The power of a earthquake......

[chicot60]

http://i.imgur.com/OcrgNGF.jpg

http://blogs.agu.org/landslideblog/files/2010/11/10_10-Canterbury-1.jpg

[swanner]

Plate tectonics are amazing..

[hutch]

since there is more distance in an s-curve than a straight line, I assume that the steel rails not only bent, but they stretched too?

[The Noof]

since there is more distance in an s-curve than a straight line, I assume that the steel rails not only bent, but they stretched too?
???? or the land moved from bottom to top compressing the rails ?

[jazzman]

Could have been a fun roller coaster ride tho..til the train jumped the tracks lol.

[hutch]

???? or the land moved from bottom to top compressing the rails ?

So you are saying the distance from point A to point B may be some number of feet shorter now?

[wattso99]

Thats about the size of it.........


So you are saying the distance from point A to point B may be some number of feet shorter now?

[hutch]

Thats about the size of it.........

that would be about the seis of it...lol

[The Cobra]

I`m no rocket science major by a mile....but I`m looking at how much the rails moved yet the fence in the background in the second pic is straight as is the utility post as is the crossing post. I would also think that steel bending so symmetrical the rails would have to be heated to the point of melting almost......................but that`s just me.

[zayden]

Must be Chinese steel :)

[The Noof]

So you are saying the distance from point A to point B may be some number of feet shorter now?

Absolutely...the rails are the same length:the "as the crow flies" distance is shorter.

[swanner]

Under certain circumstances, the steel can be bent and stretched.. That must have been some earthquake though to cause that kind of damage. I believe the term is called "FATIGUE FAILURE UNDER RESONANT VIBRATION CONDITIONS"..

As far as I know, it is a real theory, I remember back in structural engineering course, we had just briefly touched on the subject that would be taught at a later time, pretty cool stuff, I was going through my old university and collegue books to see if that would be possible, and it does seem Myth Buster Type Plausible...... just throwing it out there,...

[swanner]

Looks like it has happened before too

25437

[Condor]

I`m no rocket science major by a mile....but I`m looking at how much the rails moved yet the fence in the background in the second pic is straight as is the utility post as is the crossing post. I would also think that steel bending so symmetrical the rails would have to be heated to the point of melting almost......................but that`s just me.

Plus......photo "manipulations" are a powerful tool... beheheheeeeeeeeeee

But this is no manipulation as it did happen in New Zealand as has happened in other places......

Guatemala...
http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l352/bolivia_041/Events/Guatemala%20city_zpsagyzfpar.jpg

Japan..

http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l352/bolivia_041/Events/Japan%20quake_zpsbchso4de.jpg



http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l352/bolivia_041/Events/tracks%203_zpsuz9jaiqj.jpg

Seattle..
http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l352/bolivia_041/Events/Seattle%20quake_zpsqnlgavvq.jpg

[TLG]

Updates – the Canterbury earthquake railway line


1. The railway line affected by the Canterbury Earthquake in New Zealand

http://blogs.agu.org/landslideblog/files/2010/11/10_10-Canterbury-22-300x225.jpg

Yesterday I posted the image to the left of the deformation to a railway line were it crossed the surface expression of the fault that was responsible for the Canterbury Earthquake in New Zealand. A number of people contributed to the discussion (thanks to you all) – the general consensus was that it is indeed a compressional feature associated with a broad zone of deformation rather than a distinct shear plane. I was emailed by Steve Hill, an engineer, who offered the following explanation (reproduced here):

First, some points about the railway line:

– It is VERY rigid in the vertical axis, not so much in the horizontal. This is so that it can carry load and distribute it over a large number of crossties, yet be bent around a curve without major bending machinery (basically, it can be bent around even tight radius turns with little more than large levers).

– The crossties pin the rails a fixed and uniform distance apart

– In the picture, there is no vertical deformation (see point one) or any rotation of the track assembly.

– This deformation occurred along a VERY straight line of track

– You will note that none of the fasteners that join the rail to the cross-ties have failed.

– If you look at the first picture (the one with the motive power in it) and compare it to the second, you will note that the entire failure is VERY symmetrical.

From here it’s simple geometry: the failure is symmetrical, and failed in both directions at the same time, because geometry requires it. The rails failed in their weakest axis, and since, over the failure zone they are of equal length, geometry dictates that as long as they maintain their uniform separation, the rails MUST maintain the same distance (length) over the failure zone. If one labels the ends of the failure as (arbitrarily) Points A and B, then the two rails, pinned an unchanging distance apart between those two points, MUST maintain their length between those two points. Since that length is equal, they must spend equal amounts of length on the inside and outside of any common radii they share – thus the symmetrically of the failure. This can be seen when one extends an imaginary line from the vanishing point of the photo, down the center of the track assembly. You will note that the rails are displace (roughly) equally on either side of that imaginary line, again, because geometry dictates that they must. Another bit of evidence of this is that if one looks closely, one will note that NONE of the ties have rotated – they have all displaced laterally.

[Benney]

Sun kinks.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pszHRicuUlw