It may be noted that when a slip occurs along a fault, the displacement underground may be but slight and may die out before reaching the surface, so that no scarp is formed. In connexion, however, with a seismic disturbance of the first magnitude the superficial features may be markedly affected. Thus, the great Japan earthquake of October 1891—known often as the Mino-Owari earthquake—was connected with the formation or development of a fault which, according to Professor B. Koto, was traced on the surface for a distance of nearly 50 m. and presented in places a scarp with a vertical throw of as much as 20 ft., while probably the maximum displacement underground was very much greater.
Although most earthquakes seem to be of tectonic type, there are some which are evidently connected, directly or indirectly, with volcanic activity (see [Volcano]). Such, it is commonly believed, were the earthquakes which disturbed the Isle of Ischia in 1881 and 1883, and were studied by Professor J. Johnston-Lavis and G. Mercalli. In addition to the tectonic and volcanic types, there are occasional earthquakes of minor importance which may be referred to the collapse of the roof of caverns, or other falls of rock in underground cavities at no great depth. According to Prof. T.J.J. See most earthquakes are due, directly or indirectly, to the explosive action of steam, formed chiefly by the leakage of sea-water through the ocean floor.
Whatever the nature of the impulse which originates the earthquake, it gives rise to a series of waves which are propagated through the earth’s substance and also superficially. In one kind, known as normal or condensational waves, Earthquake waves. or waves of elastic compression, the particles vibrate to and from the centre of disturbance, moving in the direction in which the wave travels, and therefore in a way analogous to the movement of air in a sound-wave. Associated with this type are other waves termed transverse waves, or waves of elastic distortion, in which the particles vibrate across or around the direction in which the wave is propagated. The normal waves result from a temporary change of volume in the medium; the transverse from a change of shape. The distance through which an earth-particle moves from its mean position of rest, whether radially or transversely, is called the amplitude of the wave; whilst the double amplitude, or total distance of movement, to and fro or up and down, like the distance from crest to trough of a water wave, may be regarded as the range of the wave. The period of a wave is the time required for the vibrating particle to complete an oscillation. As the rocks of the earth’s crust are very heterogeneous, the earthquake-waves suffer refraction and reflection as they pass from one rock to another differing in density and elasticity. In this way the waves break up and become much modified in course of transmission, thus introducing great complexity into the phenomena. It is known that the normal waves travel more rapidly than the transverse.
Measurements of the surface speed at which earthquake-waves travel require very accurate time-measurers, and these are not generally available in earthquake-shaken regions. Observations during the Charleston earthquake of 1886 were at that time of exceptional value, since they were made over a large area where standard time was kept. Lines drawn through places around the epicentre at which the shock arrives at the same moment are called coseismal lines. The motion of the wave is to be distinguished from the movement of the vibrating particles. The velocity of the earth-particle is its rate of movement, but this is constantly changing during the vibration, and the rate at which the velocity changes is technically called the acceleration of the particle.
Unfelt movements of the ground are registered in the earthquake records, or seismograms, obtained by the delicate instruments used by modern seismologists. From the study of the records of a great earthquake from a distant source, sometimes termed a teleseismic disturbance, some interesting inferences have been drawn with respect to the constitution of the interior of the earth. The complete record shows two phases of “preliminary tremors” preceding the principal waves. It is believed that while the preliminary tremors pass through the body of the earth, the principal waves travel along or parallel to the surface. Probably the first phase represents condensational, and the second phase distortional, waves. Professor Milne concludes from the speed of the waves at different depths that materials having similar physical properties to those at the surface may extend to a depth of about 30 m., below which they pass into a fairly homogeneous nucleus. From the different rates of propagation of the precursors it has been inferred by R.D. Oldham that below the outer crust, which is probably not everywhere of the same thickness, the earth is of practically uniform character to a depth of about six-tenths of the radius, but the remaining four-tenths may represent a core differing physically and perhaps chemically from the outer part. Oldham also suggests, from his study of oceanic and continental wave-paths, that there is probably a difference in the constitution of the earth beneath oceans and beneath continents.
The surface waves, which are waves of great length and long period and are propagated to great distances with practically a constant velocity, have been regarded as quasi-elastic gravitational waves. Further, in a great earthquake the surface of the ground is sometimes visibly agitated in the epifocal district by undulations which may be responsible for severe superficial damage. (See also for elastic waves [Elasticity], § 89.)
An old classification of earthquake-shocks, traces of which still linger in popular nomenclature, described them as “undulatory,” when the movement of the ground was mainly in a horizontal direction; “subsultory,” when the motion was vertical, like the effect of a normal wave at the epicentre; and “vorticose,” when the movement was rotatory, apparently due to successive impulses in varying directions.
The sounds which are associated with seismic phenomena, often described as subterranean rumbling and roaring, are not without scientific interest, and have been carefully studied by Davison. “Isacoustic lines” are curves drawn through places where the sound is heard by the same percentage of observers. The sound is always low and often inaudible to many.
The refined instruments which are now used by seismologists for determining the elements of earthquake motion and for recording earthquakes from distant origins are described in the article [Seismometer]. These instruments were developed as a consequence of the attention given in modern times to the study of earthquakes in the Far East.
(F. W. R.*)