One of the most important problems in seismic monitoring is distinguishing underground nuclear explosions from other seismic sources. If a seismic event is large, the problem of discrimination is fairly straightforward.
Explosions release their energy in a very small volume and produce primarily P waves.
The figure to the right compares the 1998 Indian test with an earthquake of approximately the same size. The distance between the explosion and recording station is approximately same as the distance between the earthquake and recording station. UC2001 - For conditions of use, see Disclaimer .