EESC1168 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Moment Magnitude Scale, Richter Magnitude Scale, Hypocenter
17 Feb 2017
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Document Summary
Magnitude: an estimate of the energy release (size) of an earthquake. Have a longer period than p waves. Travel on the surface of the earth. Cannot travel through the body of the earth. L waves refer to both love and rayleigh waves. Hypocenter: point where the rupture began on the fault surface. Epicenter: point on earth"s surface directly above the hypocenter. Hypocenter close to the surface more energy in surface waves more destructive earthquake. The p and s wave method actually measures the distance to the hypocenter, not the epicenter. Multiple systems can be used to assess earthquake magnitudes; the richter scale is the best known. Easy and fast to use; appropriate for local earthquakes of moderate intensity. The maximum amplitude of the recorded seismic waves. Assumes that as an earthquake is more intense, the amplitude of its seismic waves will also increase. This isn"t true for very large earthquakes - the type of waves measured by the.
