Earthquakes and Tsunamis
Summer Term 2022
Your Teacher(s)
- Stefan Hergarten
-
lecture, assignments, students' support
Appointments
- Monday 10–12 a.m., seminar room at the uppermost floor (03 037)
- Thursday 8–10 a.m., seminar room at the uppermost floor (03 037)
Topics
- Seismology and seismic hazard
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Earthquake hazard; spatial distribution of earthquakes on Earth
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Types of elastic waves and basic theory of wave propagation
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Localization of earthquakes
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Focal mechanisms; seismic moment tensor
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Earthquake intensity and magnitude
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Local effects on wave amplitudes
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Surface waves; dispersion; ground acceleration
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Effects on buildings
- Tsunamis
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Types of waves in water and their fundamental properties
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Propagation in the ocean; amplitudes; interaction with the coast
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Tsunami intensity and magnitude scales
Examination
Your marks will be derived according to the following scheme:
Component |
Contribution |
assignments |
5/6 |
helping your classmates in solving the assignments or solving your assignments
on your own |
1/6* |
*
also depending on your own score, e.g., 20 % of your own score if you
solve all on your own
-
A total score of 50 % is required to pass the class. There are no further constraints,
i.e., no minimum scores required for any of the components.
-
In case anyone fails, there will be a second exam. However, this
would be not easy for you as you would have to solve new assignments
without or with little support by your classmates, and it would be a
considerable amount of additional work for me. So please do not try!
Assignments
-
The assignments are designed individually for each student
using the enrollment number (7 digits).
As there is no official list of participants, you have to register before you
can download assignment sheets. Registrations made for previous classes or for the
fieldtrip registration system are valid here, too.
If you want to register or if you are not sure whether you are already registered,
please use the following
form to test your registration or to register.
-
If you are not yet registered and want to take a look at the assignments,
you may use any 7 digit number for downloading. However, your submitted solution
must be consistent with the assignment sheet of your real enrollment number.
Solutions not corresponding to your assignment sheet will not be marked without the
chance of resubmission.
-
Criteria of evaluation are the correctness of the solution, interpretations
being consistent and understandable, and the quality of the figures
(e.g., axis labels and units).
-
You may either submit your solutions alone or in groups of 2 students.
If you want to submit as a group, you must already fill in both enrollment
numbers when downloading your assignment sheet.
-
Beyond being allowed to submit your solution in a group of 2 students,
are encouraged to solve the assignments together. You are even allowed to adopt
significant ideas from your classmates.
According to the general ethics of scientific work,
collaboration must be acknowledged when submitting an assignment.
Details are given during the submission procedure.
Copying codes, figures or parts of the text from solutions of your classmates is,
however, not allowed.
Any solutions violating this rule will not be considered without the chance of resubmission.
-
As the assignments accompany the progress of the class,
the deadlines announced on the assignment sheets must be obeyed.
A tolerance of 15 days is given for all assignments in sum. You may, e.g., be late
by 2 days at one assignment, 9 days at another, and 4 days by a third one.
This tolerance also includes short periods of sickness or failure of your computer.
If your submissions exceed this limit, you will lose some of your scores.
Please keep in mind that the rule concerns individual assignments, not entire
assignment sheets.
-
The deadline for the two final assignments is Aug. 12, 2022.
Assignment sheets
Submission of Solutions
Solutions can only be submitted as PDF files using the form below. A submission of printouts
or by e-mail is not possible. Details are given during the submission procedure.
Downloads
Further Reading
Lay, T. & Wallace, T.C. (1995): Modern Global Seismology. Academic Press, 521.
Shearer, P.M. (2009): Introduction to Seismology. Cambridge University Press, 412.
Levin, B. & Nosov, M. (2016): Physics of Tsunamis. Springer, 388.
Kusky, T.M. (2008): Tsunamis – Giant Waves from the Sea. Infobase Publishing, 157.