Why do so many earthquakes occur at a depth of 10km?
10 km is a “fixed depth”. Sometimes data are too poor to compute a reliable depth for an earthquake. In such a case, the depth is assigned to be 10 km. In many areas around the world, reliable depths tend to average 10 km or close to it. For example, if we made a histogram of the reliable depths in such an area, we’d expect to see a peak around 10 km. Thus, if we don’t know the depth, 10 km is a reasonable guess. We used to use 33 km. Increased understanding indicates that 10 km is more likely. Some areas, like subduction zones, are known to have many earthquakes much deeper than 10 km. In those areas, probably a larger fixed depth would be appropriate. The most common reason for having to fix the depth is that the earthquake occurred too far from the nearest seismic station. A useful rule of thumb is that a reliable depth requires that the distance from the epicenter to the nearest station must be less than the depth of the earthquake. Modern computational and theoretical advances can
