Loose ends

Seismogram

GENERAL
Midterm is Feb 8, 4-5:30 PM, MRN 150
Lectures 1 to 7 now on Blackboard; questions for last lecture coming
tomorrow.
AMMENDMENT: No questions from Lecture 1 on midterm. On Lectures 2
to 7 covered.

LAST LECTUREREVIEW
Radiometric dating
Half life
Earthquakes
P-waves and S-waves

Seismogram

The Earths interior

(continued)

It was found that the seismic waves generated by earthquakes

could be measured by using sensitive pendulums (now called
seismometers).

Seismometer

Pendulum stays put,

ground moves beneath

It was found that the seismic waves generated by earthquakes

could be measured by using sensitive pendulums (now called
seismometers).

Seismometer

TIME

Again, this gif provides a nice illustration of the difference between the
body waves (P-waves and S-wavesweak wavesdog runs away) and
surface waves (major shaking) nicely.

It is a logarithmic
scale: each whole
number represents a
10 fold increase in
ground motion,
which corresponds
to a 32 fold increase
in released energy.

1 per year

Damaging

150 per year

The Richter scale

was developed in
1935 to quantify and
compare earthquake
magnitudes.

Earthquakes release enormous amounts of energy

The largest earthquake on record is the 1960 Valdivia earthquake in
Chile, which registered 9.5 on the Richter Scale.

1960 Valdivia earthquake

Chile

=
2 billion tons TNT

1019 J energy released

=
180,000 Hiroshimas

=
~1 yr of power for Canada

Because P-waves travel faster than S-waves (see table below), the
spread in arrival time between the two increases with distance
from the epicenter. This spread, called the P-S time interval, can
be used to ascertain distance between seismometer and epicenter.
P-waves travel about twice as
fast as S-waves

Alaska
Colorado
Bogota
= P-S time interval
9

Two things on a seismometer prinout out are used determine the magnitude
of earthquake on the Richter scale: (1) the amplitude of largest seismic wave
(maximum amplitude) recorded, and (2) the distance of the seismometer
to the epicenter (determined from P-S time interval).

Example

Surface
waves

Time
P-S time interval = 20 s
Maximum amplitude = 10 mm
Richter magnitude = 4
10

Determining the geographic location of epicenter

requires multiple stations.

Epicenter
S
P

S
P

Distances at each station determined from P-S time interval

11

Okay, but what do seismic waves

tell us about the Earths interior?

12

Earths density > rock density

Hints that highdensity material

existed at depth
within the Earth
were first
encountered
when Earths
density was
calculated
(Cavendish,
1798).
Because Earths
average density is
greater than the
density of rocks from
Earths crust, there
must be denser
material in the
Earths interior.

13

A layered model of the Earth was first proposed by Emil

Wiechert in 1896.

Low-density mantle

High-density core

Theoretical model of Earths interior, circa. 1900

14

So how did seismic waves contribute?

The deeper a seismic wave travels through the solid Earth, the faster it travels. Why?
Because seismic velocity increases with the rigidity of a solid, and rigidity increases
with depth (pressure). Rigidity is a measure of how difficult a solid is to shear (see
shear modulus (), below) and how difficult it is to compress (see bulk modulus
(K), below.) S-waves travel faster through solids with higher shear moduli, whereas
P-waves travel faster through solids with higher bulk moduli and shear moduli (see
equations below). By contrast, increases in density reduce seismic velocity of both
P- and S-waves. Because density increases with depth in the Earth, rigidity must
therefore also increase, and it must do so at a faster rate.

P-wave velocity
S-wave velocity

K, , 1/
, 1/

K = bulk modulus = compressive

force/deformation a measure of
how hard a solid is to compress
= shear modulus = shear
stress/deformation a measure of
how hard a solid is to shear

= density

Increasing depth, pressure,

density, rigidity, seismic
velocity

ASSUMING EARTH
IS SOLID
15

Body waves spread out through the Earths interior radially, like
light rays from a light source. The line of travel of an earthquake
wave is the ray path.

Seismic waves

16

Earth with equal rigidity and density throughout

ray paths

straight

EARTH

17

Earth with gradual increase in rigidity (i.e., seismic velocity) with

depth curved ray paths. Why? Due to refraction (see box).

REFRACTION

Like a car hitting the soft shoulder of the road,

when a seismic wave encounters a media through
which it travels more slowly, it will bend (refract)
into that media as it slows down. Because seismic
waves increase in velocity with depth, seismic ray
paths become curved due to refraction as they
pass through the Earth (they bend away from the
Earths centre).

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What is actually observed is a little more complicated than this

Earthquake
YES

YES

Earth
YES

YES

S-waves
NO

NO
NO

Seismometer

19

What is actually observed is a little more complicated than this

Earthquake

Earth

S-waves

S-wave shadow zone

What might be stopping the S-waves?

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Fluids do not transmit shear waves

Remember, compressional waves like P-waves and sound waves travel
through fluids because fluids rebound elastically to compression. By
contrast, shear waves like S-waves are not transmitted by fluids because
fluids deform permanently when sheared, the shear being dissipated as
turbulence and, ultimately, heat.
Sound wave travels
great distances
(fluids support
compressional
waves)

Shear dissipates rapidly

from tail (fluids to not
support shear waves)

Dolphin
21

The P-wave data also seemed to support the presence of a less rigid
core because there are two P-wave shadow zones. As the P-waves
move into the slower liquid core, they are refracted toward the
centre of Earth, resulting in two shadow zones, as depicted.

Earthquake
YES

YES

Earth
YES

YES

P-waves
NO

NO
YES

Seismometer

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The P-wave data also seemed to support the presence of a less rigid
core because there are two P-wave shadow zones. As the P-waves
move into the slower liquid core, they are refracted toward the
centre of Earth, resulting in two shadow zones, as depicted.

Earthquake

Earth

P-wave shadow zones

23

The P-wave data also seemed to support the presence of a less rigid
core because there are two P-wave shadow zones. As the P-waves
move into the slower liquid core, they are refracted toward the
centre of Earth, resulting in two shadow zones, as depicted.

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This would have been a typical depiction of the

Earths interior prior to the 1930s: one single, big
liquid core.
Solid

Fluid

25

However, it was known that weak and late P-waves could

actually be detected in the P-wave shadow zones.

Lehmann (1936)
argued that the
only way they could
exist is if they
reflected off a solid
inner core within
the liquid outer
one.

Solid
inner
core
Weak,
indirect
P-waves

Weak,
indirect
P-waves

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Gutenberg Discontinuity
significant change in seismic waves (P-waves
slowed, S-waves attenuated) at the core-mantle
boundary.

Seismic discontinuities

Lehmann
Discontinuity*
significant velocity
increase at the inner core
boundary

*Also known as the Bullen

Discontinuity. Not to be confused with
another discontinuity, also referred to
as the Lehmann discontinuity, at about
220 km depth beneath continents.

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Another important seismic discontinuity was discovered in in the

early 1900s in the shallower Earth (the Mohorovicic Discontinuity, or
simply the Moho).

Mohorovicics observations

Close to earthquake, direct P-waves arrive first

Far from earthquake, indirect P-waves arrive first

In 1909, Mohorovicic observed that

earthquakes tended to generate two
sets of P and S waves, (1) direct waves
that travelled slower but followed a
more direct, near-surface path from
focus to seismometer (blue lines in
figure) and (2) indirect waves that
were refrated by a high-velocity
medium at greater depth. The direct
waves arrived first at stations <200 km
away from quake, whereas indirect
waves arrived first at stations >200 km
away. Further work showed that the
seismic discontinuity (the Moho)
ranges from 20-80 km beneath
continental crust, and 5-7 km beneath
oceanic crust.

Moho discontinuity

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The Moho is a significant velocity jump that defines the crust-mantle

boundary. It occurs within the lithosphere. It is 5-7 km depth beneath
oceanic crust and 20-80 km depth beneath continental crust.

Moho depth

Note that mountains, like icebergs, commonly have thick, low-density roots 29

Seismic discontinuities
1. Moho (base of crust; jump in P- and S-wave velocity)
2. Gutenberg Discontinuity (core-mantle boundary; S-waves attenuated; P-waves slowed)
3. Lehmann Discontinuity (inner core boundary; reflects weak P-waves into shadow zone)

Asthenosphere thought to be soft

and slow because it is close to
melting point

3
30

But what about this?

So much of this is derived from

seismic

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Crust 0.4% Earths mass, <1% Earths

volume

Silicate (felsic)

Silicate
(mafic)

The composition of the

crust is relatively easy to
ascertain because we walk
on top of it everyday, and
can sample much of it
directly.
Continental crust
Ave composition: Felsic (granite)
Density: 2.7 g/cm3
Thickness: 20-80 km

Oceanic crust
Ave composition: Mafic (basalt)
Density: 2.9 g/c,3
Thickness: 5-7 km
Crust

ave T 500 C

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Samail
Ophiolite,
Oman Silicate (felsic)

The mantle consists of

83% of Earths volume.
Composition?

Silicate

Experimental studies
Xenoliths
Ophiolites
Seismic data

(mafic)

Silicate
(ultramafic)

Mantle
Ave composition: ultramafic
Density: 4.5 g/cm3
Ave temperature: 2500 C
Mantle 68% Earths mass,
83% Earths volume

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There is no such thing as a xenoliths derived from the core: the core, or
material from it, has never been observed directly.
However, as weve seen previously,
evidence of its composition can be
gleaned (1) the high density of the Earth
coupled with (2) the composition of
chondrites. Since chondrites are
empoverished in metal, and metal is
quite dense, it seems reasonable to
suspect that the core is metallic.

Silicate (felsic)

Silicate

Outer core
Ave composition: Liquid Fe and S
Density 12 g/cm3
Ave temperature 4600 C

(mafic)

Silicate
(ultramafic)

Metallic

Inner core
Ave composition: Liquid Fe and Ni
Density 16 g/cm3
Ave temperature 5000 C
Core 32% Earths mass,
16% Earths volume

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An outer core that is metallic and convecting also seems to

explain why Earth has a magnetic field.

According to the
geodynamo model,
movement of the rotating,
convecting, electrically
conducting outer core
generate the Earths
magnetic field.
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Questions
1. Explain how a seismometer works.
2. What information from a seismogram printout does one need to calculate the
distance from that seismogram to an earthquake epicentre?
a) The maximum amplitude of the seismic waves
b) The maximum amplitude of the seismic waves and the P-S interval
c) The P-S interval.
d) All of the above.
3. Can the location of an earthquake be determined from a single seismogram
printout?
a) No.
b) Yes, if two other seismograph printouts from two other locations are available.
c) Yes, if three other seismograph printouts from three other locations are available.
d) All of the above.
4. What does one require from a seismogram printout to plot the magnitude of an
earthquake on the Richter scale?
a) The maximum amplitude of the seismic waves
b) The maximum amplitude of the seismic waves and the P-S interval
c) The P-S interval.
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d) All of the above.

Questions
5. What evidence exists for the Gutenberg Discontinuity?
a) The S-wave shadow zone.
b) Weak, indirect P-waves are observed in the P-wave shadow zone.
c) P- and S-waves speed up at depths greater than 5-7 km beneath the seafloor and
20-80 km beneath the land surface.
d) P-waves travel through the centre of the Earth.
6. What evidence exists for the Lehmann Discontinuity?
a) The S-wave shadow zone.
b) Weak, indirect P-waves are observed in the P-wave shadow zone.
c) P- and S-waves speed up at depths greater than 5-7 km beneath the seafloor and
20-80 km beneath the land surface.
d) P-waves travel through the centre of the Earth.
7. What evidence exists for the Moho Discontinuity?
a) The S-wave shadow zone.
b) Weak, indirect P-waves are observed in the P-wave shadow zone.
c) P- and S-waves speed up at depths greater than 5-7 km beneath the seafloor and
20-80 km beneath the land surface.
d) P-waves travel through the centre of the Earth.
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Answers
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

See slides 4 and 5.

(c)
(d)
(b)
(a)
(b)
(c)

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