Concepts
Richter Magnitude Scale
RIK-ter (from the German surname Richter)
Also Known As The Richter Scale
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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.
Facts
Cross-Tradition 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.
In Discipline
Precursor To
Richter's local magnitude is the scale moment magnitude was designed to be consistent with while fixing its saturation for great earthquakes.
Proposed By
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