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stx2006 wrote:I know that Sequoyah Caverns has a fault line that runs through it. I asked the guide about it and she said they've never seen any damage after a earthquake. She said she was in the cave doing a tour one day and one happened and you could hear it but didn't really feel anything.
VRcaver wrote:As an undergrad I worked in the geophysics department at my college. My roommate was a geophysics major. When posed the question about earthquakes in caves, the answer is as previously discussed here. The damage comes from when the P waves (compression waves) and S waves (longitudinal waves) reflect off the surface. This creates two other wave types, the Love wave and the Rayleigh wave. These are the damage creating waves. Since caves are sub-surface they don't get the same reflections. That is, unless the passage or room is particularly large compared to the wavelength. Now, entrances are another story. That is where you should be worried about earthquakes while caving!
More reading here: http://www.exploratorium.edu/faultline/ ... waves.html
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