Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Traveltime Curve

By Earthquake Hazards Program 2021 (approx.)
Graph with "Distance (Kilometers)" on the x-axis and "Time (Seconds)" on the y-axis with 3 lines plotted. The steepest line is labelled "S-Wave", the middle line is labelled "P-Wave", and the shallowest line is labelled "S-P".
Original Thumbnail Medium

Detailed Description

A traveltime curve is a graph of arrival times, commonly P or S waves, recorded at different points as a function of distance from the seismic source. Seismic velocities within the earth can be computed from the slopes of the resulting curves. 

Sources/Usage

Frank Wattenberg, Department of Mathematics, Montana State University

Was this page helpful?