Amplitudes of P, PP, and S and magnitude of shallow earthquakes*

Abstract

Summary It is found that the absorption coefficient for longitudinal and transverse waves in the mantle of the earth as well as for longitudinal waves through the core is 0.00012 per km. In the average shallow earthquake about equal amounts of energy go into longitudinal and transverse waves. Equation (18), together with tables 2 and 4, permits the calculation of the magnitude of a shallow earthquake from the amplitudes of P, PP, or S.