Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
In seismology, the depth of focus or focal depth is the depth at which an earthquake occurs. Earthquakes occurring at a depth of less than 70 km (43 mi) are classified as shallow-focus earthquakes, while those with a focal depth between 70 km (43 mi) and 300 km (190 mi) are commonly termed mid-focus or intermediate-depth earthquakes. [1]
The path of deep-focus earthquake seismic waves from focus to recording station goes through the heterogeneous upper mantle and highly variable crust only once. [3] Therefore, the body waves undergo less attenuation and reverberation than seismic waves from shallow earthquakes, resulting in sharp body wave peaks.
The data for an earthquake is plotted using a lower-hemisphere stereographic projection. The azimuth and take-off angle are used to plot the position of an individual seismic record. The take-off angle is the angle from the vertical of a seismic ray as it emerges from the earthquake focus.
Surface waves are smaller for deep earthquakes, which have less interaction with the surface. For shallow earthquakes – less than roughly 60 km deep – the surface waves are stronger, and may last several minutes; these carry most of the energy of the quake, and cause the most severe damage.
These include the length of the fault, magnitude, the depth of the quake, the distance from the epicentre, the duration (length of the shake cycle), and the geology of the ground (subsurface). Shallow-focused earthquakes generate stronger shaking (acceleration) than intermediate and deep quakes, since the energy is released closer to the ...
Moderately damaging earthquakes strike between New York and Wilmington, Delaware, about twice a century, the USGS said, and smaller earthquakes are felt in the region roughly every two to three years.
The point at which fault slipping begins is referred to as the focus of the earthquake. [8] The fault rupture begins at the focus and then expands along the fault surface. The rupture stops where the stresses become insufficient to continue breaking the fault (because the rocks are stronger) or where the rupture enters ductile material. [8]
The path that a wave takes between the focus and the observation point is often drawn as a ray diagram. Each path is denoted by a set of letters that describe the trajectory and phase through the Earth. In general, an upper case denotes a transmitted wave and a lower case denotes a reflected wave. The two exceptions to this seem to be "g" and "n".