Measuring Earthquakes
Geography: AQA GCSE, topic 1.2.17
Measuring Earthquakes
The moment magnitude scale is used to measure earthquakes.
Measures magnitude
- The moment magnitude scale measures the magnitude of an earthquake by measuring how much energy it releases.
Logarithmic
- The scale is logarithmic.
- This means that it goes up in tens. So 2 on the scale is 10x stronger than 1, and 3 is 10x stronger than 2.
Magnitude 1-10
- We have never seen an earthquake with a magnitude larger than 9.5.
- Earthquakes with a magnitude of 7 or more often cause a lot of damage and deaths.
Test yourself on Measuring Earthquakes
What scale is used to measure earthquakes?
Which of these mathematical terms describes the moment magnitude scale?
Which of these mathematical terms describes the moment magnitude scale?