seismology

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Learn how geophones, broadband packages, and strong motion instruments help study tremors and other seismic activities

physical clues for earthquake prediction

Learn about an app used to build an early warning network for earthquakes

Listen to what the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989 taught about seismology, early warning system, earthquake preparedness and the role of the Berkeley seismology lab

How Japan prepares for potential earthquakes

Learn through an animation about the formation of the volcanic island chains like Hawaii and Samoa

How skyscrapers in Mexico City withstand earthquakes

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How Fast Is the Universe Expanding?

In this aerial photo, structures are damaged and destroyed October 15, 2005 in Balakot, Pakistan. It is estimated that 90% of the city of Balakot was leveled by the earthquake. The death toll in the 7.6 magnitude earthquake that struck northern Pakistan on October 8, 2005 is believed to be 38,000 with at least 1,300 more dead in Indian Kashmir. SEE CONTENT NOTES.

6 of the World’s Deadliest Natural Disasters

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VAN, TURKEY - OCTOBER 25: A building and car ruined during the earthquake of Van-Ercis on October 25, 2011 in Van, Turkey. It is 604 killed and 4152 injured in Van-Ercis Earthquake.

What Is an Aftershock?

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Science & Tech

seismology

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Article History

Category: Science & Tech

Key People:: Inge Lehmann; Clarence Edward Dutton; John Michell; Charles F. Richter; John Milne

Related Topics:: seismograph; Richter scale; seismic survey; geophone; reflection seismology

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seismology, scientific discipline that is concerned with the study of earthquakes and of the propagation of seismic waves within the Earth. A branch of geophysics, it has provided much information about the composition and state of the planet’s interior. The goals of seismological investigations may be local or regional, as in the attempt to determine subsurface faults and other structures in petroleum or mineral exploration, or they may be of global significance, as in attempts to determine structural discontinuities in the Earth’s interior, the geophysical characteristics of island arcs, oceanic trenches, or mid-oceanic ridges, or the elastic properties of Earth ...(100 of 185 words)

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