Welcome to the GEOSC 559

GEOSC 559 is an advanced seismology course designed for students involved in seismological or related research. The course objectives are to review a suite of advanced seismology topics related to earthquake processes and seismic-wave propagation at a level that instills a deep appreciation of seismological methods in the students. The primary goal is help students learn how to study advanced material and to relate that material back to seismological observations using a mix of observation, computation,  and theory.

Planned Topics

We will begin with an introduction to acquiring seismic data and earthquake information, an introduction to using the Seismic Analysis Code (SAC). We will explore various ways of acquiring earthquake information and seismic data. Then we will begin with a overview of continuum mechanics appropriate for seismic analyses. Then we will explore simple, point-source earthquakes models such as the double-couple, and the moment tensor. Then we will review simple methods for computing body-wave seismograms for teleseismic source & receiver-function analyses and discuss how to use these to estimate faulting geometry and the spatial and temporal distribution of an earthquake’s seismic moment using seismic observations. Then we will discuss dynamic models of earthquake rupture and discuss how these might be constrained using seismic observations. After the break we will investigate methods used for earthquake location and seismic structural imaging (such as receiver functions and surface-wave dispersion).

Text Book & Reference Materials

You should have access to and read an introductory (quantitative) seismology book such as those written by Shearer, Stein & Wysession, Lay & Wallace, or Kennett, or something comparable. In the first half of the course we will work through much of the text Source Mechanisms of Earthquakes by Udias, Madariaga and Buforn (2014). The second half of the course will use sections of Aki and Richards (1980) and  Kennett (1983), which is an earlier edition of his newer books, but which is also freely available in PDF format. When helpful, I will provide references to scientific articles that you should read.

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