A seismic wave is an elastic disturbance that propagates through the Earth or along its surface as a result of sudden stress changes, typically from fault rupture, volcanic activity, or anthropogenic sources such as explosions. Governed by the equations of elastodynamics, seismic waves are categorized into body waves (P and S waves) and surface waves (Rayleigh and Love waves), each with distinct particle motion, dispersion, and attenuation characteristics. Their propagation properties—velocity, amplitude, frequency content, and scattering—are strongly controlled by the elastic moduli, density, anisotropy, and heterogeneity of the medium, making seismic waves a primary observational phenomenon in seismology and Earth structure studies.
Scientists have discovered a new way to determine how big an earthquake may become just seconds after it begins. In a new study published in Nature Communications, researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Cal ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 29, 2026
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Sustained supershear earthquake ruptures produce distinct ground-motion characteristics compared with subshear earthquakes, according to a study published in the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, with potential ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 21, 2026
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Elephants can communicate with other elephants across distances of up to five kilometers (3 miles) by producing sounds that travel through the air. However, they have a second way of sending signals: seismic waves traveling ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 15, 2026
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One seismometer is often not enough to reliably detect earthquakes or human activity such as underground nuclear tests. Rather, researchers combine readings from seismometers distributed across a small geographic area to ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 2, 2026
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A research group led by Satoshi Ide from the University of Tokyo has demonstrated that classic earthquake generation theory does not hold in areas where the angle at which a tectonic plate dips under another is sufficiently ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 1, 2026
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Earthquakes still arrive without warning. That is the hard truth scientists have been forced to accept, despite a decade of advances in artificial intelligence, satellite monitoring and dense seismic networks.
Earth Sciences
Jul 1, 2026
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As earthquakes struck from California to Venezuela to Japan, millions of people received warnings on their mobile phones, providing critical seconds to seek protection.
Earth Sciences
Jun 26, 2026
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During Norway's first match of the FIFA World Cup against Iraq on June 17, several small vibrations were recorded on the seismometer. A particularly clear signal was observed when Erling Haaland scored.
Earth Sciences
Jun 23, 2026
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In 2011, Japan reeled from the effects of a devastating magnitude 9.0 earthquake. But unnoticed in the chaos resulting from the quake, its major aftershocks and the tsunami it caused, something strange happened. About 16 ...
Earth Sciences
Jun 19, 2026
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Sedimentary basins—depressions in Earth's crust caused by tectonic activity—tend to be flat and are favored places to build cities. But during earthquakes, they can become natural resonance chambers.
Earth Sciences
Jun 15, 2026
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