Earthquakes and Volcanoes

Earthquakes and volcanoes are two examples of sudden movements that generate
significant deformation in a short period of time. Any sudden shaking of the
ground generated by seismic waves passing through Earth's rocks is referred to as
an earthquake whereas a volcano is a crack in the earth's crust that allows lava,
volcanic ash, and gases to escape. Liquid magma with dissolved gases rises through
cracks in the Earth's crust beneath a volcano.

Earthquake
• An earthquake 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 size from those that are so weak that they cannot
be felt to those violent enough to toss people around and destroy whole
cities.
• The seismicity, or seismic activity, of an area refers to the frequency, type,
and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time. The word
tremor is also used for non-earthquake seismic rumbling.
• The cause of earthquakes is often due to the movement of tectonic plates
beneath the Earth's surface.
• When these plates move past each other, they sometimes get stuck at their
edges due to friction.
• When the stress on the edge overcomes the friction, there is an earthquake
that releases energy in the form of seismic waves, which causes the ground
to shake.
• The location below the Earth's surface where the earthquake starts is called
the hypocenter, and the location directly above it on the surface is called
the epicenter.
• Earthquakes can occur anywhere, but their most common sites are along
tectonic plate boundaries.

Types of Earthquakes :- Natural earthquakes are those which are caused by

natural processes i.e., due to endogenic processes.

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1) Tectonic Earthquakes

• They are caused due to dislocation of rock blocks during faulting activities.
• They are the most common ones.
• A tectonic earthquake occurs when two tectonic plates collide at a point
called the boundary.
• A convergent plate boundary is formed when two plates push into each
other.
• The oceanic Nazca Plate, for example, pushes into and is subducted into
the South American Plate off the coast of South America along the Peru-
Chile trench.
• The Andes mountains were formed as a result of this action, which raised
the South American Plate.
• The Nazca Plate is broken into smaller pieces that are stuck in place for
lengthy periods of time before shifting suddenly and causing earthquakes.
• The Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which stretches from the Arctic Ocean to beyond
the southern tip of Africa, is an example of a divergent boundary, which
happens when two plates shift away from each other, forming a new crust.
• It has produced thousands of kilometers of plate movement over millions
of years.
• When plates slide horizontally past one another, they generate a transform
boundary that neither destroys nor produces crust.
• Plate movement results in zigzagging plate edges and shallow earthquakes.
• These are also generated due to the sliding of rocks along a fault
plane. Example: 2001 earthquake in Gujarat.

2) Volcanic Earthquakes

• Volcano earthquakes are caused by stress changes in the solid rock caused
by the injection or withdrawal of magma (molten rock).
• They are caused due to volcanic eruptions of explosive and fissure types.
• The intensity and magnitude of the earthquake depend on the intensity
and magnitude of volcanic eruptions.
• We can't predict when the volcano will erupt, but it might happen at any
time. Example: severe earthquakes caused by Karakatao volcano 1883.

3) Isostatic Earthquakes

• Isostatic or isostasy-related earthquakes are those associated with the

buoyant behavior of the Earth's crust as it undergoes vertical movements
due to changes in surface loads.

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 • The term "isostasy" refers to the equilibrium that exists between the
Earth's lithosphere (the crust and uppermost mantle) and the more fluid
asthenosphere beneath it.
• The lithosphere essentially "floats" on the asthenosphere in a manner
similar to how an iceberg floats on water.
• They are triggered due to sudden disturbances in isostatic balance at a
regional scale.
• If a significant weight, such as a massive ice sheet, is added to or removed
from the crust, the crust will respond by sinking or rebounding,
respectively.
• A classic example of isostatic adjustment is seen in areas that were once
covered by large ice sheets during the last Ice Age.
o As these ice sheets melted, the previously compressed crust began to
rise or "rebound" back to its original position.
o This process, which can take thousands of years, can cause
earthquakes, although they are typically of lower magnitude.
o This rebound is often referred to as post-glacial or glacio-isostatic
rebound.
• Mountains, after being built up due to tectonic forces, can undergo erosion
over millions of years. As they erode, the crust can adjust isostatically,
leading to earthquakes.

4) Plutonic Earthquakes

• They are deep-focus earthquakes whose centers lie at depths from 240 km
to 600 km.
• They occur almost exclusively at convergent boundaries in association with
subducted oceanic lithosphere.
• Herbert Hall Turner initially brought preliminary evidence for the presence
of deep-focus earthquakes to the attention of the scientific community in
1922.
• Kiyoo Wadati demonstrated the existence of earthquakes deep into the
lithosphere in 1928, debunking the myth that earthquakes only occur at
shallow focal depths.
• Deep-focus earthquakes produce very few surface waves. Because of their
focal depth, earthquakes are less likely to create a seismic wave motion
with concentrated energy at the surface.
• Deep-focus earthquake seismic waves only pass through the heterogeneous
upper mantle and highly changeable crust once on their way from the focus
to the recording station.
• As a result, compared to seismic waves from shallow earthquakes, body
waves experience less attenuation and reverberation, resulting in strong
body wave peaks.

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5) Artificial or Man Induced Earthquakes

• They are caused by anthropogenic activities such as underground

explosions, mining, large reservoir-induced pressure, etc.
• Example: The enormous load exerted by dam reservoirs resulted in the
strongest ever induced earthquake.
• The most notable fluid-induced earthquake in India happened in 1967 near
Koyna, Maharashtra, and was ascribed to seismic activity caused by the
Koyna dam's impoundment.
• Earthquakes in Oklahoma's tectonically quiet region have also been
connected to oil and gas drilling activity.
• Such areas of man-made earthquake activity are thought to exceed the
degree of seismic activity in hotspots like southern California.

Causes and Effects of Earthquake

1. Earthquakes occur when excess stored tension in rocks in the earth's

interior owing to bending, faulting, or other physical processes is released
as kinetic energy through weak zones on the surface.
2. Coastal areas may experience uplift or subsidence as a result of these shifts.
3. Plates’ tectonics theory has been accepted as the most possible explanation
of the causes of earthquakes.
4. As per this theory, the crust of the earth is composed of solid moving
plates.
5. These plates are constantly moving in relation to each other due to thermal
convective currents originating deep within the earth.
6. Thus, all the seismic events take place along the boundaries of these
moving plates
7. Alterations in contours, river courses, coastline changes, glacier surges,
landslides, soil slips, mass wasting, and other effects may occur as a result
of earthquakes.

Examples of Earthquake

• A one-meter uplift in coastal areas was produced by an earthquake in Chile

in 1822.
• An earthquake in New Zealand in 1885 resulted in a 3-meter rise.
• An earthquake in Japan in 1891 caused up to 6 meters of subsidence.

Volcanoes :- The movement of molten rock (magma) onto or towards the earth's
surface through narrow volcanic vents or fissures is known as volcanism. A volcano

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is formed when molten magma from the earth's interior erupts through vents and
cracks in the crust, accompanied by steam, gases such as hydrogen sulphide,
sulphur dioxide, hydrogen chloride, carbon dioxide, etc. and pyroclastic material
(cloud of ash, lava fragments carried through the air, and vapour). A volcano can
adopt many different shapes depending on the chemical composition and viscosity
of the lava.
Types of Volcanoes
On the Basis of their Eruption

• Active: An active volcano is one that has recently erupted or is on the verge
of erupting again.
• Dormant: A dormant volcano is one that hasn't erupted in a long time but
is still capable of doing so in the future.
• Extinct: An extinct volcano is one that last erupted thousands of years ago
and no longer has the potential to erupt.

On the Basis of their Shape

Cinder Cones

• Cinder cones are round or oval cones made up of tiny lava pieces that have
been blown up from a single vent.
• Cinder cones are formed by the accumulation of largely small fragments of
scoria and pyroclastics around the vent.
• The majority of cinder cones only erupt once.
• Cinder cones can arise as side vents on bigger volcanoes or as isolated
cinder cones.
• Examples: Parícutin in Mexico and Sunset Crater in the USA.

Composite Volcano

• Composite volcanoes are steep-sided volcanoes made up of multiple layers

of volcanic rocks, most of which are made up of high-viscosity lava, ash,
and rock debris.
• These volcanoes are towering conical mountains made up of lava flows and
other ejecta layered in alternate layers, hence the name strata.
• Cinder, ash, and lava make up composite volcanoes.
• Cinders and ash build up on top of one another, lava flows over the ash,
cools and hardens, and the cycle continues.
• Examples: Mount St. Helens in the USA, Mount Fuji in Japan, and Mount
Pinatubo in the Philippines.

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Shield Volcano

• Shield volcanoes have long, gradual slopes formed by basaltic lava flows
and are fashioned like a bowl or shield in the middle.
• These are generated by the eruption of low-viscosity lava that can travel a
long way from the vent.
• They don't usually blow out in a big way.
• Shield volcanoes are more prevalent in marine than continental settings
because low-viscosity magma is often low in silica.
• Shield cones are found throughout the Hawaiian volcanic system, and they
are also frequent in Iceland.
• Examples: Mauna Loa and Kilauea in Hawaii.

Lava Domes

• Lava domes arise when erupting lava becomes too thick to flow and stacks
up near the volcanic vent, forming a steep-sided mound.
• Slow outbursts of exceedingly viscous lava form them.
• They can sometimes be found within the crater of an earlier volcanic
eruption.
• They can erupt violently and explosively, just like a composite volcano,
although the lava rarely flows far from the erupting vent.
• Example: Mount St. Helens has a lava dome in its crater.

Volcanic Landscape

• Volcanic landforms are formed by the solidification of lava either inside or

outside the earth's surface.
• When lava is unable to reach the earth's surface, it penetrates fissures,
where it forms various types of intrusive landforms depending on the
shape of the fissure and its location relative to the earth's surface.
• Major intrusive forms include Batholiths, Laccoliths, Lopolith, Phacolith,
Sills and Dykes.

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