USU Geology 5640/6640 (Introduction to Seismology)
Course Materials, Fall 2020

Course Syllabus

Class Meets MWF, 8:30-9:20 am in Geology 310

Assignments:

  • Due 19 October at 8:30 AM: Assignment 1
    Note you'll also need these: PREM & Romanowicz 2008
  • Due Friday 13 November at 8:30 AM: Exam I!
    You'll also need the file: PREM.dat
  • Due 18 December at 5:00 PM: Final Exam
    You'll also need the file: raytrace.m


  • PowerPoint Lectures

  • 31 August: Introduction to Concepts of Seismology
  • 2 September: Seismic Applications: Source Characterization
  • 4 September: Seismic Applications: Subsurface Imaging; the Seismogram
  • 9 September: A Brief Overview of Seismology (Wave types)
  • 11 September: A Brief Overview of Seismology (Huygen's/Fermat's Principles; Snell's Law)
  • 14 September: Math/Notation "Review": Vectors
  • 16 September: Math/Notation Cont'd: Derivatives
  • 18 September: Math/Notation Cont'd: Complex Variables, Tensors, Stress
  • 21 September: The Stress Tensor
  • 23 September: The Strain Tensor
  • 25 September: Strain & Hooke's Law
  • 28 September: Equations of Motion
  • 30 September: P- and S-wave Equations; Velocity
  • 2 October: Velocity, Displacement Potentials & Solution to the Wave Equation
  • 5 October: Harmonic Wave Motion
  • 7 October: Displacement Polarizations
  • 9 October: Seismic Phases
  • 12 October: The Ray Parameter; Seismic Structure as an Investigative Tool
  • 14 October: Seismic Imaging Methods I
  • 16 October: Seismic Imaging Methods II
  • 19 October: Seismic Imaging Methods III; Wave Equation in Spherical Coordinates
  • 21 October: Ray Theory
  • 23 October: 1D Ray Theory Time and Distance
  • 26 October: Ray Theory; Characterizing Seismic Sources
  • 28 October: Seismic Sources
  • 30 October: Seismic Sources; Reflection & Refraction Amplitudes (Vertically-Incident)
  • 2 November: Reflection/Refraction Amplitudes (SH and Zoeppritz Equations)
  • 4 November: AVO (Zoepppritz Application!)
  • 6 November: Evanescent Waves
  • 9 November: Surface Waves
  • 11 November: Rayleigh Waves
  • 13 November: Rayleigh displacements; Love Waves
  • 16 November: Love Waves; Group & Phase Velocity
  • 18 November: Group & Phase Velocity; Normal Modes
  • 20 November: Normal Modes
  • 23 November: Snell's Law and Ray-Tracing in Spherical Geometry
  • 30 November: Anisotropy
  • 2 December: Anisotropy (Cont'd); Amplitudes: Geometrical Spreading; Multipathing
  • 4 December: Amplitudes: Multipathing, Scattering, Attenuation
  • 7 December: Amplitudes: Intrinsic Attenuation; Refraction/Reflection Methods
  • 9 December: Refraction Methods
  • 11 December: Refraction Methods; Reflections