Abstract
Magnitudes of earthquakes determined using traditional methods show systematic deviations, dependent on tectonic setting, from accurate estimates of earthquake size. Magnitudes are overestimated for most of the continental earthquakes, underestimated for mid-oceanic ridges and differences of varying sign are obtained for subduction zones. This is important in evaluating the seismic risk or consideration of effects such as the seismic versus aseismic strain release as seismic moments determined from magnitudes can be wrong by as much as a factor of four.
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Ekström, G., Dziewonski, A. Evidence of bias in estimations of earthquake size. Nature 332, 319–323 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1038/332319a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/332319a0
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