Moment magnitude is now the most common measure of earthquake size for medium to

large earthquake magnitudes,[14] but in practice seismic moment, the seismological

parameter it is based on, is not measured routinely for smaller quakes. For
example, the United States Geological Survey does not use this scale for
earthquakes with a magnitude of less than 3.5, which is the great majority of
quakes.
Current practice in official earthquake reports is to adopt moment magnitude as the
preferred magnitude, i.e. Mw is the official magnitude reported whenever it can be
computed. Because seismic moment (M0, the quantity needed to compute Mw) is not
measured if the earthquake is too small, the reported magnitude for earthquakes
smaller than M 4 is often Richter's ML.
Popular press reports most often deal with significant earthquakes larger than M ~
4. For these events, the official magnitude is the moment magnitude Mw, not
Richter's local magnitude ML.
Definition[edit]
The symbol for the moment magnitude scale is Mw, with the subscript "w" meaning
mechanical work accomplished. The moment magnitude Mw is a dimensionless value
defined by Hiroo Kanamori[15] as
{\displaystyle M_{\mathrm {w} }={\frac {2}{3}}\log _{10}(M_{0})-10.7,} M_{\mathrm
{w} }={\frac {2}{3}}\log _{10}(M_{0})-10.7,
where M0 is the seismic moment in dynecm (10-7 Nm).[16] The constant values in
the equation are chosen to achieve consistency with the magnitude values produced
by earlier scales, such as the Local Magnitude and the Surface Wave magnitude.
Relations between seismic moment, potential energy released and radiated
energy[edit]
Seismic moment is not a direct measure of energy changes during an earthquake. The
relations between seismic moment and the energies involved in an earthquake depend
on parameters that have large uncertainties and that may vary between earthquakes.
Potential energy is stored in the crust in the form of elastic energy due to built-
up stress and gravitational energy.[17] During an earthquake, a portion
{\displaystyle \Delta W} \Delta W of this stored energy is transformed into
energy dissipated {\displaystyle E_{f}} E_{f} in frictional weakening and inelastic
deformation in rocks by processes such as the creation of cracks
heat {\displaystyle E_{h}} E_{h}
radiated seismic energy {\displaystyle E_{s}} E_{s}.
The potential energy drop caused by an earthquake is approximately related to its
seismic moment by
{\displaystyle \Delta W\approx {\frac {\overline {\sigma }}{\mu }}M_{0}}
{\displaystyle \Delta W\approx {\frac {\overline {\sigma }}{\mu }}M_{0}}
where {\displaystyle {\overline {\sigma }}} {\displaystyle {\overline {\sigma }}}
is the average of the absolute shear stresses on the fault before and after the
earthquake (e.g. equation 3 of Venkataraman & Kanamori 2004). Currently, there is
no technology to measure absolute stresses at all depths of interest, or method to
estimate it accurately, thus {\displaystyle {\overline {\sigma }}} {\displaystyle
{\overline {\sigma }}} is poorly known. It could be highly variable from one
earthquake to another. Two earthquakes with identical {\displaystyle M_{0}} M_{0}
but different {\displaystyle {\overline {\sigma }}} {\displaystyle {\overline
{\sigma }}} would have released different {\displaystyle \Delta W} \Delta W.
The radiated energy caused by an earthquake is approximately related to seismic
moment by
{\displaystyle E_{\mathrm {s} }\approx \eta _{R}{\frac {\Delta \sigma _{s}}
{2\mu }}M_{0}} {\displaystyle E_{\mathrm {s} }\approx \eta _{R}{\frac {\Delta
\sigma _{s}}{2\mu }}M_{0}}
where {\displaystyle \eta _{R}=E_{s}/(E_{s}+E_{f})} {\displaystyle \eta _{R}=E_{s}/
(E_{s}+E_{f})} is radiated efficiency and {\displaystyle \Delta \sigma _{s}}
{\displaystyle \Delta \sigma _{s}} is the static stress drop, i.e. the difference
between shear stresses on the fault before and after the earthquake (e.g. from
equation 1 of Venkataraman & Kanamori 2004). These two quantities are far from
being constants. For instance, {\displaystyle \eta _{R}} \eta _{R} depends on
rupture speed; it is close to 1 for regular earthquakes but much smaller for slower
earthquakes such as tsunami earthquakes and slow earthquakes. Two earthquakes with
identical {\displaystyle M_{0}} M_{0} but different {\displaystyle \eta _{R}} \eta
_{R} or {\displaystyle \Delta \sigma _{s}} {\displaystyle \Delta \sigma _{s}} would
have radiated different {\displaystyle E_{\mathrm {s} }} E_{\mathrm {s} }.
Because {\displaystyle E_{\mathrm {s} }} E_{\mathrm {s} } and {\displaystyle M_{0}}
M_{0} are fundamentally independent properties of an earthquake source, and since
{\displaystyle E_{\mathrm {s} }} E_{\mathrm {s} } can now be computed more directly
and robustly than in the 1970s, introducing a separate magnitude associated to
radiated energy was warranted. Choy and Boatwright defined in 1995 the energy
magnitude[18]
{\displaystyle M_{\mathrm {E} }=\textstyle {\frac {2}{3}}\log _{10}E_{\mathrm
{s} }-3.2} {\displaystyle M_{\mathrm {E} }=\textstyle {\frac {2}{3}}\log
_{10}E_{\mathrm {s} }-3.2}
where {\displaystyle E_{\mathrm {s} }} E_{\mathrm {s} } is in J (N.m).
Comparative energy released by two earthquakes[edit]
Assuming the values of {\displaystyle {\overline {\sigma }}/\mu } {\displaystyle
{\overline {\sigma }}/\mu } are the same for all earthquakes, one can consider Mw
as a measure of the potential energy change ?W caused by earthquakes. Similarly, if
one assumes {\displaystyle \eta _{R}\Delta \sigma _{s}/2\mu } {\displaystyle \eta
_{R}\Delta \sigma _{s}/2\mu } is the same for all earthquakes, one can consider Mw
as a measure of the energy Es radiated by earthquakes.
Under these assumptions, the following formula, obtained by solving for M0 the
equation defining Mw, allows one to assess the ratio {\displaystyle E_{1}/E_{2}}
{\displaystyle E_{1}/E_{2}} of energy release (potential or radiated) between two
earthquakes of different moment magnitudes, {\displaystyle m_{1}} m_{1} and
{\displaystyle m_{2}} m_{2}:
{\displaystyle E_{1}/E_{2}\approx 10^{{\frac {3}{2}}(m_{1}-m_{2})}.} {\displaystyle
E_{1}/E_{2}\approx 10^{{\frac {3}{2}}(m_{1}-m_{2})}.}
As with the Richter scale, an increase of one step on the logarithmic scale of
moment magnitude corresponds to a 101.5 32 times increase in the amount of energy
released, and an increase of two steps corresponds to a 103 = 1000 times increase
in energy. Thus, an earthquake of Mw of 7.0 contains 1000 times as much energy as
one of 5.0 and about 32 times that of 6.0.
Nuclear explosions[edit]
The energy released by nuclear weapons is traditionally expressed in terms of the
energy stored in a kiloton or megaton of the conventional explosive trinitrotoluene
(TNT).
A rule of thumb equivalence from seismology used in the study of nuclear
proliferation asserts that a one kiloton nuclear explosion creates a seismic signal
with a magnitude of approximately 4.0.[19] This in turn leads to the equation[20]
{\displaystyle M_{n}=\textstyle {\frac {2}{3}}\displaystyle \log _{10}{\frac
{m_{\mathrm {TNT} }}{\mbox{Mt}}}+6,} M_{n}=\textstyle {\frac {2}
{3}}\displaystyle \log _{10}{\frac {m_{\mathrm {TNT} }}{\mbox{Mt}}}+6,
where {\displaystyle m_{\mathrm {TNT} }} m_{\mathrm {TNT} } is the mass of the
explosive TNT that is quoted for comparison (relative to megatons Mt).
Such comparison figures are not very meaningful. As with earthquakes, during an
underground explosion of a nuclear weapon, only a small fraction of the total
amount of energy released ends up being radiated as seismic waves. Therefore, a
seismic efficiency needs to be chosen for the bomb that is being quoted in this
comparison. Using the conventional specific energy of TNT (4.184 MJ/kg), the above
formula implies that about 0.5% of the bomb's energy is converted into radiated
seismic energy {\displaystyle E_{s}} E_{s}.[21] For real underground nuclear tests,
the actual seismic efficiency achieved varies significantly and depends on the site
and design parameters of the test.