Richter magnitude scale

The earthquake struck at a shallow depth of 5kms and was measured at 6.1 on the Richter scale, this disaster affected the majority of the southern island and the base of the northern island of New Zealand, showing the dramatic proportion of the damage that occurred. The city of Christchurch however was the hardest hit and the surrounding area which covered 1,426 square kilometres. Approximately 100,000 buildings were damaged from the earthquake and roughly 10,000 buildings had to be knocked down. The cause of the serious damage in city was the process of liquefaction. Over thousands of years, sediment was deposited in the Christchurch area, the top layer of this sediment hardens and dries, making it seem like a good spot to build on. Underneath this hard layer however, was underlying layers that consisted of silt and sand mixed…

The design of this report is to show the is to show the written report of an earthquake occurring either on the San Andreas Fault Line or the Hayward Fault Line. Designing bridges and seeing if the bridge that was built to survive an earthquake with the magnitude of 5.0-8.0 for Hayward and for San Andreas 5.0-9.0 the power of these earthquakes have the power to destroy lots of things at once. Some earthquakes are not noticeable but it 's the fact that earthquakes are so powerful that it can go…

Bak argues that mass extinction is an inherent property of a species, and is not the result of external factors such as a large natural disaster, since they are complex systems. Punctuated equilibrium is a manifestation of the self-organized critical state in biological evolution. For long periods of time, it appears that evolution is not occurring, simply because the system is in the critical state. This intermittent stage is dominated by the Red Queen Effect, where it takes all of the…

Earthquakes in the state of California occur almost on a daily basis; these earthquakes are often not felt because of its low magnitude, but it is still recorded. However, Californians have experienced destructive earthquakes dating back to January 9, 1857 (Morrison). This earthquake occurred in Fort Tejon with a magnitude of 7.9 (Morrison). The damage, however, was not as devastating due to the minimal houses that were built in that area. In 1906, an earthquake so catastrophic that till today…

Oklahoma County has not been really active. Before the earthquake swarm started in the Jones area, there was only 7 earthquakes per year in Oklahoma County. But, since the Jones swarm started, there are a few hundred earthquakes per year. And, since January 2009, eastern Oklahoma County has been shaking off and on. Most of the quakes are around Jones, Oklahoma. The Oklahoma Geological Survey was interested in the 10,000 percent increase in seismic activity. Austin Holland, a seismologist for the…

1.1 Introduction to Landslide A landslide is a geological phenomenon, which includes a wide range of ground movements, such as deep or shallow failure slopes and rock falls. See figure 1.1. 1.1.1 Factors influence Landslides Landslides occur when the stability of the slope turns from the stable state to unstable state. Most of the Landslides usually cause depend on two main factors: (i) Natural Factors and (ii) Anthropogenic Factors. (USSG, 2004) (i) Natural Factors (a) Geological…

have never thought of becoming a seismologist, it something I would want to learn more about. A seismologist studies seismic waves, energy waves caused by rock suddenly breaking apart within the earth or slipping of tectonic plates. There are many ways that scientists are able to study seismic ways and earthquakes. The first way is when seismologist analyze the damaged cause by an earthquake and then study it using a seismograph. The seismograph will tell the scientists the strength and the…

Many of those who live in central Italy near L’Aquila were greatly impacted by the 6.3 magnitude earthquake that shook the entire town and surrounding areas in 2009. After this, many of the residents in these areas took comfort in the idea that it happened once, and it wouldn 't happen again. But when houses began to shake at 3:36 A.M. on August 24th, 2016 disaster struck once again. Though this earthquake was not as large as the previous one, the magnitude 6.2 was followed by almost 200…

Many theories are suspected of being the cause of the fall of these civilizations. When comparing the political, social and economic effects that led to the fall of these civilizations, there are many similarities and differences. Agriculture may have been the cause because it had much impact on these empires. Some experts say that the drying up of the Saraswati River may have been the main cause of the fall of the Indus Valley. Others experts say there may have been a flood in the…

The Alaskan way Viaduct will collapse if an earthquake happens, but that earthquake will take many steps. These steps will got through the layers of the earth. The layers are stacked on top of eachother, like the liquids in the “Density Column lab”. The layers are inner core, outer core, mesosphere, asthenosphere, and lithosphere(upper rigid mantle, continental crust, and oceanic crust). The earth's compositional layers are inner core, outer core, mantle, and crust. The inner core radiates…