Earthquake study in southern California, 1946

Abstract

Data from the New Mexico atomic bomb test of 1945 have been published by Gutenberg [1946], and those from the second Bikini test by Gutenberg and Richter [1946b]. For both tests the travel times of P are within about two seconds of those calculated from the standard travel times of earthquake waves as corrected for a surface focus. The seismograms are very small; there is no basis for the exaggerated newpaper sensation, nor for the suggestion that seismograms might be used to detect such atomic bombs. Air waves from the New Mexico test included direct waves, refracted waves through the stratosphere, and strong waves traveling near the tropopause with little loss of energy.