GEOL 106 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: San Andreas Fault, Elastic-Rebound Theory, Elastic Energy

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Geological Sciences and Geological Engineering
• Course: GEOL 106
• Professor: Daniel Layton- Matthews

Document Summary

General approach to risk analysis and risk management: risk analysis. 1) understand the hazard (in general) the first step in a risk analysis of a natural hazard: => movement on faults (look for a shift) Cracks in earth = indicates that there have been movement of rocks. Elastic rebound theory (ground behaves like a stick; if you bend it enough, it breaks) The rigid part of the earth can store elastic energy. > when it breaks, the elastic energy is released. > in both cases, stored energy is released! For a big earthquake, fault motion needs to be only a meter or so. > look for rock/soil layers that have been shifted. There are different types of faults: strike-slip = horizontal motion (ie. san andreas fault, dip-slip = sub-vertical or vertical motion -> results in a fault scrap. Normal dip-slip fault (down-the-ramp); like cars colliding. Rev?erse dip-slip fault (up-the-ramp); like two cars w/ their bumpers stuck, pulling apart.