Earthquake Flashcards
episode of ground shaking caused by rock failure
Earthquake
parts of an earthquake
fault, epicenter, focus
smaller earthquakes, shortly before mainshock, near the mainshock
Foreshock
major earthquake
Mainshock
smaller earthquakes, days to years after mainshock, same general area with the mainshock
Aftershock
earthquake energy form that travels through rock and sediment
Seismic waves
parts of a seismic waves
amplitude, crest, period, wavelength, trough
travels through the Earth
Body Wave
first to arrive at station; compressional; solid, liquid, gas
P-Wave/Primary Wave
After P-Wave; shear; solid only
S-Wave/Secondary Wave
movement parallel to wave direction
Compressional
movement perpendicular to wave direction
Shear
travels along Earth’s surface
Surface Wave
parallel to surface, perpendicular to wave direction; side to side motion
Love Waves
near surface, circular motion: forward down, back up
Rayleigh Waves
instrument that records the seismic waves
Seismograph
record of seismic waves
Seismogram
measures amount of ground motion; assigned a numerical size to each earthquake
Richter scale
measures amount of ground motion; directly related to the physical properties of the faulting that causes an earthquake
Moment magnitude scale
measures severity of damage; may vary with location depending on damage assessment and shaking perception
Mercalli intensity scale
