Seismic Wave Propagation and Tomography in Earth Systems

Seismic waves generated by natural or artificial sources traverse Earth’s interior, their speeds and paths controlled by variations in elastic properties, density and temperature. Compressional (P) waves and shear (S) waves sample different material responses, while scattered phases and coda waves record multiple interactions with heterogeneities. Seismic tomography exploits the travel times, amplitudes and waveforms of these signals to reconstruct three‐dimensional images of the crust, mantle and core. Advances in numerical simulation, data volume and inversion methodologies now enable models at unprecedented resolution, revealing fine‐scale structures such as small mantle plumes, subducted slabs and sedimentary basins. These insights underpin understanding of plate tectonics, resource distribution, volcanic and earthquake hazard assessment, and the coupling between solid Earth processes and surface environments.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent work has demonstrated a hybrid “Box Tomography” framework that partitions full‐waveform computations into three modular components, dramatically reducing the cost of three‐dimensional wavefield simulations. By reconciling competing formulations of displacement potentials at solid–fluid interfaces, this approach enables accurate confinement of seismic energy within regions straddling oceanic floors or the core–mantle boundary. Benchmarks show up to a thousand‐fold decrease in computational expense without sacrificing resolution, paving the way for routine application of high‐frequency, full‐waveform methods in remote and structurally complex domains.

Seismic Wave Propagation and Tomography in Earth Systems publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in seismic wave propagation and tomography in earth systems across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Seismic tomography: A method of imaging Earth’s interior by inverting variations in seismic wave travel times and amplitudes to infer three‐dimensional structure.

Full‐waveform inversion (FWI): An iterative technique that matches observed and synthetic seismic waveforms to retrieve high‐resolution models of elastic properties.

Coda wave: The tail of a seismogram composed of scattered and reverberating energy, sensitive to small‐scale heterogeneities and interfaces.

Moho discontinuity: The boundary between Earth’s crust and mantle marked by a sharp contrast in seismic velocities.

Spectral‐element method: A high‐order numerical scheme for solving wave equations on complex geometries with accurate treatment of material discontinuities.

Anisotropy: Directional dependence of seismic wave speed caused by aligned minerals, stress fields or fabric within rocks.

Fluid–solid boundary: An interface at which seismic waves encounter a transition between liquid and elastic solid, requiring specialised coupling conditions in simulations.

References

1. Efficient hybrid numerical modeling of the seismic wavefield in the presence of solid-fluid boundaries. Nature Communications (2025).
2. Earthquake Characteristics and Structural Properties of the Southern Tyrrhenian Basin from Full Seismic Wave Simulations. Surveys in Geophysics (2023).
3. The thermal and anisotropic structure of the top 300 km of the mantle. Earth and Planetary Science Letters (2024).
4. Full‐Waveform Tomography of the African Plate Using Dynamic Mini‐Batches. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth (2023).