A ground-motion prediction model for small-to-moderate induced earthquakes for Central and Eastern United States

Abstract

This study presents a new ground motion model (GMM) for small-to-moderate potentially induced earthquakes for Central and Eastern United States (CEUS). We used a hybrid empirical model as the base model, which was developed and calibrated for tectonic events in Central and Eastern North America (CENA) as part of the Next-generation Attenuation-East (NGA-East) project. We calibrated the base model using a comprehensive database of potentially induced ground motions with smaller magnitudes and shallower depths than tectonic earthquakes, excluding all earthquake events and stations within the Gulf Coast region. We determined the model functional form coefficients using a mixed-effect regression procedure. The proposed GMM is derived for the peak ground acceleration and response-spectral ordinates at periods ranging from 0.01 to 10.0s, moment magnitudes ranging from 3.0 to 5.8, and hypocentral distances up to 200km. The performance of the proposed GMM is evaluated through a set of comprehensive residual analyses. Furthermore, we compared the proposed GMM with recently published GMMs with the observed data for CEUS. The proposed GMM could apply in long-term and short-term US Geological Survey National Seismic Hazard Maps and for the hazard evaluation of induced seismicity.