Seismology

Categories: Science | Education

  • Seismology is the study of earthquakes and their effects. It also encompasses other sources of seismic activity of the Earth such as tsunamis, volcanoes and the seismic impacts of manmade explosions. The waves produced by earthquakes provide seismologists with information that helps them understand the structure of the earth.Cite Sciences: Seismology

  • Beginnings of Modern Seismology

    The ancients believed that earthquakes were caused by the anger of the gods. Aristotle was the first to challenge this assumption, postulating that earthquakes were caused by winds passing through porous holes in the earth.University of California at Santa Barbara: A Brief History of Seismology to 1910 This belief stood for centuries, until an earthquake in Lisbon, Portugal in 1755 prompted the beginning of modern earthquake observation. John Mitchell, an English physicist, noted the physical changes of the Earth and connected them to the times and locations of earthquakes. In 1760, he concluded that earthquakes were caused by shifts in rocks deep below the surface of the earth.

  • 19th Century Research

    During the middle to late 19th century, major advances in seismology were made by Robert Mallet, Luigi Palmieri and Karl Gilbert. Mallet's idea was that changes in seismic velocity would imply changes in the earth's properties. He used gunpowder explosions to measure the seismic wave velocity. Palmieri invented a mercury seismometer that recorded the time of the earthquake and the intensity and duration of the earth's movement. In 1872, a major understanding of the role faults play in earthquakes was discovered by Karl Gilbert.

  • 20th Century Knowledge

    The 20th century led to a deeper understanding of the properties and composition of the earth's core. In 1906, Richard Dixon Oldham postulated that the earth's core was liquid. This was later proven by Harold Jeffreys in 1926. In 1936, Inge Lehmann determined that the earth's core was actually made up of an inner core and an outer core.

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