S wave

American  

noun

Geology.

1. a transverse earthquake wave that travels through the interior of the earth and is usually the second conspicuous wave to reach a seismograph.

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S wave Scientific  

1. See secondary wave

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Example Sentences

Of the two, it’s most likely that an S wave brings damaging shaking.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 27, 2022

In an earthquake, P waves — or compressional waves — arrive first but usually don’t cause much damage; they’re followed by the S wave, or shear wave.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 27, 2022

Instead, it's the shear wave, aka S wave, that people usually feel during an earthquake.

From Salon • Oct. 19, 2019

S waves, which cannot move through liquids, are blocked by the Earth’s liquid outer core, creating an S wave shadow zone on the side of the planet opposite to the earthquake focus.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2017

The slowest of these, the "S" wave, has never been traced to its source before and researchers say it opens up a new way to study the Earth's hidden depths.

From BBC • Aug. 26, 2016