Earthquakes are most commonly measured on the Richter scale. This is a logarithmic scale used to determine the magnitude of an earthquake, which is the total amount of energy released at the focus. While the Moment Magnitude Scale (Mw) is ...
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Secondary waves (S-waves), also known as shear waves, cannot pass through liquids. They require a medium with “shear strength” (the ability to resist changing shape) to propagate. Since liquids (like the Earth’s outer core) do not have shear strength, S-waves ...
The country where destructive ocean waves are traditionally and officially called Tsunamis is Japan. Due to its geographic position atop several converging tectonic plates, Japan has a long and tragic history with these events, leading them to develop the world’s ...
The word “Tsunami” originates from the Japanese language. It is composed of two kanji characters: “tsu” meaning harbor and “nami” meaning wave. It was coined by Japanese fishermen who would return from the sea to find their harbors devastated, even ...
A First Motion Study looks at whether the very first movement of a P-wave on a seismogram is an “up” (compression) or “down” (dilatation). By mapping this across many stations, scientists can determine if the fault was a normal, reverse ...