GEOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Richter scale (ML), quantitative measure of an earthquake’s magnitude (size), devised in 1935 by American seismologists Charles F. Richter and Beno Gutenberg. The earthquake’s magnitude is determined using the logarithm of the amplitude (height) of the largest seismic wave calibrated to a scale by a seismograph .

Detailed explanation-2: -The first widely-used method, the Richter scale, was developed by Charles F. Richter in 1934. It used a formula based on the amplitude of the largest wave recorded on a specific type of seismometer and the distance between the earthquake and the seismometer.

Detailed explanation-3: -The Richter scale is used to rate the magnitude of an earthquake, that is the amount of energy released during an earthquake. The Richter scale doesn’t measure quake damage (see: Mercalli Scale) which is dependent on a variety of factors including population at the epicentre, terrain, depth, etc.

Detailed explanation-4: -Its development is described in Box 4, Charles Richter and the Richter earthquake magnitude scale. The Richter magnitude is calculated by first measuring the size of the largest ground motion recorded by a seismometer, a sensitive instrument that detects the ground movements produced by earthquakes.

Detailed explanation-5: -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.