Seismic magnitude scales Seismic magnitude scales Seismic magnitude scales are used to describe the overall strength or "size" of an earthquake. These are distinguished from seismic intensity scales that categorize the intensity or severity of ground shaking (quaking) caused by an earthquake at a given location. Magnitudes are usually determined from measurements of an earthquake's seismic waves as recorded on a seismogram. Magnitude scales vary on the type and component of the seismic waves measured and the calculations used. Different magnitude scales are necessary because of differences in earthquakes, and in the purposes for which magnitudes are used. The Earth's crust is stressed
Seismic Unix Seismic Unix Seismic Unix is an open source seismic utilities package supported by the Center for Wave Phenomena (CWP) at the Colorado School of Mines (CSM). Einar Kjartansson began writing what is now called SU (the SY package) in the late 1970s while still a graduate student at Jon Claerbout's Stanford Exploration Project (SEP). He continued to expand the package while he was a professor at the University of Utah in the early eighties. In 1984, during an extended visit to SEP Einar introduced SY to Shuki Ronen, then a graduate student at Stanford. Ronen further developed SY from 1984