The surface formed by all elements of a propagating wave, which swing in phase; the wave front is perpendicular to the seismic rays, which are oriented in direction of wave propagation
Christian Nerger and Johannes Schweitzer (Assisting Editor in Compiling), Glossary of Terms Frequently Used in Seismology and Observatory Practice, US Geological Survey (http://www.usgs.gov/), the Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology (http://www.mbmg.mtech.edu/) and the International Data Center of the CTBTO (http://www.ctbto.org), USA 2004. http://gfzpublic.gfz-potsdam.de/pubman/item/escido c:4141:2/component/escidoc:4142/Glossary_rev1.pdf% 3Bjsessionid=216960F299E7DC5292AAE080C9BACFB3, (ND/ Erthq - Amer) {25}