The Energy Properties of the Seismic Process and the Feasibility of Introducing a Generalized Energy Class of Earthquakes

The present paper gives a scale of earthquake energy class K^F that is to standardize the relevant data based on the existing scales: M_S, M_W, mb, K_S, among many others. The conceptual novelty of the scale we propose consists in shifting the emphasis from seismometric issues that are traditional in such cases, which are concerned with the recording of seismic waves, as well as with issues arising in discussions of their generation and propagation, toward an effective use of basic energy properties of the seismic process (the Gutenberg–Richter law). In the most general case, this approach can significantly simplify the development of regression relations between different earthquake size scales, but the most promising problem consists in developing a single generalized scale. A particular solution of the problem is presented as the development of such a scale for earthquakes of Kamchatka. The K^F scale rests on the energy class \(K_{{S1.2}}^{{F68}}\) proposed by S.A. Fedotov (K_S at the Kamchatka Branch (KB) of the National Seismological Centre, Geophysical Survey, Russian Academy of Sciences (NSC GS RAS) and on the generally accepted mb magnitude (ISC).