Seismic Waves Mini-Poster

Seismic WavesNikolett Jakab Class M Spring 2015

Translations

Word Hungarian Spanish Arabic

Wave Hullám Ola موجة

Surface Felület Superficie سطح

Fault Törés Falla فالق

Earthquake Földrengés Terremoto زلزال

Primary Elsôdleges Primario ابتدائي

Secondary Másodlagos Secundario ثانوي

Seismic Vibrálás Sísmico زلزالي

Description

Seismic waves are the waves of energy caused by the sudden cracking of the rock under the energy that the rock could not bear anymore.

Seismology is the profession that studies these waves and earthquakes that generate them. There are two categories for seismic waves, one that are body waves and the others are surface waves.

Body Wave v. Surface Wave

Body waves can travel through the earth's inner layers, but surface waves can only move along the surface of the planet and cannot go inside the crust or move in the mantle.

Surface waves move on lower frequency than body waves. Surface waves cause most of the destruction after an earthquake despite that it comes second.

Primary Waves

Fastest wave

Arrives first

Can move through solid rock and fluids, like water or the liquid layers of the earth.

It pushes and pulls the rock, moving them left and right.

Also known as Compressional Waves.

Secondary Waves

Slower than Primary Waves

It can only move through solid rock.

It move rock particles up and down or side-to-side.

Love Waves

It's the fastest surface wave.

Moves the ground side-to-side almost as a curling motion like a snake.

Love waves move in horizontal motion.

Rayleigh Wave

Rolls along the ground

It moves the ground up and down, and side-to-side.

Most of the shaking felt from an earthquake is due to the Rayleigh wave.

Visualization

GIF of how the Primary and Secondary waves move both from the focus and epicenter positions.

Sources

Pictures:

"Seismic Wave." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seismic_wave>.

"Great Gif of How Seismic Waves Propagate through the Earth • /r/geology."Reddit. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2015. <http://www.reddit.com/r/geology/comments/1kr0x7/great_gif_of_how_seismic_waves_propagate_through/>.

"Lecture 10: Earth! - The Home Planet." Lecture 10: Earth! - The Home Planet. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2015. <http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~nowack/geos105/lect10-dir/lecture10.htm>.

Websites:

"What Is Seismology and What Are Seismic Waves?" What Is Seismology and What Are Seismic Waves? N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2015. <http://www.geo.mtu.edu/UPSeis/waves.html>.

"Lecture 10: Earth! - The Home Planet." Lecture 10: Earth! - The Home Planet. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2015. <http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~nowack/geos105/lect10-dir/lecture10.htm>.