Representations of Seismicity

Abstract

Some alternative representations for seismicity are introduced based on the use of the hue, saturation, and brightness model of color representation. Depth information is conveniently coded by hue and magnitude by saturation. The approach can be used for individual events or to provide useful summary properties of seismicity. The cumulative effects of many events can be combined by converting body wave magnitude into an equivalent energy or strain release and then summing the energy or strain contributions in a particular cell, finally converting back to an effective magnitude over a 10‐year period for plotting. Time averaging improves the reliability of the information and can provide a clearer picture of the balance between seismic events at different depths.