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    How is the epicentre of an earthquake determined?

    Question #112252. Asked by george48. (Jan 20 10 4:53 PM)


    dcpddc478

    		During an earthquake seismic waves propagate spherically out from the hypocenter. Seismic shadowing occurs on the opposite side of the Earth from the earthquake epicenter because the liquid outer core refracts the longitudinal or compressional (P-waves) while it absorbs the transverse or shear waves (S-waves). Outside of the seismic shadow zone both types of wave can be detected but, due to their different paths through the Earth, they arrive at different times. By measuring the time difference on any seismograph as well as the distance on a travel-time graph at which the P-wave and S-wave have the same separation, geologists can calculate the distance to the earthquake's epicenter.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epicenter

    Jan 20 10, 5:21 PM

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