Using Wiechert 's theoretical work and data from earthquakes including the 1905 Kangra earthquake , 1905 Calabria earthquake and the 1906 San Francisco earthquake , Zoeppritz 's most important early contribution was the construction of travel-time curves - and their associated velocity-depth functions - for P-waves , S-waves and surface waves , recognising for the first time that body waves are reflected and converted at discontinuities . These curves were later used by other members of the research group , Ludwig Carl Geiger and Beno Gutenberg , as well as the British astronomer and seismologist Herbert Hall Turner at the International Seismological Summary . The related ill-posed inverse problem of inferring a discrete velocity distribution , representing the layers of the crust and mantle , was solved by fellow Göttingen mathematician Gustav Herglotz
1905 Kangra earthquake
1905 Kangra earthquake
Karl Bernhard Zoeppritz