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Encyclopedia of Physical Science and Technology EN014c-680 July 28, 2001
Seismology, Theoretical
Raúl Madariaga
Ecole Normale Supérieure
I. Introduction
II. Seismic Wave Propagation
III. Reflection and Refraction of Seismic Waves
IV. Seismic Waves in Heterogenous Media
V. Seismic Surface Waves
VI. Seismic Source Theory
GLOSSARY
Reflection and refraction Process by which seismic
waves are reflected and refracted by material discon-
tinuities according to Snell’s law; coupling between P
and S waves occurs at the interfaces.
Seismic body waves Linear elastic waves propagating in
the interior of the earth are of two types: compressional
or P and shear or S waves, which are slower by a factor
of about 1.73 with respect to P waves.
Seismic moment Torque or moment of one of the two
force couples in the usual model of an earthquake
source.
Seismic rays Trajectories described by high-frequency
P and S waves in heterogeneous media, where they
propagate according to the laws of geometric optics.
Seismic source Very fast slip on one or several discrete
segments of a fault surface causing earthquakes.
Seismic surface waves Dispersive seismic waves trapped
in the outer layers of the earth that propagate along the
earth’s surface.
17:23
THEORETICAL SEISMOLOGY studies the propaga-
tion and generation of seismic waves in the earth. Because
of heterogeneity of seismic wave velocities in the interior
of our planet, seismic wave propagation is very complex:
seismic waves are refracted, reflected, and converted by
numerous internal discontinuities, and they are scattered
and attenuated by inhomogeneities. They are also trapped
as surface waves in the shallow, low-velocity layers of the
earth. The kinematic and dynamic properties of seismic
waves are used by seismologists to study the interior of the
earth and to determine the rupture process that generates
earthquakes.
I. INTRODUCTION
A. Brief Historical Review
Theoretical seismology originally developed as an appli-
cation of classical elastodynamics to the propagation of
seismic waves in the earth. After seismologists recognized
the main waves types—P, S, and surface waves—they used
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576
their arrival times in seismograms to determine seismic
wave velocities in the earth, and derived the first models
of the distribution of elastic constant in the earth. The
main theoretical method was classical ray theory for a
radially stratified model of the earth. These models, de-
veloped since the 1930s, permitted the accurate localiza-
tion of seismic events and the detailed study of seismicity.
Major improvements in the instrumentation between 1950
and 1965, extending the range of seismic observations to
several decades in frequency, gave a major impulse to the-
oretical seismology. Matrix methods were developed for
the study of propagation in a stack of layers of constant
velocity. These techniques, still in use today, allowed the
calculation of realistic seismograms, including most of the
features observed in actual records. A significant devel-
opment of this period was the use of the dispersion of sur-
face waves to invert for the velocity of shallow waveguide
of the earth. By 1960, the first observation of the earth’s
normal modes had been made and a whole new area of
theoretical seismology was developed in order to analyze
these new observations. At the same time, new techniques
were developed for the interpretation of reflection pro-
files in exploration seismology, where the large amount
of data obtained require extensive computer processing.
The widespread availability of computers has changed the
emphasis in theoretical seismology from the study of sim-
plified kinematical models of wave propagation to the
simulation of complete seismograms that are then com-
pared with observed records to invert for earth structure.
Many different types of tomographic methods have been
developed for the study of the velocity structure of the
earth.
Frequently considered as a separate branch of theo-
retical seismology, source theory was developed in or-
der to understand the faulting process that is at the origin
of most earthquakes. One of the most significant results
was the observational and theoretical demonstration that
most earthquakes generate seismic waves with quadrupole
symmetry. Later, in the period 1960–1990, major develop-
ments in the formulation of dislocation and crack models
of the earthquake source took place. These results are at
the basis of most current attempts to quantify earthquake
source parameters.
B. Assumptions of Linearity and Elasticity
Although at very long time scales of the order of thousands
of years to millions of years the earth deforms continu-
ously, at the time scales of interest in seismology (from
milliseconds to a few hours) the earth behaves like an
elastic body. While in the immediate vicinity of a seismic
source strains can be large, only a few kilometers away
they drop to less than 10−5 so that deformation may be
Seismology, Theoretical
considered to be linear and elastic. Seismic disturbances
are small incremental changes of elastic strains that in-
teract very weakly with the large strains due to tectonic
deformation of the earth. Thus for almost all practical pur-
poses, except the study of strong motion in the near field
of an active fault, we can consider the earth to be a linear
elastic but inhomogeneous body. Furthermore, it is fre-
quently assumed that the earth is isotropic, although there
is clear evidence of small amounts of anisotropy in both
global and exploration seismology. Elastic waves are at-
tenuated as they propagate mainly by scattering by small
but widely distributed heterogeneities in earth’s structure.
Attenuation is also consider as a secondary effect that can
be dealt with as a perturbation of wave propagation in an
elastic isotropic medium.
II. SEISMIC WAVE PROPAGATION
A. Elastodynamic Wave Equation
We consider the deformation of this volume as a function
of time t with respect to a reference configuration—for
instance, the position r of the particles of this body at time
t = 0. Let P be a point of coordinate r in the reference con-
figuration, and P  its instantaneous position at time t. We
define the displacement vector u(r, t) as the vector PP  .
Separating the symmetric from the antisymmetric parts of
the gradient of displacement tensor (∇u), we define the
linear strain tensor,
 
1 ∂u i ∂u j
i j = + , (1)
2 ∂x j ∂ xi
and the rotation tensor,
 
1 ∂u i ∂u j
ωi j = − , (2)
2 ∂x j ∂ xi
where commas indicate derivatives with respect to the
space variables.
Deformation of an elastic body generates internal
stresses that resist strain. Since we assume that elastic
waves produce only incremental changes in strain and
stress, we can relate strain to stresses by linear elastic-
ity, so that the stress tensor associated with strain  is
σi j = λθ δi j + µi j , (3)
where summation over repeated indices is assumed, θ =
÷u is the the dilatation or trace of the starin tensor (1).
The λ and µ are the two Lame’s coefficients of linear
isotropic elasticity. These two parameters define the main
elastic properties of the earth, and they vary both radially
and laterally inside the earth. The determination of these
parameters is the main purpose of seismology.
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Seismology, Theoretical
From the conservation of linear and angular momentum
inside a closed elastic body, we derive the equation of
elastodynamics,
∂ 2u
ρ = div σ + f, (4)
∂t 2
where ρ is the density of mass of the elastic medium;
vector f(r, t) is a generalized force that represents sources
of elastic motion. In principle, we should also include in
(4) the effect of gravity, but in most seismic applications
this can be neglected. Inserting the constitutive relation
(8) into the equation of motion (4), we obtain a system
of equations that has to be solved in order to compute
elastic wave motions inside the earth. For a number of
theoretical considerations, it is more appropriate to write
the equations of motion in the more symmetric form,
v̇i = σi j, j + f i ,
σ̇i j = λvi,i + µ(vi, j + v j,i ) + ṁ i j ,
where dots denote derivatives with respect to time while
the commas, partial derivation with respect to the space
component indicated after the comma, i.e., u i, j = ∂u i /∂ x j .
The vi (r, t) = u̇ i (r, t) is the particle velocity at position r
and time t. The last term in the second equation includes
a new source term, the so-called seismic moment distri-
bution. This term represent internal seismic sources such
as explosions and faults. We will see later that this is the
main source of seismic energy in the earth.
Equations (5) are at the basis of all modern methods of
simulation of seismic wave propagation inside the earth
by finite differences. For any given distribution of den-
sity ρ and elastic constants λ, µ inside the earth, we can in
principle solve numerically for velocities and stresses eav-
erywhere. Numerically, methods are currently being ex-
tensively used in the numerical simulation of elastic wave
propagation in oil exploration and earthquake engineer-
ing, and the first numerical solutions of wave propagation
in the entire earth are making their appearance in recent
publications. With increased computer power, especially
parallel machines, we envisage that in a few years most
seismological applications will use numerical simulation
of seismograms.
For practical applications, and in order to understand
the basic physics of elastic waves, we have to study simple
examples that can guide our intuition about wave propaga-
tion in the earth. Most techniques for the study of earth’s
structure are derived from these simpler solutions.
B. Seismic Waves in a Homogeneous Medium
In homogeneous media the elastic constants λ and µ and
density ρ are constant everywhere. In this case, the equa-
tion of motion simplifies significantly and we get
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577
ρ ü = (λ + 2µ)∇θ − µ∇ × ∇ × u, (7)
where double dots indicate double partial derivative with
respect to time t. This is a system of three second-order
partial differential equations with constant coefficients.
There are two types of solutions of this equation that may
be easily found using seismic potential defined by Lame’s
theorem:
u = ∇φ + ∇ × ψ, (8)
where φ is the scalar and ψ the vector potential. Adding
a gauge condition ∇ · ψ = 0, it can be shown that the any
vector displacement field u can be decomposed into a
unique set of potential functions. Introducing the defi-
nition (8) into the equation of motion (7), we find two
independent equations for the potentials.
The first is the equation of dilatational, or P waves
(5)
1
(6) φ̈ = ∇ 2 φ, (9)
α2
the second that of shear or S waves
1
ψ̈ = ∇ 2 ψ, (10)
β2
√
where√ α = (λ + 2µ)/ρ is the speed of P waves and
β = µ/ρ is that of S waves. In an elastic medium, the
elastic constants λ and µ are always positive so that the
P-wave speed is always faster than that of S waves. This
is at the origin of the notation P and S, because the first
seismologists called the first arrivals Primary (P) waves
and later waves were called Secondary or S waves.
C. Plane Waves
The simplest possible solution of the wave equations
(9, 10) are plane waves; they have many general prop-
erties of seismic waves of more complex geometry. Plane
waves are difficult to generate in seismological practice;
however, they provide an excellent approximation to local
seismic wave propagation in smoothly varying media, or
at far distances from the source. Let us define a Cartesian
coordinate system in which the z axis points downward
into the earth, and x and y axes span the surface of the
earth. We consider a simple monochromatic (single fre-
quency) P wave propagating into the earth. Its potential
can be written
φ(r, ω) = (ω) exp[iω(t − p · r)], (11)
where (ω) is the complex-valued amplitude of the wave,
ω its circular frequency, and p the slowness vector. Equa-
tion (11) is called a plane wave because the phase, defined
as the argument of the exponential, is constant on planes
p · r − ωt = const. When t, the travel time, increases, the
constant phase plane moves in the direction defined by the
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vector p. The speed of wave propagation along the direc-
tion p is then c = 1/|p|. Inserting the plane wave solution
(11) into the wave equation for the scalar potential (9) we
find, carrying out the derivatives, that c = α the P-wave
speed. From the definition of seismic potentials (8), one
finds that for P waves the displacement u P = ipωφ so that
plane P waves produce displacements that are longitudinal
(i.e., parallel to the direction of propagation p).
Similarly, for S waves a plane wave of vector potential
ψ can be written as
ψ(r, ω) = Ψ(ω) exp[iω(t − p · r)]. (12)
In this case, inserting in (10), we find that the wave
front moves at speed c = 1/|p| = β, and displacement
u S = iωp × ψ is perpendicular to the direction of prop-
agation defined by the slowness vector p. Thus, plane S
waves are transversely polarized.
From the definition of plane P and S waves [(11) and
(12)], we get the well-known relations between the period
of the seismic wave defined by T = 2π/ω and the wave-
length defined by λ = 2π/(ω|p|). Period and wavelength
are thus related by the classical relationship λ = cT , where
c is the appropriate wave speed for P or S waves.
So far we have studied single-frequency plane waves.
In practice, seismic waves are impulsive, not monochro-
matic. We can easily generate transient plane seismic sig-
nals by the time Fourier transform:
 ∞
1 the time domain has a very simple form:
φ(r, t) = (ω) exp[iω(t − p · r)] dω, (13)
2π −∞
since seismic waves are always real signals, the fre-
quency domain amplitudes  must satisfy the condition
(−ω) = ∗ (ω), where the asterisk indicates complex
conjugation. In general, (ω) contains information about
the spectral properties of the source like seismic moment,
duration, corner frequencies, etc.
The properties of plane waves that we have just dis-
cussed apply also to more general geometries under the
condition that material properties change slowly. In that
case, we can use the ray theory and approximate wave
propagation by high-frequency asymptotic as discussed
in a later section.
D. Spherical and Cylindrical Waves
Two simple and useful solutions of the wave equation for
P waves are spherical and cylindrical waves, generated by
a point source and a line source, respectively. Unfortu-
nately, there are no simple spherically symmetric S waves
because vectors waves have lower order symmetries that
will be examined in next section for a point force. A simple
spherical wave is
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Seismology, Theoretical
1
φ(R, ω) = S(ω) exp[iω(t − R/α)], (14)
R
where R = |r| is the distance from the source and S(ω) is
the complex amplitudes or source spectrum. In the time
domain we write
 
1 R
φ(R, t) = S t − . (15)
R α
The most important new feature of spherical waves com-
pared to plane waves is the decrease in amplitude propor-
tional to 1/R as the wave moves away from the source.
This decrease in amplitude is usually called geometrical
spreading by seismologists and dynamic correction in ap-
plied geophysics. With this correction, the time evolu-
tion of a spherical wave is entirely contained in the phase
t = R/α. Constant phase surfaces are spheres of radius
R = α t. These concentric spheres are usually called wave
fronts and are labeled by the travel time t.
Cylindrical waves are more complex than spherical ones
because in two dimensions waves develop a coda, a slowly
decreasing amplitude that trails the main wavefront. For a
point source, the simplest symmetric cylindrical wave is
i
φ(r, ω) = S(ω)H0(2) (kα r ) exp(iωt), (16)
4
where r is the radial distance from the line source, S(ω)
is the source spectrum, H0(2) is a Hankel function of order
2, and the cylindrical wavenumber kα = ω/α. In this case,
1 H (t − r/α)
φ(r, t) = S(t) ∗  . (17)
4π t 2 − r 2 /α 2
The asterisk denotes time convolution. Cylindrical waves
are clearly more complex than its plane or spherical coun-
terparts. This is due to the long tail in the amplitude of the
cylindrical wave that decreases very slowly, like an inverse
square root, behind the wave front at t = r/α. The tail is
due to diffraction of the waves around the line source. A
particular type of S wave exists also in two dimensions:
these are the so-called antiplane or SH waves. These are
waves that propagate in two dimensions but are polarized
in the direction perpendicular to the plane of propagation.
These waves played a significant role in the development
of theoretical seismology because they are much simpler
to study than in-plane S waves (SV) that are always cou-
pled to P waves.
E. Green’s Function
Plane, cylindrical, and spherical waves are frequently used
in theoretical applications because they may be conve-
niently superposed to find solutions to more complex prob-
lems like reflection and refraction of seismic waves. In any
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Seismology, Theoretical 579

applications, however, we need to determine the radiation

from a certain distribution of body forces f(r, t). These
body forces appear as sources in the elastic wave Eq. (4).
The elastic waves radiated from an arbitrary distribution of
sources can be computed exactly with help of Green func-
tions, which are the fundamental solutions of the elastic
wave equation with a point source at the origin:
f(r, t) = e f δ(t)δ(r), (18)
where δ denotes the Dirac distribution, a generalized func-
tion that is zero everywhere except at the origin, and e f is
a unit vector of components ei that points in the direction
FIGURE 1 Radiation patterns for P and S waves for a single
of the applied force f. The determination of the solutions
vertical force.
of the elastodynamic wave Eq. (4) is the most fundamen-
tal problem of theoretical seismology. Its exact solution
was found by Love at the beginning of the century but it be discussed later in this chapter. The near field terms in
was well known in mechanics in the late nineteenth cen- (19) decay faster than those of the fast field, like R −3 ac-
tury. Using standard spherical coordinates (R , θ, φ), we cording to this equation. Their effect is important only
can write the Green’s function in a homogeneous elastic in the immediate vicinity of the source where they can
medium as dominate strong motion. The static field due a point force
  may be computed from the near field terms. These terms,
1 1 R
Gi j (r, t | 0, 0) = R P
(θ, φ) δ t − which appear in all elastodynamic solutions, are due to
4πρα 2 R α
  diffraction and coupling of P and S waves around the
1 1 R source.
+ R S
(θ, φ) δ t − (19)
4πρβ 2 R β The Greens function may be used to determine the ra-
   diation from a generalized distribution of body forces by
1 1 R
+ R (θ, φ) 3 H t −
NF means of the representation theorem:
4πρ R α  t
 
R u i (r, t) = G i j (r, t | r0 , t0 ) f j (r0 , t0 ) d V0 , (22)
−H t− , (20) 0 V0
β
where V0 denotes a volume (or support) of the region
where the three terms represent, respectively, P waves, S where body forces exist. Thus, knowing the Green’s func-
waves, and the near-field or low-frequency terms. The far- tion, we can compute the radiation from very complex
field terms decay slowly like 1/R and have a phase that distributions of body forces like those that are equivalent
is identical to to that of the simple spherical waves we to seismic faulting in the earth.
studied in the last section. The main difference is in the
radiation patterns defined by
R P (θ, φ) = cos θ, R S (θ, φ) = sin θ, (21) III. REFLECTION AND REFRACTION
OF SEISMIC WAVES
where θ is the polar angle between the direction of the
point force and the direction of radiation from the source, Many of the most complex wave phenomena in seismol-
i.e., cos θ = e f · r/R (see Fig. 1). The amplitude of the ogy are due to the interaction of seismic waves with the
seismic waves varies with angle of radiation in a typi- surface of the earth or internal boundaries. When a seis-
cal bipolar shape. For P waves, radiation is zero in the mic wave encounters a discontinuity in seismic speed, it
direction perpendicular to the point force, this defines a is refracted and partially or totally reflected by the in-
nodal plane along the direction θ = π/2. For S waves, on terface. The sharpest discontinuities in the earth, like the
the other hand, the polar direction θ = 0 is a nodal line. Moho or the core–mantle boundary, produce large ampli-
As illustrated in Fig. 1, the radiation is cylindrically sym- tude reflections and modify substantially the trajectories of
metric about the direction of the point force. This is a seismic body waves. The less important reflectors, inside
very important property, since observing the source from sedimentary basins, producer weaker reflections and mi-
different directions, one can determine the orientation of nor deflections of the seismic rays. These weak reflected
the point force. Seismic sources are generally more com- waves are used as a tool for the exploration of oil bear-
plex that the simple point force considered here, as will ing strata. Reflected and refracted waves have been and
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580 Seismology, Theoretical



still are the main source of information about the internal φ R (r, ω) = R exp i ω t − px x − pzP z ,
structure of the earth at all scales, from global to local 

structures. ψ R (r, ω) =  R exp i ω t − px x − pzS z . (25)

where pzS = β −2 − px2 . Inserting these potentials into the
definition of displacement (8) and stresses (3), we can
A. Seismic Reflections from the Surface
compute the stresses and, finally, impose the boundary
of the Earth
conditions (24). After solving for R and  R in terms of
The simplest problem that we can study is that of the the incident potential  I , we get the reflection coefficients:
reflection of seismic waves with the free surface of the
2
earth. Let a plane harmonic P wave, 4 px2 pzP pzS − β −2 − 2 px2
R PP =
2 ,

 4 px2 pzP pzS + β −2 − 2 px2
φ I (r, ω) =  I exp i ω t − px x + pzP z , (23)

be incident on the free surface of an elastic medium. For 4 px pzP β −2 − 2 px2

R PS =
2 ,
simplicity, we choose coordinate axes so that the slow- 4 px2 pzP pzS + β −2 − 2 px2 (26)
ness vector p is located on the plane (x − z). The x is the
coordinate along the surface and z the vertical coordinate where the denominator of these two expressions is
measured from the free surface. The slowness vector of the so-called Rayleigh determinant R( px ) = 4 px2 pzP pzS +
the incident wave is (β −2 − px2 )2 . This function will play an important role in

the following.
p Ip = px , − pzP , As indicated in Fig. 2, the kinematics of reflection from
p
where px and pz are the components of p IP along the x the free surface is better understood in terms of the angle
and z axes, respectively. As shown earlier in the section of incidence. Denoting by i s the angle of reflection of the
on plane waves, the slowness vector of plane P waves S wave from the free surface, we get
satisfy the relation p Ip  = 1/α, so that we can express sin i p sin i s
px = = , (27)
the vertical
 component of slowness in the simple form α β
pzP = α −2 − px2 . Introducing the angle of incidence i of
so that, since β < α, the angle of reflection of the S wave,
the P wave, we can write px = sin i p /α and pz = cos i p /α.
i s is always less than that of the incident or reflected P
Thus the angle of incidence—and in fact the complete ge-
waves, i p .
ometry of the plane wave—is determined by the horizontal
Similar results are obtained for an S wave incident on
slowness px .
the free surface (see Fig. 2b).
The reflected P wave and S wave are determined from

2
the condition that the surface be free of stress, i.e., 4 px2 pzP pzS − β −2 − 2 px2
R SS =
2 ,
σx z = 0, σzz = 0 (24) 4 p 2 pzP pzS + β −2 − 2 px2

There are two conditions so that we need two reflected 4 px pzS β −2 − 2 px2
waves, P and S waves reflected from the free surface. R SP =
2 . (28)
4 px2 pzP pzS + β −2 − 2 px2
From simple considerations about direction of propaga-
tion (toward z positive), and wave speed we write these The Snell law (27) is the same, but there is an interesting
two waves as new situation in this case. If the angle of incidence of the

FIGURE 2 Geometry of reflection and refraction from a free surface for incident P (left) and S (right) waves.
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Seismology, Theoretical
S wave is larger than a critical value sin i s > β/α, then the
reflected P wave becomes an inhomogeneous wave. For
this range of angles the vertical component of slowness
becomes imaginary and the “reflected” P wave can be
written

 
 or transmission with respect to the vertical axis. Here c
φ R (r, ω) =  R exp iω t − px x exp − pzP z , (29)
p 
where pz = px2 − α −2 . This is a wave that propagates
along the surface with an exponentially decreasing ampli-
tude with depth. This is a generalization of the concept
of plane waves. These kind of boundary waves are very
common in layered media and are generated whenever a
slow wave is converted into a faster one by reflection or
refraction by an interface. It is common in seismology to
call these waves inhomogeneous, or head waves, or other
particular names depending on the mechanism of genera-
tion of the waves. Beyond the critical angle, the reflection
and refraction coefficients become complex, so that wave
amplitudes contain a complex part that produces a phase
shift during wave conversion.
B. Rayleigh Waves at a Free Surface
Another important effect of the boundary conditions at
the free surface is the presence of Rayleigh waves. These
waves are free modes or eigensolutions of the wave equa-
tion for a homogeneous medium (4) together with the
boundary conditions (24) and the condition of conver-
gence of the wave field at infinity. Rayleigh waves cor-
respond to a very particular combination of P and S
inhomogeneous waves. They are the roots of the denomi-
nator R( px ) = 0 of the reflection coefficients (26) and (28).
These roots occur for a particular real value of the hori-
zontal slowness pxR , called the Rayleigh wave slowness.
Its inverse c R = 1/ pxR is the Rayleigh wave speed, which
is slower than both P and S waves. The Rayleigh wave
speed is c = 0.91β for an elastic half-space with λ = µ,
and vary around 0.9β for reasonable values of the ratio
α/β. For shallow sources the Rayleigh waves dominate
the elastic wave field observed on the free surface. In the
earth, seismic wave speeds increase with depth, so that the
free-surface effect is coupled to waveguide effects, mak-
ing the Rayleigh waves in the earth much more complex
than those in an elastic half-space.
C. Reflection and Transmission
at a Solid-Solid Boundary
Internal discontinuities in seismic velocity or density will
generate reflected and transmitted waves and produce con-
version between P and S waves. The corresponding ex-
pressions for the reflection and transmission coefficients
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581
become increasingly complicated, but the basic kinematic
properties of these waves derive from the Snell–Descartes
principle pc = sin i c /c , where pc is the horizontal com-
ponent of the slowness of the wave of type c (P or S)
in layer , and i c is the corresponding angle of incidence
is the appropriate wave velocity in layer . Depending on
the relative velocities of the layers and the type of incident
wave, one or more inhomogeneous waves may be gener-
ated at each interface. In fact, under certain restrictions for
the values of the seismic velocities, it is possible to find
eigensolutions called Stoneley waves, which propagate as
inhomogeneous waves trapped near the interface. These
waves are important in studies of seismic wave propaga-
tion in bore holes where they propagate at the interface
between water and rock.
D. Attenuation
The earth is not a perfect elastic medium. Elastic waves in
the earth are attenuated as they propagate. This attenuation
is due to two effects: intrinsic dissipation and scattering.
Dissipation is the loss of energy of the wave due to internal
friction or other mechanisms of conversion of seismic en-
ergy into heat. Scattering is the loss of energy of a seismic
wave due to the presence of inhomogeneities along the
propagation path. These inhomogeneities radiate part of
the energy in all directions so that the wavefront appears to
lose energy. Energy flow in a seismic wave is proportional
to the square of the complex amplitude A(ω):
1
Es = ρc|A(ω)|2 (30)
2
where ρ is the density and c the appropriate wave speed.
Attenuation is measured in terms of the quality factor
Q(ω), which measures the rate at which energy is lost
from the wave:
1
=−
c 1 d Es
. (31)
Q(ω) ω ES d x
This equation has a simple solution, which written in terms
of the amplitude gives
|A(x, ω)| = |A0 (ω)| exp(−ωx/2cQ), (32)
where A0 (ω) is the amplitude of the wave at the source.
The absolute value of the complex amplitude decreases ex-
ponentially at a rate controlled by Q(ω). This is, however,
not enough to determine the way a plane wave is af-
fected by attenuation because (31) does not permit us
to calculate the complex phase of the wave. If we as-
sume that the phase is zero and use |A| instead of A, it
turns out that the wave will violate causality. The seis-
mic pulse calculated by Fourier inversion will broaden
up symmetrically around the arrival time of the P waves.
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Lower-frequency waves will appear to propagate faster
than higher-frequency ones. In order to respect causal-
ity, a certain frequency-dependent phase correction has
to be introduced. This phase correction is determined by
the Kramers–Koenig relationships. Attenuation of seismic
waves produces a certain amount of dispersion that has to
be taken care of when comparing velocities determined
by observation of seismic waves in different frequency
ranges.
IV. SEISMIC WAVES IN HETEROGENOUS
MEDIA
The study of seismic wave propagation in simple homo-
geneously layered elastic media is important for under-
standing the basic features of seismic wave propagation
and generation. The earth is, however, very heterogenous
so that a proper understanding of propagation in inhomo-
geneous media is necessary to simulate seismograms and
to invert the structure of the earth from observed seis-
17:23
Seismology, Theoretical
the former c = α, the P-wave velocity, while for the lat-
ter c = β, the shear wave velocity. T (r, r0 ) is travel time
between the source point r0 and the observer at r. The
ρ0 and c0 are the density and wave speed at the source,
respectively. J (r, r0 ) is the ray Jacobian or geometrical
spreading of the wavefronts; it will be defined later in the
paper. In many applications J may be negative or complex
so that the proper branch of the square root of J in (33)
should be chosen. The amplitude A(r, r0 ) is a complex
valued vector that contains information about the ampli-
tude and polarity of the waves. Finally, S(ω) is the source
wavelet that contains information about the time variation
of the source (or seismic source time function).
Equation (33) is an approximation to the wave equa-
tion valid only at high frequencies. In this approximation
A0 , J , and T are assumed to be slowly varying functions
of r; the only rapidly varying term in (33) being the expo-
nential. This form of the solution simplifies the calculation
of seismograms in a substantial way. It is in fact simple to
do the inverse Fourier transform of (33) in order to obtain
displacement in the time domain:
mic waves. Full numerical solutions to these problems   
ρ0 c0
are becoming increasingly feasible thanks to the expo- u(r, t) =  A0 S[t − T (r, r0 )] +
ρc J (r, r0 )
nential increase of computer power in recent years. How-
ever, even if we could compute numerical seismograms
we need some practical approximations in order to un-
derstand them and to identify the main seismic arrivals
(or “phases”) in those records. The most widely used of
the approximate techniques is ray theory, which can be
simply described as an extension of spherical wave solu-
tions to slowly varying spherical media. Conditions for the
validity of ray theory are difficult to establish, but they in-
clude at least the following: the properties of the medium
must change very slowly on the scale of a wavelength
and abrupt changes must be confined to well-defined in-
terfaces. Under these assumptions, propagation between
material discontinuities can be computed with ray theory,
while the interaction of rays and waves with the interfaces
can be handled by the plane wave reflection and refraction
described in the previous section.
A. Ray Theory for Body Waves
Ray theory is based on an ansatz or hypothesis about the
form of the elastic wave field, which is assumed to be of
the form:
  
ρ 0 c0
 A0 S ∗ [t − T (r, r0 )], (34)
ρc J (r, r0 )
where S ∗ (t) is the Hilbert transform of s(t),
 ∞
1 S(τ )
S ∗ (t) = P.V. dτ,
π −∞ τ − t
and P.V. denotes the principal value of the integral.
B. Ray Tracing
The computation of synthetic seismograms by ray theory
consists in the computation of travel time T , geometrical
spreading J , and the vector amplitude A. Travel times are
obtained by ray tracing, the Jacobian J by ray perturba-
tion theory (also called paraxial ray theory when it is based
on the Hamiltonian formulation). The vector amplitudes
are traced following an elementary coordinate system
along the ray propagation (see Fig. 3) and computing ap-
propriate reflection and transmission coefficients along the
ray trajectory. Ray tracing equations can be determined
by direct substitution of the ansatz (33) into the elastody-
 namic wave equation. We find
ρ 0 c0
u(r, ω) = A0 (r, r0 ) S(ω)ei ωT (r,r0 ) , (33) (∇T )2 = α −2 , A0 × (∇T ) = 0, (35)
ρc J (r, r0 )
where u(r, ω) is the Fourier-transformed displacement at for P waves, and
point r in the elastic medium and ω is the circular fre-
(∇T )2 = β −2 , A0 · (∇T ) = 0, (36)
quency. The ρ and c are the density and wave velocity at
point r. This expression applies both to P and S waves; for for S waves.
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FIGURE 3 Generalized ray coordinates. The s measures length
along the ray, and γ1 and γ2 are coordinates on the wavefront that
label neighboring or paraxial rays to the central ray.
Let us define a wavefront as a surface of constant travel
time T (r) = const; then the vector p = ∇T is the local
slowness vector of the wave front. The p is perpendicu-
lar to the wave front and its modulus |p| is the slowness
at which the wave front moves locally. The two eikonal
equations (35 and 36) simply state that the slowness for P
waves is the inverse of the P-wave speed α, and that the
slowness of S is the inverse of its speed β. The second
terms in (35 and 36) have a simple interpretation. The first
means that the P-wave vector amplitude is parallel to the
slowness vector |p|, while the second implies that the vec-
tor amplitude for S waves is perpendicular to the slowness
vector p. Thus ray tracing determines not just travel times
but also the polarities of seismic waves.
Given an initial wave front T0 (r), say, the successive
positions of the front may be computed step by step using
(35 or 36). This is not a practical procedure, although it
has become popular in recent times for small scale ap-
plications. The reason it is difficult to apply is that travel
time is almost always a multivalued function that presents
folds, cusps, and other singularities several that can be
described very accurately with catastrophe theory. Direct
integration of the eikonal can follow only one sheet of
the wave fronts, and fails at caustics and other singu-
larities. It is possible to evacuate these problems com-
puting the normal to the wave front at every integra-
tion step and following the front along each of these
vectors, but this technique has not yet been used in
practice.
The more frequent method for tracing rays is to derive
from (35 or 36) a system of ray tracing equations. For
that purpose we introduce the ray coordinate s, as shown
in Fig. 3, the curvilinear distance s along the ray. Re-
marking that the tangent to the ray t = dr/ds is parallel
to the slowness vector p = ∇T , we can easily derive the
system:
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583
dr
= cp, (37)
ds
dp 1
=∇ ,
ds c
where c is either α, the P-wave speed, or β, that of S
waves. The second equation in (38) is closely related to
ray curvature given by
1
κ = cn · ∇ , (38)
c
where n is the unit normal to the ray trajectory. Thus the
curvature of the ray is controlled by the gradient of slow-
ness. We can interpret it very simply: rays are deflected
away of regions of high wave speed. This explains in a
simple way a common observation for ray tracing in the
earth: rays are attracted by low velocity zones and are
rejected by regions of high speeds.
Solution of (38) requires the specification of initial or
boundary conditions. The simplest problem is to specify
the initial position r(s0 ) and slowness p(s0 ) for each ray
on some initial surface. For a point source, for instance,
r(s0 ) is the same for all the rays, while p(s0 ) changes from
ray to ray. Once the initial conditions are specified, the
ray tracing system (38) can be integrated numerically, for
instance, by the Runge Kutta method. Let us remark that
the six ray tracing equations (38) are not really indepen-
dent because |dr/ds| is always equal to 1, and |p| = c−1 .
Thus, actually only four of the equations are independent.
In practice, when (38) is being solved numerically these
relationships may be used as a consistency check. Once
the rays have been traced, the travel time T (r, r0 ) may be
calculated by direct integration of
dT 1
=
ds c
along each ray.
Solution of the initial value ray tracing problem is rela-
tively straightforward. In most seismological applications,
however, the usual problem is to trace a ray that passes
through two fixed points r0 and r1 . This is the so-called
two-point ray tracing problem, which is very nonlinear and
closely related to inverse problems. Most effective meth-
ods for the solution of the two-point ray tracing problem
are based on the iterative search of the initial slowness p1
by continuation or ray perturbation methods.
Given appropriate initial conditions, the set of rays and
wave fronts is uniquely determined in those regions of
space that are illuminated by the initial data. Because the
ray tracing system (38) is nonlinear, the ray field may
present singularities. In order to understand these prob-
lems and to determine geometrical spreading, we remark
that the set of rays and wave fronts form a curvilinear coor-
dinate system. As shown in Fig. 3 we introduce orthogonal
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curvilinear coordinates γ1 an γ2 on the wave fronts in
addition to the ray coordinate s. Each pair (γ1 , γ2 ) defines
a ray. The curvilinear coordinate set (s , γ1 , γ2 ) defined in
this form is usually called the ray coordinate system. Any
point P in the region illuminated by rays may be defined
by its ray coordinates. In this coordinate system the vol-
ume element is d V = J (r, r0 ) ds dγ1 d γ2 , where J is the
Jacobian of the transformation from Cartesian to ray co-
ordinates. Since ds is a curvilinear abscissa along the ray
the cross section (Fig. 2) of a beam of rays defined by the
four rays with coordinates γ1 , γ2 , γ1 + dγ1 , and γ2 + dγ2
is given by d S = J (r, r0 ) dγ1 dγ2 . Thus, J is a measure of
the variation of the cross section of this beam. J is usu-
ally called geometrical spreading, because it measures the
spreading of the wavefront around the ray (γ1 , γ2 ).
We can now explain the presence of J −1/2 in the expres-
sion for ray theoretical seismograms (3). Elastic energy
flow across a wave-front element of cross section d S is
1 This is one of the first problems solved by seismologists
dE = ρc |u̇|2 J dγ1 dγ2 .
2
Since in the ray approximation energy flows along a beam
of rays without lateral scattering, the energy flux across
the cross section defined by dγ1 dγ2 must be conserved.
Thus energy conservation along a ray tube implies that
amplitudes vary like (ρc J )−1/2 as in (33). As mentioned
earlier, the transformation to ray coordinates may be sin-
gular. Near these singularities, J → 0, so that the usual
expressions of ray theory as given by (33) fail and other
methods, like WKB or Gaussian beam summation, have
to be used.
C. Variational Formulation
The ray tracing problem has been posed so far in its differ-
ential form. Alternatively, it may be posed in a variational
form which may be used to develop alternative methods of
solution of these equations, to introduce perturbation the-
ory, to calculate wave fronts, etc. The most common use
of the variational formulation in seismology is in travel
time inversion. The starting point for this formulation is
Fermat’s principle, which may be stated in the following
form: among all trajectories joining two fixed points r0
and r1 , a ray is the trajectory for which the travel time is
stationary. We write this condition in the form
 1
consequence of the conservation of px and p y is that rays
dr
δT (r0 , r1 ) = δ u(r)
ds = 0. (39) remain in the vertical plane defined by the initial point r0
0 ds
where s is as before the curvilinear distance along the ray
and δ means variation with fixed end points. Let us note
that since the ray tracing problems are highly nonlinear
several rays may satisfy the variational condition (39).
The variational principle (39) looks for an extremal tra-
jectory without any constraint upon the ray coordinate s,
Seismology, Theoretical
which may be any variable. In the particular case when
s is the curvilinear coordinate, the rays that render (39)
stationary may be found by standard techniques of the
calculus of variations. The Euler equations are
 
d 1 dr 1
− ∇ = 0. (40)
ds c ds c
which can be easily seen to be exactly equivalent to the
ray tracing equations (38) inserting the first equation of
(38) into the second one. This is an alternative way to de-
rive the ray tracing equations without reference to the ray
ansatz, although the variational method does not permit
us to compute the amplitude variations in (33).
D. Rays in Vertically Heterogeneous Media
If wave speeds vary only with depth, it is possible to find
a simple closed form solution of the ray tracing equations.
and is the basis for numerous applications of ray theory
to seismic interpretation and inversion of travel times in
the earth. There is a good reason why this is a good ap-
proximation: wave speeds vary much more rapidly with
depth than they do laterally; for this reason lateral het-
erogeneities can be treated as small perturbations of a
vertically stratified earth model. Initially, when the main
objective of seismologists was to find the vertical vari-
ation of seismic wave speeds, the observed travel times
were averaged in order to eliminate lateral variations. At
present, a preliminary reference earth model (PREM) has
been proposed that serves as standard vertically stratified
distribution of seismic speeds. Most uses of ray theory
consist in computing travel times and synthetic seismo-
grams for small perturbations of the PREM model. These
models are also being used to locate earthquakes by itera-
tive inversion techniques. As data has improved in quality
and precision earthquakes are increasingly being located
in laterally heterogenous media.
In vertically heterogenous media, the second set of
equations in (38) yields d px /ds = d p y /ds = 0 because the
gradient of slowness is vertical. Therefore, the horizontal
components of slowness, px and p y , are conserved dur-
ing ray propagation. This is completely equivalent to the
Snell law used in elementary ray tracing. The most obvious
and its initial slowness p0 . Another, perhaps less obvious,
consequence is that the ray fronts have cylindrical sym-
metry with respect to a vertical axis through the source.
Because of cylindrical symmetry we can choose the x axis
to coincide with the horizontal projection of vertical plane
that contains the ray. For simplicity seismologists use p
instead of px for the horizontal slowness and call it ray
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FIGURE 4 Ray trajectory in a vertically heterogeneous medium.
parameter. Then equation (38) can be integrated immedi-
ately to
 z
p started as a P or an S wave of horizontal slowness p. The
x(z , x0 , z 0 , p) = x0 +  dz, (41)
z0 c −2 (z) − p2
which gives the horizontal range of the ray as a function of
vertical position z and the initial conditions x0 , z 0 , and p.
Likewise it is straightforward to integrate the travel time
along the trajectory (41):
 z
1 velocity structure, constructive interference will occur for
T (z , x0 , z 0 , p) =  dz. (42)
−2
z 0 c(z) c (z) − p 2
Given a wave speed distribution c(z) for P or S waves,
(41) and (42) yield x and T as functions of depth z and ray
parameter p. Since p is the horizontal component of slow-
ness, it can be expressed in terms of the incidence angle
i as p = sin i(z)/c(z) (see Fig. 4). Thus as c(z) increases
with depth, i also increases until a certain bottoming depth
z b at which i = π/2. The ray is horizontal at this depth and
it returns toward the surface; thus for each ray parameter
there is a maximum depth that the ray can attain. This is
the basis for the inversion of seismic speeds from travel
times and ray paths. In an earth model in which speed in-
creases monotonically with depth, rays of decreasing ray
parameter sample increasingly deeper parts of the earth.
This procedure is no longer possible when wave speeds
present low velocity zones (LVZ) where the wave speed
decreases with depth. In that case the speed within the
low velocity zone can not be directly determined by travel
times of body waves. Surface wave dispersion and the fre-
quencies of normal modes are a better approach to study
LVZs.
V. SEISMIC SURFACE WAVES
As discussed in the preceding section, rays in a vertically
heterogeneous model of the earth’s structure penetrate to
a maximum depth that depends on their horizontal slow-
ness or ray parameter p. Consider, for instance, an S-wave
ray of frequency ω and horizontal slowness p. After leav-
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585
ing the source, it will descend to a maximum depth z bS
from which it will return to the surface. There it will be
reflected as an S wave and converted into a reflected P
wave. The reflected S ray will again descend to depth z bS
and return back to the surface, where it will be reflected
and converted again. This will occur many times, but the
ray will always remain inside a zone of depth z bS from the
surface of the earth. The P waves generated by conversion
of the S waves on the earth’s surface will have the same
horizontal slowness p as the S waves, and they will also
be constrained to a certain layer of depth z bP , which will be
shallower than z bS . Thus the whole set of converted P and
S waves will be trapped in a layer or wave-guide of depth
z bS . In fact, since the depth of this waveguide is entirely
controlled by p, it is not really relevant whether the wave
existence of this waveguide is entirely due to the increase
of wave velocities with depth.
For a given frequency ω, all values of the apparent slow-
ness p will be associated with a family of multiply re-
flected P and S waves. These multiply bouncing waves
will interfere, and depending on their frequency and the
a set of discrete values of p. A constructively interfering
set of P and S waves forms a surface wave, which will
propagate in the waveguide defined by the surface and the
turning depth for that value of p. Surface waves are two-
dimensional waves so that their geometrical decay (R −1/2 )
is less rapid than that of noninterfering body waves (R −1 ).
For this reason, at relatively large distances from the earth-
quake, surface waves become the most prominent arrivals
in seismograms. If we let the frequency ω change, con-
structive interference will occur for p = pn (ω), where the
index n ∈ [0, . . . , ∞] is the mode number. For each n
there is a well-defined relation, called dispersion relation,
between horizontal slowness and frequency. Dispersion is
frequently written in terms of the horizontal phase veloc-
ity (or phase velocity, for brief) c = 1/ pn (ω) = cn (ω). The
mode with the lowest value of cn is called the fundamental
mode and is labeled by n = 0. Higher values of n and cn
correspond to overtones of the surface waves.
The most important characteristic of surface wave is
dispersion. For body waves, the velocity of propagation
along the ray is constant and independent of frequency.
For surface waves, the horizontal phase velocity depends
on the frequency of the wave because the conditions for in-
terference can only be satisfied by special values of phase
velocity and frequency. Dispersion relations are somewhat
difficult to obtain for realistic earth models; they have to be
computed numerically by a method that can be sketched
as follows. Let
u(x, z) = y(z) exp[iω(t − px)] (43)
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be the components of the displacement, where we have
explicitly written that we look for waves propagating hor-
izontally in the x direction with slowness p. The depth-
dependent functions y(z), which describe the vertical vari-
ation of the amplitude of the surface wave, are usually
called the vertical eigenfunctions. Since velocity depends
only on depth, inserting (43) into the equation of motion
will yield a system of three second-order ordinary differ-
ential equations for the y(z) functions. These equations
have to be solved together with the free-surface boundary
conditions σi z = 0, for i ∈ [x, y, z] and the condition that
y(z) → 0 when z → 0. This set of equations and boundary
conditions defines an eigenvalue problem for pn (ω) with
associated eigenvectors yn (z) → 0. Detailed examination
of the equations shows that they can be separated into two
independent sets. The first and simpler one contains only
the component y y (z). These are waves that are polarized
horizontally in the transverse direction with respect to the
direction of propagation of the surface waves. These waves
are called Love waves. The other set of solutions are waves
polarized in the vertical plane, that is, y = [yx , 0, yz ], and
are called Rayleigh waves. The eigenvalue problems for
Rayleigh and Love waves are solved independently by nu-
merical methods that yield both pn (ω) [or cn (ω)] and the
associated eigenvectors yn (z). The latter may eventually
be used to compute synthetic seismograms.
Dispersion relations for Love and Rayleigh waves have
some common properties that are useful in practical appli-
cations. The most important one is that dispersion curves
for the different modes do not intersect each other in the
ω,c plane. Also, c decreases monotonically from a max-
imum at the cutoff frequency down to a minimum con-
trolled by the lowest shear wave velocity in the model.
We can understand this by the following simple argument:
As frequency decreases, wavelengths become longer, and
for a given dispersion branch, the eigenfunctions pene-
trate deeper into the earth. Hence, they propagate on a
deeper waveguide, and since the velocity increases with
depth, they sample higher velocities. Since in most earth
models the minimum velocity occurs on the surface, high-
frequency surface waves propagates with velocities very
close to that of the shear wave velocity at the top of the
crust. On the other hand, at longer periods the maximum
phase velocity should approach the velocity in the deeper
layers of the earth. At very long periods, however, the flat
model that we have considered so far becomes inappro-
priate, and we have to take into account the sphericity of
the earth.
So far we have considered monochromatic surface
waves of fixed frequency ω. Seismograms are recorded,
of course, in the time domain, and although they may be
processed by Fourier transformation, it is useful to under-
stand the behavior of surface waves in the time domain.
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Seismology, Theoretical
A simple way to do this is to do an inverse Fourier trans-
form of the frequency domain expression (43). At suf-
ficiently high frequencies it is possible to calculate this
Fourier transform asymptotically by using the stationary
phase technique. The main result of this analysis is that in
the time domain surface waves of predominant frequency
ω propagate with a group velocity U (ω) = ∂ω/∂k, where
k = ωp is the horizontal wave number. In the earth, the
group velocity is always less than the phase velocity. De-
pending on the velocity model, group velocity may vary
very rapidly with frequency, especially for higher modes.
It presents minima and maxima called Airy phases, which
correspond to arrivals of relatively high amplitude.
A. Free Oscillations of the Earth
As the wavelength of the surface waves increases and it be-
comes comparable to the radius of the earth, a new quanti-
zation occurs and frequencies become discrete. The theory
of normal modes is one of the most complex in seismology
because at low frequencies none of the usual simplifica-
tions allowed by ray theory is applicable and the complete
equations of elastodynamics coupled with gravity pertur-
bations have to be solved. For the relatively simpler case
of earth models whose velocity and density depend only
on depth, there are standard programs to perform calcu-
lations of the frequencies of the normal modes. For more
realistic, laterally heterogeneous models, only perturba-
tion techniques are currently used to compute the earth’s
eigenfrequencies.
In a vertically heterogeneous earth model, the elastody-
namic equations can be separated in spherical coordinates,
assuming that displacement is expanded in spherical har-
monics. It turns out that just as with surface waves, the
equations separate into two sets. The first are the toroidal
oscillations for which particle velocity is mainly tangen-
tial to the surface of the earth. At high frequencies the
series of eigenfrequencies for toroidal modes merge con-
tinuously into the dispersion curves for Love waves. The
other type of free oscillation is spheroidal, with particle
motions concentrated on vertical planes. At high frequen-
cies, once the spectrum becomes continuous, spheroidal
oscillations merge into the dispersion curves for Rayleigh
waves.
The surface pattern of displacement associated with a
given mode of vibration of the earth is controlled by the
shape of the vector spherical harmonics. Spherical har-
monics are characterized by two numbers:  and m; 
varies from 0 to ∞, while − ≤ m ≤ . The number  mea-
sures the number of nodal circles that the spherical har-
monic has on the surface of the earth, while m measures the
number of these circles that intersect the earth’s equator. In
a spherically symmetric earth model, the eigenfrequencies
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ω are independent of the zonal number m; that is, these
eigenfrequencies are degenerate. For each  there are thus
(2 + 1) modes that share the same frequency. Every set of
such degenerate modes is called a multiplet. As mentioned
earlier, the azimuthal number  determines the number of
nodal lines in the mode. It is therefore closely related to
the horizontal wavelength of the mode on the surface of
the earth. At high frequencies the wavelength is approxi-
mately given by λ = 2πa/( + 1/2) where a is the radius
of the earth. Thus  controls the azimuthal variation of the
free oscillation. Just as for surface waves, for every  there
is a complete series of overtones labeled with the overtone
number n, with n = 0 for the fundamental mode.
The spectrum of the earth is discrete because of its finite
size. It would, of course, be possible to construct synthetic
seismograms at any frequency, even for body waves, by
summation of normal modes. This is indeed done for long
periods (down to about 60 sec), but it is a very inefficient
procedure at higher frequencies because of the numerous
overtone branches that interfere to produce the harmonics
of surface waves. At even higher frequencies for periods
less than 20 sec, say, modes of high overtone order inter-
fere to produce body waves. Numerical evaluation of in-
terfering oscillatory sums is very inefficient in a computer,
producing aliasing, beating, and other numerical artifacts.
For this reason, numerical methods based on modern spec-
tral finite element methods are being actively explored to
generate synthetic seismograms.
VI. SEISMIC SOURCE THEORY
Many shallow earthquakes are accompanied by evidence
of surface faulting. These faults have dimensions ranging
from a few meters to hundreds of kilometers, depending
on the size of the event. A substantial amount of informa-
tion demonstrates that practically all shallow earthquakes
are due to the fast propagation of rupture along one ore
more well-defined fault surfaces. Earthquakes occur in
the brittle, colder parts of the lithosphere in response to
the slow but continuous accumulation of tectonic stresses
due, in most cases, to the relative motion of the litho-
spheric plates. Earthquakes are usually localized near the
boundaries of the plates or, in their interiors, in zones
that are mechanically weakened. It has been determined
from geodetic measurements that the deeper parts of plate
boundaries creep continuously in response to plate motion.
At the relatively colder temperatures that prevail at shal-
lower depths, the lithosphere cannot deform sufficiently
fast to follow plate motions and stresses accumulate. When
stresses reach a certain threshold, the fault becomes un-
stable and a fast process of stress release takes place. The
main effect of an earthquake is the discontinuous slip or
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587
faulting that takes place at its source. Typically, for large
earthquakes, a few meters of slip can take place in a few
seconds generating strong seismic waves that we identify
as the main source of an earthquake.
A. Seismic Moment Tensors
The most common theoretical approach to the study of
seismic radiation is to construct mechanical models equiv-
alent to faulting in the earth. Instead of describing the seis-
mic event by the detailed distribution of slip on the fault,
we represent it by a one, or a few, multipolar sources.
Such an approach is deemed objective because it makes
no assumptions about the rupture process, not even the ex-
istence of a fault! Only later, once a particular geometry
has been chosen, can the multipolar sources be related to
some specific geometry of the source.
Seismic sources are of internal origin so that they may
not be due to point forces of the type we studied in
Section IIE. For a set of forces to be of internal origin,
they must satisfy the following two conditions:
 
f(r0 ) d V0 = 0, r0 × f(r0 ) d V0 = 0, (44)
V0 V0
where V0 is any volume that surrounds the source. The
first condition states that the resultant of the body forces
must be zero, so that there is no net force applied to the
earth by the earthquake; the second states that the total
torque of these forces must also be zero. A distribution
that satisfies these two conditions is of internal origin and
is acceptable because it does not perturb the motion of the
earth in its orbit.
Any body force that satisfies the two conditions (44)
necessarily derives from the divergence of a symmet-
ric tensor m that we call the moment tensor density
distribution:
f(r, t) = −∇ · m(r, t). (45)
Moment tensors are well known in other areas of me-
chanics where they are usually called spontaneous in-
elastic stresses or transformational stresses following a
nomenclature introduced by Eshelby. Backus introduced
the name stress glut because he interpreted m as an excess
of stress with respect to elastic stresses. None of these
other terms became popular in seismology.
For a body force distribution that derives from a mo-
ment tensor distribution, the representation theorem (22)
becomes
 t
u i (r, t) = G i j,k (r, t | r0 , t0 )m jk (r0 , t0 ) d V0 , (46)
0 V0
where the notation G i j,k means that the Green’s function
for a point force G i j has been derived with respect to
coordinate xk .
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Encyclopedia of Physical Science and Technology EN014c-680 July 28, 2001
588
In many applications, when the wavelengths of inter-
est are much longer that the source dimensions, we can
replace the seismic moment by a concentrated source:
m(r, t) = M δ(r − r0 )δ(t − t0 ),
where M is the point moment tensor equivalent to the
earthquake. Every element of M has units of mechanical
moment (Nm). The moment tensor can be decomposed in
many ways into simpler fault models. The simplest of them
is a pure shear moment tensor component, m x y say. In this
case the equivalent set of forces forms a double couple,
i.e., four forces in equilibrium with zero net moment. In
this case we write
m(r0 , t0 ) = M0 [ex e y + e y ex ](r0 )
and we call M0 the scalar seismic moment of the source.
This number has now replaced all previous methods to
quantify an earthquake including magnitude, intensity,
and energy. Since seismic moments span more than 10
orders of magnitude, logarithmic scales are a more prac-
tical way to estimate the size of an earthquake. In the
1970s Kanamori introduced a new definition of mag-
nitude that computes the so-called moment magnitude
log M0 = 1.5Mw + 9.3 directly from the moment.
A more general approach to the interpretation of the
point moment tensor M is to interpret in terms of couples
of sources. For that purpose we diagonalize the tensor
M computing its three eigenvalues µi and its associated
eigenvectors mi , where the index i varies from 1 to three.
Since the moment tensor is symmetric, all its eigenvalues
and eigenvectors are real and orthogonal, so that the most
general point model of an earthquake is a set of three or-
thogonal linear dipoles of strengths µ1 , µ2 , µ3 . A frequent
observation is that for many earthquakes the trace of the
moment tensor trace (M) is zero, so that µ2 = −(µ1 +µ3 ).
This conditions is generally interpreted as a lack of volume
change associated with earthquakes. This is the way they
are currently described in the daily reports of moment
tensors published by Harvard University, United States
Geological Survey, and several other institutions around
the world.
B. Dislocation Model of Faulting
Most earthquakes are due to faulting or slip along a well-
defined fault surface. In the particular case in which the
fault is perfectly flat, we can interpret the seismic moment
tensor in a simpler way: one of the two couples of forces
of the seismic moment would then extend along the fault
plane; the other would be parallel to the normal to the
17:23
Seismology, Theoretical
fault. For a fault model all we would require is a scalar
distribution of moment on the fault. It can be easily shown
that for a flat fault the moment density at any point on the
fault surface is simply the product of the elastic rigidity µ
(47)
times the slip at that point D. The scalar seismic moment
in that case is

M0 (t) = µ D(r, t) d S0 . (49)
S0
For the full description of an earthquake that took place
on a fault of arbitrary geometry, we would have to specify
a full moment tensor at each point of the fault and the
relation between the equivalent scalar moment and the
actual distribution is frequency dependent and complex.
(48) Such a model would require a complete description of
the geometry of the fault surface and of the slip at every
point of the fault. Although detailed models of this kind
have recently been inverted for a few very well-recorded
earthquakes, for most events this is too ambitious at the
present time. For this reason, fault models are simplified
by making geologically reasonable assumptions about the
shape of the fault and the distribution of slip. The most
common assumptions is that the fault is planar, and that
rupture starts at some predetermined hypocenter and then
spreads over the fault surface at a fixed rupture speed.
Estimates of rupture speed for well-studied earthquakes
always range between 60 and 80% of the shear wave speed.
As rupture develops starting from the hypocenter, the total
moment increases, and once rupture comes to a stop, it
eventually reaches a maximum (or static) value M0 .
SEE ALSO THE FOLLOWING ARTICLES
EARTHQUAKE MECHANISMS AND PLATE TECTONICS •
EARTHQUAKE PREDICTION • SEISMOLOGY, OBSERVA-
TIONAL • WAVE PHENOMENA
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Aki, K., and Richards, P. G. (1980). “Quantitative Seismology,” Freeman,
San Francisco.
Ben Menahem, A., and Singh, S. J. (1981). “Seismic Waves and Sources,”
Springer Verlag, Berlin and New York.
Dahlen, T., and Tromp, J. (1999) “Theoretical Global Seismology,”
Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.
Kennett, B. L. N. (1985). “Seismic Wave Propagation in Stratified
Media,” Cambridge University Press, London and New York.
Kostrov, B. V., and Das, S. (1989). “Principles of Earthquake Source
Mechanics,” Cambridge University. Press, London and New York.
Udı́as, A. (1999). “Principles of Seismology,” Cambridge University
Press, London and New York.