Magnitude of completeness

In an earthquake catalog, the magnitude of completeness (Mc) is the minimum magnitude above which all earthquakes within a certain region are reliably recorded.[1] For example, if the Mc of a catalog for a specific region is 2.6 from 1980 to the present, this means that all earthquakes above a magnitude 2.6 have been recorded in the catalog from 1980 to the present time. When interpreting this data, a Mc too high may mean under-sampling, whereas a value too low could indicate an erroneous seismicity parameter.[2]

Another definition includes, 'the lowest magnitude at which 100% of the earthquakes in a space-time volume are detected.'[2]

References
  1. CORSSA – Glossary. (2010, August 12). Retrieved April 14, 2015, from http://www.corssa.org/glossary
  2. Mignan, Arnaud; Woessner, Jochen (2012). "Estimating the magnitude of completeness for earthquake catalogs". Community Online Resource for Statistical Seismicity Analysis. doi:10.5078/corssa-00180805. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)


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