Product Description
Designed for advanced undergraduate and first year graduate seismology courses. Softcover. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

More like an ADVANCED intro!
The book may say Introduction, but don't expect a "Seismology for Dummies" type set up. This book is actually quite advanced and detailed, jumping right into intricate math formulas. This is a great book for those already familiar with the basic concepts of seimsology, however those with limited math skills or no prior knowledge of seimsology will be turned away by the technicality of some aspects in the book.

Great Introduction
This book covers the essentials and then some.It goes beyond what can reasonably be covered in an introductory course.There is a good deal of derivations and presentations from several viewpoints.Covers seismology, interpreting seismograms, inverse theory, basic equations, earthquakes, earth structure.Loads of pictures, mathematics, and real-life discussions.Puts everything in a cohesive package.Expect a challenging read!

Good intro textbook to seismology
I have used this textbook for an intro to seismology class in college and have found it to be very detailed and covered a wider range of topics compared to other seismology textbooks. This book focus a great deal on deriving equations, so if you are a math person, it'll be a great way for you to learn. Problem sets at the end of each chapter are challenging but not totally impossible; and like most textbooks, only some of the answers are on the back. There are a few mistakes I found in the diagrams, but not it's not a big deal. Overall, I do recommend this book as an intro text book geared towards the upper level undergraduates or graduate students.

Excellent text for undergrad/grad course.
I used this book in a course on earthquake kinematics.Previously I had used the Aki/Richards book 'Quantitative Seismology' and found myself rethinking my major!Fortunately I slugged through it and my fascination with seismology was rekindled by this book.It explains a lot of the concepts well enough for those with only a few semesters of calc/physics under their belts to easily understand.I was even able to use this book as a more clear reference for an Inverse Theory course I took.The examples are great, the diagrams clear and concise and the tone is relaxed.This book actually explains concepts that are not explained in the Aki/Richards book.I particularly like the section on Green's functions, waveform inversion, and moment tensors.There is even a chapter on Fourier analysis!This is a book I can go back to for clear & concise explanations of otherwise abstract subjects.My copy is heavily tabbed since I use it often.My only gripe is the size of the font and the layout.There are two columns per page so it makes for some tiny print and everything seems squeezed together and slightly busy.The authors do provide a nice web-site where you can look at all the diagrams in the book as huge images....free!The link can be found on Dr. Wysession's homepage at Washington University St. Louis.
All in all a great book on a great subject!

Fun with FORTRAN
This book is not an opportunity to use the earth to explain continuous media.Continuum mechanics explains much of the behavior that is observed on the earth.S&W is hardcore geophysics - not for the faint-hearted!The book does still use FORTRAN - can we please move on?But the derivation of the wave equation in the second chapter is a key for any PhD wanna-be to learn for their comps. ... Read more

Product Description
This textbook is unique in giving an introduction to seismological theory and the principles of plate tectonics, as well as developing a practical approach to the reading and interpretation of seismograms. The book forms the basis for an introductory course to physicists, mathematicians and geologists. The early chapters give a general background in geophysics and elasticity theory, and present the standard results for the propagation of seismic waves radiated from large earthquakes. The main part of the text describes how seismograms are read and interpreted, explaining how the readings are used to locate the source of the waves, determine the sense of motion across the fault and to work out details of plate movements. Examples are included in which the reader has the opportunity to interpret seismic records and use them to find locations of earthquakes and determine their source mechanisms. The final chapter discusses plate tectonic theory, and gives the mathematical foundation behind the description of plate movement in terms of vectors. ... Read more

Product Description
This new edition of the classic text by Aki and Richards has at last been updated throughout to systematically explain key concepts in seismology. Now in one volume, the book provides a unified treatment of seismological methods that will be of use to advanced students, seismologists, and scientists and engineers working in all areas of seismology. For the first time, this test is available in paperback. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

my book still doesnt come
Amazon has been taking more than one month with my item
very bad service

Fast and nice delivery
Very fast and nicely packed item delivery - just as they promissed me in the email!

excellent book on wave propagation
This is a very good book. Well organized and in detail. Many topics that appeared in literature but not included in ordinary books are explained in a unified style by the authors.

A little hard to swallow, but worth the time.
As a first year graduate student, this was the required text in my very first course in seismology! Boy was I intimidated!I had only taken calculus up through ODE's so much of the material in this book was difficult for me to comprehend.I had no clue what a Green's function was.However, I had a good professor and TA and took extensive notes to get by.Fortunately we only used chapters 2,3,4 and 5.Do yourself a favor if you have to use this book, and you're not a calc/physics guru, by obtaining the Stein/Wysession book.It is a lot more user friendly and application oriented.I used that book in a course the next semester on earthquake seismology and a lightbulb came on!I now understood better what Aki and Richards were talking about!I could go back to it as a reference to gain a deeper understanding.As they say, 'Quantitative Seismology' is the "bible" of the subject and so should be in your library.However, it is more of a reference for experienced users.

Fundamental in a seismologist preparedness
Many descriptions in seismology requires a complete understanding of the theory that support the seismological phenomena. Quantitative Seismology shows you all the fundamental concepts and prepare you for more advanced developments. Its not an introductory textbook, you need a formal background in physics and mathematics. The preface in 1st edition begins: "Seismology has matured as a quantitative science... and several specialized journals recorded this progress...", with this book you'll not obtain only the essentials of this progress; also the essentials of an enjoyable, mature and complete science.

For reference the table of contents:

1.- Introduction
2.- Basic Theorems in Dynamic Elasticity
3.- Representation of Seismic Sources
4.- Elastic Waves from a point of Dislocation Source
5.- Plane Waves in Homogeneous Media and their Reflectionand Transmission at a Plane Boundary
6.- Reflection and Refraction of Spherical Waves; Lamb's Problem
7.- Surface Waves in a Vertically Heterogeneous Medium
8.- Free Oscillations of the Earth
9.- Body Waves in Media with depth-dependent properties
10.- The Seismic Source: Kinematics
11.- The Seismic Source: Dynamics
12.- Principles of Seismometry ... Read more

Product Description
Volcanic earthquakes represent the main and often the only instrument to forecast volcanic eruptions. This book is the first monograph about seismicity in volcanoes. It describes the main types of seismic signals in volcanoes, their nature and spatial and temporal distribution at different stages of eruptive activity.

The book begins with an introduction to the history of volcanic seismology, discusses the models developed for the study of the origin of volcanic earthquakes of both a volcano-tectonic and eruption nature. The next three chapters give case histories of seismic activity associated with 34 eruptions in 17 basaltic, andesitic and dacitic volcanoes throughout the world from 1910 to 1998. Chapters 8 to 10 describe the general regularities of volcano-tectonic earthquakes, their participation in the eruptive process, source properties, and the hazard of strong volcano-tectonic earthquakes. The following three chapters are devoted to the description of eruption earthquakes: volcanic tremor, seismic noise of pyroclastic flows, and explosion earthquakes, with a special discussion on their relationship to eruptive processes. The final two chapters discuss the mitigation of volcanic hazard, the methodology of seismic monitoring of volcanic activity, andexperience with forecasting volcanic eruptions by seismic methods.
... Read more

Product Description
Bridging the gap between introductory textbooks and advanced monographs, this book provides the necessary mathematical tools to tackle seismological problems and demonstrates how to apply them. Including student exercises, for which solutions are available on a dedicated website, it appeals to advanced undergraduate and graduate students. It is also a useful reference volume for researchers wishing to "brush up" on fundamentals before they study more advanced topics in seismology. ... Read more

Product Description
The first effective seismographs were built between 1879 and 1890. In 1885, E. S. Holden, an astronomer and then president of the University of California, instigated the purchase of the best available instruments of the time "to keep a register of all earthquake shocks in order to be able to control the positions of astronomical instruments." These seismographs were installed two years later at Lick Observatory on Mt. Hamilton and at the Berkeley campus of the University. Over the years those stations have been upgraded and joined by other seismographic stations administered at Berkeley, to become the oldest continuously operating stations in the Western Hemisphere. The first hundred years of the Seismographic Stations of the University of California at Berkeley, years in which seismology has often assumed an unforeseen role in issues of societal and political importance, ended in 1987.To celebrate the centennial a distinguished group of fellows, staff, and friends of the Stations met on the Berkeley campus in May 1987. The papers they presented are gathered in this book, a distillation of the current state of the art in observatory seismology.Ranging through subjects of past, present, and future seismological interest, they provide a benchmark reference for years to come. ... Read more

Product Description
Most of the world's great volcanic massive suphide ore deposits, porphyry copper ores, and many of its richest gold veins occur in association with basalt-andesite-dactite-rhyolite laval suites that have erupted from ancient volcanic islands and their Precambrian equivalents.These volcanic arcs and their related aquatic-volcanic environments are now recognized as critical to an understanding of the evolution of the earth's crust and the origin of many important ore types. This book is concerned with the behavior of the 'ore elements'--copper, zinc, lead, cobalt, nickel, barium, and others--in young metamorphosed, volcanic arc lava suites, as these evolve from high-magnesium basalts to rhyolites. Using mostly the Pleistocene to recent lavas of the Solomon Islands younger volcanic suite, the author examines the patterns of abundance of these elements in rock constituents and describes the ways in which the metals may be enriched or impoverished in the residual melt as an arc lava series evolves from basalt to rhyolite.The book presents state-of-the-art information that will be indispensable to vulcanologists, geochemists, and mining geologists. ... Read more

Product Description
This book provides an approachable and concise introduction to seismology theory. It clearly explains the fundamental concepts, emphasizing intuitive understanding over lengthy derivations. Topics include all that is needed for a comprehensive first course in seismology: stress/strain theory, seismic wave equation, ray theory, tomography, reflection seismology, surface waves, source theory, anisotropy and earthquake prediction. Detailed exercises follow each chapter, giving students the opportunity to apply the techniques they have learned to compute results of interest and to illustrate some of Earth's seismic properties.In several cases, computer subroutines are provided to assist with these exercises.Numerous illustrations accompany the text, including examples of seismograms and images of the global seismic wavefield. This textbook is ideal for any introductory course in seismology taught to upper-division undergraduates or first-year graduate students, and is especially suited for a one-semester class on seismology. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Great introductory
I purchased this book to teach myself seismology. It is a great introductory, so it's appropriately named. Shearer writes clearly and concisely, and the book is mostly self-contained.

Seismologist's must have
This textbook is very good. The author emphasizes on the mathematical taste in the description of seismic and geologic features. If you look at things on a mathematical perspective, this is the on you must have in your "library".

Clear, concise, to the point
I really like this little book!The layout is great (no clutter) and easy to read.The font is adequate, the equations clear and the tone relaxed.While it isn't as in depth as most other books on this subject, it makes for a handy reference.It is a broad overview of the fundamentals of earthquake seismology. I find that it explains some of the more rigorous subject matter in an easier to understand way.If you're not understanding a subject very well in say, the book: "Quantitative Seismology", just refer to this little gem and wala...it's like a lightbulb coming on.I particularly like the section on source theory.It's like a breath of fresh air.I can't say enough about how accessible this book is.I recommend it highly.

Pretty good, but lacking in depth
I just finished an intro to seismology course, and this was the textbook for it.It is easy to read and understand, covers most topics well, and is generally a good introductory textbook.It does, however, lack depth.Often I'd finish a chapter and still have a lot of questions on how, exactly, I could apply what I'd learned to a problem.I found this frustrating.

Excellent book
By going through the textbook and doing selected exercises one can complete the equivalent of a quarter-long seismology class.Well written and accessible to a wide range of interest levels and mathematical abilities, this book is excellent for anyone with a desire to learn about seismology at a quantitative level. ... Read more

Product Description
Digital signal processing has become an integral part ofobservational seismology. Seismic waveforms and the parameterscommonly extracted from them are strongly influenced by the effects ofnumerous filters, both within the earth and within the recordingsystem. With the advent of numerous software tools for the processingof digital seismograms, seismologists have unprecedented power inextracting information from seismic records. These tools are oftenbased on sophisticated theoretical aspects of digital signalprocessing which, to be used properly, need to be understood. Thisbook is aimed at observational seismologists and students ingeophysics trying to obtain a basic understanding of those aspects ofdigital signal processing that are relevant to the interpretation ofseismograms. It covers the basic theory of linear systems, the designand analysis of simple digital filters, the effect of sampling and A/Dconversion, the calculation of `true ground motion', and the effectsof seismic recording systems on parameters extracted from digitalseismograms. It contains numerous examples and exercises together withtheir solutions. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Priceless
Am going to skip over the general contents (you can see the index for yourselves) and just say that this book covers all the things that you wondered about that didn't seem to be covered in larger texts. The material is easy to follow and yet covers a huge array of critical information and analytical techniques, from correcting for anti-aliasing filters in digitisers to a whole treatise on removing instrument responses. Can't recommend this highly enough if you're getting into seismology. An essential reference book and a steal at $40 or less.

Of Poles and Zeros
This is an excellent introduction to modern seismic measurement systems. Basically all what you need to know is covered here. Starting from functioning of seismometer, analog-to-digital techniques and digital filtering. All from the point of view of seismological interests, i.e. everything is all the time nicely linked with seismological practices which other "signal and systems" books obviously lack. Also the CD included is very educative when learning what poles and zeros actually mean.

Pictures could be a bit better from time to time. It seems that straight window-captures have been used when some further image processing would have been required.

Nevertheless, this is a must for any seismologist dealing with measuring systems. ... Read more

Product Description
The material in this volume provides the basic theory necessary to understand the principles behind imaging the subsurface of the Earth using reflection and refraction seismology. For reflection seismology, the end product is a "record section" from a collection of "wiggly traces" that are recorded in the field from which information about the properties of subsurface structure and rock can be derived. For the most part, the principles of imaging are the same regardless of the depth to the target; the same mathematical background is necessary for targeting a shallow water table as for investigating the base of the earth's continental "crust" at a depth of 30-50 km. ... Read more

Product Description
"Improved Seismic Monitoring - Improved Decision-Making" describes and assesses the varied economic benefits potentially derived from modernizing and expanding seismic monitoring activities in the United States. These benefits include more effective loss avoidance regulations and strategies, improved understanding of earthquake processes, better engineering design, more effective hazard mitigation strategies, and improved emergency response and recovery. The economic principles that must be applied to determine potential benefits are reviewed and the report concludes that although there is insufficient information available at present to fully quantify all the potential benefits, the annual dollar costs for improved seismic monitoring are in the tens of millions and the potential annual dollar benefits are in the hundreds of millions. ... Read more