Preview

Effects of Earthquake

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
611 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Effects of Earthquake
Effects of earthquakes
Shaking and ground rupture
Shaking and ground rupture are the main effects created by earthquakes, principally resulting in more or less severe damage to buildings and other rigid structures. The severity of the local effects depends on the complex combination of the earthquake magnitude, the distance from the epicenter, and the local geological and geomorphological conditions, which may amplify or reduce wave propagation.[44] The ground-shaking is measured by ground acceleration.
Specific local geological, geomorphological, and geostructural features can induce high levels of shaking on the ground surface even from low-intensity earthquakes. This effect is called site or local amplification. It is principally due to the transfer of the seismic motion from hard deep soils to soft superficial soils and to effects of seismic energy focalization owing to typical geometrical setting of the deposits.
Ground rupture is a visible breaking and displacement of the Earth's surface along the trace of the fault, which may be of the order of several metres in the case of major earthquakes. Ground rupture is a major risk for large engineering structures such as dams, bridges and nuclear power stations and requires careful mapping of existing faults to identify any which are likely to break the ground surface within the life of the structure.[45
Fires
Earthquakes can cause fires by damaging electrical power or gas lines. In the event of water mains rupturing and a loss of pressure, it may also become difficult to stop the spread of a fire once it has started. For example, more deaths in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake were caused by fire than by the earthquake itself.[47]
Soil liquefaction
Soil liquefaction occurs when, because of the shaking, water-saturated granular material (such as sand) temporarily loses its strength and transforms from a solid to a liquid. Soil liquefaction may cause rigid structures, like buildings and bridges, to tilt or

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    There are many ways human activity can trigger earthquakes. In the 1930s for example, the construction of Hoover Dam in Arizona unleashed a burst of seismic activity in the vicinity that reached a magnitude of 5 on the Richter scale. Geothermal- energy projects have been known to make the ground shake. This process involves pumping pressurised water a mile into the Earth, then sucking up the…

    • 800 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Earth Quake

    • 334 Words
    • 2 Pages

    An earthquake, one of the most destructive natural disaster, consists of rapid vibrations of rock near the surface of the earth. It is the most terrifying of all natural disasters and has brought fear since ancient times because of its sudden unpredictable occurrence and enormous capacity of destruction. Earthquakes can effect earth, people, and property in everyday lives.…

    • 334 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Earthquake Hazards occur when there are adverse effects on human activities. This can include surface faulting, ground shaking and liquefaction. In this essay I will be discussing the factors that affect earthquakes, whether human such as population density, urbanisation and earthquake mitigation or physical such as liquefaction, magnitude, landslides and proximity to the focus.…

    • 958 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Earthquake Shaker

    • 787 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The points in the lithosphere of Earth where fracturing originates are called foci. In other words, foci are the points at which energy-release takes place. Foci are also termed as hypocenters. Large fractures inside the Earth’s crust are called faults. Typically, news reports talk about epicenters when they are reporting an Earthquake. As large fractures inside Earth’s crust begin to shift, there is a release of energy inside Earth, right at the displacement (focus) point. An epicenter is nothing but the point on the surface of Earth that lies directly over the focus.…

    • 787 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Earthquakes are started at the Earth’s crust. Our planet is made up of different plates which float on a layer of molten material or magma much like potato chips would float on top of a bowl of water. Scientists believe there could be as many as 12 plates that make up Earth’s crust. These plates move freely like bumper cars: pulling away from each other, moving side to side or laterally, and even smashing into each other. The proof behind plate tectonics lies in mountain ranges and island chains like the Hawaiian Islands, both are products of plate tectonics. Earthquakes originate from plate boundaries called faults. The tension and movement between the conflicting faults is what causes the shock waves referred to as an earthquake. When the pressure between two conflicting plates is too much for the rock material to support, they can shift or break dramatically. The exact underground point where this occurs is the focus. Many people are familiar with the above ground version of the focus called the epicenter. When the plates…

    • 1188 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    2010 Haiti Earthquake

    • 1495 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Earthquakes are caused by tectonic plates shifting in the earth’s crust. The plates are large rock masses that cover earth’s surface and are constantly moving, either together or away from each other. When they move, they cause tremors in the crust, known as an earthquake. Earthquake magnitude is measured by the Richter scale, based on logarithms, where a quake measured at 3 is ten times worse than a quake measured at 2. The scale has no roof limit, so it can measure any quake regardless of how big it was (Adams).…

    • 1495 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Sc300 Unit 4 Assignment

    • 1655 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Of all the naturally occurring events on Earth, earthquakes are among the most devastating and bring a lot of truth to the statement, “Just because something is natural does not mean it is not dangerous.” Earthquakes are one of the most natural things I can think of that can cause massive damage and loss of human live in many instances, and the effects are sometimes long term. “Nothing happens without a force. Many geophysicists accept the theory that continents move as a result of the forces generated by mantel convection deep within Earth – motions driven by our planet’s internal heat energy” (Trefil & Hazen, 2010). According to National Geographic (1996-2012), constant movement in the tectonic plates that make up the Earth’s crust causes an earthquake. The constant nature of this movement causes a buildup of energy, which is stored in rocks at fault lines. The stored energy is eventually released and a sudden, rapid shaking of the Earth is the result. “An Earthquake is what happens when two blocks of the earth suddenly slip past one another” (Wald, 2009). An event cannot be more natural than the Earth itself actually causing it.…

    • 1655 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The seismic waves cause the initial effect of ground shaking. The severity of this will depend upon the nature of the event such as the…

    • 2230 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The first thing earthquakes effects is earth. When two continental plates meet, earthquakes are happening, volcano eruptions and mountain formation caused by continental plates. Earthquakes cause the ground to shake and creates cracks and holes in the ground. They can also make trees and other objects in the wild or nature, fall and crash into the ground. Soil in the ground can change or liquefy because of earthquakes.…

    • 306 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Earthquakes in Los Angeles, California can be devastating to people, cities, and the landscape. Earthquakes can cause millions if not billions of dollars of damage in only a matter of a few minutes. The more populated the area where the earthquake strikes or the earthquakes epicenter, the more the disaster can occur. Buildings are constructed to an earthquake code, but that does not mean there can be no damage to them. Brick faces can fall, windows can shatter, and structures can become unsafe. Bridges can buckle and with that their support beams and vital components can ultimately fall down to the ground in a pile of twisted steel. Water and sewage pipes can rupture filling buildings with water and poisonous…

    • 746 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are many horrible things that come with have to take care of the after math of earthquakes. Even through earthquakes usually are not the direct causes of death and injure people they do cause buildings to fall and falling building and pieces of buildings hurt and kill people. Many people have been killed and injured by buildings due earthquakes and the amount of money it costs to repair the damage is very pricey as…

    • 799 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Earthquakes are caused by forces deep within the Earth when two blocks of the earth suddenly slip past one another.…

    • 790 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Earthquakes And Logarithms

    • 1027 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Earthquakes are responsible for a wast majority of natural hazards on our planet. This natural geological phenomena are almost impossible to predict, and they occur usually in zones of the planet that are prone to movement in the uppermost crust of the earth. Certain areas are more likely to experience earthquakes, and also the aftermath of the earthquakes can be just as destructive or sometimes even more. Different methods of measuring earthquakes have been implemented to make understand its magnitude and potential destructive habits. One method of measuring the magbnitudes is by implementing mathematics and logarithms, the Richter scale was developed by Charles F richter to measure the size of an earthquake, I will…

    • 1027 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Earthquake

    • 498 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Earthquakes kill a lot. The reason why people die from it is because of the buildings. If you live in a downtown area and the ground suddenly starts to…

    • 498 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Most earthquakes are causally related to compressional or tensional stresses built up at the margins of the huge moving lithospheric plates that make up the earth's surface . The immediate cause of most shallow earthquakes is the sudden release of stress along a fault, or fracture in the earth's crust, resulting in movement of the opposing blocks of rock past one another. These movements cause vibrations to pass through and around the earth in wave form, just as ripples are generated when a pebble is dropped into water. Volcanic eruptions, rockfalls, landslides, and explosions can also cause a quake, but most of these are of only local extent. Shock waves from a powerful earthquake can trigger smaller earthquakes in a distant location hundreds of miles away if the geologic conditions are favorable.…

    • 2097 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics