How The Earthquakes Intensities Were Determined Before Discovery Of The Richter Scale Essays Examples

Before the Richter scale was developed, earthquakes measuring were done with the use of the Mercalli scale. This particular scale was made in Italy, and it proved to be sufficient for measuring earthquakes at that particular period. A similar type version of the scale developed in the United States is still being utilized in measuring the intensity by with the earth shakes that an earthquake causes. This version of the Mercalli scale determines the shaking of the earth on a scale of one to twelve with 1 being the lowest and 12 the highest levels of earth shaking (Hough, Armbruster, Seeber, & Hough, 2000).

The problem with the Mercalli scale and whether it is inferior to the Richter scale

The Richter scale is much more superior to the Mercalli scale. This results because the Mercalli scale method of measuring the quakes is determined based on opinion. Moreover, the scale is affected by geographical influences such as structure as well as the geographical location where the earthquake occurs making the resulting phenomenon (earthquake) seem weaker or stronger than the normal. An example is the utilization the Mercalli scale in a desert area that is free from any vegetation. This will result in false results, as there are little geographical factors in the surrounding to suggest the correct earthquake magnitude (Hough, 2007). The Richter scale is best-known scale used to measure the magnitude of the earthquakes as the scale assigns a magnitude number to quantify the amount of energy that an earthquake produces. Unlike the Mercalli scale, the scale has a base 10 logarithmic scale that is necessary for defining the logarithm ratio of the amplitude of the waves to arbitrary lower amplitude.

References

Hough, S. E., Armbruster, J. G., Seeber, L., & Hough, J. F. (2000). On the Modified Mercalli intensities and magnitudes of the 1811–1812 New Madrid earthquakes. Journal of Geophysical Research. doi:10.1029/2000JB900110
Hough, S. E. (2007). Richter's scale: Measure of an earthquake, measure of a man. Princeton: Princeton University Press.