The course will provide students with the minimum and basic knowledge
(which will be deepened in other characterizing courses). These
knowledges are about the internal structure of the Earth and the heat
flux inside it, seismic waves, gravity, and magnetic field.
D1: Knowledge and understanding - At the end of the course, students
will demonstrate their knowledge about the internal structure of the Earth
and some related phenomena (gravimetry, magnetism, elastic waves,
heat flux).
D2: Applying knowledge and understanding - At the end of the course,
students should be able to solve simple problems related to the various
topics addressed in the course.
D3: Making judgments - At the end of the course, students must
demonstrate that they are able to apply acquired knowledge and
concepts in the analysis of concrete examples.
D4: Communication skills - students will have to demonstrate that they
can effectively and appropriately use a scientific and specific technical
language to expose the concepts learned during the course.
D5: Learning skills - At the end of the course, students must be able to
tackle the more complex problems that will be presented in subsequent
courses.

NTRODUCTION AND REVIEW
Internal structure of the Earth and Plate tectonics. Direct and inverse
problem. Matrices. Coordinate transformation. Symmetric tensors with
positive eigenvalues. Scalar and vectorial fields, differential operators.
PLATE TECTONICS
Fundamental hypotheses. Types of plate boundaries. Basic concepts
applied to the Earth as a plate. Relative velocities. Variations of plate
boundaries in time. Triple junctions. Vectors and rotation poles on the
spherical Earth. Absolute plate velocities. Hot spots.
ELASTICITY
Stresses and deformations. Relationship between stresses and
deformations: Lame’ parametrs. Mohr circles. Equations of motion and
their solution: plane waves.
SEISMOLOGY - WAVES
P ed S waves in the Earth. Travel times in a two-layers model.
Localization of earthquakes. Seismic waves in the pherical Earth. Surface
waves: Rayleigh, Love. Dispersion curves. Free oscillations of the Earth.
Anelasticity and Q factor. Seismometers.
SEISMOLOGY - SOURCES
Elastic rebound theory. Equivalent forces. Point source. Radiation pattern
of waves. Quantification of earthquakes. Gutenberg-Richter law and
earthquake statistics. Point source focal parameters. Stress drop.
Aftershocks. Earthquake mechanisms. Source complexity.
GRAVITY
Gravity of the Earth. Gravitational potential. Moments of inertia.
Rotational and total potential. Reference ellipsoid. Geoid. Isostasy.
Gravitational anomalies. Gravity measurements. Interpretation of
Bouguer anomalies.
MAGNETISM
Maxwell equations. Magnetostatic potential. Potential of a dipole. Earth’s
magnetic field (EMF) and its components. Secular variations of the EMF.
Temporal variations of the external EMF. EMF origin. EMF inversions.
Paleomagnetism. Rock magnetization. Residual magnetization and
susceptibility. Magnetometers. Magnetic anomalies and their
interpretation.
HEAT FLOW
Conduction. Heat flow. Radioactive heat generation. Heat flow equation in
conductive media. Equilibrium geotherms. Solution of the diffusion
differential equation. Heat flow losses on the global scale. Oceanic heat
flow. Models of plate heat generation and cooling. Continental heat flow.
Thermal structure of the mantle and core.

C.M.R.FOWLER:
THE SOLID EARTH
An introduction to global geophysics
Cambridge University Press, 1993
W. LOWRIE: FUNDAMENTALS OF GEOPHYSICS
Cambridge University Press, 1997
S. STEIN & M.WYSESSION AN INTRODUCTION TO
SEISMOLOGY,EARTHQUAKES,AND EARTH STRUCTURE
Blackwell, 2003
A. ZOLLO & A. EMOLO
TERREMOTI E ONDE
Liguori editore, 2011
T.LAY & T.C.WALLACE
MODERN GLOBAL SEISMOLOGY
Academic Press, 1995
D.GUBBINS: SEISMOLOGY AND PLATE TECTONICS
Cambridge University Press, 1990
A. UDIAS: PRINCIPLES OF SEISMOLOGY
Cambridge University Press, 1999
K.KASAHARA EARTHQUAKE MECHANICS
Cambridge University Press, 1981
A.COX & R.B.HART:
LA TETTONICA DELLE PLACCHE/ PLATE TECTONICS
Meccanismi e modalita' /How it works
Zanichelli 1986/ Blackwell, 1986
P. KEARY & F.J.VINE: TETTONICA GLOBALE/ GLOBAL TECTONICS
Zanichelli/ Blackwell, 1996 (Second edition)
F.D. STACEY:
PHYSICS OF THE EARTH
Brookfield Press, 1992
N. SLEEP & K. FUJITA: PRINCIPLES OF GEOPHYSICS
Blackwell Science, 1997
M. FEDI e A. RAPOLLA:
I METODI GRAVIMETRICO E MAGNETICO NELLA GEOFISICA DELLA TERRA
SOLIDA
Liguori editore, 1993

Lectures and short exercises.

The link to download material will be available at the beginning of the
course.

The evaluation of the student is based on an oral discussion in which
questions about all the topics covered by the course are proposed.
Moreover, it will be asked to solve some short exercises. The student
must demonstrate that he/she is able to talk about the basic knowledges
and the concepts acquired, as well as being able to apply them in the
analysis of concrete examples. The score of the exam is attributed by means of a mark expressed out of thirty. To pass the exam (18/30) the
student must demonstrate that he/she has acquired sufficient knowledge
of all the topics covered in the course. To achieve the maximum score
(30/30 cum laude), the student must demonstrate that he/she has
acquired an excellent knowledge of all the topics covered during the
course as well as to be able to apply them through reasoning to real case
studies.