Seismic moment is a quantity used by
seismologists to measure the size of an
earthquake
An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...
. The scalar seismic moment
is defined by the equation
, where
*
is the
shear modulus
In materials science, shear modulus or modulus of rigidity, denoted by ''G'', or sometimes ''S'' or ''μ'', is a measure of the elastic shear stiffness of a material and is defined as the ratio of shear stress to the shear strain:
:G \ \stackre ...
of the rocks involved in the earthquake (in
pascals (Pa), i.e. newtons per square meter)
*
is the area of the rupture along the
geologic fault
In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectonic ...
where the earthquake occurred (in square meters), and
*
is the average slip (displacement offset between the two sides of the fault) on
(in meters).
thus has dimensions of
torque
In physics and mechanics, torque is the rotational equivalent of linear force. It is also referred to as the moment of force (also abbreviated to moment). It represents the capability of a force to produce change in the rotational motion of th ...
, measured in
newton meters
The newton-metre (also newton metre or newton meter; symbol N⋅m or N m) is the unit of torque (also called ) in the International System of Units (SI). One newton-metre is equal to the torque resulting from a force of one newton applie ...
. The connection between seismic moment and a torque is natural in the body-force equivalent representation of seismic sources as a
double-couple (a pair of force couples with opposite torques): the seismic moment is the torque of each of the two couples. Despite having the same dimensions as energy, seismic moment is not a measure of energy. The
relations between seismic moment, potential energy drop and radiated energy are indirect and approximative.
The seismic moment of an earthquake is typically estimated using whatever information is available to constrain its factors. For modern earthquakes, moment is usually estimated from
ground motion
Ground motion is the movement of the earth's surface from earthquakes or explosions. Ground motion is produced by seismic waves that are generated by sudden slip on a fault or sudden pressure at the explosive source and travel through the earth a ...
recordings of earthquakes known as
seismogram
A seismogram is a graph output by a seismograph. It is a record of the ground motion at a measuring station as a function of time. Seismograms typically record motions in three cartesian axes (x, y, and z), with the z axis perpendicular to the ...
s. For earthquakes that occurred in times before modern instruments were available, moment may be estimated from geologic estimates of the size of the fault rupture and the slip.
Seismic moment is the basis of the
moment magnitude scale
The moment magnitude scale (MMS; denoted explicitly with or Mw, and generally implied with use of a single M for magnitude) is a measure of an earthquake's magnitude ("size" or strength) based on its seismic moment. It was defined in a 1979 pape ...
introduced by
Hiroo Kanamori
is a Japanese seismologist who has made fundamental contributions to understanding the physics of earthquakes and the tectonic processes that cause them.
Career
Kanamori and American seismologist Thomas C. Hanks developed the moment magnitud ...
, which is often used to compare the size of different earthquakes and is especially useful for comparing the sizes of large (great) earthquakes.
The seismic moment is not restricted to earthquakes. For a more general seismic source described by a seismic moment tensor
(a symmetric tensor, but not necessarily a double couple tensor), the seismic moment is
:
See also
*
Richter magnitude scale
The Richter scale —also called the Richter magnitude scale, Richter's magnitude scale, and the Gutenberg–Richter scale—is a measure of the strength of earthquakes, developed by Charles Francis Richter and presented in his landmark 1935 ...
*
Moment magnitude scale
The moment magnitude scale (MMS; denoted explicitly with or Mw, and generally implied with use of a single M for magnitude) is a measure of an earthquake's magnitude ("size" or strength) based on its seismic moment. It was defined in a 1979 pape ...
Sources
*.
*.
*.
*.
Seismology measurement
Moment (physics)
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