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1 Lecture 1: Seismology
1.1 Introduction

An earthquake is a sudden and transient motion of the earth’s surface. A study of earthquake engineering
calls for a good understanding of geophysical process that causes earthquakes and various effects of
earthquakes. Seismology is the study of the generation, propagation and measurement of seismic waves
through earth and the sources that generate them. The word seismology originated from Greek words,
‘seismos’ meaning earthquake and ‘logos’ meaning science. The study of seismic wave propagation
through earth provides the maximum input to the understanding of internal structure of earth.

1.2 Earth and its Interiors

The earth’s shape is an oblate spheroid with a diameter along the equator of about 12740 km with the
polar diameter as 12700km. The higher diameter along equator is caused by the higher centrifugal forces
generated along the equator due to rotation of earth. Though the specific gravity of materials that
constitute the surface of earth is only about 2.8, the average specific gravity of earth is about 5.5 indicating
presence of very heavy materials towards interior of earth. The interior of the earth can be classified into
three major categories as Crust, Mantle and Core (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Inside the earth

Crust: or the lithosphere, is the outer part of the earth is where the life exist. The average thickness of
crust beneath continents is about 40km where as it decreases to as much as 5km beneath oceans. The

CE 445N Elements of Earthquake and Wind Engineering Dr. Moonis Zaheer

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oceanic crust is constituted by basaltic rocks and continental part by granitic rocks. Compared to the layers
below, this layer has high rigidity.

The discontinuity between the crust and the next layer, the mantle, was first discovered by Mohorovicic
through observing a sharp change in the velocity of seismic waves passing from the mantle to the crust.
This discontinuity is thus known as the Mohorovicic discontinuity (“M discontinuity”). The average seismic
wave velocity (P wave) within the crust ranges from 4 to 8 km/s.

Mantle: is a 2900 km thick layer. The mantle consists of 1) Upper Mantle reaching a depth of about 400
km made of olivine and pyroxene and 2) Lower Mantle made of more homogeneous mass of magnesium,
iron oxide and quartz. No earthquakes are recorded in the lower mantle. The specific gravity of mantle is
about 5. The mantle has an average temperature of about 2200 degree Celsius and the material is in a
viscous semi molten state. It was observed that both P and S waves can pass through the mantle.

Core: has a radius of 3470 km and consists of an inner core of radius 1370 km and an outer core (1370 km
< R < 3470 km). The outer core is composed of molten iron, small quantities of nickel and sulphur or silicon.
The inner solid core is very dense nickel-iron material and is subjected to very high pressures (4 million
atm.), and the density is about 14 g cm-3. The maximum temperature in the core is estimated to be about
3000 degree Celsius. Near the earth’s surface, these values are 1 atm, 1.5 g cm-3and 25˚C, respectively.
The specific gravity of outer core is about 9-12 where as that of inner core is 15. It was observed that only
P waves pass through the central core.

CE 445N Elements of Earthquake and Wind Engineering Dr. Moonis Zaheer