On the variation of b-values with earthquake size

Details On the variation of b-values with earthquake size On the variation of b-values with earthquake size

Dec 1994

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1994pepi...87...55o&link_type=abstract

Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors (ISSN 0031-9201), vol. 87, no. 1-2, p. 55-76

Physics

40

Earthquakes, Magnitude, Scale (Ratio), Seismic Waves, Seismology, Mathematical Models, Surface Waves

Scientific paper

We investigate the effect on Gutenberg and Richter's parameter b of the saturation of moment-magnitude relationships caused by source finiteness. Any conventional magnitude scale measured at a constant period features a saturation which results in a stepwise increase in the slope of the base 10 log moment-magnitude relationship. We predict that this leads to an increase in b value with earthquake size. This is in addition to the effect of the physical saturation of the transverse dimension of the fault, previously described in the literature. A number of scaling models are used to predict the behavior of b with increasing magnitude, in the case of both the 20 s surface-wave magnitude Ms, and the 1 s body-wave magnitude mb. We show in particular that a b value of unity can be expected only in a range of earthquake size where the relevant magnitude has already started to saturate: it should be the exception, not the rule, and cannot be extended to a wide range of magnitudes, except at the cost of significant curvature in the frequency-magnitude curve. The widely reported b=1 stems from the common practice of using a heterogeneous magnitude scale, e.g. Ms for large events and mb for smaller ones.

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