Ask the Chatbot Games & Quizzes History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture ProCon Money Videos
seismic wave
Table of Contents
Introduction References & Edit History Related Topics
Images & Videos
The video thumbnail image shows a woman trying to break a bundle of pasta strands as part of a scientific demonstration.
How P waves travel
How S waves travel
How Love waves travel
How Rayleigh waves travel
seismic wave: main types Figure 18: Profiles of the quality factor (Q; see Table 2), viscosity, and electrical conductivity as functions of depth. The quality factor is determined for shear waves at frequencies of one to 100 hertz (periods of one to 0.01 second). seismic waves: travel-time curve
The types of seismic waves explained
How earthquakes cause seismic waves
Quizzes
Cross section of Earth showing the core, mantle, and crust
The Solid Earth Quiz
Read Next
VAN, TURKEY - OCTOBER 25: A building and car ruined during the earthquake of Van-Ercis on October 25, 2011 in Van, Turkey. It is 604 killed and 4152 injured in Van-Ercis Earthquake.
What Is an Aftershock?
Galaxy clusters like Abell 2744 can act as a natural cosmic lens, magnifying light from more distant, background objects through gravity. NASA's James Webb Space Telescope may be able to detect light from the first stars in the universe if they are gravitationally lensed by such clusters. (astronomy, space exploration, galaxies)
How Fast Is the Universe Expanding?
Discover
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. addresses marchers during his "I Have a Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. August 28th 1963
Was Martin Luther King, Jr., a Republican or a Democrat?
The impeachment trial of Pres. Andrew Johnson, illustration from Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, March 28, 1868.
What If the President Is Impeached?
Shadow of a man holding large knife in his hand inside of some dark, spooky buiding
7 of History's Most Notorious Serial Killers
Orange basketball on black background and with low key lighting. Homepage 2010, arts and entertainment, history and society
The 10 Greatest Basketball Players of All Time
Happy, smiling, flying pig
7 Everyday English Idioms and Where They Come From
Ice Sledge Hockey, Hockey Canada Cup, USA (left) vs Canada, 2009. UBC Thunderbird Arena, Vancouver, BC, competition site for Olympic ice hockey and Paralympic ice sledge hockey. Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, Vancouver Olympics
10 Best Hockey Players of All Time
A mug shot taken by the regional Colombia control agency in Medellin
Pablo Escobar: 8 Interesting Facts About the King of Cocaine

seismic wave: Related Content

verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Share
Share to social media
URL
https://www.britannica.com/facts/seismic-wave
Written and fact-checked by
The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

The Information Architects maintain a master list of the topics included in the corpus of  Encyclopædia Britannica, and create and manage the relationships between them.
The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Photos and Videos

seismic wave: main types
Figure 18: Profiles of the quality factor (Q; see Table 2), viscosity, and electrical conductivity as functions of depth. The quality factor is determined for shear waves at frequencies of one to 100 hertz (periods of one to 0.01 second).
seismic waves: travel-time curve
The video thumbnail image shows a woman trying to break a bundle of pasta strands as part of a scientific demonstration.
How P waves travel
How S waves travel
How Love waves travel
How Rayleigh waves travel
See All Videos and Images →

Related Topics and References

Topics
Dig Deeper: More Articles That Discuss This Topic

Key People

Inge Lehmann
Danish seismologist
Sir Harold Jeffreys
Sir Harold Jeffreys
British astronomer and geophysicist
Beno Gutenberg
American seismologist

Related Quizzes and Features

Quiz
Cross section of Earth showing the core, mantle, and crust
The Solid Earth Quiz
Demystified
VAN, TURKEY - OCTOBER 25: A building and car ruined during the earthquake of Van-Ercis on October 25, 2011 in Van, Turkey. It is 604 killed and 4152 injured in Van-Ercis Earthquake.
What Is an Aftershock?