Importance of Observatories station/ seismology recording

Seismological observatories and networks have to provide the useful information on

which seismology is based. The obvious aim of seismological recording is the location of
earthquakes, Earthquake location in time and space is very important because it can be
used in seismic hazard assessments for the engineering and insurance industries and to
help local authorities in civil protection planning and preparedness endeavors (mehnat). The
position of earthquakes is also of scientific importance in delineating the Earth's tectonic
activity, to show the broad pattern of its major zones and also to give details of occurrence
in particular areas for scientific understanding of earthquake processes. Practical example is
the early mapping of the midoceanic ridges by earthquake locations before their
bathymetric continuity was established.

Once the positions of earthquakes are known we can use the energy recorded from
them to establish the properties of earth structure, including near-surface in homogeneities
and deeper structure and discontinuities, as in recent detailed studies of the core-mantle
boundary (Morelli and Dziewonski, 1987). As well as velocity structure, we find the
attenuative properties of the Earth from decay of body waves, surface waves, and free
oscillations.

The final type of information available from seismograms helps reveal the mechanism
of the earthquake source itself. This type of information has obvious scientific.