Moment Magnitude (M W) and Local Magnitude (M L) Relationship for Earthquakes in Northeast India

Abstract

An attempt has been made to examine an empirical relationship between moment magnitude (M W) and local magnitude (M L) for the earthquakes in the northeast Indian region. Some 364 earthquakes that were recorded during 1950–2009 are used in this study. Focal mechanism solutions of these earthquakes include 189 Harvard-CMT solutions (M W ≥ 4.0) for the period 1976–2009, 61 published solutions and 114 solutions obtained for the local earthquakes (2.0 ≤ M L ≤ 5.0) recorded by a 27-station permanent broadband network during 2001–2009 in the region. The M W–M L relationships in seven selected zones of the region are determined by linear regression analysis. A significant variation in the M W–M L relationship and its zone specific dependence are reported here. It is found that M W is equivalent to M L with an average uncertainty of about 0.13 magnitude units. A single relationship is, however, not adequate to scale the entire northeast Indian region because of heterogeneous geologic and geotectonic environments where earthquakes occur due to collisions, subduction and complex intra-plate tectonics.