"A seismic wave is a mechanical wave of acoustic energy that travels through the Earth or another planetary body."
Types of seismic waves, their properties, and how they propagate through the Earth.
Earthquakes: Understanding the causes, effects, and types of earthquakes.
Plate Tectonics: Study of the movement and interaction of Earth's lithosphere plates.
Wave Propagation: The study of how seismic waves move through the Earth.
Earth's Interior: The study of the structural layers and composition of the Earth's interior.
Seismic Data Collection and Analysis: Process of collecting, recording and analyzing seismic data.
Earthquake Locating Techniques: Techniques for locating the origin of earthquakes.
Ground Motion & Instrumentation: Understanding how seismographs work and the effects of ground motion.
Seismic Hazard Assessment: Understanding the magnitude, frequency and probability of earthquakes in a particular region.
Seismic Risk Mitigation: Methods for reducing or preventing the damage caused by earthquakes.
Tsunamis: Understanding the causes, effects, and mitigation of tsunamis.
Seismic Imaging: Techniques for creating images of subsurface structures using seismic waves.
Wave Theory: Understanding the nature and behavior of waves.
Geophysics: Combining physics and geology to study the properties of the Earth's interior.
Earthquake science: Study of the geophysics, seismology, and geology of earthquakes.
Elasticity: The study of how materials deform and recover under stress.
Stress & Strain: Understanding the relationship between applied forces and resulting deformations in materials.
Fault Mechanics: Understanding how faults behave under different stress conditions.
Seismic Energy: The amount of energy released by an earthquake.
Wave Attenuation: The decrease in the strength of a wave as it moves through a material.
Earthquake prediction and forecasting: Methods for predicting and forecasting seismic activity.
P-waves (Primary waves): These waves are longitudinal in nature and travel through solids, liquids, and gases. They are the fastest seismic waves with a speed of 6 to 7 km per second in the Earth's crust.
S-waves (Secondary waves): S-waves are transverse waves and travel only through solids. They travel slower than P-waves and cause most of the damage during earthquakes.
Surface Waves: These are also known as L-waves and are slower than both P and S-waves. They travel along the surface of the Earth and cause the most damage to infrastructure and buildings.
Love Waves: These are a type of surface wave that travels horizontally and causes the ground to move back and forth. They cause damage to buildings and other infrastructure.
Rayleigh Waves: These are also a type of surface wave that moves in a circular motion like water waves. They cause a combination of vertical and horizontal movement, resulting in destruction to buildings and infrastructure.
Guided Waves: These waves travel along the boundary between two different media, like the Earth’s crust and mantle. They can propagate over long distances and can be used to assess the structure of the Earth’s interior.
Body Waves: These are waves that travel through the Earth's interior and can be either P-waves or S-waves. They can be used to identify the location and characteristics of earthquakes.
Reflection Waves: These waves are reflected when seismic waves encounter a change in geological structure, such as the boundary between the Earth's crust and mantle.
Refraction Waves: These waves bend when they encounter geological boundaries, such as the edge of a tectonic plate, and can aid in identifying the location and direction of earthquakes.
Attenuation Waves: These waves decrease in amplitude as they travel through the Earth's interior due to the attenuation of energy.
"It can result from an earthquake (or generally, a quake), volcanic eruption, magma movement, a large landslide, and a large man-made explosion that produces low-frequency acoustic energy."
"Seismic waves are studied by seismologists, who record the waves using seismometers, hydrophones (in water), or accelerometers."
"Seismic waves are distinguished from seismic noise (ambient vibration), which is persistent low-amplitude vibration arising from a variety of natural and anthropogenic sources."
"The propagation velocity of a seismic wave depends on density and elasticity of the medium as well as the type of wave."
"Velocity tends to increase with depth through Earth's crust and mantle but drops sharply going from the mantle to Earth's outer core."
"Their different travel times help scientists locate the quake's hypocenter."
"In geophysics, the refraction or reflection of seismic waves is used for research into Earth's internal structure."
"Seismologists record the waves using seismometers, hydrophones, or accelerometers."
"A seismic wave is a mechanical wave of acoustic energy."
"Hydrophones (in water) are used to record the waves."
"It can result from an... volcanic eruption."
"...a large man-made explosion that produces low-frequency acoustic energy."
"Scientists sometimes generate and measure vibrations to investigate shallow, subsurface structures."
"...who record the waves using seismometers..."
"Earthquakes create distinct types of waves with different velocities."
"When recorded by a seismic observatory, their different travel times help scientists locate the quake's hypocenter."
"Seismic waves are studied by seismologists, who record the waves using seismometers, hydrophones (in water), or accelerometers."
"Velocity tends to increase with depth through Earth's crust and mantle..."
"Seismic waves are distinguished from seismic noise (ambient vibration)..."