What is a megaquake?
So far we’ve considered earthquakes, but what about the most extreme version, so called megaquakes.
In this course we define extreme events by how frequent they have occurred relative to some timescale (i.e. the age of the Earth).
There is a relationship between the magnitude or size of an earthquake and how frequently it occurs. Earthquakes with the largest magnitudes occur infrequently.
So extreme earthquakes or megaquakes, can be defined as being rare and of the largest magnitudes.
Measuring earthquake magnitude
Earthquake magnitudes and energy release by Gavin Hayes, USGS, Public Domain.Defining megaquakes
But, we would suggest that earthquakes with a magnitude larger than 8 can be considered as megaquakes.
Based on this definition, there is about one megaquake every year.
When and where was the last megaquake to occur?
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