Exam 11: Earthquakes

Assuming your S-P interval was 10 seconds and the maximum amplitude of the largest wave on the seismogram was 20 mm, what is the magnitude of this earthquake?

Short-range earthquake predictions are reliable and widely used to get people to safety.

Using the arrival times in this image, determine the S-minus-P interval for this earthquake.

The ________ is a newer scale that measures the total energy released during an earthquake by determining the average amount of slip on the fault, the area of the fault surface that slipped, and the strength of the faulted rock.

Which of the following best describes a seismic gap?

Seiches are dangerous to begin with, but which of the following situations is particularly dangerous during seiche formation?

Which of the following events released more energy?

Chart of the Mercalli Intensity Scale, starting with an intensity of 1 and going up to an intensity of 13. This table is an abridged copy of the Mercalli Intensity Scale.Use the following eyewitness account to determine the damage inflicted by this seismic event: I was driving home when the earthquake hit.It's a good thing I wasn't far from home, because I had to pull over to the side of the road.The entrance to my neighborhood was blocked because of fallen trees and telephone polls.Thank goodness the school was built according to the earthquake codes! Although the school survived with a few cracks in the walls, most of the houses in the neighborhood had significant damage.The bricks from my chimney were all over the driveway.I had to crawl in through a window because I couldn't get the door open.Once I was in, I saw that it was blocked by one of my bookcases that had fallen over.

The New Madrid earthquakes of the early nineteenth century were some of the largest in American history.At their greatest, they caused buildings and bluffs to collapse, caused land subsidence, and displaced parts of the Mississippi River.Could another earthquake of this magnitude happen near New Madrid again? Explain how the earthquake devastation today would compare to that of the early nineteenth century.

As of 2015, what was the strongest earthquake on record, and when did it occur?

Earthquake A is classified as a 3 on the Richter Scale.Earthquake B is classified as a 6.How many times more energy has Earthquake B released than Earthquake A?

What are the two categories of seismic waves?

S waves will not travel through liquids.

There is no theoretical upper limit to the Richter Scale.

The ground shaking produced by large earthquakes is not only ________, but takes a ________ time than shaking produced by slippage along small fault segments.

Monitoring foreshocks has become a reliable indicator for predicting earthquakes.

Approximately how much energy was released in the Mexico City earthquake in 1980?

Liquefaction will ________.

When the entire length of a fault ruptures during a single seismic event, the slip will propagate at a speed of ________ kilometers per second.

Earthquakes with a Richter magnitude less than 2.0 are generally not felt by humans.