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The seismic waves that cause the majority of damage in earthquakes are the surface waves of which there are two types.

  1. Rayleigh waves.
  2. Love waves.

Surface waves have high amplitudes (which in turn means they have a large amount of energy).

These high amplitude surface waves cause surface deformations. Rayleigh waves are very similar to the waves you would see on the surface of water. Love waves are surface shear waves and are similar to the waves you would get if you stretched out a slinky spring then shook one end from side to side.

These surface movements create large torsional and shear stresses in buildings and building foundations which are far in excess of what the normal design tolerances would be. As such they are much more likely to cause failure of structures to occur. This is why, in earthquake prone areas such as California, the buildings must be designed to resist these special stresses created by seismic waves as well as the more normal loads caused by the wind and the structures self weight.

Please see the related links for more information on the differing types of surface waves.

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14y ago
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11y ago

They travel through different layers at different speeds

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7y ago

They are called surface waves.

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Q: What causes seismic waves during an earthquake?
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Earthquake waves are called seismic waves.


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