Preceding an earthquake, stresses accumulate in the earth's crust over time, causing energy to be stored in the form of elastic strain (like that in a compressed spring). Ultimately this accumulated stress exceeds the shear strength of the crust in the fault zone causing a sudden brittle failure or rupture. This in turn causes movement and a sudden release of the stored elastic strain energy in the form of seismic waves.
The energy released during a 7.0 earthquake is equivalent to about 32 million pounds of TNT, which is a massive amount of energy. The destruction caused by such an earthquake can be widespread and devastating.
This is known as the magnitude of the earthquake.
The magnitude of an earthquake is caluated to measure the amount of energy released during the earthquake.
The earthquake magnitude scale, such as the Richter scale or the moment magnitude scale, is logarithmic, meaning each whole number increase corresponds to a tenfold increase in amplitude and approximately 32 times more energy released. This means that a magnitude 7 earthquake releases roughly 32 times more energy than a magnitude 6 earthquake.
The point inside the Earth where the first movement of an earthquake occurs and energy is released is known as the focus or hypocenter. This is the location where the seismic waves originate and spread outwards, causing the shaking and vibrations associated with an earthquake.
Roughly 32 times more energy is released in a Magnitude 6 earthquake than in a Mag.5 quake.
the energy released by an earthquake that travels in all direction from the focus
The energy released during a 7.0 earthquake is equivalent to about 32 million pounds of TNT, which is a massive amount of energy. The destruction caused by such an earthquake can be widespread and devastating.
aftershock
The measure of energy released by an earthquake depends on its magnitude. If its a high magnitude earthquake, there is a lot of energy. If there is a low magnitude, then there is little energy.
magnitude
The energy released by a 9.0 earthquake is roughly 32 times greater than that released by an 8.0 earthquake. This is because earthquake magnitude is measured on a logarithmic scale; each whole number increase in magnitude represents a tenfold increase in amplitude and approximately 32 times more energy release.
This is known as the magnitude of the earthquake.
The magnitude of an earthquake is caluated to measure the amount of energy released during the earthquake.
The origin of an earthquake is called the hypocenter or focus. This is the point within the Earth where the earthquake begins and energy is released.
The word Magnitude is used to described the amount of energy released when an Earthquake occurs
In terms of the maximum amount of energy released, an earthquake is stronger.