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The-earthy

Earth

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14 views10 pages

The-earthy

Earth

Uploaded by

pineapplezip23
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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THE EARTH

OBJECTIVE

• Determine how earthquake waves provide information


about the interior of the earth.
•Body waves refer to the vibrations that travel
through the interior of the earth.
•The two types of body waves are primary
waves or P waves and secondary waves or S
waves.
•P waves push rocks in the direction they are
travelling and they travel in all states of matter
• S waves displace rocks at right angles to the direction they
are travelling. S waves cannot pass through liquids.
• Surface waves refer to vibrations that travel at the
surface of the earth. They can also travel at the surface of
the mantle and core. The two types of surface waves are
the Rayleigh waves and Love waves. Surface waves cause
the damage incurred during an earthquake.
SEISMIC WAVES PROVIDE INFORMATION ABOUT
THE INTERIOR OF THE EARTH

• P waves travel through solids and liquids, but they travel


faster through solids. Changes in the speed of earthquake
vibrations give scientists an idea of the physical properties
of various depths of the earth’s interior.
LAYERS OF THE EARTH
• The lithosphere, composed of the crust and the
uppermost part of the mantle is solid.
• Seismic waves travel fast through this rocky
sphere. Below the lithosphere, the seismic waves
slow down. This observation indicates a very high
temperature that melts rocks, making the molten
behave like a fluid. Scientists call this region of the
mantle asthenosphere.
• Below the asthenosphere, seismic waves travel fast
again indicating that the lower part of the mantle is
solid. It is probably the very high pressure that keeps it
solid in spite of the high temperature.
• A similar phenomenon is observed in the core. Seismic
waves travel slowly through the outer core indicating
that it is molten due to the extremely high temperature.
Then again the inner core is solid in spite of the very
high temperature. Most probably, the very high
pressure in the deepest part of the earth keeps it solid.

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