A measure of earthquake strength developed by Charles Richter with Beno Gutenberg and presented in Richter's landmark 1935 paper. It uses common logarithms to keep the numbers manageable, so a magnitude 5 quake registers a hundred times the amplitude of a magnitude 3 one, not merely 67 percent more. Most seismological authorities now use the related moment magnitude scale instead, but Richter remains the name the public still reaches for. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Facts
Connections
Associated With
Intensity (Mercalli, felt effects at a place) and magnitude (Richter, the earthquake's own single released-energy reading) are complementary, not competing, measures of the same event.
Source Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale (Wikipedia)
In Discipline
Source Richter Magnitude Scale (Wikipedia)
Precursor To
Richter's local magnitude is the scale moment magnitude was designed to be consistent with while fixing its saturation for great earthquakes.
Source Moment Magnitude Scale (Wikipedia)
Proposed By
Source Richter Magnitude Scale (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Richter Magnitude Scale (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationLead sectionQuote, Lead section
is a measure of the strength of earthquakes, developed by Charles Richter in collaboration with Beno Gutenberg, and presented in Richter's landmark 1935 paper
Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Modified Mercalli Intensity ScaleView the Source Reader Challenges (0)
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