Tom Hanks (seismologist)
Encyclopedia
Thomas C. Hanks is an Canadian seismologist. He works for the US Geological Survey (USGS) in Menlo Park, California
. Dr. Hanks is a member of the Seismological Society of America
, the American Geophysical Union
, the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute
, the Geological Society of America
, the Peninsula Geological Society at Stanford, and many related geological societies. Dr. Hanks has authored dozens of scholarly papers in strong-motion seismology and tectonic geomorphology
.
In 1979 the Japanese-American seismologist Hiroo Kanamori
, professor of seismology at the California Institute of Technology
and Dr. Hanks (then a graduate student at Caltech) suggested the use of Moment magnitude scale
to replace the Richter magnitude scale
for measuring the relative strength of earthquakes. The reason was that the Richter scale saturates at magnitudes greater than about 5.5, while the Moment magnitude scale does not saturate.
Menlo Park, California
Menlo Park, California is a city at the eastern edge of San Mateo County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, in the United States. It is bordered by San Francisco Bay on the north and east; East Palo Alto, Palo Alto, and Stanford to the south; Atherton, North Fair Oaks, and Redwood City...
. Dr. Hanks is a member of the Seismological Society of America
Seismological Society of America
The Seismological Society of America is an international society devoted to the advancement of seismology and its applications in understanding and mitigating earthquake hazards and in imaging the structure of the Earth....
, the American Geophysical Union
American Geophysical Union
The American Geophysical Union is a nonprofit organization of geophysicists, consisting of over 50,000 members from over 135 countries. AGU's activities are focused on the organization and dissemination of scientific information in the interdisciplinary and international field of geophysics...
, the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute
Earthquake Engineering Research Institute
The Earthquake Engineering Research Institute is a leading technical society in dissemination of earthquake risk and earthquake engineering research both in the U.S. and globally. EERI members include researchers, geologists, geotechnical engineers, educators, government officials, and building...
, the Geological Society of America
Geological Society of America
The Geological Society of America is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of the geosciences. The society was founded in New York in 1888 by Alexander Winchell, John J. Stevenson, Charles H. Hitchcock, John R. Proctor and Edward Orton and has been headquartered at 3300 Penrose...
, the Peninsula Geological Society at Stanford, and many related geological societies. Dr. Hanks has authored dozens of scholarly papers in strong-motion seismology and tectonic geomorphology
Geomorphology
Geomorphology is the scientific study of landforms and the processes that shape them...
.
In 1979 the Japanese-American seismologist Hiroo Kanamori
Hiroo Kanamori
is a Japanese American seismologist who has made fundamental contributions to understanding the physics of earthquakes and the tectonic processes that cause them....
, professor of seismology at the California Institute of Technology
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...
and Dr. Hanks (then a graduate student at Caltech) suggested the use of Moment magnitude scale
Moment magnitude scale
The moment magnitude scale is used by seismologists to measure the size of earthquakes in terms of the energy released. The magnitude is based on the seismic moment of the earthquake, which is equal to the rigidity of the Earth multiplied by the average amount of slip on the fault and the size of...
to replace the Richter magnitude scale
Richter magnitude scale
The expression Richter magnitude scale refers to a number of ways to assign a single number to quantify the energy contained in an earthquake....
for measuring the relative strength of earthquakes. The reason was that the Richter scale saturates at magnitudes greater than about 5.5, while the Moment magnitude scale does not saturate.