What Are The Types Of Seismic Waves? | Seismology
TYPES OF SEISMIC WAVES – In this topic we will now talk about the meaning and the different types of seismic waves in the field of seismology.
But first, let us know the meaning of seismology and seismic waves.
Definition
- Seismology
- The study of earthquakes and seismic waves that moves through and around the world. Scientists who study this field are called seismologists
- Seismic waves
- The sudden breaking of racks within the world or an explosion cause these waves of energy .
Types
Here are the following types according to the website of Michigan Technological University:
A. Body Waves – these arrive before the surface waves are discharged by an earthquake and they travel through the world’s interior
Types of Body Waves
1. P Waves or Primary Waves – the fastest type and the first to arrive at a seismic station. They move through solid rock and fluids; and push and pull the rock they move through
2. S Waves or Secondary Wave – refers to the second wave we feel in an earth =quake and is slower than a P Wave. It can only move through a solid rock.
B. Surface Waves – These have lower frequency than body waves and are distingished on a seismogram (device for detecting seismic waves).
Types of Surface Waves
1. Love Waves – named after A. E. H. Love, who made the mathematical model for this wave way back in 1911. It is the fastest surface wave and moves from side-to-side.
2. Rayleigh Wave – named after Lord Rayleigh or John William Strutt who discovered this wave in 1885, It is a wave that rolls along the ground like a wave that rolls across a lake or an ocean, thus, moving the ground up and down.
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