Ground-motion relations for eastern North America

Abstract

Abstract Predictive relations are developed for ground motions from eastern North American earthquakes of 4.0 ≦ M ≦ 7.25 at distances of 10 ≦ R ≦ 500 km. The predicted parameters are response spectra at frequencies of 0.5 to 20 Hz, and peak ground acceleration and velocity. The predictions are derived from an empirically based stochastic ground-motion model. The relations differ from previous work in the improved empirical definition of input parameters and empirical validation of results. The relations are in demonstrable agreement with ground motions from earthquakes of M 4 to 5. There are insufficient data to adequately judge the relations at larger magnitudes, although they are consistent with data from the Saguenay (M 5.8) and Nahanni (M 6.8) earthquakes. The underlying model parameters are constrained by empirical data for events as large as M 6.8.