Talk:Richter scale

Editing of table entry for magnitude "9.0–9.9"

This article includes a table listing magnitudes and their properties including estimated frequency of occurrence. The frequencies for most of the magnitudes in the table are supported by the cited source reference of a US Geological Survey web page about earthquake facts and statistics. Unfortunately, two shortcomings of this cited source reference are that it gives frequencies of earthquakes (1) only for magnitude 2 or above and (2) it gives a frequency for magnitude 8 and above. I searched for alternative sources that give the frequency for magnitude 9.0–9.9 earthquakes. I found a source (McCaffrey, 2008) which states in its summary abstract: "I estimate that one to three M9 earthquakes should occur globally per century, and the past half century with five M9 events reflects temporal clustering and not the long-term average.". I have used this source reference to support text about the frequency of magnitude 9.0–9.9 to be "One to three per century." Another editor/editors has/have repeatedly changed this reliably sourced frequency, replacing it with the unsourced and nonsensical claim that the frequency of magnitude 9.0–9.9 is "One in every 0 to 40 years" (and incorrectly does not remove the source reference for ""One to three per century." thereby giving the misleading impression that the "One in every 0 to 40 years" is reliably sourced). The claim of "One in every 0 to 40 years" is actually unsourced. Also, the lower three-quarters part of the 0 to 40 years claim is wrong - a magnitude 9.0–9.9 earthquake does not occur every 0 years (whatever that is supposed to mean), nor does it occur every 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, etc, years. What can be done to prevent any WP:edit warring? GeoWriter (talk) 15:40, 2 July 2023 (UTC)

Incorrect (and contradictory) explanation of log scale

The end of the introduction says "Due to the variance in earthquakes, it is essential to understand the Richter scale uses logarithms simply to make the measurements manageable (i.e., a magnitude 3 quake factors 10³ while a magnitude 5 quake is 100 times stronger than that)", however later in the article the correct statement is made "The energy release of an earthquake, which closely correlates to its destructive power, scales with the 3/2 power of the shaking amplitude." The introduction should either be changed to say "magnitude 5 quake has seismometer readings 100 times larger..." or "magnitude 5 quake is 1000 times stronger" Reichhen (talk) 19:33, 27 July 2023 (UTC)

I didn't understand your correction at first, but yes you are absolutely correct! Very good catch, you are correct in pointing out the inconsistency and I applaud your attention to detail. I was the original creator for that part of the article and corrected it with your suggestion. I appreciate your feedback. 22quackAA (talk) 03:33, 20 November 2023 (UTC)

Requested move 22 August 2023

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: Moved. (closed by non-admin page mover) SilverLocust 💬 19:30, 29 August 2023 (UTC)

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Richter magnitude scale → Richter scale – Per WP:COMMONNAME. As seen on this ngram, the appearance of "Richter scale" highly exceeds that of "Richter magnitude scale". In addition, this article appears to be the primary topic for "Richter scale". What are your thoughts on this? Wikiexplorationandhelping (talk) 03:01, 22 August 2023 (UTC)

Note: WikiProject Vital articles has been notified of this discussion. Wikiexplorationandhelping (talk) 03:01, 22 August 2023 (UTC)

Note: WikiProject Earthquakes has been notified of this discussion. Wikiexplorationandhelping (talk) 03:01, 22 August 2023 (UTC)

Note: WikiProject Geology has been notified of this discussion. Wikiexplorationandhelping (talk) 03:01, 22 August 2023 (UTC)

• Support per WP:COMMONNAME and WP:CONCISE. Rreagan007 (talk) 18:21, 22 August 2023 (UTC)

• Support per WP:COMMONNAME and WP:CONCISE. There is no reason why not to move it, the term "Richter magnitude scale" is rarely if ever used when discussing the subject.

transgerman_ (talk) 00:38, 24 August 2023 (UTC)

Since the page is fully move-protected, I have asked the admin who protected it to reduce the protection. SilverLocust 💬 05:18, 29 August 2023 (UTC)

 Done --Kinu ^t/_c 19:09, 29 August 2023 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.