EES 0836 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Epicenter, Seismometer, Seismic Wave

• School: Temple University
• Department: Earth & Environmental Science
• Course: EES 0836
• Professor: Karen

Document Summary

Both types of body waves are emitted from epicenter of quake. Seismographs record arrivals of waves to station site. P and s waves travel at different rates and arrive at station at different times. Distance to epicenter can be found by comparing travel times of the waves. Seismograms: record the arrival of the seismic waves to the seismograph. In 1935, charles richter discovers that the difference in arrival time between p and. S waves corresponds to the distance to the earthquake epicenter. In 1935, richter also connects wave amplitude to earthquake strength (amplitude=the wave height from midline: earthquake happens, sends seismic waves in all directions, the p waves followed by the s waves arrive at a seismic station. The difference in the arrival time to the seismograph between first p and s wave= 50 seconds: on the graph, this corresponds to 475 km away from the eq epicenter. At least three stations are needed to find exact epicenter.