Effects of an Earthquake
Earthquake Environmental Effects (EEE) are the effects caused by an earthquake on natural environment, including surface faulting, regional uplift and subsidence, tsunamis, liquefactions, ground resonance, landslides and ground failure, either directly linked to the earthquake source or provoked by the ground shaking.[1] These are common features produced both in their near and far fields, quite always recorded and surveyed in recent events, very often remembered in historical accounts and preserved in the stratigraphic record (paleoearthquakes). Both surface deformation and faulting and shaking-related geological effects (e.g., liquefaction, landslides) not only leave permanent imprints in the environment, but also dramatically hit human structures. Moreover, underwater fault ruptures and seismo-induced landslides can generate dramatic tsunami waves.
EEEs represent a significant source of hazard, especially (but not exclusively) during large earthquakes. This was observed for example during more or less catastrophic seismic events recently occurred in very different parts of the world.
Earthquake Environmental Effects are divided into two main types:
Coseismic surface faulting induced by the 1915 Fucino, Central Italy, earthquake
primary effects, which are the surface expression of the seismogenic source (e.g., surface faulting), normally observed for crustal earthquakes above a given magnitude threshold (typically Mw=5.5-6.0);
Coseismic liquefaction induced by the 2012 Emilia, Northern Italy, earthquake
secondary effects, mostly related to the intensity of ground shaking (e.g., landslides, liquefactions, etc.).
The importance of EEEs as a tool to measure earthquake Intensity was already outlined early in the 1990s.[2] In 2007 has been released the Environmental Seismic Intensity scale(ESI scale), a new seismic intensity scale based only on the characteristics, size and areal distribution of earthquake environmental effects.
A huge amount of data about EEEs associated to modern, historical and paleoearthquakes worldwide occurred is available on the EEE Catalogue, a infrastructure developed in the frame of the INQUA TERPRO Commission on Paleoseismology and Active Tectonics.
EEEs represent a significant source of hazard, especially (but not exclusively) during large earthquakes. This was observed for example during more or less catastrophic seismic events recently occurred in very different parts of the world.
Earthquake Environmental Effects are divided into two main types:
Coseismic surface faulting induced by the 1915 Fucino, Central Italy, earthquake
primary effects, which are the surface expression of the seismogenic source (e.g., surface faulting), normally observed for crustal earthquakes above a given magnitude threshold (typically Mw=5.5-6.0);
Coseismic liquefaction induced by the 2012 Emilia, Northern Italy, earthquake
secondary effects, mostly related to the intensity of ground shaking (e.g., landslides, liquefactions, etc.).
The importance of EEEs as a tool to measure earthquake Intensity was already outlined early in the 1990s.[2] In 2007 has been released the Environmental Seismic Intensity scale(ESI scale), a new seismic intensity scale based only on the characteristics, size and areal distribution of earthquake environmental effects.
A huge amount of data about EEEs associated to modern, historical and paleoearthquakes worldwide occurred is available on the EEE Catalogue, a infrastructure developed in the frame of the INQUA TERPRO Commission on Paleoseismology and Active Tectonics.