In terms of energy, it turns out that the Gutenberg-Richter law boils down to one very simple rule: If earthquakes of type A release twice the energy of those of type B, then type A quakes happen four times less frequently. Double the energy, that is, and an earthquake becomes four times as rare. This simple pattern - a power law - holds for quakes over a tremendous range of energies.
Remarkably...
The remaining text is provided in the full PDF that is available for $2.99
