8. We were looking at earthquakes above 5.0 on the Richter and found most were between 5.5 and 5.8, is there a reason for this?


The distribution of the sizes of earthquakes is such that there are 10 times more 6's than 7's 10 times more 5's than 6's 10 times more 4's than 3's 10 times more 3's than 4's 10 times more 2's than 3's etc
However, when earthquakes get to be less than about 5.5 they are too small for our networks to record and locate all of them. Some are located, but some are missed. The smaller the magnitude, the more are missed. Thus, although there are many more 4's than 5's, the catalog contains more 5's than 4's.

Thanks to Mr John Lahr of the USGS for his help with our project!