The strike-slip fault is where most of the movement is horizontal (410). And, the transform fault is a strike-slip fault that connects the ends of two offset segments of spreading centers (412). (See figures, 2,3, and 4) .
The study of seism waves generated by earthquakes is called seismology (seism means earthquake). In studying earthquakes there have been many instruments created to detect Earth motions such as the seismometers and to record Earth's movements the seismographs. When the Earth moves, it releases energy in seismic waves that pass through the entire planet, which are known as body waves. The other waves that only move through the surface are known as surface waves. Now there are two main types of waves: primary and secondary. Primary waves or P wave is the fastest and is the first to reach a recording station. These waves are in a push pull motion. The secondary waves or S waves are then, the second to reach the recording station. These waves are in a shearing motion. There are two other waves the Love Waves, and the Rayleigh Waves. The Love waves are similar to the S wave except it has a side to side in a horizontal plane roughly parallel to the Earth's surface (65). The Rayleigh waves advance in a backward rotating, elliptical motion. And finally there is the biggest most feared waves called the Tsunami waves. These pass unnoticed across open sea and then when they strike the shoreline with "devastating blows (66)." Tsunami is Japanese for harbor wave. .
To locate the source of an earthquake is a huge task. You have to use the lengths of time the various seismic waves take to reach the seismograph, the locations if the epicenter and the hypocenter have to be determined. Another thing we must determine about earthquakes is the magnitude. The period is the length of time for a complete cycle to pass, and the amplitude is the height of the wave trace above its starting point (72).