Measuring the Magnitude of an Earthquake

Jon Jordan, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- By definition, the magnitude of an earthquake is the amount of energy the earth releases at the time of the earthquake. However, there are different ways of measuring an earthquake's magnitude which made knowing the true strength nearly impossible to determine.

The U.S. Geological Survey reported a magnitude of 4.3 for Wednesday's earthquake. It was centered in Norman and felt as far away as Dallas.

The Oklahoma Geological Survey recorded a much different number.

"The earthquake from our recordings here in Oklahoma, we determined a magnitude of 5.1," Austin Holland of the Oklahoma Geological Survey said. "There are different measures of earthquake size. None are right or wrong, just different ways of measuring the same earthquake."

Holland said more often than not he finds his office tends to record higher readings than the USGS and possibly for good reason.

"We are completely using stations located in Oklahoma and the USGS is using more regional stations throughout the U.S. and that's one of the differences," Holland said. "We are getting unrivaled data and we are really poised to learn something exciting. It's fun and challenging but very exciting."