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The Richter scale [1] (/ ˈ r ɪ k t ər /), also called the Richter magnitude scale, Richter's magnitude scale, and the Gutenberg–Richter scale, [2] is a measure of the strength of earthquakes, developed by Charles Richter in collaboration with Beno Gutenberg, and presented in Richter's landmark 1935 paper, where he called it the "magnitude scale". [3]
All magnitude scales retain the logarithmic scale as devised by Charles Richter, and are adjusted so the mid-range approximately correlates with the original "Richter" scale. [8] Most magnitude scales are based on measurements of only part of an earthquake's seismic wave-train, and therefore are incomplete.
To understand the magnitude scales based on M o detailed background of M wg and M w scales is given below. M w scale. Hiroo Kanamori [50] defined a magnitude scale (Log W 0 = 1.5 M w + 11.8, where W 0 is the minimum strain energy) for great earthquakes using Gutenberg Richter Eq. (1).
Magnitude has replaced it, expressed as "a 4.0 magnitude earthquake." What are earthquake intensity scales? Earthquake intensity is a slightly different number that measures people's on-the-ground ...
This means that for a given frequency of magnitude 4.0 or larger events there will be 10 times as many magnitude 3.0 or larger quakes and 100 times as many magnitude 2.0 or larger quakes. There is some variation of b-values in the approximate range of 0.5 to 2 depending on the source environment of the region. [ 5 ]
The Modified Mercalli intensity scale (MM, MMI, or MCS) measures the effects of an earthquake at a given location. This is in contrast with the seismic magnitude usually reported for an earthquake. Magnitude scales measure the inherent force or strength of an earthquake – an event occurring at greater or lesser depth. (The "M w" scale is ...
For instance, an earthquake of magnitude 6.0 releases approximately 32 times more energy than a 5.0 magnitude earthquake and a 7.0 magnitude earthquake releases 1,000 times more energy than a 5.0 magnitude earthquake. An 8.6-magnitude earthquake releases the same amount of energy as 10,000 atomic bombs of the size used in World War II. [18]
Seismic moment is the basis of the moment magnitude scale introduced by Caltech's Thomas C. Hanks and Hiroo Kanamori, which is often used to compare the size of different earthquakes and is especially useful for comparing the sizes of large (great) earthquakes. The seismic moment is not restricted to earthquakes.