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Earthquakes I: Seismotectonics
Last Updated: 2026-02-05 15:48:45
Abstract
If you're interested in knowing more about the relationship between seismicity and plate tectonics, this is the course for you. (If you're not that interested, but your program of study requires that you complete this course, this is also the course for you.)
Objective
The aim of the course is to obtain a basic understanding of the physical process behind earthquakes and their basic mathematical description. By the conclusion of this course, we hope that you will be able to: - describe the relationship between earthquakes and plate tectonics in a more sophisticated and complete way - explain earthquake source representations of varying complexity; - address earthquakes in the context of different tectonic settings; - explain the statistical behaviour of global earthquakes - describe and connect the ingredients for a seismotectonic study
Content
The course features a series of 14 meetings, in which we review some fundamentals of continuum mechanics and tensor analysis required for a complete understanding of the relation between earthquakes and plate tectonics. Our goal is to help you understand deformation the small scale (fault) to the scale of plate tectonics. We will tell you about several ways to represent an earthquake source; we'll present these in order of increasing sophistication. You will enjoy (at least) a computer/class exercise and a guest lecture. Topics covered in the course include: review of stress and deformation in the Earth, stress and strain tensors, rheology and failure criteria, fault stresses, friction and effects of fluids earthquake focal mechanisms; relationship between stress fields and focal mechanisms; seismic moment and moment tensors; crustal deformation from seismic, geologic, and geodetic observations; earthquake stress drop, scaling, and source parameters; global earthquake distribution; current global earthquake activity; different seismotectonic regions; examples of earthquake activity in different tectonic settings.
Resources
Lecture Notes
Course notes will be made available on a designated course web site. Most of the topics discussed in the course are available in the book mentioned below.
Literature
S. Stein and M. Wyssession, An introduction to seismology, earthquakes and earth structure, Blackwell Publishing, Malden, USA, (2003).
General Information
- Language
- English
- Levels
- MSC
- Frequency
- Yearly recurring
Examination
- Type
- session examination
- Mode
- written 120 minutes
- Aids
- Keine.
Course Components
| Type | Title | Time & Place | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| lecture with exercise | Earthquakes I: Seismotectonics |
|
28 h semesterly |