{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,4]],"date-time":"2026-07-04T09:59:57Z","timestamp":1783159197844,"version":"3.54.6"},"reference-count":64,"publisher":"Seismological Society of America (SSA)","issue":"4","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[1994,8,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n               <jats:p>Source parameters for historical earthquakes worldwide are compiled to develop a series of empirical relationships among moment magnitude (M), surface rupture length, subsurface rupture length, downdip rupture width, rupture area, and maximum and average displacement per event. The resulting data base is a significant update of previous compilations and includes the additional source parameters of seismic moment, moment magnitude, subsurface rupture length, downdip rupture width, and average surface displacement. Each source parameter is classified as reliable or unreliable, based on our evaluation of the accuracy of individual values. Only the reliable source parameters are used in the final analyses. In comparing source parameters, we note the following trends: (1) Generally, the length of rupture at the surface is equal to 75% of the subsurface rupture length; however, the ratio of surface rupture length to subsurface rupture length increases with magnitude; (2) the average surface displacement per event is about one-half the maximum surface displacement per event; and (3) the average subsurface displacement on the fault plane is less than the maximum surface displacement but more than the average surface displacement. Thus, for most earthquakes in this data base, slip on the fault plane at seismogenic depths is manifested by similar displacements at the surface. Log-linear regressions between earthquake magnitude and surface rupture length, subsurface rupture length, and rupture area are especially well correlated, showing standard deviations of 0.25 to 0.35 magnitude units. Most relationships are not statistically different (at a 95% significance level) as a function of the style of faulting: thus, we consider the regressions for all slip types to be appropriate for most applications. Regressions between magnitude and displacement, magnitude and rupture width, and between displacement and rupture length are less well correlated and have larger standard deviation than regressions between magnitude and length or area. The large number of data points in most of these regressions and their statistical stability suggest that they are unlikely to change significantly in response to additional data. Separating the data according to extensional and compressional tectonic environments neither provides statistically different results nor improves the statistical significance of the regressions. Regressions for cases in which earthquake magnitude is either the independent or the dependent parameter can be used to estimate maximum earthquake magnitudes both for surface faults and for subsurface seismic sources such as blind faults, and to estimate the expected surface displacement along a fault for a given size earthquake.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1785\/bssa0840040974","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,11,1]],"date-time":"2023-11-01T04:35:18Z","timestamp":1698813318000},"page":"974-1002","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5771,"title":["New empirical relationships among magnitude, rupture length, rupture width, rupture area, and surface displacement"],"prefix":"10.1785","volume":"84","author":[{"given":"Donald L.","family":"Wells","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Geomatrix Consultants, Inc. San Francisco, California 94111"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kevin J.","family":"Coppersmith","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Geomatrix Consultants, Inc. San Francisco, California 94111"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"790","published-online":{"date-parts":[[1994,8,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"72","DOI":"10.1016\/0031-9201(81)90088-1","article-title":"Magnitudes of large shallow earthquakes from 1904-1980","volume":"27","author":"Abe","year":"(1981)","journal-title":"Phys. Earth Planet. Interiors"},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"45","DOI":"10.1016\/0031-9201(83)90077-8","article-title":"Determination of magnitude for large shallow earthquakes 1898-1917","volume":"32","author":"Abe","year":"(1983)","journal-title":"Phys. Earth Planet. Interiors"},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/0031-9201(83)90002-X","article-title":"Revision of magnitudes of large shallow earthquakes, 1897-1912","volume":"33","author":"Abe","year":"(1983)","journal-title":"Phys. Earth Planet. Interiors"},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB4","first-page":"2063","article-title":"Regional variations in the rupture-length magnitude relationships and their dynamical significance","volume":"69","author":"Acharya","year":"(1979)","journal-title":"Bull. Seism. Soc. Am."},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB5","volume-title":"Quantitative Seismology","author":"Aki","year":"(1980)"},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB6","first-page":"9","article-title":"Earthquake characteristics and fault activity in southern California","volume-title":"Engineering Geology in Southern California","author":"Albee","year":"(1966)"},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"285","DOI":"10.4294\/jpe1952.35.285","article-title":"Seismic explorations of the buried fault associated with the 1948 Fukui earthquake","volume":"35","author":"Amaike","year":"(1987)","journal-title":"J. Phys. Earth"},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB8","first-page":"7","article-title":"Studies in historical seismicity and tectonics","volume-title":"Geodynamics Today","author":"Ambraseys","year":"(1975)"},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1002\/eqe.4290170101","article-title":"Engineering seismology","volume":"17","author":"Ambraseys","year":"(1988)","journal-title":"Earthquake Eng. Struct. Dyn."},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB10","volume-title":"Probability, Statistics, and Decision for Civil Engineers","author":"Benjamin","year":"(1970)"},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB11","first-page":"411","article-title":"Khurgu (north Bandar Abbas, Iran) earthquake of 21 March 1977\u2014a preliminary field report and a seismotectonic discussion","volume":"68","author":"Berberian","year":"(1978)","journal-title":"Bull. Seism. Soc. Am."},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1631","DOI":"10.1029\/JB094iB02p01631","article-title":"The Irpinia (Italy) 1980 earthquake\u2014detailed analysis of a complex normal faulting","volume":"94","author":"Bernard","year":"(1989)","journal-title":"J. Geophys. Res."},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB13","first-page":"17","article-title":"Minimum earthquake magnitude associated with coseismic surface faulting","volume":"25","author":"Bonilla","year":"(1988)","journal-title":"Bull. Assoc. Eng. Geologists"},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Bonilla\n            M. G.\n          \n          \n            Buchanon\n            J. M.\n          \n          (1970).\nInterim report on world-wide historic surface faulting,\nU.S. Geol. Surv.Open-File Rept. 70-34,\n32 pp.","DOI":"10.3133\/ofr701611"},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB15","first-page":"2379","article-title":"Statistical relations among earthquake magnitude, surface rupture length, and surface fault displacement","volume":"74","author":"Bonilla","year":"(1984)","journal-title":"Bull. Seism. Soc. Am."},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB16","first-page":"S43","article-title":"The empirical prediction of ground motion","volume":"72","author":"Boore","year":"(1982)","journal-title":"Bull. Seism. Soc. Am."},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1969","DOI":"10.1785\/BSSA0590051969","article-title":"Earthquake magnitude and source parameters","volume":"59","author":"Chinnery","year":"(1969)","journal-title":"Bull. Seism. Soc. Am."},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB18","unstructured":"Clark\n            M. M.\n          \n          (1972).\nSurface rupture along the Coyote Creek fault, in\nThe Borrego Mountain Earthquake of April 9, 1968,\nU.S. Geol. Surv.Profess. Pap. 787,\n55-\n86."},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB19","first-page":"3","article-title":"Seismic source characterization for engineering seismic hazard analysis","volume-title":"Proc. 4th International Conference on Seismic Zonation","author":"Coppersmith","year":"(1991)"},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB20","first-page":"1479","article-title":"A comment on the statistical regression relation between earthquake magnitude and fault rupture length","volume":"77","author":"Darragh","year":"(1987)","journal-title":"Bull. Seism. Soc. Am."},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB21","volume-title":"Statistics and Data Analysis in Geology","author":"Davis","year":"(1986)","edition":"Second Ed."},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"123","DOI":"10.1016\/0191-8141(91)90061-M","article-title":"Historical surface faulting in the Basin and Range province, western North America: implications for fault segmentation","volume":"13","author":"dePolo","year":"(1991)","journal-title":"J. Struct. Geol."},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1417","DOI":"10.1029\/GL017i009p01417","article-title":"The October 17, 1989, Loma Prieta, California, earthquake and its aftershocks: geometry of the sequence from high-resolution locations","volume":"17","author":"Dietz","year":"(1990)","journal-title":"Geophys. Res. Lett."},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"409","DOI":"10.1016\/0040-1951(65)90035-1","article-title":"Secular seismic energy release in the circum-Pacific belt","volume":"2","author":"Duda","year":"(1965)","journal-title":"Tectonophysics"},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2825","DOI":"10.1029\/JB086iB04p02825","article-title":"Determination of earthquake source parameters from waveform data for studies of global and regional seismicity","volume":"86","author":"Dziewonski","year":"(1981)","journal-title":"J. Geophys. Res."},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB26","unstructured":"Electric Power Research Institute\n          (1987).\nSeismic hazard methodology for the central and eastern United States\u2014Volume 1: Methodology,\nReport NP-4726,\nprepared for Seismicity Owners Group and Electric Power Research Institute under research projects P101-38, -45, -46, 2256-14."},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB27","volume-title":"Seismology and Plate Tectonics","author":"Gubbins","year":"(1990)"},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB28","first-page":"2","article-title":"Amplitudes of surface waves and magnitudes of shallow earthquakes","volume":"34","author":"Gutenberg","year":"(1945)","journal-title":"Bull. Seism. Soc. Am."},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB29","volume-title":"Seismicity of the Earth and Associated Phenomena","author":"Gutenberg","year":"(1954)","edition":"Second Ed."},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2348","DOI":"10.1029\/JB084iB05p02348","article-title":"A moment-magnitude scale","volume":"84","author":"Hanks","year":"(1979)","journal-title":"J. Geophys. Res."},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"561","DOI":"10.1785\/BSSA0620020561","article-title":"The use of body-wave spectra in the determination of seismic-source parameters","volume":"62","author":"Hanks","year":"(1972)","journal-title":"Bull. Seism. Soc. Am."},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1131","DOI":"10.1130\/0016-7606(1975)86<1131:SMOTLE>2.0.CO;2","article-title":"Seismic moments of the larger earthquakes of the southern California region","volume":"86","author":"Hanks","year":"(1975)","journal-title":"Geol. Soc. Am. Bull."},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB33","first-page":"98","article-title":"Earthquake energy and earthquake fault, Nagoya University","volume":"7","author":"Iida","year":"(1959)","journal-title":"J. Earth Sci."},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB34","first-page":"489","article-title":"Surface rupture in stable continental regions","volume":"72","author":"Johnston","year":"(1991)","journal-title":"EOS"},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"68","DOI":"10.1038\/scientificamerican0390-68","article-title":"Earthquakes in stable continental crust","volume":"262","author":"Johnston","year":"(1990)","journal-title":"Scientific American"},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"185","DOI":"10.1016\/0040-1951(83)90273-1","article-title":"Magnitude scale and quantification of earthquakes","volume":"93","author":"Kanamori","year":"(1983)","journal-title":"Tectonophysics"},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB37","first-page":"1073","article-title":"Theoretical basis of some empirical relations in seismology","volume":"65","author":"Kanamori","year":"(1975)","journal-title":"Bull. Seism. Soc. Am."},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"269","DOI":"10.1016\/0040-1951(89)90219-9","article-title":"Determination of magnitudes of ancient earthquakes from dimensions of observed seismodislocations","volume":"166","author":"Khromovskikh","year":"(1989)","journal-title":"Tectonophysics"},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB39","unstructured":"Knuepfer\n            P. L. K.\n          \n          (1989).\nImplications of the characteristics of end-points of historical surface fault ruptures for the nature of fault segmentation, in\nProc. of Conf. XLV, Fault Segmentation and Controls of Rupture Initiation and Termination,\nSchwartzD. P.SibsonR. H.,\n(Editors)U.S. Geol. Surv.Open-File Rept. 89-315,\n193-\n228."},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"383","DOI":"10.1785\/BSSA0680020383","article-title":"A catalog of instrumentally determined earthquakes in China (magnitude &gt; 6) compiled from various sources","volume":"68","author":"Lee","year":"(1978)","journal-title":"Bull. Seism. Soc. Am."},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB41","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2357","DOI":"10.1785\/BSSA0740062357","article-title":"Comparison of two surface-wave magnitude scales\u2014M of Gutenberg and Richter (1954) and Ms of \u201cpreliminary determination of epicenters,\u201d","volume":"74","author":"Lienkaemper","year":"(1984)","journal-title":"Bull. Seism. Soc. Am."},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB42","first-page":"1438","article-title":"Aftershock patterns and main shock faulting","volume":"78","author":"Mendoza","year":"(1988)","journal-title":"Bull. Seism. Soc. Am."},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB43","first-page":"1327","article-title":"Empirical relations between magnitudes and fault parameters for earthquakes in Iran","volume":"75","author":"Nowroozi","year":"(1985)","journal-title":"Bull. Seism. Soc. Am."},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB44","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"45","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1365-246X.1978.tb04747.x","article-title":"Earthquake-source parameters related to magnitude","volume":"55","author":"Ohnaka","year":"(1978)","journal-title":"Geophys. J. R. Astr. Soc."},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB45","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"35","DOI":"10.1016\/0040-1951(89)90203-5","article-title":"Gutenberg's surface-wave magnitude calibrating function: theoretical basis from synthetic seismograms","volume":"166","author":"Panza","year":"(1989)","journal-title":"Tectonophysics"},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB46","first-page":"57","article-title":"Quantitative relations of seismic source parameters and a classification of earthquakes","volume-title":"Quantification of Earthquakes","author":"Purcaru","year":"(1982)"},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB47","volume-title":"Elementary Seismology","author":"Richter","year":"(1958)"},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB48","volume-title":"The Seismicity of the Earth, 1953-1965","author":"Rothe","year":"(1969)"},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB49","first-page":"1","article-title":"Scaling laws for large earthquakes: consequences for physical models","volume":"72","author":"Scholz","year":"(1982)","journal-title":"Bull. Seism. Soc. Am."},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB50","first-page":"1","article-title":"Geology and seismic hazards: moving into the 1990's","volume-title":"Earthquake Engineering Soil Dynamics II\u2014Recent Advances in Ground Motion Evaluation","author":"Schwartz","year":"(1988)"},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB51","first-page":"215","article-title":"Seismic hazards\u2014new trends in analysis using geologic data","volume-title":"Active Tectonics","author":"Schwartz","year":"(1986)"},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB52","unstructured":"Sibson\n            R. H.\n          \n          (1987).\nEffects of fault heterogeneity on rupture propagation, in\nProc. of Conf. XXXIX, Directions in Paleoseismology,\nCroneA. J.OmdahlE. M.,\n(Editors)U.S. Geol. Surv.Open-File Rept. 87-673,\n362-\n373."},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB53","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"903","DOI":"10.1785\/BSSA0700030903","article-title":"Expected earthquake magnitude from a fault","volume":"70","author":"Singh","year":"(1980)","journal-title":"Bull. Seism. Soc. Am."},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB54","unstructured":"Slemmons\n            D. B.\n          \n          (1977).\nFaults and earthquake magnitude,\nU.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Waterways Experimental Station,\nMiscellancous Papers S-73-1, Report 6,\n1-\n129."},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB55","first-page":"119","article-title":"Determination of design earthquake magnitudes for microzonation","volume-title":"Proc. of the Third International Earthquake Microzonation Conf","author":"Slemmons","year":"(1982)"},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB56","first-page":"13","article-title":"Determination of earthquake size from surface faulting events","volume-title":"Proc. of the Inter-national Seminar on Seismic Zonation","author":"Slemmons","year":"(1989)"},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB57","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"147","DOI":"10.1785\/BSSA0480020147","article-title":"Earthquake energy and ground breakage","volume":"48","author":"Tocher","year":"(1958)","journal-title":"Bull. Seism. Soc. Am."},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB58","first-page":"107","article-title":"Fitting straight lines in the earth sciences","volume-title":"Use and Abuse of Statistical Methods in the Earth Sciences","author":"Troutman","year":"(1987)"},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB59","first-page":"129","article-title":"Aftershocks and earthquake statistics (I), some parameters which characterize an aftershock sequence and their interrelations","volume-title":"J. Faculty Sci.","author":"Utsu","year":"(1969)"},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB60","first-page":"233","article-title":"A relation between the area of aftershock region and the energy of main-shock","volume":"7","author":"Utsu","year":"(1954)","journal-title":"J. Seism. Soc. Japan"},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB61","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"12587","DOI":"10.1029\/JB091iB12p12587","article-title":"Earthquakes, Quaternary faults, and seismic hazards in California","volume":"91","author":"Wesnousky","year":"(1986)","journal-title":"J. Geophys. Res."},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB62","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"9331","DOI":"10.1029\/JB088iB11p09331","article-title":"Earthquake frequency distribution and mechanics of faulting","volume":"88","author":"Wesnousky","year":"(1983)","journal-title":"J. Geophys. Res."},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB63","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"689","DOI":"10.1785\/BSSA0580020689","article-title":"Parkfield earthquake of 28 June 1966\u2014magnitude and source mechanism","volume":"58","author":"Wu","year":"(1968)","journal-title":"Bull. Seism. Soc. Am."},{"key":"2023110108350162600_BIB64","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"336","DOI":"10.1130\/0091-7613(1979)7<336:EMEMOE>2.0.CO;2","article-title":"Estimating maximum expectable magnitude of earthquakes from fault dimensions","volume":"7","author":"Wyss","year":"(1979)","journal-title":"Geology"}],"container-title":["Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/pubs.geoscienceworld.org\/ssa\/bssa\/article-pdf\/84\/4\/974\/6003358\/bssa0840040974.pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"syndication"},{"URL":"https:\/\/pubs.geoscienceworld.org\/ssa\/bssa\/article-pdf\/84\/4\/974\/6003358\/bssa0840040974.pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2023,11,1]],"date-time":"2023-11-01T04:36:05Z","timestamp":1698813365000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/pubs.geoscienceworld.org\/bssa\/article\/84\/4\/974\/119792\/New-empirical-relationships-among-magnitude"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[1994,8,1]]},"references-count":64,"journal-issue":{"issue":"4","published-online":{"date-parts":[[1994,8,1]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[1994,8,1]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1785\/bssa0840040974","relation":{},"ISSN":["1943-3573","0037-1106"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1943-3573","type":"electronic"},{"value":"0037-1106","type":"print"}],"subject":[],"published-other":{"date-parts":[[1994,8]]},"published":{"date-parts":[[1994,8,1]]}}}