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3.2 Using Models to Study Earth's Interior
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This investigation will help you to:
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- Understand that earthquakes produce vibrations. These vibrations
move away from the source of the earthquake and travel through
the Earth as waves (seismic waves).
- Understand that the study of how seismic waves move through
the Earth shows that the Earth consists of four layers: the crust,
the mantle, the outer core, and the inner core. The crust, the
mantle, and the inner core are solids.
- Understand that the use of seismic waves to study the interior
of the Earth is an example of how scientists make inferences about
things that are not directly observable.
- Understand that models can be revised and improved.
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This page includes outline-style answers to questions such as:
what is an earthquake? what causes rocks to break? what are seismographs?
In addition, you can see several different photos of seismographs,
as well as animations that demonstrate the difference between s
waves and p waves.
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Read an overview of seismic deformation, the different types of
seismic waves, how seismic waves are measured, and how their measurement
can be used to determine where earthquakes originate.
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This page provides a more in-depth discussion of P and S waves
as well as Love waves and Rayleigh waves.
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Find out more about how seismometers and seismographs work.
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Browse through links to additional articles or pages about specific
seismic stations along the west coast.
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Where is the Earth's crust the thickest? Where is it the thinnest?
This map shows the crustal thickness around the globe.
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Find out more about how scientists understand the Earth's interior.
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Read a brief description, with figures, of the internal structure
of the Earth.
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