The study of earthquakes and the seismic waves that carry their energy through the Earth. Reading those waves is also how the planet's hidden interior, crust, mantle, and the boundary of the core, was first mapped. The discipline's founding figure is usually named as Robert Mallet, who from 1857 laid the foundation of modern instrumental seismology, coining the word itself and running deliberate underground explosions to study how shock waves travel through rock. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Facts
Central QuestionSeismology is the scientific study of earthquakes and the generation and propagation of elastic waves through planetary bodies. 1 ScopeSeismology studies earthquakes and the propagation of seismic waves through the Earth, using those waves both to assess earthquake hazard and to image the planet's deep interior. 1 SignificanceRapid seismic location enables tsunami warnings, since seismic waves travel much faster than tsunami waves. 1 Seismology
Filter Results14 entries
FAQs
Can seismologists predict exactly when an earthquake will happen?
Not reliably. Long term hazard probabilities and very short warnings after shaking begins are possible, but the precise time, location and size of an individual earthquake cannot be predicted in advance.
Not reliably. Seismologists can identify which faults are active and estimate the long term probability that a given region will experience a major earthquake within a stated span of years, and monitoring networks can issue very short warnings of seconds to roughly a minute once shaking has already begun elsewhere along a fault. But no method has been shown to reliably predict the precise time, location and size of an individual earthquake before it starts.
Connections
Associated With
Early seismometers are among the instruments geophysics grew from, and Earth's internal structure is central to both fields.
Source Geophysics (Wikipedia)
Has Scientist
Source Andrija Mohorovicic (Wikipedia)
Source Beno Gutenberg (Wikipedia)
Source Charles Richter (Wikipedia)
His 1889 report on the 1886 Charleston earthquake proposed a method for estimating an earthquake's focal depth.
Source Clarence Dutton (Wikipedia)
Source Inge Lehmann (Wikipedia)
Includes
Source 1700 Cascadia earthquake (Wikipedia)
Regarded as the founding event of scientific seismology; the first earthquake studied systematically across a whole region.
Source 1755 Lisbon Earthquake (Wikipedia)
Source 1811-1812 New Madrid Earthquakes (Wikipedia)
Source 1906 San Francisco Earthquake (Wikipedia)
Source 1950 Assam-Tibet earthquake (Wikipedia)
Source 1960 Valdivia Earthquake (Wikipedia)
Source 1964 Alaska Earthquake (Wikipedia)
Source 1970 Ancash earthquake (Wikipedia)
Source 1976 Tangshan earthquake (Wikipedia)
Source 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake (Wikipedia)
Source 1995 Hanshin earthquake (Wikipedia)
Source 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami (Wikipedia)
Source 2010 Haiti Earthquake (Wikipedia)
Source 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami (Wikipedia)
Source 2018 Sulawesi Earthquake and Tsunami (Wikipedia)
The boundary is observed via the discontinuity in seismic wave velocities at its depth.
Source Core-Mantle Boundary (Wikipedia)
Source Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale (Wikipedia)
Source Andrija Mohorovicic (Wikipedia)
Source Moment Magnitude Scale (Wikipedia)
Source Richter Magnitude Scale (Wikipedia)
Source Earthquake swarm (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Seismology (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationApplications
Rapid location of earthquakes makes tsunami warnings possible because seismic waves travel considerably faster than tsunami waves.
History, Beginnings of modern science section
From 1857, Robert Mallet laid the foundation of modern instrumental seismology and carried out seismological experiments using explosives.
View the Source Clarence Dutton (Wikipedia)
Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Modified Mercalli Intensity ScaleView the Source 1976 Tangshan earthquake (Wikipedia)
Includes: 1976 Tangshan Earthquake, Lead paragraph (in-discipline)Quote, Includes: 1976 Tangshan Earthquake, Lead paragraph (in-discipline)
A Mw 7.6 earthquake hit the region around Tangshan, Hebei, China, at 03:42:55 on 28 July (19:42:55, 27 July UTC) 1976.
1700 Cascadia earthquake (Wikipedia)
Includes: 1700 Cascadia Earthquake, Lead paragraph (in-discipline)Quote, Includes: 1700 Cascadia Earthquake, Lead paragraph (in-discipline)
The 1700 Cascadia earthquake occurred along the Cascadia subduction zone on January 26, 1700, with an estimated moment magnitude of 8.7-9.2.
1989 Loma Prieta earthquake (Wikipedia)
Includes: 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake, Lead paragraph (in-discipline)Quote, Includes: 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake, Lead paragraph (in-discipline)
PDT, the Loma Prieta earthquake occurred on the Central Coast of California.
1950 Assam-Tibet earthquake (Wikipedia)
Includes: 1950 Assam-Tibet Earthquake, Lead paragraph (in-discipline)Quote, Includes: 1950 Assam-Tibet Earthquake, Lead paragraph (in-discipline)
The 1950 Assam-Tibet earthquake, also known as the Assam earthquake, occurred on 15 August and had a moment magnitude of 8.7.
1970 Ancash earthquake (Wikipedia)
Includes: 1970 Ancash Earthquake, Lead paragraph (in-discipline)Quote, Includes: 1970 Ancash Earthquake, Lead paragraph (in-discipline)
The 1970 Ancash earthquake (also known as the Great Peruvian earthquake) occurred on 31 May off the coast of Peru in the Pacific Ocean at 15:23:29 local time.
1995 Hanshin earthquake (Wikipedia)
Includes: 1995 Kobe Earthquake, Lead paragraph (in-discipline)Quote, Includes: 1995 Kobe Earthquake, Lead paragraph (in-discipline)
The Kobe earthquake, also known as the Great Hanshin Earthquake (Japanese: 阪神淡路大震災, Hepburn: Hanshin-Awaji daishinsai), occurred on January 17, 1995, at 05:46:53 JST in the southern part of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, including the region of Hanshin.
Earthquake swarm (Wikipedia)
Includes: Seismic Swarm, Lead paragraph (in-discipline)Quote, Includes: Seismic Swarm, Lead paragraph (in-discipline)
In seismology, an earthquake swarm is a sequence of seismic events occurring in a local area within a relatively short period.
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