from remote forces transmitted through the surrounding rock.

Slab

The oceanic crustal plate that underthrusts the continental plate in a subduction zone and is consumed by the earth's mantle.

Photo of a rock outcrop with labelled rake and strike vectors

Slickensides

Polished striated rock surfaces caused by one rock mass moving across another on a fault.

Slip

The relative displacement of formerly adjacent points on opposite sides of a fault, measured on the fault surface.

Slip model

A kinematic model that describes the amount, distribution, and timing of slip associated with an earthquake.

Slip rate

How fast the two sides of a fault are slipping relative to one another, as determined from geodetic measurements, from offset man-made structures, or from offset geologic features whose age can be estimated. It is measured parallel to the predominant slip direction or estimated from the vertical or horizontal offset of geologic markers.

Soil

Soil is (1) In engineering, all unconsolidated material above bedrock. (2) In soil science, naturally occurring layers of mineral and (or) organic constituents that differ from the underlying parent material in their physical, chemical, mineralogical, and morphological character because of pedogenic processes (3) In other words, dirt.

Soil profile

The vertical arrangement of layers of soil down to the bedrock.

Source

The term for the released forces that generate acoustic or seismic waves, also called the earthquake source.

Graph with 'Period (s)' on the x-axis and 'Spectral Acceleration (g)' on the y-axis. There are several lines plotted in different colors: 'Rock Att. Relationship' in red, 'Soil Att. Relationship' in blue, and 'EQ Moquegua record' in green.

Spectral acceleration (SA)

PGA (peak acceleration) is what is experienced by a particle on the ground. SA (spectral acceleration) is approximately what is experienced by a building, as modeled by a particle on a massless vertical rod having the same natural period of vibration as the building.

Spectrum

A curve showing amplitude and phase as a function of frequency or period, or how much of each type of shaking there is from an earthquake.

Bell curve with red in the middle, green in the opposite middle layers, and blue in the opposite outside layers

Standard deviation

How much a set of data is different from the curve it should make when plotted on a graph. Or, the square root of the average of the squares of deviations about the mean of a set of data. Standard deviation is a statistical measure of spread or variability.

Photo of L-shaped equipment standing on tan gravel and in front of a tree.

Station

The place where a geophysical instrument is located.

Block with a mass of 'm' being pulled by a spring at a velocity of 'v'

Stick-slip

The fast movement that occurs between two sides of a fault when the two sides of the fault become unstuck. The rock becomes distorted, or bent, but holds its position until the earthquake occurs. When the rock snaps back into an unstrained position it is called elastic rebound. Stick-slip displacement on a fault radiates energy in the form of seismic waves, creating an earthquake.

Two figures: The one on the left has black circles in a 6x6 grid and labelled "Fixed dot size. Fixed dot spacing". The other has black circles scattered and is labelled "1st Order Stochastic. Fixed dot size. Variable dot spacing".

Stochastic

A term applied to processes that have random characteristics.

Strain

The small changes in length and volume associated with deformation of the earth by tectonic stresses or by the passage of seismic waves.

Strain rate

How fast the lithosphere is being deformed from plate tectonic movement.

Stress

The force per unit area acting on a plane within a body. Six values are required to characterize completely the stress at a point: three normal components and three shear components.

Stress drop

The difference between the stress across a fault before and after an earthquake.

Strike

The trend or bearing, relative to north, of the line defined by the intersection of a planar geologic surface (for example, a fault or a bed) and a horizontal surface such as the ground.

Strike-slip fault

A vertical (or nearly vertical) fracture where the blocks have mostly moved horizontally. If the block opposite an observer looking across the fault moves to the right, the slip style is termed right lateral; if the block moves to the left, the motion is termed left lateral.

Photo of large house with damage and debris on the ground

Strong motion

Ground motion of sufficient amplitude and duration to be potentially damaging to a building or other structure.

Block diagram showing the Juan de Fuca Plate being subducted under the North America Plate and creating the Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Hood volcanoes.

Subduction

The process of the oceanic lithosphere colliding with and descending beneath the continental lithosphere.

Subduction zone

The place where two lithospheric plates come together, one riding over the other. Most volcanoes on land occur parallel to and inland from the boundary between the two plates.

Photo of a large crack of tan, sandy-looking ground viewed from a window

Surface faulting

Displacement that reaches the earth's surface during slip along a fault. Commonly occurs with shallow earthquakes, those with an epicenter less than 20 km. Surface faulting also may accompany aseismic creep or natural or man-induced subsidence.

Block diagram showing equal waves throughout

Surface wave

A seismic wave that is trapped near the surface of the earth.

T

Tectonic

Refers to rock-deforming processes and resulting structures that occur over large sections of the lithosphere.

Tectonic plates

The large, thin, relatively rigid plates that move relative to one another on the outer surface of the Earth.

Globe with blue ocean and green continents. A red triangle is labelled "Seismograph Station" with a yellow star labelled "Local Earthquake" a bit south, both in California. There is another yellow star in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean labelled "Teleseismic Earthquake".

Teleseismic

Pertains to earthquakes at distances greater than 1,000 km from the measurement site.

Tensional stress

The stress that tends to pull something apart. It is the stress component perpendicular to a given surface, such as a fault plane, that results from forces applied perpendicular to the surface or from remote forces transmitted through the surrounding rock.

Graph with "Time (sec)" on the x-axis and "Component" on the y-axis. The components as listed on the y-axis are Z, N, E, Z, N, E. The top three are blue and the bottom three are green. The plots present in squiggly waves

Time history

The sequence of values of any time-varying quantity (such as a ground motion measurement) measured at a set of fixed times. Also termed time series.

Map of the west coast of the United States showing the tectonic setting

Transform fault

A special variety of strike-slip fault that accommodates relative horizontal slip between other tectonic elements, such as oceanic crustal plates. Often extend from oceanic ridges.

Graph with "Distance (Kilometers)" on the x-axis and "Time (Seconds)" on the y-axis with 3 lines plotted. The steepest line is labelled "S-Wave", the middle line is labelled "P-Wave", and the shallowest line is labelled "S-P".

Traveltime curve

A graph of arrival times, commonly P or S waves, recorded at different points as a function of distance from the seismic source. Seismic velocities within the earth can be computed from the slopes of the resulting curves.

Diagram of a right triangle representing land and a blue sqiggly line representing a sea wave

Tsunami

A sea wave of local or distant origin that results from large-scale seafloor displacements associated with large earthquakes, major submarine slides, or exploding volcanic islands.

Tsunami magnitude (Mt)

The tsunami magnitude, or Mt, is a number used to compare sizes of tsunamis generated by different earthquakes and calculated from the logarithm of the maximum amplitude of the tsunami wave measured by a tide gauge distant from the tsunami source.

Picture showing 3 stages of a tsunami forming and growing

Tsunamigenic

Refers to those earthquakes, commonly along major subduction zone plate boundaries such as those bordering the Pacific Ocean, that can generate tsunamis.

Photo of gray rock outcrop with horizontal cracks and layers

Turbidites

Sea-bottom deposits formed by massive slope failures. Rivers flowing into the ocean deposit sediments on the continenal shelf and slope. These slopes fail in response to excessive sedimentation load and sometimes earthquake shaking, sending the sediments sliding down to the ocean bottom to create a turbidite. Carbon dating of turbidites has been shown to provide a good method to determine the date of very old earthquakes.

V

Velocity

How fast a point on the ground is shaking as a result of an earthquake.

Velocity structure

A generalized regional model of the earth's crust that represents crustal structure using layers having different assumed seismic velocities.

W

Wavefront

The instantaneous boundary between the seismic waves in the earth material, and the material that the seismic energy has not yet reached.

Wavelength

The distance between successive points of equal amplitude and phase on a wave (for example, crest to crest or trough to trough).

Y

A figure with text titled "Years before present (YBP)". The text is: "Formation of Earth: 4.6x10^9 YBP. Dinosaur extinction: 6.5x10^7 YBP. First hominids: 2x10^6 YBP. Last great ice age: 1x10^4 YBP. Declaration of Independence: 2x10^2 YBP. Establishment of UWB: 1x10 YBP."

YBP

Abbreviation for "years before present".