  The frequency response of a seismometer is typically assumed to be the
textbook case of a viscous damped, simple harmonic oscillator. Real mechanical
oscillators are not ideal, and the damping at low frequencies, due to internal
friction, is presently too poorly understood to describe from first principles.
Even if the low-level motions were smooth (which they are not), the mean
position of a seismic mass changes because of creep and creep recovery. This
article shows that secondary creep can actually serve to increase the
sensitivity of a seismometer at low frequencies.
