EPS 80 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Hayward Fault Zone, Mercalli Intensity Scale, Elastic Energy

• School: Berkeley
• Department: Earth And Planetary Science
• Course: EPS 80
• Professor: Hassler Scott

Document Summary

A sudden shaking motion of the ground. Caused by the propagation of energy - as seismic waves - through the earth. Drill a well into the rock layer that have oil/gas. Pump high pressure fluid into them causing it to fracture the rock to get oil and gas out. In the process, a lot of water comes out and water is pumped back down into ground. Pumping wastewater down into ground lubricates faults, making faults move. Advantage: producing more natural gas, cleaning fossil fuel than coal. Noise in concerts could cause earthquakes as well. Earthquakes could be triggered by sound waves that "fluidize" faults. Earthquakes may be triggered by sound waves that reduce the friction between rocks at a geological fault. These vibrations affect the small grains of rock at the interface between two plates at a fault. A. subduction zone earthquakes: japan - along plate boundary, spreading along dipping plate.