A Breviary of Seismic Tomography Imaging the Interior of the Earth and Sun

The first textbook to provide an extensive introduction to seismic tomography for advanced students and research practitioners.

This is the first textbook to cover the essential aspects of the topic at a level accessible to students. While focusing on applications in solid earth geophysics, the book also includes excursions into helioseismology, thereby highlighting the strong affinity between the two fields. The book provides a comprehensive introduction to seismic tomography, including the basic theory of wave propagation, the ray and Born approximations required for interpretation of amplitudes, and travel times and phases. It considers observational features while also providing practical recommendations for implementing numerical models. Written by one of the leaders in the field, and containing numerous student exercises, this textbook is appropriate for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses. It is also an invaluable guide for seismology research practitioners in geophysics and astronomy. Solutions to the exercises and accompanying tomographic software and documentation can be accessed online from www.cambridge.org/9780521882446.

Preface; 1. Introduction; 2. Ray theory for seismic waves; 3. Ray tracing; 4. Wave scattering; 5. Body wave amplitudes: theory; 6. Travel times: observations; 7. Travel times: interpretations; 8. Body wave amplitudes: observation and interpretation; 9. Normal modes; 10. Surface wave interpretation: ray theory; 11. Surface waves: finite frequency theory; 12. Model parameterization; 13. Common corrections; 14. Linear inversion; 15. Resolution and error analysis; 16. Anisotropy; 17. Future directions; Bibliography; Index.

This textbook presents essential features of seismic tomography for both advanced students and research practitioners. It highlights the affinity between applications in helioseismology and solid earth geophysics, and considers observational aspects while also providing practical recommendations for implementing numerical models. Student exercises, online solutions and other web resources are included.

Guust Nolet is the George J. Magee Professor of Geophysics emeritus at Princeton University and currently teaches at the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis in France. His research interests include seismic body wave tomography and investigations of the structure of the mantle and its role in shaping the Earth's surface. Professor Nolet is the winner of the 1980 Prix Lagrange award, the 1983 Vening Meinesz prize, and the 2006 Beno Gutenberg medal of the European Geophysical Union. He is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and the co-editor of two other books.