Love waves, also known as SH-waves or shear horizontal waves, travel through the solid Earth. They are a type of seismic body wave that moves in a way that the particle motion is perpendicular to the direction of the wave's travel. Unlike Rayleigh waves, which move both vertically and horizontally in a vertical plane, Love waves exhibit a pure horizontal motion at the Earth's surface. They are named after the British physicist A.E.H. Love, who first described them. read more >>

Like rolling ocean waves, Rayleigh waves wave move both vertically and horizontally in a vertical plane pointed in the direction in which the waves are travelling. Surface waves travel more slowly than body waves (P and S); and of the two surface waves, Love waves generally travel faster than Rayleigh waves.read more >>