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Earthquake Location

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Earthquake Engineering

Synonyms

3D velocity models; Earthquake; Hypocenter; Location methods

Introduction

Accurate estimation of an earthquake location is an essential starting point for quantitative seismological analyses, such as seismic hazard analyses and seismotectonics. Although the fundamentals of earthquake location were established nearly a century ago, improvements in robustness to data errors and nonoptimal network configuration have enabled semiautomation of the event location process. Further, algorithmic advancements and improved models of seismic wave speed in the Earth’s interior continue to improve event location accuracy.

In the context of this entry, earthquake epicenter will be taken to mean the surface projection of the estimated latitude and longitude where fault rupture initiates. Earthquake location means epicenter and depth, and hypocenter means location and origin time. After a short introduction to the history of the methods for the determination of earthquake locations, a...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Meredek utca, 18 H-1112, Budapest, Hungary

    I. Bondár

  2. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 7000 East Ave, CA, 94550, Livermore, USA

    S. C. Myers

  3. Department of Physics, University of Colorado, CO 80309, Boulder, CO, USA

    E. R. Engdahl

Authors
  1. I. Bondár
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  2. S. C. Myers
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  3. E. R. Engdahl
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to I. Bondár .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Risk & Uncertainty, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom

    Michael Beer

  2. Institute for Risk and Uncertainty, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom

    Ioannis A. Kougioumtzoglou

  3. Institute for Risk & Uncertainty, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom

    Edoardo Patelli

  4. Institute for Risk & Uncertainty, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom

    Ivan Siu-Kui Au

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Bondár, I., Myers, S.C., Engdahl, E.R. (2014). Earthquake Location. In: Beer, M., Kougioumtzoglou, I., Patelli, E., Au, IK. (eds) Encyclopedia of Earthquake Engineering. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-36197-5_184-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-36197-5_184-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-36197-5

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