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EPS 164: Introduction to Seismology

License: MIT Deploy Book

Lecture notes, notebooks, and other course content for EPS 164 Seismology at the University of California, Davis by Amanda Thomas. Materials supplement Peter Shearer’s Introduction to Seismology 3rd Edition with hands-on Python exercises using real seismic data.

📖 Course site: https://amtseismo.github.io/EPS164/

A Narrow Gauge train on the North Shore Railroad toppled on its side at Point Reyes Station, California, during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake on April 18. The 5:15 a.m. locomotive,, which was on a siding for fueling, was overturned by intense ground shaking.

A train thrown down by the earthquake at Point Reyes Station. The train was standing on a siding. Beyond are the buildings of the Point Reyes Hotel and, on the extreme right, the ruin of a stone store which was shaken down.

Course Schedule

WeekTopicReadingDates
Week 1Intro and FoundationsChapter 1 and 113/31 and 4/1
Week 2Stress and StrainChapter 24/7 and 4/9
Week 3The Wave EquationChapter 34/14
Week 4Ray Theory and Travel TimesChapter 44/21 and 4/23
Week 5Earth Structure from Travel TimesChapter 54/28 and 4/30
Week 6Amplitudes and AttenuationChapter 65/5 and 5/7
Week 7Surface WavesChapter 85/12 and 5/14
Week 8Earthquake SourcesChapter 95/19 and 5/21
Week 9Sources (cont.) and SeismotectonicsChapter 9 (cont.)5/26 and 5/28
Week 10Modern SeismologyTBD6/2 and 6/4

Each notebook includes a Colab badge — click it to run in Google Colab with no local setup.

Acknowledgments

License

MIT — see LICENSE.

Administrative Information

Instructor: Amanda M. Thomas, University of California, Davis
Email: amthom@ucdavis.edu
Website: amtseismo.github.io
Syllabus: Syllabus
Repo: https://github.com/amtseismo/EPS164

Week 1 — Data Foundations
Chapter 11 Lecture: Seismometers and Seismographs