1 Cosmology and the Earth
2 Journey to the Center of the Earth
3 Drifting Continents and Spreading Seas
4 The Way the Earth Works: Plate Tectonics
5 Patterns in Nature: Minerals
6 Up from the Inferno: Magma and Igneous Rocks
7 A Surface Veneer: Sediments, Soils, and Sedimentary Rocks
8 Metamorphism: A Process of Change
9 The Wrath of Vulcan: Volcanic Eruptions
10 A Violent Pulse: Earthquakes
11 Crags, Cracks, and Crumples: Crustal Deformations and Mountain Building
12 Deep Time: How Old Is Old?
13 A Biography of Earth
14 Squeezing Power from a Stone: Energy Resources
15 Riches in Rock: Mineral Resources
16 Unsafe Ground: Landslides and Other Mass Movements
17 Streams and Floods: The Geology of Running Water
18 Restless Realm: Oceans and Coasts
19 A Hidden Reserve: Groundwater
20 An Envelope of Gas: Earth’s Atmosphere and Climate
21 Dry Regions: The Geology of Deserts
22 Amazing Ice: Glaciers and Ice Ages
23 Global Change in the Earth System
Previous Chapter Chapter Next Chapter

Organize

Learn

Connect

Norton Gradebook

Instructors now have an easy way to collect students’ online quizzes with the Norton Gradebook without flooding their inboxes with e-mails.

Students can track their online quiz scores by setting up their own Student Gradebook.

Chapter 10: A Violent Pulse: Earthquakes

Animations

Reduce Text SizeIncrease Text SizeEmailPrint Page

Click on the links below to view animations created specifically for Earth: Portrait of a Planet. Animations require Macromedia's Flash Plug-in.

View Animation

ANIMATION: Types of Faults

This animation shows the differences between the three types of faults and illustrates how they are formed. View 1 shows a normal fault, View 2 shows a reverse fault, and View 3 shows a strike-slip fault. For more information, see "Faults in the Crust" starting on p. 306 and Figure 10.5 in your textbook.

View Animation

WHAT A GEOLOGIST SEES: Offset Fence Along San Andreas Fault

The photo shows a wooden fence built across the San Andreas Fault. During the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, slip on the fault broke and offset the fence; the displacement of the fence indicates that the fault is strike-slip, as we see no evidence of up or down motion. The amount the fence was offset indicates the displacement on the fault. For more information, see page 308 and Figure 10.6 in your textbook.

View AnimationZoomable Art: Faulting in the Crust

Faults are fractures along which one block of crust slides past another block. Sometimes movement takes place slowly and smoothly, without earthquakes, but other times the movement is sudden, and rocks break as a consequence. For more information, see the Featured Painting on pp.310-11 in your textbook.

View Animation

ANIMATION: Seismic Wave Motion

Seismologists distinguish between different types of seismic waves based on how they move, and whether they travel along the Earth's surface (surface waves) or pass through its interior (body waves). This animation shows two types of body wave motion: View 1 shows shear body waves (also called S-waves) and View 2 shows compressional body waves (P-waves). For more information, see Section 10.3 How Does Earthquake Energy Travel? starting on p. 313 and Figure 10.12 in your textbook.
View Animation

ANIMATION: How a Seismograph Works

Seismologists use two basic configurations of seismographs, one for measuring horizontal ground motion, like the one shown in this animation, and the other for measuring vertical ground motion. Both work on the principle of inertia as described by Newton's law, which states that an object at rest tends to remain at rest unless acted on by an outside force. Thus, during an earthquake, vibrations cause the frame of the seismograph to move. The pendulum apparatus remains fixed as the paper cylinder moves back and forth beneath it. For more information, see "Seismographs and the Record of an Earthquake starting on p. 315 and Figure 10.13 in your textbook.
« Return to Chapter 10 Study Plan