Introduction

Seismology investigates the propagation of elastic/acoustic waves through solid and semi-solid planetary bodies. Seismic waves are usually thought of as having their origins in movements associated with earthquakes. Seismology uses the principles of wave propagation to infer properties and characteristics of the Earth's Interior. A recently developed procedure for doing this involves seismic tomography. Tomographic studies help to reveal velocity variations (and hence density variations) within the Earth's mantle. Also see the related page on Planetary Interiors.

Resources

Local

Earthquake location and depth maps for:

• The June 28, 1992 Landers/Big Bear Earthquake Aftershock Sequences
• The October 16, 1999 Hector Mine Earthquake Aftershock Sequence

Internet

• The Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC)
• The Trinet SoCal Earthquake Info Site
• Northern California Earthquake Data Center (NCEDC) at Cal Berkeley
• USGS Earthquake Information
• Seismosurfing on the Net (from Univ. of Washington)
• East Coast Seismicity (at MIT Earth Research Lab)
• Tutorial and resource guide to Seismic Tomography (at St. Louis Univ.)

Hard Copy

• Bath, M. Introduction to Seismology, Birkhauser Verlag, Basel, 1973.
• Bullen, K. E. & B. A. Bolt, An Introduction to the Theory of Seismology, Cambridge U. Press, Cambridge, 1985.
• Dahlen, F. A., Theoretical Global Seismology, Princeton U. Press, Princeton, NJ, 1998.
• Fowler, C. M. R., The Solid Earth: An Introduction to Global Geophysics, Cambridge U. Press, Cambridge, 1990.
• Gubbin, D., Seismology and Plate Tectonics, Cambridge U. Press, Cambridge, 1990.
• Iyer, H. M. & K. Harihara, Seismic Tomography Theory and Practice, Chapman & Hall, London, 1993.
• Thurber, C. H., N. Rabinowitz (eds.), Advances in Seismic Event Location, Kluwer Academic, 2000.
• Yeats, R. S., K. E. Sieh & C. R. Allen, Geology of Earthquakes, Oxford U. Press, Oxford, 1997.