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Moment magnitude scale for local earthquakes in the Petatlan region, Mexico, based on recorded peak horizontal velocity

DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY AND GEOPHYSICS UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON, MADISON, WISCONSIN 53706
INSTITUTO DE GEOFISICA U.N.A.M., C.U. Mexico , 04510

Abstract

Assigning moment magnitude to local earthquakes based on peak recorded amplitude and hypocentral distance is the principal concern of this paper. For 38 aftershocks of the Petatlan earthquake (14 March 1979) with moments between 2.8 x 10¹⁸ and 1.4 x 10²² dyne-cm, we developed an empirical relationship for the estimation of moment based on peak horizontal velocity (V) and hypocentral distance (R). This empirical relationship in conjunction with the definition of moment magnitude (Hanks and Kanamori, 1979) allows direct estimation of moment magnitude, knowing peak horizontal velocity and hypocentral distance. We call this estimation of moment magnitude "M_w'" to distinguish it from its original definition. Equation for M_w' for our data set is

where V is in millimeters/second, and R is in kilometers.

In order to be able to estimate the moment magnitude from coda duration (T_c), we sought and found correlation between log(T_c) and log of moment (M₀) as follows

where M₀ is in dyne-cm, and T_c is in seconds.

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