The Richter magnitude scale, also known as the local magnitude (ML) scale, assigns a single number to quantify the amount of seismic energy released by an earthquake. It is a base-10 logarithmic scale obtained by calculating the logarithm of the combined horizontal amplitude (shaking amplitude) of the largest displacement from zero on a particular type of seismometer (Wood–Anderson torsion). So, for example, an earthquake that measures 5.0 on the Richter scale has a shaking amplitude 10 times larger than one that measures 4.0. The effective upper limit of measurement for local magnitude ML is just below 9 for local magnitudes and just below 10 for moment magnitude when applied to large earthquakes.[1]
The Richter scale has been superseded by the moment magnitude scale, which is calibrated to give generally similar values for medium-sized earthquakes (magnitudes between 3 and 7). Unlike the Richter scale, the moment magnitude scale reports a fundamental property of the earthquake derived from instrument data, rather than reporting instrument data which is not always comparable across earthquakes, and does not saturate in the high-magnitude range. Since the Moment Magnitude scale generally yields very similar results to the Richter scale, magnitudes of earthquakes reported in the mass media are usually reported without indicating which scale is being used.
The energy release of an earthquake, which closely correlates to its destructive power, scales with the 3⁄2 power of the shaking amplitude. Thus, a difference in magnitude of 1.0 is equivalent to a factor of 31.6 ( = (101.0)(3 / 2)) in the energy released; a difference in magnitude of 2.0 is equivalent to a factor of 1000 ( = (102.0)(3 / 2) ) in the energy released.[2]
