Any videos of rock ground rupture of deep major faults?

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The discussion centers on the rarity of videos capturing ground rupture from deep major faults during earthquakes, particularly in hard rock settings. While there are numerous recordings of landslides and rockfalls, significant challenges exist in filming coseismic motion due to the violent shaking that can destroy camera equipment. Deep earthquakes, typically occurring at depths greater than 30-50 km, rarely reach the surface, making it difficult to document such events. The conversation also highlights that surface ruptures often occur in softer ground, complicating the identification of hard rock fault movements. Overall, there is a call for any existing footage of deep fault ruptures in hard rock, but such documentation remains elusive.
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TL;DR Summary
Have any videos been captured of earthquake ground rupture in rock, along the main fault?
With recent abundance of security and cellphone cameras a lot of interesting and rare phenomena have been filmed.
There are many videos of local landslides and rockfalls.
Earthquakes commonly display shaking of buildings. Ground ruptures often happen in soft ground, in multiple places. Earthquake shaking may trigger rockfalls, along local faults unrelated to the main earthquake faults. Even when a ground rupture can be identified as the main earthquake fault, it is often in soft soil.
Have there been any occasions where a section of a deep fault reaching surface in hard rock has been filmed in coseismic motion?
 
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snorkack said:
Have there been any occasions where a section of a deep fault reaching surface in hard rock has been filmed in coseismic motion?
The release of energy by the physical rupture of hard rock nearby, will be sufficient to destroy the camera mountings. The camera will shake so much due to the broadband step displacement, that there will be no useful pictures.

Amateur photographers lack the discipline and presence of mind to hold a camera steady during an unexpected event, they panic, point the camera at the ground and run, just when they need to stand their ground to maintain the record.

Maybe, if there was a surveillance drone flying nearby, the camera would be sufficiently isolated, to capture the step change in ground position, along with the following oscillatory movements.
 
snorkack said:
TL;DR Summary: Have any videos been captured of earthquake ground rupture in rock, along the main fault?

Have there been any occasions where a section of a deep fault reaching surface in hard rock has been filmed in coseismic motion?

The issue is, that deep seated quakes, even major ones, dont rupture the surface. That is, quakes deeper than around 30-50km.
In the 40 years I have been doing geology/seismology, I, personally, dont know of any quake deeper than around 15-25km that has ruptured the surface. .... If anyone has data on one that had, feel free to speak up 😊

So I guess you need to define your definition of "a deep fault"
A quake of 5 - 15km deep is a shallow crustal event.

cheers
Dave
 
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What was the recent Sagaing Fault earthquake like? It is said that over 500 km of the fault moved, displacement was up to 6 m and over long distances 4-5 m, and over long distances it was a surface rupture.
Was the surface rupture exclusively through alluvial valley fills through all these hundreds of km, or were any rock outcrops ruptured?
 
snorkack said:
Was the surface rupture exclusively through alluvial valley fills through all these hundreds of km, or were any rock outcrops ruptured?
When clamped by the hydrostatic pressure of the rock above, hard rock will shear cleanly. That evidence of faulting is seen in deep hard-rock mines, where differential weathering and erosion have not yet been applied.

Previous fractures, now exposed nearer the surface, will be selectively weathered and eroded by streams, hiding the expression of the fault zone, preventing the formation of a clear fracture line on the surface.

Future fractures, near the surface, will avoid solid blocks of hard rock that may be exposed, instead it will take a path of least resistance, through the weaker weathered zones, around those blocks.

At the surface, without the confining forces, the fault expression will be different. There will be thick slabs of solid rock, that slide, tilt and rotate, and there will be slumps and landslides, that will bury the observers with the evidence.

Take a look at the YouTube videos of landslides in Pakistan, India, and China, to see how the bigger surface blocks move, to hide the surface expression of the fault.
 
There is an image elsewhere on this forum, that appears at first sight to be the surface expression of an earthquake fault.
dlgoff said:
This image ... blows my mind:
It is actually the head, or sidewall, of a massive landslide, triggered by the nearby earthquake movement.
 
On August 10, 2025, there was a massive landslide on the eastern side of Tracy Arm fjord. Although some sources mention 1000 ft tsunami, that height represents the run-up on the sides of the fjord. Technically it was a seiche. Early View of Tracy Arm Landslide Features Tsunami-causing slide was largest in decade, earthquake center finds https://www.gi.alaska.edu/news/tsunami-causing-slide-was-largest-decade-earthquake-center-finds...
Hello, I’m currently writing a series of essays on Pangaea, continental drift, and Earth’s geological cycles. While working on my research, I’ve come across some inconsistencies in the existing theories — for example, why the main pressure seems to have been concentrated in the northern polar regions. So I’m curious: is there any data or evidence suggesting that an external cosmic body (an asteroid, comet, or another massive object) could have influenced Earth’s geology in the distant...

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