|
|
Article: Listening closely to 'see' into the Earth: a new national facility of cutting-edge seafloor seismographs probes Earth's interior.(Motion in the mantle: the engine that drives the Earth)
- Article from:
- Oceanus
- Article date:
- September 22, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Chemists can monitor reactions in test tubes in their labs. Ecologists can go into the field to make observations. But Earth scientists interested in the structure of Earth's deep interior don't have the luxury of seeing their subject close at hand. Without a way to travel through the Earth, we have had to rely on ways to "see" Earth's structure from a great distance.
To accomplish that, our method employs sound, rather than sight. Whenever an earthquake occurs, scientists can tune in and "listen" to it. We use seismometers and seismographs that measure and record earthquake-generated seismic waves that travel along Earth's surface and through its interior. By ...