Geophysics II (Gravimetry, Plate Tectonics, Seismology)

Uwe Walzer

Lecture, 2 hours per week. In addition, an exercise of one hour per
semester week is offered.

Contents: Gravimetry and gravity field: Potential, reference
ellipsoid, geoid on Venus, Earth, and Earth's Moon; isostasy, torsion
balance, gravimeter types, reductions in relative measurements (free
air, Bouguer, terrain, tides), postglacial uplift of Fennoscandia,
viscosity in the upper mantle, constitutive laws of creep, stress and
strain rate tensor; Gravity field, seismicity and focal mechanisms in
the Zagros Mountains, gravimetric perturbation body calculation, the
inversion problem of gravimetry, densities of rocks, records of Earth
tides, convection and gravity; the Earth as a gyroscope, physical
nutation and pole-height variations, lunisolar precession,
astronomical nutation; associated δ18O variations in sediments,
Milankovitch theory of glacials and interglacials, Phanerozoic
supercycles.

Seismology and applied seismics: Energy sources, foci, asperity,
radiation characteristics inferred from seismograms, stresses at
strike-slip earthquakes, compressional and dilational earthquakes;
downhole stress measurements; Foci at oceanic rift zones and
intracontinental rifts, at subduction slabs and continental collision
zones, plate tectonics, the Kobe earthquake, seismic intensity and
magnitude, energy calculation, macroseismicity, seismic migration,
theory of seismic wave propagation in three subsections (wave
propagation in a string; three-dimensional elastic wave theory of
seismic compressional and shear wave propagation; ray seismics with
reflection and refraction problems), seismometers.

Suitable for: Undergraduate students of geophysics, geology,
mineralogy, physics, etc.

Certificate of achievement: Written exam

References:
Kertz, W., 1995. Einführung in die Geophysik. Zweibändiges Werk;
Heidelberg, Spektrum Akad. Verlag [1992:115]
Lay, T.; Wallace, T.C.; 1995. Modern Global Seismology. San Diego
etc., Academic Press. [R:41:58]
Strobach, K., 1991. Unser Planet Erde: Ursprung und Dynamik. 253 S.;
Berlin, Bornträger. ISBN 3-443-01028-8 [1991:26]
Telford, W.M., Geldart, L.P., Sheriff, R.E., 1990. Applied Geophysics.
2nd Ed.; Cambridge Univ. Press. ISBN 0-521-32693-1
[1990:49 1&2]
Walzer, U., Begleitheft zur Vorlesung Geophysik II