Seismic magnitude scales by tectonic forces. When this stress becomes great enough to rupture the crust, or to overcome the friction that prevents one block of crust from slipping past another, energy is released, some of it in the form of various kinds of seismic waves that cause ground-shaking, or quaking. "Magnitude" is an estimate of the relative "size" or strength of an "earthquake", and thus its potential for causing ground-shaking. It is "approximately related to the released seismic energy." "Intensity" refers to the strength or force of "shaking" at a given location, and can be related to the peak ground velocity. With
Seismic attribute a defined window. The first attributes developed were related to the 1D complex seismic trace and included: envelope amplitude, instantaneous phase, instantaneous frequency, and apparent polarity. Acoustic impedance obtained from seismic inversion can also be considered an attribute and was among the first developed. Other attributes commonly used include: coherence, azimuth, dip, instantaneous amplitude, response amplitude, response phase, instantaneous bandwidth, AVO, and spectral decomposition. A seismic attribute that can indicate the presence or absence of hydrocarbons is known as a direct hydrocarbon indicator. Amplitude attributes use the seismic signal amplitude as the basis for their computation. A post-stack attribute that