How many types of seismic waves are there and what materials can they travel through?

Question

Please answer with much detail as possible and try to send me the website from which the info is from if possible!

Answer 1

There are several different kinds of seismic waves, and they all move in different ways. The two main types of waves are body waves and surface waves. Body waves can travel through the earth's inner layers, but surface waves can only move along the surface of the planet like ripples on water. Earthquakes radiate seismic energy as both body and surface waves.

I went to school at Michigan Tech. A friend wrote about the different waves as we are expecting activity in Upper Michigan. The link is: http://www.geo.mtu.edu/UPSeis/waves.html

Answer 2

If you want a website, then Google one yourself. I didn't use a website.

There are body waves and surface waves.

Body waves are P-waves (compressional) and S-waves (shear). S-waves cannot travel through liquid. P-waves can travel through Earth.

Surface waves are Rayleigh (vertical) and Love (horizontal) waves. These waves only travel in the upper layer of the Earth and they cause the most damage.