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Magnitude and Intensity of an Earthquake



Magnitude

It is the measurement of the energy released by an earthquake. It can be measured through the use of seismographs. Inorder to measure a magnitude Richter scale is used, it is developed by Charles Richter.


Richter scale takes into account the amplitude of the highest waves and the distance from the epicenter. Though, due to the fact that is was not that effective in San Andreas fault zone it was replaced by moment magnitude scale. Moment magnitude scale is almost the same as Richter scale but more factors are considered. Some of the factors are; total area of the fault that moves and how much it moves.


Intensity

It is the measurement of the observable effects of an earthquake. The highest intensity can be found in the epicenter and it lessen as it goes far from the epicenter of an earthquake. Modified Mercalli earthquake intensity scale is the most used intensity scale.


Reference/s;

Reading: Magnitude versus Intensity. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://courses.lumenlearning.com/geo/chapter/reading-magnitude-versus-intensity/

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