10/31/2015

MomentmagnitudescaleWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Momentmagnitudescale
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Themomentmagnitudescale(abbreviatedasMMSdenotedasMWorM)isusedbyseismologiststo
measurethesizeofearthquakesintermsoftheenergyreleased.[1]Themagnitudeisbasedonthe
seismicmomentoftheearthquake,whichisequaltotherigidityoftheEarthmultipliedbytheaverage
amountofsliponthefaultandthesizeoftheareathatslipped.[2]Thescalewasdevelopedinthe1970s
tosucceedthe1930seraRichtermagnitudescale(ML).Eventhoughtheformulaearedifferent,thenew
scaleretainsasimilarcontinuumofmagnitudevaluestothatdefinedbytheolderone.TheMMSisnow
thescaleusedtoestimatemagnitudesforallmodernlargeearthquakesbytheUnitedStatesGeological
Survey.[3]
Popularpressreportsofearthquakemagnitudeusuallyfailtodistinguishbetweenmagnitudescales,and
areoftenreportedas"Richtermagnitudes"whenthereportedmagnitudeisaMomentmagnitude(ora
surfacewaveorbodywavemagnitude).Becausethescalesareintendedtoreportthesameresultswithin
theirapplicableconditions,theconfusionisminor.

Contents
1Historicalcontext
1.1TheRichterscale:aformermeasureofearthquakemagnitude
1.2ThemodifiedRichterscale
1.3CorrectingweaknessesofthemodifiedRichterscale
1.4Currentresearch
2Definition
3Comparativeenergyreleasedbytwoearthquakes
4Radiatedseismicenergy
5Nuclearexplosions
6ComparisonwithRichterscale
7Seealso
8Notes
9References
10Externallinks

Historicalcontext
TheRichterscale:aformermeasureofearthquakemagnitude
Mainarticle:Richtermagnitudescale
In1935,CharlesRichterandBenoGutenbergdevelopedthelocalmagnitude(
)scale(popularly
knownastheRichterscale)withthegoalofquantifyingmediumsizedearthquakes(betweenmagnitude
3.0and7.0)inSouthernCalifornia.Thisscalewasbasedonthegroundmotionmeasuredbyaparticular
typeofseismometer(aWoodAndersonseismograph)atadistanceof100kilometres(62mi)fromthe
earthquake'sepicenter.[3]Becauseofthis,thereisanupperlimitonthehighestmeasurablemagnitude,
andalllargeearthquakeswilltendtohavealocalmagnitudeofaround7.[4]Further,themagnitude
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moment_magnitude_scale

1/6

10/31/2015

MomentmagnitudescaleWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

becomesunreliableformeasurementstakenatadistanceofmorethanabout600kilometres(370mi)
fromtheepicenter.SincethisMLscalewassimpletouseandcorrespondedwellwiththedamagewhich
wasobserved,itwasextremelyusefulforengineeringearthquakeresistantstructures,andgained
commonacceptance.[5]

ThemodifiedRichterscale
AlthoughtheRichterscalerepresentedamajorstepforward,itwasnotaseffectiveforcharacterizing
someclassesofquakes.Asaresult,BenoGutenbergexpandedRichter'sworktoconsiderearthquakes
detectedatdistantlocations.Forsuchlargedistancesthehigherfrequencyvibrationsareattenuatedand
seismicsurfacewaves(RayleighandLovewaves)aredominatedbywaveswithaperiodof20seconds
(whichcorrespondstoawavelengthofabout60km).Theirmagnitudewasassignedasurfacewave
magnitudescale(MS).GutenbergalsocombinedcompressionalPwavesandthetransverseSwaves
(whichhetermed"bodywaves")tocreateabodywavemagnitudescale(Mb),measuredforperiods
between1and10seconds.UltimatelyGutenbergandRichtercollaboratedtoproduceacombinedscale
whichwasabletoestimatetheenergyreleasedbyanearthquakeintermsofGutenberg'ssurfacewave
magnitudescale(MS).[5]

CorrectingweaknessesofthemodifiedRichterscale
TheRichterScale,asmodified,wassuccessfullyappliedtocharacterizelocalities.Thisenabledlocal
buildingcodestoestablishstandardsforbuildingswhichwereearthquakeresistant.Howeveraseriesof
quakeswerepoorlyhandledbythemodifiedRichterscale.Thisseriesof"greatearthquakes",included
faultsthatbrokealongalineofupto1000km.Examplesincludethe1952AleutianFoxIslandsquake
andthe1960Chileanquake,bothofwhichbrokefaultsapproaching1000km.TheMSscalewasunable
tocharacterizethese"greatearthquakes"accurately.[5]
ThedifficultieswithuseofMSincharacterizingthequakeresultedfromthesizeoftheseearthquakes.
Greatquakesproduced20swavessuchthatMSwascomparabletonormalquakes,butalsoproduced
verylongperiodwaves(morethan200s)whichcarriedlargeamountsofenergy.Asaresult,useofthe
modifiedRichterscalemethodologytoestimateearthquakeenergywasdeficientathighenergies.[5]
In1972,KeiitiAki,aprofessorofGeophysicsattheMassachusettsInstituteofTechnology,introduced
elasticdislocationtheorytoimproveunderstandingoftheearthquakemechanism.Thistheoryproposed
thattheenergyreleasefromaquakeisproportionaltothesurfaceareathatbreaksfree,theaverage
distancethatthefaultisdisplaced,andtherigidityofthematerialadjacenttothefault.Thisisfoundto
correlatewellwiththeseismologicreadingsfromlongperiodseismographs.Hencethemoment
magnitudescale(MW)representedamajorstepforwardincharacterizingearthquakes.[6]

Currentresearch
Recentresearchrelatedtothemomentmagnitudescalefocuseson:
Timelyearthquakemagnitudeestimatesallowforearlywarningsofearthquakesandtsunami.
SuchearthquakeearlywarningsystemsareoperatinginJapan,Mexico,Romania,Taiwan,and
TurkeyandarebeingtestedintheUnitedStates,Europe,andAsia.Suchsystemsrelyonavariety
ofanalyticmethodstoattainanearlyestimateofthemomentmagnitudeofaquake.[7]
Effortsareunderwaytoextendthemomentmagnitudescaleaccuracyforhighfrequencies,which
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moment_magnitude_scale

2/6

10/31/2015

MomentmagnitudescaleWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

areimportantinlocalizingsmallquakes.Earthquakesbelowmagnitude3scalepoorlybecausethe
earthattenuateshighfrequencywavesnearthesurface,makingitdifficulttoresolvequakes
smallerthan100meters.Byuseofseismographsindeepwellsthisattenuationcanbe
overcome.[8]

Definition
Thesymbolforthemomentmagnitudescaleis
accomplished.Themomentmagnitude[9]

,withthesubscript meaningmechanicalwork

isadimensionlessnumberdefinedbyHirooKanamorias

where
istheseismicmomentindynecm(107Nm).[1]Theconstantvaluesintheequationare
chosentoachieveconsistencywiththemagnitudevaluesproducedbyearlierscales,theLocal
MagnitudeandtheSurfaceWavemagnitude,bothreferredtoasthe"Richter"scalebyreporters.

Comparativeenergyreleasedbytwoearthquakes
AswiththeRichterscale,anincreaseofonesteponthislogarithmicscalecorrespondstoa101.532
timesincreaseintheamountofenergyreleased,andanincreaseoftwostepscorrespondstoa103=
1000timesincreaseinenergy.Thus,anearthquakeofMWof7.0contains1000timesasmuchenergyas
oneof5.0andabout32timesthatof6.0.
Thefollowingformula,obtainedbysolvingthepreviousequationfor
,allowsonetoassessthe
proportionaldifference
inenergyreleasebetweenearthquakesoftwodifferentmoment
magnitudes,say and :

Forexample,anearthquakewithamomentmagnitudeof7.0isapproximately5.62timesgreaterthana
quakewithmomentmagnitude6.5.

Radiatedseismicenergy
Potentialenergyisstoredinthecrustintheformofbuiltupstress.Duringanearthquake,thisstored
energyistransformedandresultsin
cracksanddeformationinrocks
heat
radiatedseismicenergy .
Theseismicmoment
isameasureofthetotalamountofenergythatistransformedduringan
earthquake.Onlyasmallfractionoftheseismicmoment
isconvertedintoradiatedseismicenergy
,whichiswhatseismographsregister.Usingtheestimate

ChoyandBoatwrightdefinedin1995theenergymagnitude[10]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moment_magnitude_scale

3/6

10/31/2015

where

MomentmagnitudescaleWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

isinN.m.

Nuclearexplosions
Theenergyreleasedbynuclearweaponsistraditionallyexpressedintermsoftheenergystoredina
kilotonormegatonoftheconventionalexplosivetrinitrotoluene(TNT).
Aruleofthumbequivalencefromseismologyusedinthestudyofnuclearproliferationassertsthataone
kilotonnuclearexplosioncreatesaseismicsignalwithamagnitudeofapproximately4.0.[11]Thisinturn
leadstotheequation[12]

where

isthemassoftheexplosiveTNTthatisquotedforcomparison(relativetomegatonsMt).

Suchcomparisonfiguresarenotverymeaningful.Aswithearthquakes,duringanunderground
explosionofanuclearweapon,onlyasmallfractionofthetotalamountofenergyreleasedendsup
beingradiatedasseismicwaves.Therefore,aseismicefficiencyneedstobechosenforthebombthatis
beingquotedinthiscomparison.UsingtheconventionalspecificenergyofTNT(4.184MJ/kg),the
aboveformulaimpliesthatabout0.5%ofthebomb'senergyisconvertedintoradiatedseismicenergy
.[13]Forrealundergroundnucleartests,theactualseismicefficiencyachievedvariessignificantlyand
dependsonthesiteanddesignparametersofthetest.

ComparisonwithRichterscale
Mainarticle:Richtermagnitudescale
Themomentmagnitude(
)scalewasintroducedin1979byCaltechseismologistsThomasC.Hanks
andHirooKanamoritoaddresstheshortcomingsoftheRichterscale(detailedabove)whilemaintaining
consistency.Thus,formediumsizedearthquakes,themomentmagnitudevaluesshouldbesimilarto
Richtervalues.Thatis,amagnitude5.0earthquakewillbeabouta5.0onbothscales.Thisscalewas
basedonthephysicalpropertiesoftheearthquake,specificallytheseismicmoment(
).Unlikeother
scales,themomentmagnitudescaledoesnotsaturateattheupperendthereisnoupperlimittothe
possiblemeasurablemagnitudes.However,thishasthesideeffectthatthescalesdivergeforsmaller
earthquakes.[1]
Theconceptofseismicmomentwasintroducedin1966,[14]butittook13yearsbeforethe
scale
wasdesigned.Thereasonforthedelaywasthatthenecessaryspectraofseismicsignalshadtobe
derivedbyhandatfirst,whichrequiredpersonalattentiontoeveryevent.Fastercomputersthanthose
availableinthe1960swerenecessaryandseismologistshadtodevelopmethodstoprocessearthquake
signalsautomatically.Inthemid1970sDziewonski[15]startedtheHarvardGlobalCentroidMoment
TensorCatalog.[16]Afterthisadvance,itwaspossibletointroduce
andestimateitforlarge
numbersofearthquakes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moment_magnitude_scale

4/6

10/31/2015

MomentmagnitudescaleWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Momentmagnitudeisnowthemostcommonmeasureformediumtolargeearthquakemagnitudes,[17]
butbreaksdownforsmallerquakes.Forexample,theUnitedStatesGeologicalSurveydoesnotusethis
scaleforearthquakeswithamagnitudeoflessthan3.5,whichisthegreatmajorityofquakes.
Magnitudescalesdifferfromearthquakeintensity,whichistheperceptibleshaking,andlocaldamage
experiencedduringaquake.Theshakingintensityatagivenspotdependsonmanyfactors,suchassoil
types,soilsublayers,depth,typeofdisplacement,andrangefromtheepicenter(notcountingthe
complicationsofbuildingengineeringandarchitecturalfactors).Rather,magnitudescalesareusedto
estimatewithonenumberthesizeofthequake.
ThefollowingtablecomparesmagnitudestowardstheupperendoftheRichterScaleformajor
Californianearthquakes.[1][18]
Seismicmoment
cm)

Date

(dyne

Richterscale

Momentmagnitude

193303
11

6.3

6.2

194005
19

30

6.4

7.0

194107
01

0.9

5.9

6.0

194210
21

6.5

6.6

194603
15

6.3

6.0

194704
10

6.2

6.5

194812
04

6.5

6.0

195207
21

200

7.2

7.5

195403
19

6.2

6.4

Seealso
Earthquakeengineering
Geophysics
Listofearthquakes
Otherseismicscales
Surfacewavemagnitude

Notes
1. Hanks,ThomasC.Kanamori,Hiroo(May1979)."Momentmagnitudescale"(PDF).JournalofGeophysical
Research84(B5):234850.Bibcode:1979JGR....84.2348H.doi:10.1029/JB084iB05p02348.
2. "GlossaryofTermsonEarthquakeMaps".USGS.Retrieved20090321.
3. "USGSEarthquakeMagnitudePolicy(implementedonJanuary18,2002)".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moment_magnitude_scale

5/6