Global Seismology Syllabus
GP 286 (Winter, 2013)
Instructor:
Jesse F. Lawrence
Mitchell Hall, Room 373 B
Office hours: 3 PM on Mondays or by arrangement
jflawrence@stanford.edu
Time:
MWF 11:00-11:50AM
Room:
Mitchell Hall, Room 350
Course Description:
This course investigates how waves propagate through the whole Earth. This course examines the
questions: “How do body waves and surface waves behave within the Earth?” and “What does that tell us
about the Earth?” The course delves into both theory and how we apply that theory to understand seismic
observations. Requirements: Math 52 or CME 102, GP130 or permission from instructor.
In this course, you will be responsible for homework, discussion, and a final. Homework will include
traditional questions and answers as well as practical application. Practical application will focus on
downloading seismic data, processing the data using seismic codes, and forming an interpretation of the
results. A rough understanding of inverse theory will be advantageous.
Grading:
Content
Homework
Final
Questions/Participation
Total
Percent of Grade
40%
40%
20%
100%
Each week you will have homework. Each week you will have to submit two or more questions via the
coursework forum regarding that week’s reading(s) (Due Thursdays 8PM). You are required to attempt to
answer at least two of your classmates’ questions during the term.
Lectures & Notes: Lectures and homework will be made available online at:
http://coursework.stanford.edu
Reading Material:
Primary Text:
In class we will focus on combination journal articles.
Treatise on Geophysics, Elsevier, 2007.
Suggested Reading Material:
Stein and Wysession, Introduction to Seismology, Earthquakes, and Structure, Blackwell
Publishing, 2003.
Shearer, Introduction to Seismology, Cambridge, 1999.
Lay and Wallace, Modern Global Seismology, Academic Press, 1995.
Schedule:
Jan 5 - Jan 9
Introduction, Earth’s Structure, Seismic Phases, Instrumentation
- ToG: 1.01 Introduction
Jan 12 – Jan 16
Motion, Stress, Waves, Snell’s Law, Intro to Ray Theory
-ToG: 1.04 – Body waves: Ray Methods & Finite Frequency Effects
Jan 19
Martin Luther King Day (No Class)
Jan 21 – Jan 23
Receiver Functions, CCP, Scattering, Generalized Radon Transformation
-ToG: 1.07 - Teleseismic Body-Wave Scattering and Receiver-Side Structure
-ToG: 1.20 – Scattering Deep Earth
Jan 26 – Jan 30
Refraction, Anisotropy, Attenuation
-ToG: 1.09 - Anisotropy
-ToG: 1.21 - Q of the Earth from Crust to Core
Feb 2 – Feb 6
Surface Waves, Normal Modes
-ToG: 1.02 Earth’s Free Oscillations
-ToG: 1.03 Normal Modes and Surface Wave Measurements
Feb 9–Feb 13
Regional & Global Tomography, Banana Donuts
-ToG: 1.10 – Seismic Tomography and Inverse Methods
-ToG: 1.16 – Global Tomography (Isotropic and Anisotropic)
Feb 16
Presidents Day (No classes)
Feb 18–Feb 20
Interferometry and Ambient Noise Tomography
-Benson et al., [2007]
-Ritzwoller et al., [2010]
Feb 23–Feb 27
Crust, Lithosphere, Asthenosphere, Upper Mantle
-ToG: 1.12 – Crust and Lithosphere
-ToG: 1.14 – Continental Lithosphere Studies
Mar 2 – Mar 6
Mantle Transition, Lower Mantle, D”, Earth’s Core
-ToG: 1.17 – Mantle Transition Zone
-ToG: 1.18 - Lower Mantle and D"
-ToG: 1.19 - The Earth's Cores
Mar 9 - Mar 13
Synthetic Seismograms
-ToG-1.05 - Forward Modeling/Synthetic Body Wave Seismograms
-ToG-1.06 - Forward Modeling and Synthetic Seismograms: 3D Numerical Methods
Final
TBD