Course
Scope: The solid Earth deforms over a
wide range of length scales, locations, and time
scales, and in a variety of different ways in
response to different forcing mechanisms. In this
class, we will study continuum mechanics in
geophysics, as applied to the deformation of Earth
materials (elastic, viscoelastic, and plastic
deformations) and seismic wave propagation (body
waves, surface waves, anisotropy, and attenuation).
Topics to be covered may include tensors, stress and
strain in solids, rock failure, moment tensors,
elasticity, ductile rheology, viscous flow,
equations of motion & boundary conditions, the
vector wave equation, wave field energy, reflection
and transmission of seismic waves, and surface
waves.
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