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The local or Richter magnitude scale is named after Charles Francis Richter an American seismologist and geophysicist.

Some people use the title Richter-Gutenberg scale to acknowledge the contribution to the scale of Charles Richter's colleague, Beno Gutenberg a fellow geophysicist at the California Institute of Technology.

it is worth noting however that geophysicists / seismologists use the moment magnitude scale in place of the Richter magnitude scale when possible as it is more reliable for large magnitude earthquakes (greater than 6.9) and for earthquakes that occur a long distance away from the nearest seismometer station (greater than 600 km).

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Q: Who is the magnitude scale for earthquakes named after?
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Related questions

What it measured on the Richter scale?

Richter scale measures the magnitude of earthquakes.


What is the scale that measurees earthquakes magnitude?

The Rickter Scale!


What is the scale used to magnitude of earthquakes?

Richter Scale~


What scale is used to describe the magnitude of earthquakes?

a Richter scale


What sort of graf can you mejer earthquakes with?

You can measure earthquakes on the Moment magnitude scale or the Richter scale


What scale measure earthquakes strength?

magnitude


What is the scale that rates earthquakes?

The Richter scale. For larger earthquakes (magnitude greater than 7) and for those with an epicentral distance greater than 700 km from the seismometer station, the Moment magnitude scale is used.


What scale describes an earthquake with a magnitude?

There are a number of earthquake magnitude scales, including the moment magnitude scale (the scale currently favoured by seismologists), the Richter or local magnitude scale and the surface wave magnitude scale.


What scale is measured for an earthquakes strength?

Richter scale is used for measuring earthquakes. It is a scale which works from 1 to 10 magnitude.


What is a measure of the strength of an earthquake?

Earthquake strength is measured using a magnitude scale. For small to moderate strength Earthquakes (< magnitude 7) the Richter scale is used. For Earthquakes between 7 and 8 the body and surface magnitude scales are used and for earthquakes larger than 8, the moment magnitude scale is used.


Is the measure of the strength of an earthquake?

Earthquake strength is measured using a magnitude scale. For small to moderate strength Earthquakes (< magnitude 7) the Richter scale is used. For Earthquakes between 7 and 8 the body and surface magnitude scales are used and for earthquakes larger than 8, the moment magnitude scale is used.


What is the name of the scale that measures earthquakes?

The Richter scale was originally developed to measure the strength or magnitude of moderate earthquakes (magnitudes less than 7). The surface wave magnitude scale was then developed by Richter and Guttenburg to allow larger earthquake magnitudes to be measured (up to 8). To measure large earthquakes the moment magnitude scale must be used. To measure the severity of earthquakes, the Modified Mercalli intensity scale is used in the US and the Macroseismic scale is used in Europe.