Section 4.
2 Ground Rupture
Earthquake cracks and fissures swallowing houses and similar structures? One have probably seen or heard these
scenes from folktakes, fiction books and movies. Can these things happen? Many of these accounts do not give us an
accurate picture of what really happens when the ground ruptures during an earthquake. Earthquake occurs occur by
sudden motion along the lithospheric breaks called faults.
Faults – is a breaks, fracture fissure or zone of weakness where movement or displacement had occur or may occur
it again. It may extends hundreds of kilometer across earth surface and tens of kilometer downward.
Earth quake generators
Active faults- is a fault that has moved within the last 10,000 years. It shows evidence documented history of its
recent movement.
A trench- is the highest portion on the floor. It a manifestation of subduction zone where a tectonic plate move or is
a pushed under tectonic plate.
Types of Fault
Normal Fault- geologic fault in which the hanging wall has moved downward relative to the footwall. Normal fault
occurs where two blocks of rock are pulled apart, as by tension.
Thrust or Reverse – Geologic fault in which the hanging wall has moved upward relative to the footwall. Reverse
faults occur where two blocks of rock are forced together by compression.
Strike-slip Fault- A fault in which surfaces on opposite sides of the fault plane moved horizontally and parallel to the
strike of the fault.
How Ground Rupture Form?
The lithosphere breaks when its strength is overcome by the large amount of stress applied. This Breaking happens
in much the same way a piece of rocks does when struck hard enough with a hammer an earthquake is generated
when a fault moves, as its fractional resistance could not match the large amount of accumulated stress related to
plate motion.
There are various factors which the general nature and character of faulting, some of these factors are specifically
more relevant to the assessment of the ground rupture hazard. These determines how long ground ruptures, and
whether deformation is limited along the narrow fault trace or effects a wider zone. These factors include the type
of fault movement and inclination of the fault plane. The type of faulting partly depends on the steepness of the
fault plane. Thrust Fault are more gently inclined and therefore rupture propagation toward surface is made more
difficult by gravity and the load of the overlying rocks.
Liquefaction
iquefaction
Liquefaction occurs when waterlogged sediments are agitated by seismic shaking. This separates the
grains from each other, reducing their load bearing capacity. Buildings and other structures can sink down
into the ground or tilt over, whilst underground pipes and tanks may rise up to the surface.
When the vibrations stop the sediments settle down again, squeezing groundwater out of fissures and
holes in the ground to cause flooding. The aftermath of liquefaction can leave large areas covered in a
deep layer of mud.
Gas pressure build up in a container is always a dangerous thing. Do you recall what happens when opening a
bottle of champagne that has been shaken? The same build up of pressure happens in a cars fuel tank when the
volatile compounds of gasoline vaporize due to too much shaking caused by the motion od a car. The process of
liquefaction turns the ground into a material with quicksand-like consistency, messing up extensive areas including
many cities, farmlands and fishponds and places where roads, bridges and pipelines run through
How Does liquefaction Occur?
When the grounds shakes, some areas especially those made up of wet fine sand are subjected to liquefaction.
Types of Liquefaction Features
Understanding How Liquefaction may be destructive led to the development of appropriate remedial measures and
development of affordable technologies. These are the following:
1. Flow Failures – It is considered as the most dangerous type of ground failure due to liquefaction, This
occurs on liquefiable slope material with steepness greater than 3 degrees. Blocks of overlying material
slide down so fast (as much as 10 kms/hr. ) that these distance tens of kilometers from the source.
2. Lateral spreads – Blocks or the broken pieces of the flat or very gentle ground ( less than 3 degrees) above
a liquefied zone move laterally.
3. Ground oscillation – Due to the flat or nearly flat slope, the ground is unable to spread and instead
oscillates like a wave (back and forth and up and down) Water and wet sand are ejected through the
fissures that form conical-shape mounds of sand are ejected through the fissures that form a conical-
shaped mounds of sand at the surface
4. Loss of Bearing Strength- Loss strength of sediments resulting in titling of houses and floating of
buoyant structures that are anchored on the liquefied zone.