EARTHQUAKE DESCRIPTORS

Earthquake Magnitude; Seismic Moment;

Seismic Energy; The Centroid Moment Tensor Project;
Magnitude and Faulting; Foreshocks, Aftershocks, and
Swarms;
Seismic Intensity (Rossi-Forrel Scale, Modified Mercalli Scale,
USSR GEOFAN Scale, MSK-64 Scale)

Earthquake
Magnitude
In connection with
Faulting

An earthquake is also defined as the sudden slip of one

part of the Earth's crust, relative to another, along a fault

surface.

A gradual build-up of mechanical stress in the crust,

primarily the result of tectonic forces, provides the

source of energy for earthquakes; sudden motion along
a fault releases it in the form of seismic waves.

It's unclear when the connection between faults and

earthquakes was first made, but by the late 19th Century

most scientists accepted this association as fact, even if
the mechanisms behind it were still a mystery.

Earthquake
Magnitude
In connection with
Faulting

Fault research received a

tremendous boost in the

aftermath of the great San
Francisco earthquake of 1906.

This was one of the first

earthquakes for which both

seismographic and fault-rupture
studies were conducted.

The fault rupture occurred in

through a very well-surveyed,

developed area.

Earthquake
Magnitude
In connection with
Faulting

Because of this, researchers could not only

map the offset across the fault trace, but
also the amount of displacement between
points far removed from the fault.

This work led to the formulation of the

elastic rebound theory of fault rupture by
Princeton geologist Harry F. Reid.

Earthquake
Magnitude
In connection with
Faulting

How big is an earthquake?

Depends on how big a patch of the fault breaks.

If the patch that breaks is a few square miles,
you may have a magnitude five earthquake.

If it's up to a couple hundred square miles, you

have a magnitude seven. If it's a couple of
thousand square miles, you get a M 7.8, 1906
San Francisco quake."

Earthquake
Magnitude
In connection with
Faulting

The seismic moment is the product of the

area of fault surface that ruptures, the
average displacement along that surface,
and a constant -- a measure of the elastic
property of rock (i.e. how easily it can be
stretched) called the modulus of rigidity.
Moment magnitude (MW) is based upon
the seismic moment, and represents a kind

Radiated Seismic Energy

Seismic energy is a physical concept related to broadband information
on the source radiation; this is different from seismic moment.

In theory, its computation simply requires an integration of

radiated energy flux in velocity-squared seismograms.

 In practice, energy has historically almost always been

estimated with empirical formulas. The empirical

approach dominated for two major reasons:

1. Until the 1980s most seismic data were analog, a format

which was not amenable to spectral processing on a routine basis.

2. An accurate estimate of radiated energy requires the

analysis of spectral information both above and below the
corner frequency of an earthquake, about which energy
density is most strongly peaked.

How is radiated seismic energy measured?

`

To determine the total seismic energy radiated from an

earthquake one would have to integrate the energy

radiated at all frequencies over the entire focal sphere.
The spectrum of the average radiation over the focal
sphere can be approximated by a constant level at low
frequencies (which is proportional to the moment, Mo)
and a uniform decrease with increasing frequency above
some corner frequency (Fc), so the seismic energy is a
function of both Moand Fc. For a given moment, the
radiated energy will increase as Fcincreases.

Mo = u D A
where:
u = shear modulus (3 - 6 x 1011) dyn/cm2
D = average displacement
A = area of rupture

 If one event were a "slow" earthquake with "more or less creeplike deformation" while the other had a more typical rupture
velocity near the shear wave velocity, much more energy would
be radiated from the latter earthquake due to its rich high
frequency radiation corresponding larger Fcthan from the
"slow" event.

E=

erg

(1 erg = 1 dyn cm)

Log E = 1.5 MW + 11.8

(Gutenberg-Richter magnitudeenergy relation)

Then:
Log Mo Log (2 x 104) = 1.5 MW + 11.8

Centroid Moment Tensor

(CMT) Centroid Moment Tensor (CMT) is a reliable method for calculating moment tensors.

Seismic Moment is a measure of

the size of an earthquake based on
the area of fault rupture, the
average amount ofslip, and the
force that was required to overcome
the friction sticking the rocks
together that were offset by
faulting. Seismic moment can also
be
calculated
from
the
amplitudespectraof seismic waves.

Moment

Tensor
is
a
mathematical representation of
the movement on a fault during an
earthquake, comprising of nine
generalized couples, or nine sets
of two vectors. The tensor depends
of the source strength and fault
orientation.