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Effects of low-velocity layers

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Summary

Effects of low-velocity channels in the atmosphere, the ocean and the solid earth are discussed. There are two major low-velocity channels in the atmosphere, one with its axis at the tropopause, and another at a height of about 80 km. They produce “zones of silence” and permit the transmissions of waves involving the whole atmosphere. Low-velocity layers in the ocean result from the combined effects of temperature, pressure and salinity. In the earth, the sudden decrease of velocity at the boundary of the core produces a low-velocity at the boundary of the core produces a low-velocity channel for elastic waves. In the earth's crust there are two major low velocity shannels, one below theMohorovičić discontinuity, the other at a depth of about 15 Km. Misinterpretation of their effects has caused incorrect conclusions concerning the structure of the outer portion of the earth's mantle.

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Authors
  1. B. Gutenberg
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Additional information

Presidential Address, International Association of Seismology and Physics of the Earth's Interior, Rome, Sept. 1954.

California Institute of Technology,Pasadena, California (Division of the Geological Sciences, Contribution No. 680).

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Gutenberg, B. Effects of low-velocity layers. Geofisica Pura e Applicata 29, 1–10 (1954). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01988601

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