GEOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -The Richter scale measures the largest wiggle (amplitude) on the recording, but other magnitude scales measure different parts of the earthquake. The USGS currently reports earthquake magnitudes using the Moment Magnitude scale, though many other magnitudes are calculated for research and comparison purposes.

Detailed explanation-2: -The Richter scale was originally devised to measure the magnitude of earthquakes of moderate size (that is, magnitude 3 to magnitude 7) by assigning a number that would allow the size of one earthquake to be compared with another.

Detailed explanation-3: -Rich·ter scale ˈrik-tər-: an open-ended logarithmic scale for expressing the magnitude of a seismic disturbance (such as an earthquake) in terms of the energy dissipated in it with 1.5 indicating the smallest earthquake that can be felt, 4.5 an earthquake causing slight damage, and 8.5 a very devastating earthquake.

Detailed explanation-4: -Earthquake magnitude is a measure of the “size, ” or amplitude, of the seismic waves generated by an earthquake source and recorded by seismographs. (The types and nature of these waves are described in the section Seismic waves.)

Detailed explanation-5: -An earthquake is a sudden shaking of the earth as a result of the movements of lithospheric plates. Richter scale is used to measure the magnitude of the earthquakes. The Richter scale has numbers from 1 to 10.