Learning from Earthquakes - Earthquake Engineering for Structural Design - page 76

Figure 3.2 Different earthquake types (modified after Burkhard, 2001)

- The fault movements can be characterized by the tendency for the tectonic
plates of moving away (creating faults, valleys and gulfs), moving towards
each other (creating mountains due to the subduction or by crust
folding) or by slipping. Each of these fault movements produces
earthquakes with very different characteristics.
- Interplate crustal earthquakes , produced in the crust at the contact edges
of two major tectonic plates; the Californian, Anatolian, or Iranian
earthquakes are the most representative for this earthquake type. One must
emphasize that these contact edges represent only the actual configuration
of tectonic plate, ignoring the ancient steps in the Earth's history (see the
Theory of cycles , Chapter 4).
- Intraplate crustal earthquakes produced in the same plate along some
existing inland faults, the most representative for this type being the
Central European, Chinese, Japanese, Indian and Australian earthquakes.
These faults were produced during the formation of the actual Earth's
crust, due to the ancient collisions of some tectonic plates, or by rupture of
the existing plates due to the internal forces.
- Intraslab earthquakes produced in the same subducting slab, under the
crust at large depths, the most representative for this type being the
Canadian, Japanese and South American earthquakes, as well as the Sicily,
Vrancea (Romania) and Southern Greece European earthquakes.

- The positions of active faults producing interplate earthquakes are very

well known due to the fact that the tectonic plate boundaries are well