What are the four types of seismic waves?
What are the four types of seismic waves?
Love Waves—surface waves that move parallel to the Earth’s surface and perpendicular to the direction of wave propagation..
- P-wave Motion. P-wave:the primary body wave; the first seismic wave detected by seismographs; able to move through both liquid and solid rock.
- S-wave Motion.
- Rayleigh-wave Motion.
- Love-wave Motion.
What are the 5 types of seismic waves?
Types
- Body waves travel through the interior of the Earth.
- Surface waves travel across the surface. Surface waves decay more slowly with distance than body waves which travel in three dimensions.
- Particle motion of surface waves is larger than that of body waves, so surface waves tend to cause more damage.
What is the slowest seismic wave called?
Surface waves
Surface waves are the slowest of all seismic waves, traveling at 2.5 km (1.5 miles) per second.
What are the 3 types of seismic waves?
There are three major kinds of seismic waves: P, S, and surface waves. P and S waves together are sometimes called body waves because they can travel through the body of the earth, and are not trapped near the surface. A P wave is a sound wave traveling through rock.
What does P in AP Wave stand for?
compressional wave
A P wave, or compressional wave, is a seismic body wave that shakes the ground back and forth in the same direction and the opposite direction as the direction the wave is moving.
What are the 2 types of body waves?
Body waves
- P-waves. The first type of body wave is called the primary wave or pressure wave, and is commonly referred to as P-waves.
- S-waves. The second type of body wave is called the secondary wave, shear wave or shaking wave, and is commonly referred to as S-waves.
- Wave propagation.
What are 2 main types of seismic waves?
The two main types of waves are body waves and surface waves. Body waves can travel through the Earth’s inner layers, but surface waves can only move along the surface of the planet like ripples on water. Earthquakes send out seismic energy as both body and surface waves.
Which seismic waves are the fastest?
Earthquakes release waves of energy called seismic waves. They travel through the interior and near the surface of the Earth. P-waves, or primary waves, are the fastest moving type of wave and the first detected by seismographs.
What is the 2 main types of seismic waves?
What are PS and L waves?
P waves travel fastest and are the first to arrive from the earthquake. In S or shear waves, rock oscillates perpendicular to the direction of wave propagation. The slowest (and latest to arrive on seismograms) are surface waves, such as the L wave. L waves are named for the Cambridge mathematician A.E.H.
What are the basic theoretical principles of seismic waves?
BASIC THEORETICAL PRINCIPLES OF SEISMIC METHODS I. Huygens Principle: “Every point on the wave front is a source of a new wave that travels out of it in the form of spherical shells.” Seismic rays are used instead of the wave front to describe the wave propagation.
What can we learn from seismic shadow zones?
Seismic shadow zones have taught us much about the inside of the earth. This shows how P waves travel through solids and liquids, but S waves are stopped by the liquid outer core. The P wave propagates at ~6 km/sec in rock with particle motions that are parallel to the direction of propagation.
What are seismic P waves?
Seismic P waves are also called compressional or longitudinal waves, they compress and expand (oscillate) the ground back and forth in the direction of travel, like sound waves that move back and forth as the waves travel from source to receiver. P wave is the fastest wave. Particle motion consists of alternating compression and dilation.
What type of waves are produced during an earthquake?
An earthquake generates seismic waves that penetrate the Earth as body waves (P & S) or travel as surface waves (Love and Rayleigh). Each wave has a characteristic speed and style of motion.
