The magnitude scale is the most common way to measure the size of an earthquake. USGS uses what's caused the moment magnitude scale to measure earthquakes.

A 3.3-magnitude earthquake hit Northern California Monday evening near Los Banos, about 30 miles from San Jose. No damage ...

Using the Moment Magnitude Scale, for each full number of magnitude you graduate to on the scale, the force of the earthquake is 32 times that of the previous whole number.

The moment magnitude scale, as it is known, replaced one developed by an American seismologist, Charles Richter, that was used until the 1970s.

Scientists largely use the moment magnitude scale to categorize earthquakes’ strength and size in a way that’s more accurate than the long-used Richter scale, the US Geological Survey says.

The San Andreas Fault, this scar visible from space, stretches across California for over 1,200 kilometers (about 745 miles).

The moment magnitude scale is logarithmic — that is, each whole number of magnitude represents about a 30-fold increase in energy released.

This quake registered 6.8 on the moment magnitude scale, which is used to measure the amount of energy released during an earthquake and the distance the ground moves along a fault.

The Moment Magnitude scale is the current way the USGS measures magnitude. It combines the body wave, surface wave and Richter scale classification to create the most reliable estimate of ...

Scientists largely use the moment magnitude scale to categorize earthquakes’ strength and size in a way that’s more accurate than the long-used Richter scale, the US Geological Survey says.