Only Very Strong Shaking Can Break a Tree
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: A handful of credible accounts, both recent and historical, describe trees being broken during earthquakes. Apart from landslides and tsunamis, such accounts are uncommon, suggesting that trees break only when ground acceleration is extreme or when trees are especially vulnerable to breakage. Here, I consider the question: what ground acceleration is required to break a living tree? I present simplified first-principles calculations, considering the properties of common trees, focusing on tall, thin trees that can be approximated as uniform vertical cantilevers. The results suggest that, possibly excepting tall trees with heavy canopies, standing trees can only be broken by shaking approaching or exceeding 1g, as anticipated by the rarity of documented accounts of snapped trees. I briefly consider several well-documented instances of tree damage during strong earthquakes, drawing inferences about local ground motions.
Source: The Seismic Record
DOI: 10.1785/0320250036
Author: Susan E. Hough
Institution: United States Geological Survey
Language: English
Subfield: Civil and Structural Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7147660589