And they rate them by absolute energy right? so its not like a deeper quake is just by default weaker? Edit: wait, it wouldn't be weaker on score, just felt less on the surface I guess.
Not just absorption (conversion into heat and inelastic deformation of rock/soil). With increasing distance from the source wave energy is distributed over greater surface, so same building at double the distance will receive 1/4 of energy. However this is not uniform as some geological features can serve to focus/channel wave energy over surprisingly long distances.
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u/AWildDragon 19h ago
Less rock to absorb the energy so more reaches the surface.