An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those that are so weak that they cannot be felt, to those violent enough to propel objects and people into the air, damage critical infrastructure, and wreak destruction across entire cities. The seismic activity of an area is the frequency, type, and size of earthquakes experienced over a particular time. The seismicity at a particular location in the Earth is the average rate of seismic energy release per unit volume. The word tremor is also used for non-earthquake seismic rumbling.
At the Earth's surface, earthquakes manifest themselves by shaking and displacing or disrupting the ground. When the epicenter of a large earthquake is located offshore, the seabed may be displaced sufficiently to cause a tsunami. Earthquakes can also trigger landslides.
In its most general sense, the word earthquake is used to describe any seismic event—whether natural or caused by humans—that generates seismic waves. Earthquakes are caused mostly by rupture of geological faults but also by other events such as volcanic activity, landslides, mine blasts, and nuclear tests. An earthquake's point of initial rupture is called its hypocenter or focus. The epicenter is the point at ground level directly above the hypocenter.
Tectonic earthquakes occur anywhere in the earth where there is sufficient stored elastic strain energy to drive fracture propagation along a fault plane. The sides of a fault move past each other smoothly and aseismically only if there are no irregularities or asperities along the fault surface that increases the frictional resistance. Most fault surfaces do have such asperities, which leads to a form of stick-slip behavior. Once the fault has locked, continued relative motion between the plates leads to increasing stress and, therefore, stored strain energy in the volume around the fault surface.
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.
Ce cours présente les principes du fonctionnement, du dimensionnement et de la conception des structures. L'approche est basée sur une utilisation de la statique graphique et traite en particulier des
L'art des structures propose une découverte du fonctionnement des structures porteuses, telles que les bâtiments, les toitures ou les ponts. Ce cours présente les principes du dimensionnement et les s
An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those that are so weak that they cannot be felt, to those violent enough to propel objects and people into the air, damage critical infrastructure, and wreak destruction across entire cities. The seismic activity of an area is the frequency, type, and size of earthquakes experienced over a particular time.
Seismology (saɪzˈmɒlədʒi,_saɪs-; from Ancient Greek σεισμός (seismós) meaning "earthquake" and -λογία (-logía) meaning "study of") is the scientific study of earthquakes (or generally, quakes) and the propagation of elastic waves through the Earth or other planetary bodies. It also includes studies of earthquake environmental effects such as tsunamis as well as diverse seismic sources such as volcanic, tectonic, glacial, fluvial, oceanic, atmospheric, and artificial processes such as explosions.
Plate tectonics (from the tectonicus, from the τεκτονικός) is the scientific theory that Earth's lithosphere comprises a number of large tectonic plates which have been slowly moving since about 3.4 billion years ago. The model builds on the concept of continental drift, an idea developed during the first decades of the 20th century. Plate tectonics came to be accepted by geoscientists after seafloor spreading was validated in the mid-to-late 1960s.
This course presents the classical and new approaches required to study the source mechanisms of earthquakes, combining theory and observations in a unified methodology, with a key focus on the mechan
Fundamentals of fracture and friction. Numerical methods for models of earthquakes and aseismic slip. Geophysical observations/measurements. Aseismic slip and slow slip events: models and observations
Explores the reconstruction of urban environments post-seismic events, focusing on the Philippines and the development of temporary school buildings.
Explores the challenges of force-based design in seismic engineering, focusing on effective stiffness estimation and the implications for seismic design.
Covers the characteristics of earthquakes, floods, and landslides for Disaster Risk Reduction.
The emergence of new high-performance materials and equipment, as well as advancements in numerical calculation techniques, have allowed base isolation to take its place among the strategies used by e
Research conducted after the 1994 Northridge earthquake in the U.S. and the 1995 Kobe earthquake in Japan led to the development of today's pre-qualified beam-to-column connections for capacity-design
EPFL2022
The seismic activity rate is one of the most significant factors in seismic hazard modeling. Although it is usually estimated from observed seismicity, a complete picture of the possible earthquakes i