EOSC 114 Earthquakes Worksheet 3

Here is a question about earthquake location.

Give it a try…

It is still a little early for skiing, so you and your friends decide you’ll go on a fall seakayaking trip. The plan is to
do the loop from Tofino to the north around Clayoquot Sound.

Fortunately, the weather and sea conditions were useable, so you were able to go around the outside of
Vargas and Flores Islands. You even had some good surfing on the big beach on Vargas. But with the
weather closing in, it was time to head for Hot Springs Cove and the associated pleasures. The hot
springs are soooo good.
Even more so because you haven't bathed in 3 days.

Almost dozing off, you are jolted awake by a rather strong earthquake. Rocks tumble down the slope
across the creek and everyone gets out of the spring, a little nervous that the water temperature might
change. You are also a bit concerned about a possible tsunami. To be safe, you and your friends grab
your camping gear and hike up a nearby ridge to get well above sea level.

As you are hiking, your satellite phone rings. It’s chaos at the Pacific Geoscience Centre in Sydney.
Their computers are down and they need to figure out where the hypocentre (focus) was. They knew you
are an expert so you were the obvious person to call. What kind of fault rupture was it!?! They have to
decide whether or not to issue a tsunami warning! You tell them to issue one (just in case) and then
you’ll get back to them ASAP.

i) Using your map (Figure 1), the data PGC text-messages you (on Figure 1), and the graph (Figure 2),
you have all the information you need to do the initial estimates by hand.
Figure 1: The map which shows the locations of 3 seismic recording stations in the Cascadia region. For
each station, you are given the delay time between the arrival of the P waves and the S waves. The map
also has a distance scale that you can use.
Figure 2: The graph that relates the delay time in P and S-wave speeds to the distance needed to created
that delay.

Use the delay times and the graph to calculate distances. Plot that on the graph to determine
approximately where the earthquake epicentre was.

If you can’t come up with an exact location (where your distances perfectly cross at one point). Why
not? There are a bunch of possible reasons…
 Dashed red line represents where the top of the downgoing plate is about 40 km down'
Black 'toothed' line represents the subduction trench

Hot Springs Cove

1

0 200 400 600 800 1000

Distance (km)
1 Pacific Geoscience Centre Seismograph Station: S-P wave arrival time difference = 18 seconds
2 Ocean Bottom Seismograph Station: S-P wave arrival time difference = 48 seconds
3 Hood River Seismograph Station: S-P wave arrival time difference = 32 seconds
S-P wave arrival time difference = (Swave arrival time) - (P wave arrival time)
i.e., How much longer it took the S waves to arrive than the faster P waves
EOSC 114 Earthquakes Worksheet 3
EOSC 114 Earthquakes Worksheet 3

A few more questions to ponder.

ii) Based on your epicentre location, and thinking about the plate tectonic situation, you might be able to
guesstimate where the earthquake hypocentre is. See Figure 2 (the cross-section below).
Remember there are 3 possible regions for earthquakes in a subduction zone:
• in the overriding plate – in this case the continental plate
• on the megathrust interface (the plate boundary)
• within the downgoing oceanic plate).
Consider the depth that the megathrust can reach (see notes). That depth is marked on the Figure 1 map
(squiggly red line).

Could this have been a megathrust earthquake?

Maybe it had to occur in one of the other 2 regions? Perhaps it could have occurred in 2 of the regions and you
can’t tell which? Does it suggest possible depths (within the overriding lithosphere (so maybe upper 30km
within the downgoing oceanic lithosphere?)?

iii) For this type of plate boundary, and based on your estimated location for the earthquake epicenter, what
type of fault likely released (strike-slip, normal, or thrust)? Justify your answer.

vi) You can use the P-S delay time curve in reverse as well.
For the location you determined by drawing circles… try to estimate the delay time between P and S waves for
these locations:
1. If you were in Vancouver and noticed the P wave, approximately how much time would you have
before the S waves hit?

2. The damaging surface waves may well roll in as the S waves were still shaking (i.e., no noticeable
gap). Nevertheless, in Vancouver, approximately how much time is there between the arrival of the
first S waves and the arrival of the first surface waves? (To do this, use the wave speeds given
in the notes

3. If the focus of a different earthquake was 5 km deep (i.e., pretty shallow) and directly beneath you and your
seismograph, what is the delay time? Do you think you would notice a gap between the P and S wave arrivals?
Why?