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An earthquake centroid is an effective average location of seismic moment release. It differs from the hypocenter, where rupture starts, and can depend on the source representation and observations. An associated centroid time similarly averages release rather than marking its first instant.

For uniform slip on a shear fault, scalar seismic moment is $M_0=\mu Ad$, with shear modulus $\mu$, fault area $A$ and slip magnitude $d$. More generally it integrates rigidity-weighted slip. It measures source strength rather than radiated energy alone.