What is the Earthquake?
By: Recep Suluker
Tags: Disaster, Earth, Science, Earth Science, Earthquake

Earthquake is a disaster that has existed since the creation of the world. Since this disaster exists in the balance of nature, we define it as a natural disaster. To understand the earthquake, let’s first look at the structure of the Earth. Our world is not just made up of this land, water, and the air we see. Let’s dig a little deeper. Earth consists of an air sphere (atmosphere), water sphere (hydrosphere), stone sphere (lithosphere-earth crust), fire sphere (mantle-magma layer), heavy sphere (core). All geological events, including earthquakes, take place in the lithosphere layer — on land. The lithosphere is above the mantle. The mantle is the layer where the lava we call magma.

So, in the lithosphere, our land floats on the lava. After a while, this piece of land cannot continue to remain as a whole while swimming. It breaks down and different parts are formed. We call these pieces plate. Because indeed the lithosphere is divided into plates. The separation of the lithosphere occurred 200 million years ago. These plates still float on the magma. We call these movements tectonic movements. So these lands that we currently live on are in motion. Just like everything around. This movement is so slow that we don’t notice it. However, these movements also cause the location to change. For example, Turkey is shifting to the West two centimeters every year. So far everything seems normal.

However, there is a problem that triggers the occurrence of this earthquake. These plates do not always act in accordance with each other. Sometimes they squeeze each other. The point where they squeeze is sometimes broken and these broken points are the fault line. This theory was called the elastic rebound theory in science and was described by the American Reid in 1911 which has also been proven in laboratories.

To give an example would be much more descriptive: Turkey is a country located on fault lines. These fault lines are formed by the plates in Arabia and Africa pushing the plate in Anatolia. The Arabian plate pushed Anatolia to the west and the African plate Anatolia to the north. This push caused tension and stress on the Anatolian plate.

Ultimately, the Anatolian plate could not withstand this tension and was broken. This fracture divided Anatolia into two and a surface of kilometers long was formed in the depths of the earth. This rupture in the north of Anatolia formed the North Anatolian Fault Line.

Of course, the job did not end here, the Arabian plate continued to push the Anatolian plate to the west. The Anatolian plate now moved into two parts, and during this movement, there was constant friction between the two parts. The protrusions between these two broken pieces got stuck together and the Anatolian plate could not move.

In other words, the Anatolian plate could not move due to the snagging of these fractures and the Arabian plate continued to push Anatolia to the west. This thrust has accumulated as energy in Anatolia. The excess energy accumulated in the North Anatolian fault line over the years caused these projections to break. The energy released as a result of this refraction spread to the land as seismic waves and started to shake the land. These shocks created the earthquake.

For example, the 1939 Erzincan earthquake, the 1942 Tokat earthquake, the 1999 Gölcük-Marmara earthquake. According to this situation, the next earthquake started to come to Istanbul. Fault lines continued to form in Anatolia and other parts of the world due to various plate slips, and today the fault lines are mainly located in the following regions:

https://www.universetoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/plate-tectonics.jpg

Meanwhile, an earthquake is a seismic event. Therefore earthquake-like seismic events may appear on other planets. Even seismic events have been observed in some satellites of Jupiter in Mars Venus on the Moon.

What should we do during an earthquake?

The largest earthquake measured on the Richter scale occurred in Chile in 1960. This size is 9.5. Two million people were homeless and 1655 people died. The death toll is very low compared to the number of homeless. According to this situation, it is not the magnitude of the earthquake that killed us. In the event of an earthquake, what kills us is neglect or weak structures. You need to stay calm enough to understand what to do when an earthquake occurs. Because the measures you take at that moment will save your life. If you are at home during the earthquake, try to stay away from unfixed cabinets, shelves, etc. If your table is supported by sturdy chairs, go under the table or crouch next to the bulky sofas to create a life triangle. Put your head between your hands or protect it with tools such as pillows or books. Make sure you are on thick and solid ground like this until the shaking pass.

Earthquake Magnitude and Intensity

These two terms are very confused for too many people. Let’s understand them. The magnitude of the earthquake explains the level of energy that occurs during the earthquake and the ruptured fault. Different methods have emerged that we cannot measure energy like menstruation. There are methods such as duration-dependent earthquake magnitude, local earthquake magnitude (Richter scale), surface branch earthquake magnitude, body wave earthquake magnitude, moment earthquake magnitude. The moment magnitude is used today. Because the moment magnitude is the most reliable compared to others. In the scientific world, if the moment magnitude can be calculated for an earthquake, it is believed that other magnitude types are not needed. It is the most complex in terms of identification. It mainly corresponds to making a mathematical model of the occurrence of an earthquake. It can be calculated by a scientific study process that a researcher can perform, and therefore calculations are inevitable to take a certain amount of time. It is difficult to implement automatically, it is routinely calculated in only a few observatories in the world for earthquakes above a certain magnitude. earthquake intensity is the damage that occurs depending on the magnitude of the earthquake, the structure, and the durability of the place where the earthquake occurred. Therefore, earthquake intensity is a slightly more subjective term. This is the difference between earthquake intensity and earthquake magnitude. So if one day the earthquake causes you too much damage, I hope it won’t, you shouldn’t say that the earthquake was too big. You should say the earthquake was very severe.

Why can’t we find out when the Earthquake will happen? Will we have earthquake machines?

Actually, there is a very simple answer. Technology has not developed enough. Isn’t that interesting too, we can detect the presence of objects that are miles away from us and even get information about them, but we cannot detect the underground where we live? We only produce possible predictions on fault lines. We cannot learn how much energy has accumulated in these fault lines and the strong structure of the interconnected protrusions. If one day we can learn how much energy is accumulated in the fault line and how much energy the protrusions will break, then we will have clear information about when the earthquake will occur. I wonder how can we reach this technology?

However, the main question I wonder the answer is: Will we be able to use the energy accumulated in these fault lines as if we were using the energy in oil with the technology we developed? Think about it, you are using such enormous energy that is shaking you right now as electrical energy in your home! This sounds crazy. After all, we are creatures in need of energy, and today, every human, nation, and state want to obtain energy. The benefit of an earthquake machine, such as the windmill transforming energy, transforms the accumulated energy into our benefit, both keep us safer and become a new energy source.

Photo by Jonathan Cooper on Unsplash

Despite all these risks, Earthquake is a disaster that has existed since the creation of the world and everywhere in our lives. We will see the benefits and harms of these issues much better in the coming years. We hope maybe one day someone does better.

That’s all for today. Hope you all like it, Let’s meet in the comments. Goodbye!