Seismic Refraction Lab

Scott Marshall, Appalachian State University

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This page first made public: Jun 1, 2012

Summary

The following lab will introduce students to the basic concepts of seismic refraction as well as some actual data collected during seismic refraction surveys. You will use your knowledge of seismic refraction to calculate various parameters of interest.
The two travel time data sets come from an existing SERC activity by Robert Cicerone at Bridgewater State College.

Seismic refraction, Geophysics | College Lower (13-14)

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Context

Audience

This is a lab activity used in my sophmore level undergraduate introduction to geophysics course.

Skills and concepts that students must have mastered

To complete this activity students must have been introduced to the basics of MS Excel and the symbolic math package Maple. Also, students must have been introduced to the theory behind seismic refraction (probably covered in lectures).

How the activity is situated in the course

This is one of my weekly lab exercises.

Goals

Content/concepts goals for this activity

The goal is for students to gain practice at the theory and equations governing seismic refraction. The equations mean nothing until students are asked to play around with them. I also have several questions about the caveats of seismic refraction, which any geophysics student should understand.