This book seeks to explore seismic phenomena in elastic media and emphasizes the interdependence of mathematical formulation and physical meaning. The purpose of this title - which is intended for senior undergraduate and graduate students as well as scientists interested in quantitative seismology - is to use aspects of continuum mechanics, wave theory and ray theory to describe phenomena resulting from the propagation of waves.The book is divided into three parts: Elastic continua, Waves and rays, and Variational formulation of rays. In Part I, continuum mechanics are used to describe the material through which seismic waves propagate, and to formulate a system of equations to study the behaviour of such material. In Part II, these equations are used to identify the types of body waves propagating in elastic continua as well as to express their velocities and displacements in terms of the properties of these continua. To solve the equations of motion in anisotropic inhomogeneous continua, the high-frequency approximation is used and establishes the concept of a ray. In Part III, it is shown that in elastic continua a ray is tantamount to a trajectory along which a seismic signal propagates in accordance with the variational principle of stationary travel time.

This book seeks to explore seismic phenomena in elastic media and emphasizes the interdependence of mathematical formulation and physical meaning. The purpose of this title - which is intended for senior undergraduate and graduate students as well as scientists interested in quantitative seismology - is to use aspects of continuum mechanics, wave theory and ray theory to describe phenomena resulting from the propagation of waves. The book is divided into three parts: Elastic continua, Waves and rays, and Variational formulation of rays. In Part I, continuum mechanics are used to describe the material through which seismic waves propagate, and to formulate a system of equations to study the behaviour of such material. In Part II, these equations are used to identify the types of body waves propagating in elastic continua as well as to express their velocities and displacements in terms of the properties of these continua. To solve the equations of motion in anisotropic inhomogeneous continua, the high-frequency approximation is used and establishes the concept of a ray. In Part III, it is shown that in elastic continua a ray is tantamount to a trajectory along which a seismic signal propagates in accordance with the variational principle of stationary travel time.

This is the second edition of the textbook that was first published by Elsevier Science. Professor Slawinski has the copyright to the textbook and the second edition is significantly extended. The present book emphasizes the interdependence of mathematical formulation and physical meaning in the description of seismic phenomena. Herein, we use aspects of continuum mechanics, wave theory and ray theory to explain phenomena resulting from the propagation of seismic waves. The book is divided into three main sections: elastic continua, waves and rays and variational formulation of rays. There is also a fourth part, which consists of appendices. In Part 1, we use continuum mechanics to describe the material through which seismic waves propagate, and to formulate a system of equations to study the behaviour of such a material. In Part 2, we use these equations to identify the types of body waves propagating in elastic continua as well as to express their velocities and displacements in terms of the properties of these continua. To solve the equations of motion in anisotropic inhomogeneous continua, we use the high-frequency approximation and, hence, establish the concept of a ray. In Part 3, we show that, in elastic continua, a ray is tantamount to a trajectory along which a seismic signal propagates in accordance with the variational principle of stationary traveltime. Consequently, many seismic problems in elastic continua can be conveniently formulated and solved using the calculus of variations. In Part 4, we describe two mathematical concepts that are used in the book; namely, homogeneity of a function and Legendre's transformation. This section also contains a list of symbols.

'In summary, Professor Slawinski has written an engaging volume covering an unfamiliar topic in a highly accessible fashion. Non-specialists will gain a significant appreciation of the unique complexities associated with seismology.'Contemporary PhysicsThe author dedicates this book to readers who are concerned with finding out the status of concepts, statements and hypotheses, and with clarifying and rearranging them in a logical order. It is thus not intended to teach tools and techniques of the trade, but to discuss the foundations on which seismology — and in a larger sense, the theory of wave propagation in solids — is built. A key question is: why and to what degree can a theory developed for an elastic continuum be used to investigate the propagation of waves in the Earth, which is neither a continuum nor fully elastic. But the scrutiny of the foundations goes much deeper: material symmetry, effective tensors, equivalent media; the influence (or, rather, the lack thereof) of gravitational and thermal effects and the rotation of the Earth, are discussed ab initio. The variational principles of Fermat and Hamilton and their consequences for the propagation of elastic waves, causality, Noether's theorem and its consequences on conservation of energy and conservation of linear momentum are but a few topics that are investigated in the process to establish seismology as a science and to investigate its relation to subjects like realism and empiricism in natural sciences, to the nature of explanations and predictions, and to experimental verification and refutation.In the second edition, new sections, figures, examples, exercises and remarks are added. Most importantly, however, four new appendices of about one-hundred pages are included, which can serve as a self-contained continuum-mechanics course on finite elasticity. Also, they broaden the scope of elasticity theory commonly considered in seismology.

Fundamentals of Seismic Wave Propagation, published in 2004, presents a comprehensive introduction to the propagation of high-frequency body-waves in elastodynamics. The theory of seismic wave propagation in acoustic, elastic and anisotropic media is developed to allow seismic waves to be modelled in complex, realistic three-dimensional Earth models. This book provides a consistent and thorough development of modelling methods widely used in elastic wave propagation ranging from the whole Earth, through regional and crustal seismology, exploration seismics to borehole seismics, sonics and ultrasonics. Particular emphasis is placed on developing a consistent notation and approach throughout, which highlights similarities and allows more complicated methods and extensions to be developed without difficulty. This book is intended as a text for graduate courses in theoretical seismology, and as a reference for all academic and industrial seismologists using numerical modelling methods. Exercises and suggestions for further reading are included in each chapter.

A rigorous self-contained exposition of the mathematical theory for wave propagation and general ray theory in layered viscoelastic media.

Seismic Wave Propagation in Stratified Media presents a systematic treatment of the interaction of seismic waves with Earth structure. The theoretical development is physically based and is closely tied to the nature of the seismograms observed across a wide range of distance scales - from a few kilometres as in shallow reflection work for geophysical prospecting, to many thousands of kilometres for major earthquakes. A unified framework is presented for all classes of seismic phenomena, for both body waves and surface waves. Since its first publication in 1983 this book has been an important resource for understanding the way in which seismic waves can be understood in terms of reflection and transmission properties of Earth models, and how complete theoretical seismograms can be calculated. The methods allow the development of specific approximations that allow concentration on different seismic arrivals and hence provide a direct tie to seismic observations.