What is the seismic moment of an earthquake and what is it used for?

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What is the seismic moment of an earthquake and what is it used for?

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Answer 1 · 2016-05-27T18:36:19

Seismic moment is measure of the size of an earthquake and it is used in order to calculate moment magnitude.

Explanation:

Seismic moment is an important value for earthquake magnitude determination. Seismic moment , $M_{0}$ $M_0$ , is related with the rigidity of the eartquake source region, $μ$ $mu$ , area of the fault plane, $A$ $A$ and average displacement, $D$ $D$ . Equation of $M_{0}$ $M_0$ can be seen as below,

$M_{0} = μ A D$ $M_0 = mu A D$

By using $M_{0}$ $M_0$ moment magnitude, $M_{w}$ $M_w$ can be calculated,

$M_{w} = \frac{2}{3} log (M_{0}) - 10.7$ $M_w = 2/3 log(M_0) - 10.7$ .

Determining $M_{w}$ $M_w$ is important since, $M_{w}$ $M_w$ cannot saturate unlike other magnitude scale. This property of $M_{w}$ $M_w$ comes from the feature of $M_{0}$ $M_0$ . Other magnitude types are depended with certain part of seismic records. Seismic records, however, can satured if the magnitude of the earthquake is bigger than a certain magnitude. Because of that $M_{0}$ $M_0$ has a vital role on modern seismology.

The seismic moment can be also interpreted in terms of the strain energy released in earthquakes.

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What is the seismic moment of an earthquake and what is it used for?

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