Modern seismology encompasses the scientific study of any significant shaking of the ground surface, whether produced by natural or artificial causes. Originally, however, the term meant observations and analyses of natural earthquakes, especially geological and engineering aspects. In this section of the treatment of seismology, the emphasis is on the latter meaning. (Since 1977, when the first Apollo seismographic instruments operated on the Moon, it is necessary to include natural lunar earthquakes, called moonquakes .)
Earthquakes can be disastrous over a large area in a short time, with casualties in a single earthquake sometimes amounting to hundreds of thousands. For this reason the first serious earthquake studies were primarily concerned with the macroseismic (noninstrumental) effects of earthquakes and the immediate reduction of hazards. Notable early contributions were from engineers, such as that by Robert Mallett after the great earthquake of 1857 near Naples in Italy (Mal...
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Cross-references
Continental Collision Zones: Seismotectonics and Crustal Structure; Deep Earthquakes; Earthquake Mechanisms; Earthquake Mechanisms and Plate Tectonics; Earthquakes: Hazards and Prediction; Earthquakes: Location Techniques; Earthquakes: Magnitude, Energy, and Intensity; Earthquakes: Volcanogenic; Earthquakes and Seismicity; Earth Structure: Global; Elasticity and Wave Propagation: Principles; Seismic Instrumentation; Seismic Instrumentation: History; Seismicity: Intraplate; Seismicity: Mid-Ocean Ridge; Seismicity; Subduction Zone; Seismicity and Plate Tectonics; Seismic Monitoring of Nuclear Explosions; Seismic Source: Observations; Seismic Source: Theory; Seismic Tomography; Seismograms: Synthetic; Seismology: History.
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© 1989 Van Nostrand Reinhold
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Bolt, B.A. (1989). Earthquake seismology . In: Geophysics. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-30752-4_9
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