Introduction

A series of vibrations induced in Earths crust and its upper mantle known Lithosphere due to sudden release of massive amount of energy i.e. accumulated release of stresses along the geological faults resulting in the generation of destructive seismic waves is called Earthquake or Tremor. Earthquake shaped the human civilization in many ways by destroying cities, emerging islands in the oceans, changing the courses of rivers. In order to discuss about the location of Earthquake on earth surface we should know about HYPOCENTRE or FOCUS and EPICENTRE. The epicentre is the point on the Earth's surface that is directly above the hypocenter or focus, the point where an earthquake or underground explosion originates. Hypocenter is the position where the strain energy stored in the rock is first released, marking the point where the fault begins to rupture. This occurs directly beneath the epicenter, at a distance known as the focal or hypocentral depth.

Figure: Location of Hypocentre & Epicentre of an Earthquake Two fundamentally different but related scales are commonly used to describe earthquakes. The original force or energy of an earthquake is measured on a Magnitude scale, while the intensity of shaking occurring at any given point on the Earth's surface is measured on an Intensity scale Multi-dimensional factors behind the occurrences of Earthquake are mainly Fault movement Volcanic activity Man made Earths solid uppermost layers, divided into some large plates known as Plate Tectonics (we will discuss about tectonics later) are floating and drifting above the Earths hotter fluid core. They usually collide time to time along their boundaries causing failure of frictional resistance among them. Thats why they move from their position releasing a combination of radiated elastic strain seismic waves, frictional heating of the fault surface, and cracking of the rock, thus causing an earthquake. We describe the phenomenon as Fault movement

Another geological cause of earthquake is Volcanic Activity of different volcanoes spread around the lands and ocean beds. Molten rock (magma) stored in reservoirs under volcanoes moves upwards. The movement results in pressure changes in the rock around where the magma has experienced stress. At some point, the rock may break or move causing earthquake. Man made earthquakes are caused due to while Building dams Mining Nuclear explosions Ground improvements Injecting fluids into the ground

Another earthquake is INTRAPLATE EARTHQUAKE which occurs in the interior of a plate tectonic.

Historical Earthquakes of the world & Indian subcontinent

The table below contains the name, location, time, fatalities of the deadliest earthquakes happened all over world [Source: Wikipedia] Name Antioch Date May 21, 526 Location Antioch, Turkey Damghan, Iran Fatalities 240,000 200,000 (est.) Magnitude 7.0 (est.) 7.9 (est.)

Damghan December 22, 856 Ardabil March 22, 893 October 11, 1138 January 23, 1556

Ardabil, Iran

150,000 (est.)

Unknown

Aleppo

Aleppo, Syria

230,000

Unknown

Shaanxi

Shaanxi, China

820,000830,000 (est.)

8.0 (est.)

Genroku

December 31, 1703

Edo, Japan

2,300, for offshore tsunami 10,000

8.2

Lisbon

November 1, Lisbon, Portugal 1755

Estimates range from 8.59.0 (est.) 15,00040,000 to 40,000-60,000 123,000 7.1

Messina

December 28, 1908 December 16, 1920 September 1, 1923 October 6, 1948

Messina, Italy

Haiyuan

NingxiaGansu, China Kant region, Japan Turkmenistan

273,400

7.8

Great Kant Ashgabat

105,385

7.9

110,000

7.3

Tangshan July 28, 1976 Indian Ocean Haiti December 26, 2004 January 12, 2010

Hebei, China

242,769

7.8

Sumatra, Indonesia

230,210+

9.19.3

Haiti

316,000 (est.)

7.0

Hazards of Earthquake
Earthquake is known to be a destructive force of nature. Hazards caused by it are mainly 1) Ground shaking leading to structural damage: Ground shaking is both a hazard created by earthquakes and the trigger for other hazards such as liquefaction and landslides. Ground shaking describes the vibration of the ground during an earthquake. Most earthquake damage results from the shaking caused by seismic waves passing beneath buildings, roads, and other structures

2) Liquefaction of foundation soils: Liquefaction describes the way in which soil liquefies during ground shaking. Liquefaction can undermine the foundations and supports of buildings, bridges, pipelines, and roads, causing them to sink into the ground, collapse or dissolve 3) Tsunami: A tsunami is a large sea wave or series of waves that can be generated by an earthquake. Large tsunamis can completely devastate low-lying coastal areas. Fault movement beneath the seas leads to crustal deformation. The water above the deformed area is displaced from its equilibrium position. This abrupt displacement of water generates large tidal wave i.e. tsunami. 4) Floods caused by the collapse of dam walls: Earthquakes can cause dam walls to crack and eventually collapse, sending raging waters into surrounding areas and causing severe flooding. 5) Falling electricity lines, fire due to gas leaks: Earthquake cause destruction of electrical power station, sub-stations, falling of electrical poles leading to power-cut. Underground gas supply line can be ruptured, hence a single spark can cause fiery inferno. 6) Spreading of magma on the valley of a volcano: Eruption of magma may damage fertile land, fumes and ashes may damage the entire ecosystem of an area. The entire area may not livable for many years. 7) Landslides and rock falls: During an earthquake, large rocks and portions of earth high up in the hills can become dislodged and rapidly roll or slide down into the valleys. 8) Lifeline damage: Aftermath of an earthquake may be severe and last long. Destruction of residence, health care centers, educational institutes, supply line of goods and many more damages lead to unthinkable human sufferings.

Plate tectonics
Plate tectonics is the theory that Earth's outer shell is divided into several plates that drift over the mantle, the rocky inner layer above the core. The plates act like a hard and rigid shell compared to Earth's mantle. This strong outer layer is called the lithosphere. The plates are around 100 km thick and consist of two principal types of material: oceanic crust and continental crust. Where plates meet, their relative motion determines the type of boundary: convergent, divergent, or transform. Earthquakes, volcanic activity, mountainbuilding, and oceanic trench formation occur along the plate boundaries. The lateral relative movement of the plates typically varies from zero to 100 mm annually.

The following tectonic plates currently exist on the Earth's surface with roughly definable boundaries.

Figure: Tectonics plates of Earth Primary plates These seven plates comprise the bulk of the continents and the Pacific Ocean.

African Plate Antarctic Plate Eurasian Plate Indo-Australian Plate North American Plate Pacific Plate South American Plate

Secondary plates These smaller plates are generally not shown on major plate maps with the exception of the Arabian and Indian plates, as they do not comprise significant land area.

Arabian Plate Caribbean Plate Cocos Plate Indian Plate Juan de Fuca Plate Nazca Plate Philippine Sea Plate Scotia Plate

In order to understand tectonic movement we should have clear insight about plate boundaries. Interaction between these plate boundaries is the primary grounds of the major earthquakes. There are 3 primary types of Tectonic Plate boundaries: Divergent boundaries Convergent boundaries Transform boundaries

Divergent boundaries: It is a linear feature that exists between two tectonic plates that are moving away from each other. Divergent boundaries within continents initially produce rifts which produce rift valleys. Over millions of years, tectonic plates may move many hundreds of kilometers away from both sides of a divergent plate boundary.

Figure: Divergent boundaries between the North American and Eurasian Plates Convergent boundaries: Here two or more tectonic plates move toward one another and collide. As a result of pressure, friction, and plate material melting in the mantle, earthquakes

and volcanoes are common near convergent boundaries. When two plates move towards one another, they form either a subduction zone or a continental collision. There are 3 types of convergent boundaries Oceanic-Continental Convergence

Oceanic-Continental Convergence

Continental-Continental Convergence

Transform boundaries: Transform-Fault Boundaries are where two plates are sliding horizontally past one another. These are also known as transform boundaries or more commonly as faults. Transform boundaries end abruptly and are connected on both ends to other faults, ridges, or subduction zones. Most transform faults are hidden in the deep oceans.

Figure: Transform Boundaries (Red lines)

Fault
Fault is a fracture in the rocks of the Earth's crust, where compression or tension forces cause the rocks on the opposite sides of the fracture to be displaced relative to each other. Faults range in length from a few inches to hundreds of miles, and displacement may also range from less than an inch to hundreds of miles along the fracture surface (the fault plane). Energy release associated with rapid movement on active faults is the cause of most earthquakes. Based on direction of slip, faults can be generally categorized as:

Strike-slip faults Dip-slip faults Oblique-slip faults

Strike-slip faults: The fault surface is usually near vertical and the footwall moves either left or right or laterally with very little vertical motion. Strike-slip faults with left-lateral motion are also known as Sinistral faults. Those with right-lateral motion are also known as Dextral faults.

Figure: Strike-slip faults

Dip-slip faults: These 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.

Figure: Deep-slip faults Oblique-slip faults: These types of fault have both a vertical and horizontal component of motion along the fault (Fig. 1). Thus, adjacent points on different sides of the fault have moved up or down and back or forward relative to each other. They are essentially a combination of strike-slip and dip-slip motion.

Figure: Oblique-slip fault In geotechnical engineering a fault often forms a discontinuity (a plane or surface that marks a change in physical or chemical characteristics in a soil or rock mass) that may have a large influence on the mechanical behavior (strength, deformation, etc.) of soil and rock masses in, for example, tunnel, foundation, or slope construction.