Question

1. the cross - section below shows a portion of earth’s interior layers and the location of an earthquake epicenter. letter a represents a seismic station on earth’s surface. letter b represents a location in earth’s interior. (not drawn to scale) explain why seismic station a receives p - waves but not s - waves from this earthquake.

Explanation:

S-waves (shear waves) cannot travel through liquid materials, while P-waves (compressional waves) can travel through both solid and liquid materials. The seismic station A is positioned such that the S-waves from the earthquake must pass through Earth's liquid outer core to reach it, so they are blocked. P-waves can travel through the liquid outer core, so they reach station A.

Answer:

Seismic station A receives P-waves but not S-waves because S-waves cannot propagate through Earth's liquid outer core, and the path of S-waves from the earthquake to station A would have to pass through this liquid layer. P-waves can travel through both solid and liquid layers, so they can travel through the outer core and reach station A.