THIS BLOG ATTEMPTS TO SHOW HOW SCIENCE IS CATCHING UP WITH REVEALED RELIGION

THIS BLOG IS AN ATTEMPT TO PUT ALL THE COOL STUFF THAT I BUMP INTO ABOUT THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST AND EVENTS THAT LEAD UP TO IT INTO ONE LOCATION.
THE CONTENTS WILL BE FROM AN LDS PERSPECTIVE. IF YOU DISAGREE WITH ANYTHING IN HERE, I DO NOT PARTICULARLY CARE TO ARGUE, UNLESS YOU CAN ADD TO THIS BODY OF WORK. I HAVE AN OPEN MIND, THAT IS WHY I READ STUFF FROM ALL DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES AND SEEK LEARNING FROM THE BEST BOOKS. I JUST AM NOT HERE TO ARGUE ABOUT IT - BUT TO PUT IT OUT THERE WHERE OTHERS CAN PERUSE/PURSUE IT. I TAKE PARTICULAR INTEREST IN HONEST SEEKERS OF TRUTH AND BELIEVE THAT SCIENCE IS REVEALED RELIGION'S BEST ALLY. YOU WILL SEE ALOT OF TOPICS IN THIS BLOG THAT SHOW SCIENCE BACKING - AND SLOWLY CATCHING UP WITH - REVEALED RELIGION.
ENJOY!!

Friday, May 6, 2016

GROUND MOVEMENT, SAND BLOWS AND GROUND WATER SHOOTING OUT

I have no way to find out the level of Spencer's knowledge of EQ mechanics - but take what you see here times about 100 or 1,000 and you will have what Spencer spoke of.  The monster that lets loose in the Wasatch will do this:

If this was a 6.5, an 8.5 or 9.5 will be off the charts destructive.

Anything larger than an M8.0 (Richter) is hard to accurately measure, because you get large ground movements.  The December 26, 2004 Indonesian EQ saw lateral displacements in the hundreds of feet over long time spans.  So, the idea is to be able to have a scale that quantifies total energy released, instead of just lateral or vertical accelerations.   I agree that our current system is clunky:

How Are Earthquake Magnitudes Measured?
The Richter Scale


Figure 1 - Charles Richter studying a seismogram.

There are a number of ways to measure the magnitude of an earthquake. The first widely-used method, the Richter scale, was developed by Charles F. Richter in 1934. It used a formula based on amplitude of the largest wave recorded on a specific type of seismometer and the distance between the earthquake and the seismometer. That scale was specific to California earthquakes; other scales, based on wave amplitudes and total earthquake duration, were developed for use in other situations and they were designed to be consistent with Richter’s scale.


The Moment Magnitude Scale
Unfortunately, many scales, such as the Richter scale, do not provide accurate estimates for large magnitude earthquakes. Today the moment magnitude scale, abbreviated MW, is preferred because it works over a wider range of earthquake sizes and is applicable globally. The moment magnitude scale is based on the total moment release of the earthquake. Moment is a product of the distance a fault moved and the force required to move it. It is derived from modeling recordings of the earthquake at multiple stations. Moment magnitude estimates are about the same as Richter magnitudes for small to large earthquakes. But only the moment magnitude scale is capable of measuring M8 (read ‘magnitude 8’) and greater events accurately.
Magnitudes are based on a logarithmic scale (base 10). What this means is that for each whole number you go up on the magnitude scale, the amplitude of the ground motion recorded by a seismograph goes up ten times. Using this scale, a magnitude 5 earthquake would result in ten times the level of ground shaking as a magnitude 4 earthquake (and 32 times as much energy would be released). To give you an idea how these numbers can add up, think of it in terms of the energy released by explosives: a magnitude 1 seismic wave releases as much energy as blowing up 6 ounces of TNT. A magnitude 8 earthquake releases as much energy as detonating 6 million tons of TNT. Pretty impressive, huh? Fortunately, most of the earthquakes that occur each year are magnitude 2.5 or less, too small to be felt by most people.

Magnitude scales can be used to desribe earthquakes so small that they are expressed in negative numbers. The scale also has no upper limit, so it can describe earthquakes of unimaginable and (so far) unexperienced intensity, such as magnitude 10.0 and beyond.
Here's a table describing the magnitudes of earthquakes, their effects, and the estimated number of those earthquakes that occur each year.
The Mercalli Scale


Figure 2 - Giuseppe Mercalli
Another way to measure the strength of an earthquake is to use the Mercalli scale. Invented by Giuseppe Mercalli in 1902, this scale uses the observations of the people who experienced the earthquake to estimate its intensity.

The Mercalli scale isn't considered as scientific as the Richter scale, though. Some witnesses of the earthquake might exaggerate just how bad things were during the earthquake and you may not find two witnesses who agree on what happened; everybody will say something different. The amount of damage caused by the earthquake may not accurately record how strong it was either.


Some things that affect the amount of damage that occurs are:
  • the building designs,
  • the distance from the epicenter,
  • and the type of surface material (rock or dirt) the buildings rest on.
Different building designs hold up differently in an earthquake and the further you are from the earthquake, the less damage you'll usually see. Whether a building is built on solid rock or sand makes a big difference in how much damage it takes. Solid rock usually shakes less than sand, so a building built on top of solid rock shouldn't be as damaged as it might if it was sitting on a sandy lot.

1 comment:

  1. Some years ago an engineer came by our architectural office, I can't remember his purpose, if he was looking for work or what I couldn't remember.
    In any case he told us he would travel with a group of engineers to review the effects of earthquakes typically in North and South America. He was a part of what he called the windshield study locating faults along the Wasatch Front from the inside of a car. His believed that harmonics played the largest part in the destruction of buildings, depending upon the height of the building.
    He said that after the last big one hit San Francisco, the portion of the bay bridge that was all concrete portion collapsed, and across the street from this reinforced structure was an old turn of the century theater that survived without any damage.

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