Rotational Seismology is an emerging field that delves into the study of all forms of rotational motions triggered by earthquakes, explosions, and ambient vibrations.

In the context of vibration caused by an earthquake, the overall motion of particles or a small volume within a solid body can be broken down into three components: translation (along the x, y, and z axes), rotation (around the x, y, and z axes), and strain (e.g., Båth, 1979; Teisseyre et al., 2006).

For centuries, rotational ground motion was largely disregarded, with a prevailing belief that rotation held little significance in measurement. However, recent insights have shifted this perspective, suggesting that rotational signals might contain valuable additional information for analyzing wave propagation. Furthermore, rotational ground motion could play a crucial role in the excitation of certain engineering structures.

As highlighted in a special issue of the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, rotational seismology has rapidly evolved into a burgeoning field, exploring every facet of rotational ground motion stemming from earthquakes, explosions, and ambient vibrations. This domain has garnered the interest of researchers and structural engineers spanning various geophysical disciplines.

A complete seismic station

You can build your complete seismic station using a 9-channel ATLAS datalogger and get accelerometer data from the force balance accelerometer LTFB-160, the very broadband velocimeter TELLUS-30s-60s-120s, and the rotational sensor TELLUS-R.