Natural Earth Waves, Known as Body Waves: Types and Wavelengths
Type ofWave Description Hertz
P (Primary orpush) Longitudinal compressional sound 1-20
waves - acoustic.
S(Secondary/ Polarized at 90° to the direction of 1-100
shake/shear)* propagation.
SH {Horizontal) The horizontal component of S waves; 1-100
particles will oscillate on the horizontal piane.
SV (Vertical) The vertical component of S waves; 1-100
Querwellen) direction of travel, but there is no vertical
(Cross waves) component. Propagated in a medium with a
reflecting surface and equivalent to SH waves reflected up and down within layers of the Earth’s crust, e.g., rock/air. The British geophysicist Augustus Love calculated in the nineteenth century that as earthąuakes send up-and-down ripples shuddering through the mantle, a secondary set of
' s waves will not travcrsc fluids.