Seismic Waves

Earthquake Waves
— When fault slips, released energy
travels outward in seismic waves
¡Outward from point on fault that first
slipped: focus (or hypocenter)
¡Epicenter is point on surface of Earth
directly above focus
 Types of Earthquake Waves
— First arrival is P wave
¡Primary

¡Compressional motion
¡Feels like sudden jolt

¡Travels at 5-8 km/s through rock

¡Sometimes heard as low rumbling

 Types of Earthquake Waves
— Second arrival is S wave
¡Secondary

¡Shear motion
¡Feels like wiggling, difficult to stand

¡Travels at 3.5-4.5 km/s through rock

¡More destructive than P waves

¡Do not travel through liquids

¡Both P and S waves are body waves

 Types of Earthquake Waves
— Last arrivals are surface waves
¡Include Love and Rayleigh waves
¡Travel along surface of Earth and fade
downward
¡Long, rolling motion

¡Travel slower than P or S waves

¡Can be more destructive than P or S waves

 Seismic Wave Videos

— P-wave
— S-wave
— Raleigh wave
— Love wave
 Types of Earthquake Waves
— Wave terminology
¡ Period: time for one complete cycle between
successive wave peaks to pass
¡ Wavelength: distance between wave crests

¡ Amplitude: amount of positive, negative wave

motion
¡ Frequency: number of peaks per second
Fig. 3-19, p. 45
 Seismographs
§ Seismographs record shaking of earthquake
waves on seismograms

§ How do we stand still and watch the Earth move?

§ Heavy weight suspended from rigid column anchored to ground:
stays still from its own inertia while ground moves

§ Pen attached to weight marks paper attached to ground

§ North-south, east-west and vertical components

Fig. 3-20, p. 45
Figure 3-21a p45
Figure 3-21b p45
Figure 3-21c p45
 Earthquake-Wave Velocities
— Surface waves travel with constant velocity through
shallow rocks: arrival times increase linearly with
distance
— P waves and S waves travel faster as
they go deeper through the Earth:
waves at greater depths
reach seismograph
along curving paths
LIKE RIPPLES ON WATER
 Content Objectives

— Students will be able to:

¡ Explain that seismic waves propagate outwards
as wave fronts from the source in 3-dimensions
(X, Y, & Z axes) and have a velocity
¡ Explain that the amplitude of seismic waves is
related to the amount of energy released from the
source and decreases with distance from the
source
¡ Compare and contrast seismic waves to ripples
on water.
 Videos

— Like ripples
— Unlike ripples
— USA array tutorial
— Nevada earthquake animation USA
array
— Mid-Indian-Ocean earthquake
animation USA array
 Human Wave Demonstration

— Objective Students will:

¡ Model how earthquake waves travel at
different speeds
¡ Construct a distance and time graph to
represent the P and S waves
¡ Visualize why s-waves do not travel
through liquids
— VIDEO: The Human Wave
 Seismic Waves and the Slinky

— Slinky demonstrations of
¡P-waves
¡S-waves
¡Surface waves

— VIDEO
— Seismic Slinky