1.

5 Seismic Waves

Fault ruptures cause brittle fractures of the Earth’s crust and dissipate up to 10% of the total plate‐tectonic energy in the form of
seismic waves. Earthquake shaking is generated by two types of elastic seismic waves: body and surface waves. The shaking felt is
generally a combination of these waves, especially at small distances from the source or ‘near‐field’ (Elnashai and Sarno, 2015 ).

Bolt (2008) on the other hand discussed three basic types of elastic waves that make up the shaking that is felt and causes damage in
an earthquake.  

Primary or P wave – the faster body wave. Its motion

is the same as that of a sound wave, in that, as it
spreads out, it alternately pushes (compresses) and
pulls (dilates) the rock (see Figure 1-11). These P
waves, just like sound waves, are able to travel
through both solid rock, such as granite mountains,
and liquid material, such as volcanic magma or the
water of the oceans.

Secondary wave –  the slower body wave.  As an S

wave propagates, it shears the rocks sideways at right
angles to the direction of travel (see Figure 1-12).
Thus, at the ground surface S waves can produce both
vertical and horizontal motions. The S waves cannot
propagate in the liquid parts of the Earth, such as the
oceans and their amplitude is significantly reduced in
liquefied soil.

Surface wave - third general type of earthquake wave.

Such waves correspond to ripples of water that travel
across a lake. Most of the wave motion is located at
the outside surface itself, and as the depth below this
surface increases, wave displacements become less
and less.

Surface waves in earthquakes can be divided into two

types.

1. Love wave - Its motion is essentially the same as

that of S waves that have no vertical displacement;
it moves the ground side to side in a horizontal
plane parallel to the Earth’s surface, but at right
 angles to the direction of propagation, as can be  
seen from the illustration in Figure 1-13.
2. The second type of surface wave is known as a
Rayleigh wave. Like rolling ocean waves, the
pieces of rock disturbed by a Rayleigh wave move
both vertically and horizontally in a vertical plane
pointed in the direction in which the waves are
travelling.