EARTHQUAKES HAZARDS NOTES BY

MATUTU H

LECTURE

13.05.24

What are the Effects of

Earthquakes?
By Earthquake Hazards Program

earthquakes hazards include ground shaking, surface

faulting, ground failure, and less commonly, tsunamis.

Ground Shaking
Ground shaking is a term used to describe the vibration of the ground
during an earthquake. Ground shaking is caused by body waves and surface
waves. As a generalization, the severity of ground shaking increases
as magnitude increases and decreases as distance from the causative fault
increases. Although the physics of seismic waves is complex, ground
shaking can be explained in terms of body waves, compressional, or P, and
shear, or S, and surface waves, Rayleigh and Love.

P waves propagate through the Earth with a speed of about 15,000 miles
per hour and are the first waves to cause vibration of a building. S waves
arrive next and cause a structure to vibrate from side to side. They are the
most damaging waves, because buildings are more easily damaged from
horizontal motion than from vertical motion. The P and S waves mainly
cause high-frequency vibrations; whereas, Rayleigh waves and Love waves,
which arrive last, mainly cause low-frequency vibrations. Body and surface
waves cause the ground, and consequently a building, to vibrate in a
complex manner. The objective of earthquake resistant design is to
construct a building so that it can withstand the ground shaking caused by
body and surface waves.

In land-use zoning and earthquake resistant design, knowledge of the

amplitude, frequency composition, and the time duration of ground shaking
is needed. These quantities can be determined from empirical (observed)
data correlating them with the magnitude and the distribution of Modified
Mercalli intensity of the earthquake, distance of the building from the
causative fault, and the physical properties of the soil and rock underlying
the building. The subjective numerical value of the Modified Mercalli
Intensity Scale indicates the effects of ground shaking on man, buildings,
and the surface of the Earth.

When a fault ruptures, seismic waves are propagated in all directions,

causing the ground to vibrate at frequencies ranging from about 0.1 to 30
Hertz. Buildings vibrate as a consequence of the ground shaking; damage
takes place if the building cannot withstand these vibrations. Compressional
waves and shear waves mainly cause high-frequency (greater than 1 Hertz)
vibrations which are more efficient than low-frequency waves in causing low
buildings to vibrate. Rayleigh and Love waves mainly cause low-frequency
vibrations which are more efficient than high-frequency waves in causing
tall buildings to vibrate. Because amplitudes of low-frequency vibrations
decay less rapidly than high-frequency vibrations as distance from the fault
increases, tall buildings located at relatively great distances (60 miles) from
a fault are sometimes damaged.

Taken from: Hays, W.W., ed., 1981, Facing Geologic and Hydrologic
Hazards -- Earth Science Considerations: U.S. Geological Survey
Professional Paper 1240B, 108 p.
Surface Faulting
Surface faulting is the differential movement of the two sides of a fracture
at the Earth's surface and can be strike-slip, normal, and reverse (or thrust).
Combinations of the strike-slip type and the other two types of faulting can
be found. Although displacements of these kinds can result
from landslides and other shallow processes, surface faulting, as the term is
used here, applies to differential movements caused by deep-seated forces
in the Earth, the slow movement of sedimentary deposits toward the Gulf of
Mexico, and faulting associated with salt domes.

Death and injuries from surface faulting are very unlikely, but casualties
can occur indirectly through fault damage to structures. Surface faulting, in
the case of a strike-slip fault, generally affects a long narrow zone whose
total area is small compared with the total area affected by ground shaking.
Nevertheless, the damage to structures located in the fault zone can be very
high, especially where the land use is intensive. A variety of structures have
been damaged by surface faulting, including houses, apartments,
commercial buildings, nursing homes, railroads, highways, tunnels, bridges,
canals, storm drains, water wells, and water, gas, and sewer lines. Damage
to these types of structures has ranged from minor to very severe. An
example of severe damage occurred in 1952 when three railroad tunnels
were so badly damaged by faulting that traffic on a major rail linking
northern and southern California was stopped for 25 days despite an
around-the-clock repair schedule.

The displacements, lengths, and widths of surface fault ruptures show a

wide range. Fault displacements in the United States have ranged from a
fraction of an inch to more than 20 feet of differential movement. As
expected, the severity of potential damage increases as the size of the
displacement increases. The lengths of the surface fault ruptures on land
have ranged from less than 1 mile to more than 200 miles. Most fault
displacement is confined to a narrow zone ranging from 6 to 1,000 feet in
width, but separate subsidiary fault ruptures may occur 2 to 3 miles from
the main fault. The area subject to disruption by surface faulting varies with
the length and width of the rupture zone.
Taken from: Hays, W.W., ed., 1981, Facing Geologic and Hydrologic
Hazards --Earth Science Considerations: U.S. Geological Survey
Professional Paper 1240B, 108 p.

Ground Failure
Liquefaction Induced

Liquefaction is not a type of ground failure; it is a physical process that

takes place during some earthquakes that may lead to ground failure. As a
consequence of liquefaction, clay-free soil deposits, primarily sands and
silts, temporarily lose strength and behave as viscous fluids rather than as
solids. Liquefaction takes place when seismic shear waves pass through a
saturated granular soil layer, distort its granular structure, and cause some
of the void spaces to collapse. Disruptions to the soil generated by these
collapses cause transfer of the ground-shaking load from grain-to-grain
contacts in the soil layer to the pore water. This transfer of load increases
pressure in the pore water, either causing drainage to occur or, if drainage
is restricted, a sudden buildup of pore-water pressure. When the pore-water
pressure rises to about the pressure caused by the weight of the column of
soil, the granular soil layer behaves like a fluid rather than like a solid for a
short period. In this condition, deformations can occur easily.

Liquefaction is restricted to certain geologic and hydrologic environments,

mainly areas where sands and silts were deposited in the last 10,000 years
and where ground water is within 30 feet of the surface. Generally, the
younger and looser the sediment and the higher the water table, the more
susceptible a soil is to liquefaction.

Liquefaction causes three types of ground failure: lateral spreads, flow

failures, and loss of bearing strength. In addition, liquefaction enhances
ground settlement and sometimes generates sand boils (fountains of water
and sediment emanating from the pressurized liquefied zone). Sand
boils can cause local flooding and the deposition or accumulation of silt.

Lateral Spreads - Lateral spreads involve the lateral movement of large

blocks of soil as a result of liquefaction in a subsurface layer. Movement
takes place in response to the ground shaking generated by an earthquake.
Lateral spreads generally develop on gentle slopes, most commonly on
those between 0.3 and 3 degrees. Horizontal movements on lateral spreads
commonly are as much as 10 to 15 feet, but, where slopes are particularly
favorable and the duration of ground shaking is long, lateral movement may
be as much as 100 to 150 feet. Lateral spreads usually break up internally,
forming numerous fissures and scarps.

Damage caused by lateral spreads is seldom catastrophic, but it is usually

disruptive. For example, during the 1964 Prince William Sound, Alaska,
earthquake, more than 200 bridges were damaged or destroyed by lateral
spreading of flood-plain deposits toward river channels. These spreading
deposits compressed bridges over the channels, buckled decks, thrust
sedimentary beds over abutments, and shifted and tilted abutments and
piers.

Lateral spreads are destructive particularly to pipelines. In 1906, a number

of major pipeline breaks occurred in the city of San Francisco during the
earthquake because of lateral spreading. Breaks of water mains hampered
efforts to fight the fire that ignited during the earthquake. Thus, rather
inconspicuous ground-failure displacements of less than 7 feet were largely
responsible for the devastation to San Francisco in 1906.

Flow Failures

Flow failures, consisting of liquefied soil or blocks of intact material riding

on a layer of liquefied soil, are the most catastrophic type of ground failure
caused by liquefaction. These failures commonly move several tens of feet
and, if geometric conditions permit, several tens of miles. Flows travel at
velocities as great as many tens of miles per hour. Flow failures usually
form in loose saturated sands or silts on slopes greater than 3 degrees.

Flow failures can originate either underwater or on land. Many of the

largest and most damaging flow failures have taken place underwater in
coastal areas. For example, submarine flow failures carried away large
sections of port facilities at Seward, Whittier, and Valdez, Alaska, during the
1964 Prince William Sound earthquake. These flow failures, in turn,
generated large sea waves that overran parts of the coastal area, causing
additional damage and casualties. Flow failures on land have been
catastrophic, especially in other countries. For example, the 1920 Kansu,
China, earthquake induced several flow failures as much as 1 mile in length
and breadth, killing an estimated 200,000 people.

Loss of Bearing Strength - When the soil supporting a building or some

other structure liquefies and loses strength, large deformations can occur
within the soil, allowing the structure to settle and tip. The most
spectacular example of bearing-strength failures took place during the 1964
Niigata, Japan, earthquake. During that event, several four-story buildings
of the Kwangishicho apartment complex tipped as much as 60 degrees.
Most of the buildings were later jacked back into an upright position,
underpinned with piles, and reused.

Soils that liquefied at Niigata typify the general subsurface geometry

required for liquefaction-caused bearing failures: a layer of saturated,
cohesionless soil (sand or silt) extending from near the ground surface to a
depth of about the width of the building.

Taken from: Hays, W.W., ed., 1981, Facing Geologic and Hydrologic
Hazards -- Earth Science Considerations: U.S. Geological Survey
Professional Paper 1240B, 108 p.

Landslides

Past experience has shown that several types of landslides take place in
conjunction with earthquakes. The most abundant types of earthquake
induced landslides are rock falls and slides of rock fragments that form on
steep slopes. Shallow debris slides forming on steep slopes and soil and
rock slumps and block slides forming on moderate to steep slopes also take
place, but they are less abundant. Reactivation of dormant slumps or block
slides by earthquakes is rare.

Large earthquake-induced rock avalanches, soil avalanches, and

underwater landslides can be very destructive. Rock avalanches originate
on over-steepened slopes in weak rocks. One of the most spectacular
examples occurred during the 1970 Peruvian earthquake when a single rock
avalanche killed more than 18,000 people; a similar, but less spectacular,
failure in the 1959 Hebgen Lake, Montana, earthquake resulted in 26
deaths. Soil avalanches occur in some weakly cemented fine-grained
materials, such as loess, that form steep stable slopes under non-seismic
conditions. Many loess slopes failed during the New Madrid, Missouri,
earthquakes of 1811-12. Underwater landslides commonly involve the
margins of deltas where many port facilities are located. The failures at
Seward, Alaska, during the 1964 earthquake are an example.

The size of the area affected by earthquake-induced landslides depends on

the magnitude of the earthquake, its focal depth, the topography and
geologic conditions near the causative fault, and
the amplitude, frequency composition, and duration of ground shaking. In
past earthquakes, landslides have been abundant in some areas having
intensities of ground shaking as low as VI on the Modified Mercalli Intensity
Scale.

Taken from: Hays, W.W., ed., 1981, Facing Geologic and Hydrologic
Hazards -- Earth Science Considerations: U.S. Geological Survey
Professional Paper 1240B, 108 p.

Tsunamis
Tsunamis are water waves that are caused by sudden vertical movement of
a large area of the sea floor during an undersea earthquake. Tsunamis are
often called tidal waves, but this term is a misnomer. Unlike regular ocean
tides, tsunamis are not caused by the tidal action of the Moon and Sun. The
height of a tsunami in the deep ocean is typically about 1 foot, but the
distance between wave crests can be very long, more than 60 miles. The
speed at which the tsunami travels decreases as water depth decreases. In
the mid-Pacific, where the water depths reach 3 miles, tsunami speeds can
be more than 430 miles per hour. As tsunamis reach shallow water around
islands or on a continental shelf; the height of the waves increases many
times, sometimes reaching as much as 80 feet. The great distance between
wave crests prevents tsunamis from dissipating energy as a breaking surf;
instead, tsunamis cause water levels to rise rapidly along coast lines.
Tsunamis and earthquake ground shaking differ in their destructive
characteristics. Ground shaking causes destruction mainly in the vicinity of
the causative fault, but tsunamis cause destruction both locally and at very
distant locations from the area of tsunami generation.