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Propagation of Seismic Disturbances

Earthquake waves propagate through the Earth's interior and on its surface as the result of earthquakes. There are two main types of seismic waves: body waves that travel through the Earth's interior, and surface waves that travel along the Earth's surface. Body waves include P-waves and S-waves, while surface waves include Rayleigh waves and Love waves. Seismic waves are important for mapping the Earth's interior and for applications like oil and gas exploration.

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Eriane Louise Lorenzo
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100 views22 pages

Propagation of Seismic Disturbances

Earthquake waves propagate through the Earth's interior and on its surface as the result of earthquakes. There are two main types of seismic waves: body waves that travel through the Earth's interior, and surface waves that travel along the Earth's surface. Body waves include P-waves and S-waves, while surface waves include Rayleigh waves and Love waves. Seismic waves are important for mapping the Earth's interior and for applications like oil and gas exploration.

Uploaded by

Eriane Louise Lorenzo
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Propagation of Seismic Disturbances:

Earthquake Waves
Reporters:
Mary Rose Dela Peña
Eriane Louise Lorenzo
What is Earthquake Wave?

 Breaking rock generated waves that propagate through the Earth,


both in its interior as for its surface. Traveling through the interior of
the earth, body waves arrive before the surface waves emitted.
These waves are of a higher frequency than surface waves. A
seismic wave is a wave of energy that travels through the Earth, often
as the result of an earthquake or explosion.
Diagram of a Seismic Wave

When an earthquake happens deep underground a crack will start to open on


a pre-existing line of weakness in the Earth's brittle crust. This crack will then
grow larger and larger, relieving built-up stress as it goes.
The speed at which the crack propagates or grows is 2–3
km/sec. Eventually the rupture will cease to grow and will slow
down and stop. The size or magnitude of the earthquake depends
upon how much the fault has ruptured (the slip) and also the area
over which the rupture has occurred.
This rupturing process creates elastic waves in the Earth that
propagate away from the rupture front at a much faster speed than
the rupture propagates, the exact speed depends upon the nature of
the wave
(a longitudinal or P-wave is faster than a transverse or
S-wave), and on the elastic properties of the Earth. As you go
deeper into the Earth, the density and pressure increases and so do
the velocities of seismic waves
Types of Seismic Waves

Seismic waves are fundamentally of two types:


1. Compressional or shear waves(often called as Body waves)
2. Longitudinal or transverse waves (often called as Surface waves).
Body Waves

Waves that move within the Earth’s interior or


within a body of rock.
Primary Wave (or P-wave) - When an earthquake hits, the first
thing you feel is the primary wave. The primary wave moves faster
and therefore arrives at a particular location first, which is why it is
called the primary wave. It is a longitudinal wave, which means that
it vibrates the ground parallel to the direction in which it is moving.
You can think of it as shaking the ground up and down or side to side.
Because of this, it tends to cause the least damage of any of the types
of seismic waves.
Primary Waves can travel through any type of material, including
fluids, and can travel nearly 1.7 times faster than the S-waves. In
air, they take the form of sound waves, hence they travel at the
speed of sound. Velocity: 5–7km/s in typical Earth's crust ; 8 km/s
in Earth's mantle and core; 1.5 km/s in water; 0.3 km/s in air
Secondary Wave (or S Waves )—secondary body waves that shear, or
cut the rock they travel through sideways at right angles to the direction of
motion; produce vertical and horizontal motion in the ground surface. S-
waves can travel only through solids, as fluids (liquids and gases) do not
support shear stresses. S-waves are slower than P-waves, and speeds are
typically around 60% of that of P-waves in any given material. Velocity: 3
– 4 km/s in typical Earth's crust ; 4.5 km/s in Earth's mantle; 2.5-3.0 km/s
in (solid) inner core
Body waves: P-wave and S-wave propagation through a 3D grid

Wave propagation through a grid


representing a volume of material.
The directions X and Y are parallel
to the Earth's surface and the Z
direction is depth. T = 0 through T =
3 indicate successive times. The
material returns to its original shape
after the wave has passed.
Surface Waves

Waves that move close to or on the outside


surface of the Earth.
Rayleigh waves also move on the surface but are closer to how waves in
the ocean move. Their movement is circular in motion as they move
through the Earth but the circular motion is retrograde meaning the
waves circle backward as they move forward.

Love waves move like S waves in that they have a shearing motion in
the direction of travel, but the movement is back and forth horizontally.
Surface wave: Rayleigh and Love, propagation through a 3 D grid

Surface waves have a


complex motion that
decreases in amplitude with
depth, the material returns to
its original shape after the
wave has passed.
Why are Seismic Waves important?

Some things Seismic Waves are good for include:


      Mapping the Interior of the Earth
      Detection of Contaminated Aquifers
      Finding Prospective Oil and Natural Gas Locations
Types of Interaction Between Waves
1.Refraction
If the seismic wave velocity in the rock below a boundary
increases, the waves will be refracted upward and speed up relative to
their original path. If it passes across a boundary to a lower velocity
layer, the wave will be refracted downward and slow down. Because
velocity generally increases with depth in the mantle, the wave paths
get bent until they reach a critical angle at which point, the waves
return to the surface following a curved path upward.
2. Reflection
A seismic reflection is generated when a wave impinges on a
change in rock type (which usually is accompanied by a change in
seismic wave speed). Part of the energy carried by the incident wave
is transmitted through the material (that’s the refracted wave
described above) and part is reflected back into the medium that
contained the incidence wave.
THANK YOU 

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