EES XXX – Introduction to Seismology

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An introduction to the field of seismology for intermediate to advanced undergraduate and first-year graduate students.

Seismology is the study of Earth’s elastic vibrations, the sources that generate them, and the structures through which they propagate. It is a geophysical discipline that has a remarkable diversity of applications to critical issues facing society and plays a leading role in addressing key scientific frontiers involving Earth’s dynamic systems (Lay et al., 2009).

Students will be introduced to the physics of seismic wave propagation which provides quantitative constraints on the structure of Earth’s solid interior from crust to core. Students will learn about Earthquake source theory, which is necessary for describing earthquake statistics and forecasting earthquake hazards. The course will cover the fundamental concepts of elasticity, stress, strain, seismometer design, the derivation of the seismic wave equation, and its application to describing the full seismic spectrum, i.e., compressional and shear body waves, surface waves, and normal modes.