Ground motion models used in the 2014 U.S. National Seismic Hazard Maps

Earthquake Spectra
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Abstract

The National Seismic Hazard Maps (NSHMs) are an important component of seismic design regulations in the United States. This paper compares hazard using the new suite of ground motion models (GMMs) relative to hazard using the suite of GMMs applied in the previous version of the maps. The new source characterization models are used for both cases. A previous paper (Rezaeian et al. 2014) discussed the five NGA-West2 GMMs used for shallow crustal earthquakes in the Western United States (WUS), which are also summarized here. Our focus in this paper is on GMMs for earthquakes in stable continental regions in the Central and Eastern United States (CEUS), as well as subduction interface and deep intraslab earthquakes. We consider building code hazard levels for peak ground acceleration (PGA), 0.2-s, and 1.0-s spectral accelerations (SAs) on uniform firm-rock site conditions. The GMM modifications in the updated version of the maps created changes in hazard within 5% to 20% in WUS; decreases within 5% to 20% in CEUS; changes within 5% to 15% for subduction interface earthquakes; and changes involving decreases of up to 50% and increases of up to 30% for deep intraslab earthquakes for most U.S. sites. These modifications were combined with changes resulting from modifications in the source characterization models to obtain the new hazard maps.

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Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Ground motion models used in the 2014 U.S. National Seismic Hazard Maps
Series title Earthquake Spectra
DOI 10.1193/111714EQS194M
Volume 31
Issue S1
Year Published 2015
Language English
Publisher Earthquake Engineering Research Institute
Publisher location El Cerrito, CA
Contributing office(s) Geologic Hazards Science Center
Description 26 p.
First page S59
Last page S84
Country United States
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