Modern Global Seismology, Volume 58 (International Geophysics) [Hardcover]

Thorne Lay (Author), Terry C. Wallace (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 012732870X | ISBN-13: 978-0127328706 | Publication Date: May 15, 1995 | Edition: 1

Intended as an introduction to the field, Modern Global Seismology is a complete, self-contained primer on seismology. It features extensive coverage of all related aspects, from observational data through prediction, emphasizing the fundamental theories and physics governing seismic waves--both natural and anthropogenic. Based on thoroughly class-tested material, the text provides a unique perspective on the earths large-scale internal structure and dynamic processes, particularly earthquake sources, and on the application of theory to the dynamic processes of the earths upper skin.
Authored by two experts in the field of geophysics. this insightful text is designed for the first-year graduate course in seismology. Exploration seismologists will also find it an invaluable resource on topics such as elastic-wave propagation, seismicinstrumentation, and seismogram analysis useful in interpreting their high-resolution images of structure for oil and mineral resource exploration.

Key Features
* More than 400 illustrations, many from recent research articles, help readers visualize mathematical relationships
* 49 Boxed Features explain advanced topics
* Provides readers with the most in-depth presentation of earthquake physics available
* Contains incisive treatments of seismic waves, waveform evaluation and modeling, and seismotectonics
* Provides quantitative treatment of earthquake source mechanics
* Contains numerous examples of modern broadband seismic recordings
* Fully covers current seismic instruments and networks
* Demonstrates modern waveform inversion methods
* Includes extensive references for further reading

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...this is an important new book that will become a standard for introductory seismology courses taught by many universities. I am already using it this semester and am getting positive feedback from my students. I also would recommend it to a range of geophysicists who wanted to educate themselves further on the fundamentals of seismology."
--Gary L. Pavlis, Department of Geological Sciences, Indiana University

Product Details

• Hardcover: 521 pages
• Publisher: Academic Press; 1 edition (May 15, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 012732870X
• ISBN-13: 978-0127328706
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 7.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #272,415 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #31 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Earth Sciences > Seismology
  • #44 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Earth Sciences > Earthquakes & Volcanoes

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good (advanced) introdution to quantitative seismology, July 25, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Modern Global Seismology, Volume 58 (International Geophysics) (Hardcover)

This book is not for the casual reader. It is written for first year graduate students. To really understand it, you need to know some advanced math,at leadt through differential equations. However, with that background, this is an excellent book. Much easier to read than Aki and Richards. I only wish the book was published when I was a first year graduate student.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A serious introduction to global seismology, January 28, 2002

By 

"adbakar" (San Diego, California United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Modern Global Seismology, Volume 58 (International Geophysics) (Hardcover)

The Lay & Wallace provides a good starting description of global seismology. Chapter 1 deals with the historical development and the topics of global seismology. Chapter 2 concerns elasticity and seismic waves. The concepts of strain and stress are introduced. The mathematical content is limited (all you have to know is the partial derivatives) and a lot of figures help you to understand. By the way, this book uses the same boxes as the Aki & Richards to focus on a particular point. The equation of motion and the wave equations are derived.
Chapter 3 deals with Body waves and ray theory.The eikonal equation is introduced,and the body of this chapter concerns travel time propagation, partitioning of energy at a boundary,wave attenuation and scattering in really simple terms. Once again, a lot of figures and documents help the understanding.
Chapter 4 focuses on surface waves and free oscillations and starts with free-surface interactions, Rayleigh and Love waves and their dispersion. Tsunamis are also considered, with only two equations but 6 figures and documents. The end of the chapter is devoted to free oscillations of the earth with once again a lot of documents.
Chapter 5 deals with seismometry, that is what are the instruments used in seismology. This chapter provides differents maps of global networks of seismometers. Chapter 6 considers seismogram interpretation (identification of seismic phases). This is applied to source location. The concept of inversion is introduced with no big deal of maths. The end of the chapter concerns then the generalized inverse and requires more maths. Chapter 7 concerns the determination of Earth structure, and appears in continuity with the previous chapter. No less than 56 figures plus documents are provided to help the understanding of the earth's structure. Seismic tomography is described in simple terms. Then each "layer" of the earth is characterized in terms of seismology.
Chapter 8 focuses on seismic sources, and introduces equivalent body forces, elastostatics, elastodynamics in a very simple way. The seismic moment tensor is introduced here.
Chapter 9 deals with earthquake cinematics and dynamics. It describes the classical 1D Haskell source, the source spetrum. The concepts of stress drop, particle velocity and rupture velocity are explicited. The end of the chapter is devoted to magnitude scales, seismic energy, aftershocks, and the scaling relations of earthquakes.
Chapter 10 tackles the problem of waveform modeling. Finally Chapter 11 deals with seismotectonics and provides plenty of interesting documents.

This book provides an excellent overview of global seismology. It should be extremely useful to teachers (valuable source of documents for your class) and also for those who want to start seismology. Additional reading will be necessary, eventually.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book for upper-level undergrads and first-year grads., March 27, 2008

By 

Heather J. Hooper "Seismo Girl" (Cambridge, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Modern Global Seismology, Volume 58 (International Geophysics) (Hardcover)

Covers a huge breadth of topics in seismology, is written simply, has great diagrams from important papers ad books, and it's easy to find what you're looking for. I still use it for a reference occasionally, and I'm a 2nd year PhD student. No, it doesn't have the mathematical rigor of Aki and Richards, but when you're just starting out, or if you're more of an observational seismologist than a theoretical seismologist (like me) that can be a relief.