23. Elastic Rebound
Elastic rebound is crucial to understanding earthquakes, explaining how energy accumulates in Earth's crust due to tectonic forces and is released during seismic events. Building upon Reid's theory stemming from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, the chapter discusses key features of elastic rebound, the earthquake cycle, and its implications for seismic hazard assessment and engineering practices. Furthermore, it details the limitations of the theory, its applications in predicting seismic risks, and future research directions involving AI and machine learning.
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What we have learnt
- Elastic rebound theory explains how accumulated stress is released during earthquakes.
- Different types of tectonic boundaries contribute to varying stress accumulation mechanisms.
- The earthquake cycle involves interseismic, coseismic, postseismic, and reaccumulation phases.
Key Concepts
- -- Elastic Rebound Theory
- A theory that describes how deformed rock masses behave elastically until their strength is exceeded, leading to failure and energy release as seismic waves.
- -- Tectonic Boundaries
- Divisions in the Earth's lithosphere where tectonic plates interact: convergent (compression), divergent (tension), and transform (shear stress).
- -- Earthquake Cycle
- A cyclical process consisting of phases of stress accumulation, rapid slip during an earthquake, and post-event adjustments.
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