CE 7014 Week1 Intro

Earthquake is a term used to describe both sudden
slip on a fault, and the resulting ground

shaking and radiated seismic energy caused by
the slip.
But people did not know this hundreds of years
ago...
To most ancient or medieval people an earthquake is
an act of God or some other supernatural power as
punishment of misbehavior of mankind.
Mythological causes like movement of a giant
catfish beneath (Japan) named Namazu or a tortoise
(American Indians) were popular...
In 580 BC Thales said Earth floats on a universal

ocean whose storms shock the land
Later in 340 BC Aristotle claimed winds in the
subterranean (underground) caves are the cause of
earthquakes.
People believed that the underground winds and
explosions are the cause until the beginning of 18 th
century. Until...
1755 Lisbon (Portugal) Earthquake (also known
as the Great Lisbon Earthquake): The earthquake
was followed by a tsunami and fires, which caused
near-total destruction of Lisbon and adjoining areas.
The 1755 earthquake strongly influenced the intelligentsia of

the European Age of Enlightenment. After this event,
earthquakes were studied more as natural phenomena.
First Revolution in Seismology
Discovery of rock fracture and faults after 1755 Lisbon
earthquake
Lyell (one of the founders of seismology) proposed

that sudden fracture of ground might produce
vibration in 1835.
Whitney (another infamous seismologist) said
tension or compression accumulates , until the
cohesion of materials is no longer capable of resisting
the pressure and the rocks give way, a fissure is
formed and a powerful pulse communicated to the
rocks in 1872.
Until the end of 18th century the

earthquake studies were limited
to visual observation. However,
scientist managed to observe
surface
faulting
after
big
earthquakes such as 1819
Indian, 1857 and 1872 California
and 1891 Japan.
1891
Mino-Ovari
(Japan)
earthquake studied in details by
Japanese
seismologist
Koto
(1893) who discovered 110 km
long fault. He also recognised
that
earthquakes
occur
repetedaly along the same
faults.
At the beginning of 19th
century faults had accepted
as a cause of earthquakes.
Second Revolution in Seismology

Development of Sensitive Seismographs
John Milne said It is not unlikely that every large

earthquake might with proper instrumental appliances,
be recorded at any point on the land in 1893.
Seismographs are
instruments that measure
and record motions of the
ground, including those of
seismic waves generated
by earthquakes, nuclear
explosions, and other
seismic sources.
Although earthquake
recording instruments
are
now
more
sophisticated, the first
earthquake
recorder
was an artistic device
invented by a Chinese
scholar about 132 AC.
Balls were held in
dragon`s
mouths
connected by linkages
to a vertical pendulum.
A seismogram is a
record written by a
seismograph
in
response to ground
motions
Sudden rupture of San

Andreas Fault generated
the great 1906
earthquake. While other
cities or towns suffered
substantial damage , the
title San Francisco
Earthquake was earned
by the ruin (much of it
the result of fire) of that
city.
This is the first properly
studied earthquake in
history. Seismograms,
fault displacement values
and geodetic
measuremets were all
avaliable and showed the
constant displacement
between 1851-1899 on
San Andreas Fault.
That was the first proof that contininous slow displacements can occur
on a fault.
Also, Reid (1910) proposed that whole crust of the earth bent
elastically under the stress until the breaking strength of the rocks was
reached at which point they fractured along the old weak line of the
San Andreas Fault, rebounding to a new position. This concept is called
Elastic Rebound Theory.
Later it will be proved that energy released in an earthquake can be
estimated from the dimensions of the disturbed area and stress
required to break the rock.
Third Revolution in Seismology

Theory of Plate Tectonics
Around 1960 three developments combined to

change seismology again:
Development of high speed digital computer
Large sums of money made avaliable for
seismological research to distinguish between
natural earthquakes and nuclear underground
explosion
Theory of plate tectonics
Using these funds, more than one hundred
seismographs were placed all around the world. The
combination of easily obtained good data, funds for
research and a flood of young scientists resulted in
rapid advances in seismic knowledge.
The observations of similarity between the coastlines and geology of

eastern South America and western Africa and the southern part of India
and northern part of Australia had fascinated scientist since 17 th century.
But the theory known as continental drift was not proposed until early
20th century.
Wegener (1915) proposed

that the earth had only one
large
continent
called
Pangea 200 millions years
ago. He believed that the
Pangea broke into pieces and
slowly
drifted
into
the
present configuration of the
continents.
The
original
theory
of
continental drift suggested
images
of
massive
continents pushing through
the seas and across the
ocean floor. However, the
ocean floor is too strong to
permit such motion so the
theory
was
originally
discredited by most earth
From this background the modern theory of plate tectonics began to

evolve...
The basic hypothesis of plate tectonics is that the earths surface
consists of a number of large intact blocks called plates and these
plates move with respect to each other.
6 continental
sized plates:
African
American
Antartic
Australia-Indian
Eurasian
Pacific
14
subcontinental
plates
The relative
deformation
between plates
occurs only in
narrow zones near
their boundaries.
This deformation of
plates can occur
slowly and
continiously
(aseismic
deformation) or
can occur
periodically in form
of earthquakes
(seismic
deformation).
Since the
deformation
occurs
predominantly at
the boundaries
between the
plates, it would
be expected that
the locations of
earthquakes
would be
concentrated
near the plate
boundaries. Map
of earthquake
epicenters
support this
theory.
Whats wrong in
Turkey?
1999 Earthquakes
Pictures Courtesy of H. Sucuolu and
K.. etin
Picture: Courtesy of H. Sucuolu
Pictures: Courtesy of H. Sucuolu
Lateral Spreading
observed in
Topaktas Village
along Karasu
River
Lateral Spreading...
Lateral Spreading...
Geotechnical factors causing structural failures...
Liquefaction
Haluk Sucuolu
06/30/16
26
Excessive settlements...
Excessive foundation displacements...
Picture: Courtesy of S. Bakr
Landslide on Bolu Viaduct
Picture: Courtesy of H.
Van-Ercis Highway East Lane Slope Failure
Kocaeli Earthquake, 17 August 1999 (Mw=7.4)
Picture: Courtesy of A. Yakut
Van-Erci Earthquake, 23 October 2012 (Mw=7.2)
Picture: Courtesy of A. Erberi
For regular
buildings, use
and enforce
Turkish
Earthquake Code
(2007)
Keep in mind that
that thecurrent
code can be
improved!
The engineering seismologist is the interface between the

earth scientists (geologists and seismologists) and the
earthquake engineers (geotechnical and structural).
Therefore requires background on:

Geology
Seismology
Geotechnical Engineering
Structural Engineering
Statistics
CE 5603
and
CE 5601
CE 7014
CE 7013...
We will focus
on these
two!

CE 7014 Week1 Intro

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CE 7014 Week1 Intro

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Earthquake is a term used to describe both sudden

slip on a fault, and the resulting ground

In 580 BC Thales said Earth floats on a universal

The 1755 earthquake strongly influenced the intelligentsia of

Lyell (one of the founders of seismology) proposed

Until the end of 18th century the

Second Revolution in Seismology

John Milne said It is not unlikely that every large

Sudden rupture of San

Third Revolution in Seismology

Around 1960 three developments combined to

The observations of similarity between the coastlines and geology of

Wegener (1915) proposed

From this background the modern theory of plate tectonics began to

Picture: Courtesy of H. Sucuolu

Pictures: Courtesy of H. Sucuolu

Picture: Courtesy of H. Sucuolu

Picture: Courtesy of H. Sucuolu

Geotechnical factors causing structural failures...

Picture: Courtesy of H. Sucuolu

Picture: Courtesy of H. Sucuolu

Excessive foundation displacements...

Picture: Courtesy of S. Bakr

Landslide on Bolu Viaduct

Van-Ercis Highway East Lane Slope Failure

Kocaeli Earthquake, 17 August 1999 (Mw=7.4)

Picture: Courtesy of A. Yakut

Kocaeli Earthquake, 17 August 1999 (Mw=7.4)

Picture: Courtesy of A. Yakut

Kocaeli Earthquake, 17 August 1999 (Mw=7.4)

Picture: Courtesy of A. Yakut

Van-Erci Earthquake, 23 October 2012 (Mw=7.2)

Picture: Courtesy of A. Erberi

Van-Erci Earthquake, 23 October 2012 (Mw=7.2)

Picture: Courtesy of A. Erberi

Van-Erci Earthquake, 23 October 2012 (Mw=7.2)

Picture: Courtesy of A. Erberi

The engineering seismologist is the interface between the

Therefore requires background on:

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