Different Kinds of Magnitudes

• Richter Magnitude-most famous. Simple logarithm of

the amplitude of the seismogram.

• Surface Wave Magnitude-uses the logarithm of the

amplitude of surface waves. Suitable for shallow
earthquakes.

• Body Wave Magnitude-used the logarithm of the

amplitude of P-waves. Suitable for deep earthquakes.

• Moment Magnitude-logarithm of seismic moments in

order to circumvent “saturation effect”
Equations
Where:
Surface Wave Magnitude 𝐴 = 𝑆𝑢𝑟𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑊𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑖𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑠
Δ = Angular Epicentral distance in degrees

Body Wave Magnitude Where:

𝐴 = 𝑃 − 𝑊𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑖𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑠
Δ = Angular Epicentral distance in degrees
T = Period of P-wave in seconds
Moment Magnitude
Where:
𝑀0 = 𝑆𝑒𝑖𝑠𝑚𝑖𝑐 𝑚𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑑𝑦𝑛𝑒 − 𝑐𝑚

Seismic Moment

Where:
𝜇 = 𝑅𝑢𝑝𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑆𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ, 𝐴 = 𝑟𝑢𝑝𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎, 𝐷 = 𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑎𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑙𝑖𝑝
Source Location

∆ = 𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐫
𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐥
RICHTER MAGNITUDE or LOCAL MAGNITUDE, ML

The seismogram from an earthquake recorded by a seismograph

located exactly at 100km from the earthquake epicenter exhibits a
peak amplitude of 1000μm. Determine the magnitude of the
earthquake.
1𝑚𝑚 = 1000𝜇𝑚
𝐴0 = 0.001𝑚𝑚 𝑜𝑟 1𝜇𝑚
𝐴 = 1000𝜇𝑚
𝑨
𝑴 = 𝐥𝐨𝐠
𝑨𝟎
1𝑚𝑚
𝑀 = log
0.001𝑚𝑚

𝑴 = 𝟑. 𝟎𝟎
SURFACE WAVE MAGNITUDE, MS

The peak displacement of the Rayleigh wave in a

seismogram from a seismographic station located at a 28o
from the earthquake’s epicenter is 4.3μm. Determine using
this information the earthquake’s surface-wave magnitude.
𝐴 = 4.3μ𝑚
∆= 280

𝑴𝒔 = 𝐥𝐨𝐠 𝑨 + 𝟏. 𝟔𝟔 𝐥𝐨𝐠 𝜟 + 𝟐. 𝟎

𝑀𝑠 = log 4.3 + 1.66 log 28 + 2.0

𝑴𝒔 = 𝟓. 𝟎𝟎
BODY WAVE MAGNITUDE, mb

The peak surface-wave amplitude recorded by a seismograph

at 120o angular epicentral distance is 400microns, while the
maximum P-wave amplitude is 20microns at a period of
0.2sec. By the available information, determine the
earthquake’s body wave magnitude
𝐴𝑠𝑢𝑟 = 400 𝑚𝑖𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑠
𝐴𝑃 = 20𝑚𝑖𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑠
∆= 1200

𝒎𝒃 = 𝐥𝐨𝐠 𝑨𝑷 − 𝐥𝐨𝐠 𝑻 + 𝟎. 𝟎𝟏𝜟 + 𝟓. 𝟗

𝑚𝑏 = log 20 − log 0.2 + 0.01(120) + 5.9

𝒎𝒃 = 𝟗. 𝟏
SEISMIC MOMENT MAGNITUDE, MW
Estimate the seismic moment of the 1906 San Francisco, California, earthquake
considering that the fault’s ruptured length was 400km, the ruptured depth 15km,
and the average fault offset of 5m. Use the acquired value to determine the
Moment magnitude of the earthquake.
𝑅𝑢𝑝𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝐿𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ = 400𝑘𝑚
𝑅𝑢𝑝𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝐷𝑒𝑝𝑡ℎ = 15𝑘𝑚
𝐴𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑢𝑙𝑡 𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑠𝑒𝑡, 𝐷 = 5𝑚
𝑁
𝜇 = 3 𝑥 1010 2
𝑚

1 𝑁 = 100,000 𝑑𝑦𝑛𝑒
𝑴𝟎 = 𝝁𝑨𝒇 𝑫 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑖𝑛 dyne-cm
2
𝑁 100,000 𝑑𝑦𝑛𝑒 1𝑚
𝜇 = 3 𝑥 1010 2 𝑥 𝑥
𝑚 1𝑁 100𝑐𝑚
11
𝑑𝑦𝑛𝑒
𝜇 = 3 𝑥 10
𝑐𝑚2 𝑴𝟎 = 𝟗 𝒙 𝟏𝟎𝟐𝟕 𝒅𝒚𝒏𝒆 ∙ 𝒄𝒎

𝑑𝑦𝑛𝑒 100,000 𝑐𝑚 100,000 𝑐𝑚 100𝑐𝑚

𝑀0 = 3𝑥1011 400𝑘𝑚 𝑥 15𝑘𝑚 𝑥 5𝑚 𝑥
𝑐𝑚 1𝑘𝑚 1𝑘𝑚 1𝑚
SEISMIC MOMENT MAGNITUDE, MW
Estimate the seismic moment of the 1906 San Francisco, California, earthquake
considering that the fault’s ruptured length was 400km, the ruptured depth 15km,
and the average fault offset of 5m. Use the acquired value to determine the
Moment magnitude of the earthquake.
𝑅𝑢𝑝𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝐿𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ = 400𝑘𝑚
𝑅𝑢𝑝𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝐷𝑒𝑝𝑡ℎ = 15𝑘𝑚 𝐥𝐨𝐠 𝑴𝟎
𝑴𝒘 = − 𝟏𝟎. 𝟕
𝐴𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑢𝑙𝑡 𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑠𝑒𝑡, 𝐷 = 5𝑚 𝟏. 𝟓
𝑁
𝜇 = 3 𝑥 1010 2
𝑚 log 9𝑥1027 𝑑𝑦𝑛𝑒 𝑐𝑚
𝑀𝑤 = − 10.7
1.5
1 𝑁 = 100,000 𝑑𝑦𝑛𝑒
log 9𝑥1027 𝑑𝑦𝑛𝑒 𝑐𝑚
𝑴𝟎 = 𝟗 𝒙 𝟏𝟎𝟐𝟕 𝒅𝒚𝒏𝒆 ∙ 𝒄𝒎 𝑀𝑤 = − 10.7
1.5

𝑴𝒘 = 𝟕. 𝟗𝟑𝟔𝟐
ESTIMATION OF FOCAL DEPTH, FD
Based on the information from several seismographic stations, it is established that the epicenter
of an earthquake is located at 39o N and 119.8o W. A station nearby the earthquake epicenter is
located at 38.5o N and 120o W. The calculated hypo-central distance from this nearby station
86.4km. Find the earthquake’s focal depth. Consider that one degree of latitude corresponds to a
distance of 111km and that one degree of longitude at latitude L corresponds to a distance of
(111cos L).

1° 𝑜𝑓 𝐿𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑒 = 111𝑘𝑚 𝐹𝐷 = 86.42 − 58.13782

1° 𝑜𝑓 𝐿𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑒 = 111 cos 𝐿 𝑘𝑚
𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝐿 = 𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐿𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑒 𝑭𝑫 = 𝟔𝟑. 𝟗𝟏𝟑𝟕

Great Circle Distance Approximation:

2
2 𝐿𝑎𝑡1 + 𝐿𝑎𝑡2
𝐷, 𝑘𝑚 = 𝐿𝑎𝑡2 − 𝐿𝑎𝑡1 111 + (𝐿𝑜𝑛2 − 𝐿𝑜𝑛1 )(111 cos )
2

2
2 39 + 38.5
𝐷, 𝑘𝑚 = 39 − 38.5 111 + (120 − 119.8)(111 cos )
2

𝑫, 𝒌𝒎 = 𝟓𝟖. 𝟏𝟑𝟕𝟖𝒌𝒎