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seismology

(Encyclopedia)seismology sīzmŏlˈəjē, sīs– [key], scientific study of earthquakes and related phenomena, including the propagation of waves and shocks on or within the earth by natural or artificially genera...

Aki, Keiiti

(Encyclopedia)Aki, Keiiti, 1930–2005, American seismologist, b. Yokohama, Japan, Ph.D. Univ. of Tokyo, 1958. Associated with the Univ. of Tokyo 's Earthquake Research Institute from 1963, Aki joined the faculty o...

Winthrop, John, 1714–79, American scientist

(Encyclopedia)Winthrop, John, 1714–79, American scientist, b. Boston, Mass., grad. Harvard, 1732. Because of his study of earthquakes, he is sometimes called the founder of seismology. He made scientific observat...

Milne, John

(Encyclopedia)Milne, John, 1850–1913, British seismologist, b. Liverpool, educated at King's College and the Royal School of Mines. He worked as a mining engineer in Newfoundland and Labrador and served (1874) as...

Dutton, Clarence Edward

(Encyclopedia)Dutton, Clarence Edward, 1841–1912, American geologist, b. Wallingford, Conn., grad. Yale, 1860. After service in the army during and after the Civil War, he was a member (1875–91) of the U.S. Geo...

lithosphere

(Encyclopedia)lithosphere lĭthˈəsfērˌ [key], brittle uppermost shell of the earth, broken into a number of tectonic plates. The lithosphere consists of the heavy oceanic and lighter continental crusts, and the...

asthenosphere

(Encyclopedia)asthenosphere ăsthēnˈəsfēr [key], region in the upper mantle of the earth's interior, characterized by low-density, semiplastic (or partially molten) rock material chemically similar to the overl...

geophysics

(Encyclopedia)geophysics, study of the structure, composition, and dynamic changes of the earth, its atmosphere, hydrosphere and magnetosphere, based on the principles of physics. The term was probably first used i...

mantle

(Encyclopedia)mantle, portion of the earth's interior lying beneath the crust and above the core. No direct observation of the mantle, or its upper boundary, has been made; its boundaries have been determined solel...

pendulum

(Encyclopedia)pendulum, a mass, called a bob, suspended from a fixed point so that it can swing in an arc determined by its momentum and the force of gravity. The length of a pendulum is the distance from the point...

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