P-waves has the greatest speed and appears first on seismograms. Also known as transverse waves, because particle motions are transverse to the direction of movement of the wavefront, or perpendicular to the ray. These waves involve shearing and rotation of the material as the wave passes through it, but not volume change. The most correct description of S-waves is it is a rotational or equivolumnar wave. Surface Waves Surface waves are seismic waves that are guided along the surface of the earth and the layers near the surface.
Surface waves are larger in amplitude and longer in duration than body waves.
The particle motion of this wave is confined to a vertical plane containing the direction of propagation and retrogrades elliptically. The particle displacements are greatest at the surface and decrease exponentially downward. Rayleigh waves shows dispersion, and its velocity is not constant but varies with wavelength. This wave is similar to how ocean waves propagate. This wave is somewhat similar to S-waves.