The Fourth of July earthquake was the strongest to hit Southern California in years, but it was actually significantly less powerful than some earlier temblors.
For each whole number increase in magnitude, the seismic energy released increases by about 32 times. That means a magnitude 7 earthquake produces 32 times more energy — or is 32 times stronger — than a magnitude 6.
A magnitude 8 releases 1,000 times more energy than a magnitude 6, but it releases that energy over a larger area and for a longer time, according to seismologist Lucy Jones of Caltech. Originally, the definition of magnitude related to seismograms, in which machines used an ink stylus to record rapid motions on a rolling drum of paper that would measure shaking. Magnitude was about how big the waves were on a seismogram at a particular distance from the epicenter. On the so-called Richter scale, a magnitude 8 on a seismogram was 10 times bigger than a magnitude 7.But the Richter scale was eventually scrapped in favor of what is known as the moment magnitude scale.
The size was one reason. Another was the distance. The epicenter Thursday was 100 miles from Los Angeles. Northridge’s epicenter was right under the suburban San Fernando Valley.The USGS has a Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale that allows scientists to quantify how much shaking is felt at any particular location.shows how the worst shaking — intensity level 8, or “severe” shaking occurred in a remote area of the Mojave Desert.
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