Love waves
Geology nerdiness and love
The seismology term ‘Love waves’ describe an earthquake that moves like a snake - it shakes from side to side along the ground while traveling forward. They last longer than the other types of waves of an earthquake and so travel farther.
In my book, People of the Rock, a deep change in one place, the transmission of Lucy through time, spreads far from the ‘impact zone’ into places that weren’t even aware of the original quake. Lucy moves through time and space, changing culture and tying times and places together. The waves of her connection with this place in the future travel not only back into her own time, but also throughout the intervening time, to end up affecting that future. The impact of the love she finds moves her forward. As she moves forward, shaking, her actions affect both the past and the future.
“In elastodynamic seismology, Love waves, named after Augustus Edward Hough Love, are horizontally polarized surface waves. The Love wave is a result of the interference of many shear waves, guided by an elastic layer, which is welded to an elastic half space on one side while bordering a vacuum on the other side.
Wikipedia, 2018”
My psychopomp character Arachne Weaver says:
“Love waves travel slowly through the ground, like a snake, shaking everything from side to side on the surface as they move through, and are a result of big changes deep beneath.”
I am building a hub of nerdiness as part of the discussion guide for People of the Rock, but will also be sharing it here. https://sophiakelly.ca/book-club-discussion-guide-companion-guide-for-people-of-the-rock
