A Fast and Efficient Simulation of the Far-Fault and Near-Fault Earthquake Ground Motions Associated with the June 17 and 21, 2000, Earthquakes in South Iceland

The two Mw 6.5 earthquakes on June 17 and 21, 2000, respectively, in the populated South Iceland Seismic Zone (SISZ) significantly augmented the Icelandic database of strong ground motions, and several strong velocity pulses were recorded at near-fault sites. The strong motions are interpreted via the Specific Barrier Model (SBM) and a mathematical model of near-fault velocity pulses. The data indicates self-similar source scaling and significantly greater attenuation of seismic waves than in other interplate regions. Through inversion of the data a new attenuation function for the SISZ has been adopted, which results in unbiased simulations. For the first time, the characteristics of the recorded near-fault pulses have been identified and compared to the worldwide database of such records. The SBM and the near-fault pulse model combine naturally in a fast and efficient synthesis of realistic, broad-band strong ground motions in the far-fault and near-fault region. Such simulations are showcased for the June 2000 earthquakes and indicate that the modeling approach adopted in this study is an effective tool for the estimation of realistic earthquake ground motions in the SISZ.

[1]  W. Silva,et al.  Stochastic Modeling of California Ground Motions , 2000 .

[2]  Apostolos S. Papageorgiou,et al.  On a new class of kinematic models: symmetrical and asymmetrical circular and elliptical cracks , 2003 .

[3]  W. B. Joyner,et al.  Equations for Estimating Horizontal Response Spectra and Peak Acceleration from Western North American Earthquakes: A Summary of Recent Work , 1997 .

[4]  P. Einarsson.  Earthquakes and present-day tectonism in Iceland , 1991 .

[5]  David M. Boore,et al.  Site amplifications for generic rock sites , 1997, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America.

[6]  K. Aki.  Scaling law of seismic spectrum , 1967 .

[7]  J. Douglas,et al.  Internet site for European strong-motion data , 2004 .

[8]  K. Aki.  Scale-dependence in Earthquake Processes and Seismogenic Structures , 2000 .

[9]  Freysteinn Sigmundsson,et al.  Triggered fault slip on June 17, 2000 on the Reykjanes Peninsula, SW‐Iceland captured by radar interferometry , 2003 .

[10]  Tomowo Hirasawa,et al.  Body wave spectra from propagating shear cracks. , 1973 .

[11]  A. Papageorgiou,et al.  A specific barrier model for the quantitative description of inhomogeneous faulting and the prediction of strong ground motion. I. Description of the model , 1983 .

[12]  J. Brune.  Tectonic stress and the spectra of seismic shear waves from earthquakes , 1970 .

[13]  W. Paterson.  Earthquakes in Iceland , 1879, Nature.

[14]  Keiiti Aki,et al.  Higher-order interrelations between seismogenic structures and earthquake processes , 1992 .

[15]  L. Sykes,et al.  Frequency of occurrence of moderate to great earthquakes in intracontinental regions: Implications for changes in stress, earthquake prediction, and hazards assessments , 1997 .

[16]  David M. Boore,et al.  Simulation of Ground Motion Using the Stochastic Method , 2003 .

[17]  Yuehua Zeng,et al.  A simple strategy to examine the sources of errors in attenuation relations , 1998, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America.

[18]  Freysteinn Sigmundsson,et al.  Fault slip distribution of two June 2000 M W 6.5 earthquakes in South Iceland estimated from joint inversion of InSAR and GPS measurements , 2003 .

[19]  John G. Anderson,et al.  Potential for Improving Ground-Motion Relations in Southern California by Incorporating Various Site Parameters , 2000 .

[20]  R. Stefánsson,et al.  Strain release and strain build-up in the south Iceland seismic zone , 1988 .

[21]  G. Atkinson,et al.  Subevent structure of large earthquakes—A ground‐motion perspective , 2001 .

[22]  Keiiti Aki,et al.  Aspects of the mechanics of earthquake rupture related to the generation of high frequency waves and the prediction of strong ground motion , 1982 .

[23]  K. Campbell,et al.  THE VERTICAL-TO-HORIZONTAL RESPONSE SPECTRAL RATIO AND TENTATIVE PROCEDURES FOR DEVELOPING SIMPLIFIED V/H AND VERTICAL DESIGN SPECTRA , 2004 .

[24]  Jonathan P. Stewart,et al.  Ground motion evaluation procedures for performance-based design , 2002 .

[25]  Keiiti Aki,et al.  Sealing law of far-field spectra based on observed parameters of the specific barrier model , 1985 .

[26]  Benedikt Halldorsson,et al.  Calibration of the Specific Barrier Model to Earthquakes of Different Tectonic Regions , 2005 .

[27]  Apostolos S. Papageorgiou,et al.  The Barrier Model and Strong Ground Motion , 2003 .

[28]  A. Papageorgiou,et al.  Near‐fault ground motions, and the response of elastic and inelastic single‐degree‐of‐freedom (SDOF) systems , 2004 .

[29]  K. Aki.  A perspective on the history of Strong Motion Seismology , 2003 .

[30]  K. Aki.  Characterization of barriers on an earthquake fault , 1979 .

[31]  Ragnar Sigbjörnsson,et al.  Stochastic models for simulation of strong ground motion in Iceland , 2001 .

[32]  A. A. Gusev,et al.  Descriptive statistical model of earthquake source radiation and its application to an estimation of short‐period strong motion , 1983 .

[33]  Keiiti Aki,et al.  Attenuation of shear-waves in the lithosphere for frequencies from 0.05 to 25 Hz , 1980 .

[34]  N. Ambraseys,et al.  Re-appraisal of the seismicity of Iceland , 2000 .

[35]  Apostolos S. Papageorgiou,et al.  On two characteristic frequencies of acceleration spectra: Patch corner frequency and fmax , 1988 .

[36]  David M. Boore,et al.  SMSIM — Fortran Programs for Simulating Ground Motions from Earthquakes: Version 2.3 — A Revision of OFR 96–80–A , 2000 .

[37]  Jamison H. Steidl,et al.  Site Response in Southern California for Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Analysis , 2000 .

[38]  Edward H. Field,et al.  A Modified Ground-Motion Attenuation Relationship for Southern California that Accounts for Detailed Site Classification and a Basin-Depth Effect , 2000 .

[39]  N. A. Abrahamson,et al.  A stable algorithm for regression analyses using the random effects model , 1992, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America.

[40]  George P. Mavroeidis,et al.  A Mathematical Representation of Near-Fault Ground Motions , 2003 .

[41]  J. C. Savage.  Relation of corner frequency to fault dimensions , 1972 .

[42]  Jens Havskov,et al.  Earthquake prediction research in the South Iceland seismic zone and the SIL project , 1993 .

[43]  P. Einarsson,et al.  Source mechanism of the 1987 Vatnafjöll Earthquake in south Iceland , 1991 .

[44]  Kristín S. Vogfjörð,et al.  Surface effects of triggered fault slip on Reykjanes Peninsula, SW Iceland , 2003 .

[45]  Paul G. Richards,et al.  Quantitative Seismology: Theory and Methods , 1980 .

[46]  Ragnar Sigbjörnsson,et al.  On the South Iceland earthquakes in June 2000: strong-motion effects and damage , 2004 .

[47]  Zhangli Chen,et al.  EARTHQUAKE PREDICTION RESEARCH IN CHINA , 1986 .

[48]  L. Neil Frazer,et al.  Use of ray theory to calculate high-frequency radiation from earthquake sources having spatially variable rupture velocity and stress drop , 1984 .

[49]  Ragnar Sigbjörnsson,et al.  A THEORETICAL ATTENUATION MODEL FOR EARTHQUAKE-INDUCED GROUND MOTION , 1999 .

[50]  Ragnar Sigbjörnsson,et al.  Estimation of source parameters and Q from acceleration recorded in the Vatnafjöll earthquake in south Iceland , 1998 .

[51]  Pierre Léger,et al.  Sliding response of gravity dams including vertical seismic accelerations , 2003 .