Shallow velocity model of the Northern Flank of Stromboli Volcano, deduced by high frequency surface wave dispersion

The wavefield produced by the Stromboli volcano explosion quakes shows a significant amount of surface waves. Rayleigh waves recorded by a linear array have been investigated to infer the shear-wave velocity model of the Stromboli northern flank. The group velocity dispersion curve was obtained using the multiple filter technique, while the phase velocity dispersion curve was calculated both by phase-matched filtering and performing a p– stack on the observed waveforms. Through the inversion of these curves we were able to recover the shear-wave structure to a depth of about 190 m.     

Velocity and Attenuation Structure of the Tibetan Lithosphere Under the Hi-CLIMB Array From the Modeling of Pn Attributes

Using seismic data from regional earthquakes in Tibet recorded by the Hi-CLIMB experiment, Pn attributes are used to constrain the velocity gradient and attenuation structure of the Tibetan lithosphere under the Hi-CLIMB array. Numerical modeling is performed using the spectral-element method (SEM) for laterally varying upper-mantle velocity and attenuation, and the seismic attributes considered include the Pn travel-time, envelope amplitude, and pulse frequency. The results from the SEM modeling provide two alternative models for the upper-mantle beneath the Hi-CLIMB array in Tibet. The first model is derived from the 3D velocity model of Griffin et al. (Bull Seism Soc Am 101:1938–1947, 2011) with a constant upper-mantle velocity gradient, and laterally varying upper mantle attenuation. The second model has a laterally varying upper-mantle velocity gradient, and constant upper-mantle attenuation. In both cases, the Qiangtang terrane is distinguished from the Lhasa terrane by a change in Moho depth and upper-mantle velocities. The lower upper-mantle velocities, as well as higher Pn attenuation, suggest hotter temperatures beneath the Qiangtang terrane as compared to the Lhasa terrane. Although the fits to the Pn amplitude and pulse frequency data are comparable between the two models, the first model with the constant upper-mantle velocity gradient fits the travel times somewhat better in relation to the data errors.     

Towards a new reference ground motion prediction equation for Italy: update of the Sabetta–Pugliese (1996)

A revised Italian strong motion archive has become available since July 2007, including all the records of the strongest events occurred from 1972 to 2004. It contains the uncorrected and corrected accelerograms and the metadata relevant to seismic events, recording stations and instruments added after a careful revision. The availability of this archive allowed us to perform a first step towards an update of the reference ground motion prediction equations for Italy, which were evaluated by Sabetta and Pugliese in (Bull Seismol Soc Am 77:1491–1513, 1987), for peak ground acceleration and velocity, and subsequently extended to the 5% damped pseudovelocity response spectra in 1996. A subset with the 27 major earthquakes occurred in Italy from 1972 to 2002, in the magnitude range 4.6–6.9, was extracted and 235 good quality waveforms were selected, recorded at distances up to 183 km. The goodness of fit of the Sabetta and Pugliese (Bull Seismol Soc Am 86:337–352, 1996) model was explored using two independent statistical approaches (Spudich et al. Bull Seismol Soc Am 89:1156–1170, 1999 and Scherbaum et al. Bull Seismol Soc Am 94:2164–2185, 2004). The results obtained show that the Sabetta and Pugliese (Bull Seismol Soc Am 77:1491–1513, 1987) does not adequately fit the new strong-motion data set, for its small standard deviation and its non-zero bias. In particular, the most noteworthy result is that the Sabetta and Pugliese (Bull Seismol Soc Am 77:1491–1513, 1987) over-predicts peak ground acceleration and velocity at rock sites. New coefficients for the prediction of horizontal peak ground acceleration, peak ground velocity and acceleration response spectra, adopting the same functional form in Sabetta and Pugliese (Bull Seismol Soc Am 77:1491–1513, 1987), were then evaluated in order to fit the new data set. This paper illustrates the steps made to update the existing ground motion prediction equations for Italy, discusses their limitations and provides the basis for future developments.     

Validation of a kinematic and parametric approach to calculating intensity scenarios

We employ our semi-empirical kinematic model for shear body waves (KF) [Sirovich L. A simple algorithm for tracing out synthetic isoseismals. Bull Seism Soc Am 1996;86(4):1019–27; Sirovich L. Synthetic isoseismals of three earthquakes in California-Nevada. Soil Dyn Earthquake Eng 1997;16:353–62] to back-predict and then validate the regional intensity scenario of a destructive earthquake (Loma Prieta, California, M_s 7.1, October 17, 1989). Only the pre-1988 geological and seismotectonic knowledge was used to set the 11 source parameters of KF (in this sense, our procedure was deterministic). Then, the ranges of the pre-1988 uncertainties were explored by grid search and the parametric combination produced 59,049 sources. The quality of our prediction was measured using the field intensities of 1989 by the US Geological Survey (in the MMI scale). The squared scenario residuals are: 73 for the mean KF scenario and 123 for the best available empirical attenuation of MMI intensity. We stress that, before using KF in the forward mode, its automatic inverse application has already been validated by refinding a series of earthquake sources [Gentile F, Pettenati F, Sirovich L. Validation of the automatic nonlinear source inversion of the US geological survey intensities of the Whittier Narrows, 1987 Earthquake. Bull Seism Soc Am 2004;94(5):1737–47; Pettenati F, Sirovich L. Intensity-based source inversion of three destructive California earthquakes. Bull Seism Soc Am 2007;97(5):1587–606; Sirovich L, Pettenati F. Source inversion of intensity patterns of earthquakes: a destructive shock in 1936 in northeast Italy. J Geophys Res 2004;109:B10309, doi:10.1029/2003JB002919:1–16]. If our technique had been available at the time, the 1989 pattern of damage south of San Francisco would have been conservatively foreseen even from 1983 on.     

Calibration of stochastic finite-fault ground motion simulations for the 1997 Umbria-Marche, Central Italy, earthquake sequence

The recent 1997 Umbria-Marche, Central Italy, earthquake sequence allowed us to model recorded ground motions using a method developed by Beresnev and Atkinson [Bull Seism Soc Am 87 (1997) 67–84; Seism Res Lett, 69 (1998) 27–32; Bull Seism Soc Am 88 (1998) 1392–1401]. The method generalizes the stochastic ground-motion simulation technique, developed for point sources, to the case of finite faults. It subdivides the fault plane into subfaults and assumes each subfault to be a point source with a ω² spectrum. Geometric spreading and regional anelastic attenuation are included in the model. The data include horizontal acceleration recordings from the SSN and ENEL databases of the 1997 Umbria-Marche events on 26 September, at 00:33 GMT, with M_w=5.7, and at 09:40 GMT, with M_w=6.0; and on 14 October at 15:23 GMT, with M_w=5.6. The strong motion simulations are performed using model parameters based on the results of previous studies, and adjusting the subfault size to calibrate the simulation model against recorded ground motions. Local site response is considered to account for observed amplification effects at specific recording sites (e.g. Nocera Umbra). A good agreement is found between the simulated response spectra and the recorded data, concluding that this method reproduces the salient ground-motion characteristics at different distances and azimuths.     

On the selection of GMPEs for Vrancea subcrustal seismic source

The Vrancea subcrustal seismic source is characterized by large magnitude ( $M_{W} \ge 7$ ) intermediate-depth earthquakes that occur two or three times during a century on average. In this study several procedures are used to grade four candidate ground motion prediction equations proposed for Vrancea source in the SHARE project. In the work of Delavaud et al. (J Seismol 16(3):451–473, 2012) four ground motion prediction models developed for subduction zones (Zhao et al. in Bull Seism Soc Am 96(3):898–913, 2006; Atkinson and Boore in Bull Seism Soc Am 93(4):1703–1729, 2003; Youngs et al. in Seism Res Lett 68(1):58–73, 1997; Lin and Lee in Bull Seism Soc Am 98(1):220–240, 2008) are suggested as suitable for Vrancea subcrustal seismic source. The paper presents the appropriateness analysis of the four suggested ground motion prediction equations done using a dataset of 109 triaxial accelerograms recorded during seven Vrancea seismic events with moment magnitude $M_{W}$ between 5.4 and 7.4, occurred in the past 35 years. The strong ground motions were recorded in Romania, as well as in Bulgaria, Republic of Moldova and Serbia. Based on the ground motion dataset several goodness-of-fit measures are used in order to quantify how well the selected models match with the recorded data. The compatibility of the four ground motion prediction models with respect to magnitude scaling and distance scaling implied by strong ground motion dataset is investigated as well. The analyses show that the Youngs et al. (Seism Res Lett 68(1):58–73, 1997) and Zhao et al. (Bull Seism Soc Am 96(3):898–913, 2006) ground motion prediction models have a better fit with the data and can be candidate models for Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Assessment.     

Application of horizontal-to-vertical (H/V) Fourier spectral ratio for analysis of site effect on rock (NEHRP-class B) sites in Taiwan

The frequency-dependent amplification for rock (NEHRP-class B) sites was studied using earthquake ground-motion database collected in Taiwan during implementation of the Taiwan Strong Motion Instrumentation Program. The database used includes several hundred records from earthquakes of M_L 4.0–7.3 occurred between 1993 and 2004. The characteristics of amplification were evaluated using the well-known technique of horizontal-to-vertical Fourier spectral ratio (H/V) of the S-wave phase [Lermo J, Chavez-Garcia FJ. Site effect evaluation using spectral ratios with only one station. Bull Seism Soc Am 1993;83:1574–94]. The study allows us to analyze peculiarities of rock sites amplification in Northern and Eastern Taiwan. It was suggested to divide the NEHRP-class B site amplification into four types based on frequency of maximum amplification and the shape of amplification function. The applicability of the technique was also checked for a few stiff and soft soil sites (NEHRP-classes D and E).     

f max and fault zone property of Lushan earthquake of 20 April 2013, Sichuan,China

In this study, we determined f _max from near-field accelerograms of the Lushan earthquake of April 20, 2013 through spectra analysis. The result shows that the values of f _max derived from five different seismography stations are very close though these stations roughly span about 100 km along the strike. This implies that the cause of f _max is mainly the seismic source process rather than the site effect. Moreover, according to the source–cause model of Papageorgiou and Aki (Bull Seism Soc Am 73:693–722, 1983), we infer that the cohesive zone width of the rupture of the Lushan earthquake is about 204 with an uncertainty of 13 m. We also find that there is a significant bulge between 30 and 45 Hz in the amplitude spectra of accelerograms of stations 51YAL and 51QLY, and we confirm that it is due to seismic waves’ reverberation of the sedimentary soil layer beneath these stations.     

Anisotropy in the Earth's crust and uppermost mantle in southeastern Europe obtained from Rayleigh and Love surface waves

Digital seismograms from 25 earthquakes located in the southeastern part of Europe, recorded by three-component very broadband seismometers at the stations Vitosha (Bulgaria) and Muntele Rosu (Romania), were processed to obtain the dispersion properties of Rayleigh and Love surface waves. Rayleigh and Love group-velocity dispersion curves were obtained by frequency–time analysis (FTAN). The path-averaged shear-wave velocity models were computed from the obtained dispersion curves. The inversion of the dispersion curves was performed using an approach based on the Backus–Gilbert inversion method. Finally, 70 path-averaged velocity models (35 R-models computed from Rayleigh dispersion curves and 35 L-models computed from Love dispersion curves) were obtained for southeastern Europe. For most of the paths, the comparison between each pair of models (R-model and L-models for the same path) shows that for almost all layers the shear-wave velocities in the L-models are higher than in the R-models. The upper sedimentary layers are the only exception. The analysis of both models shows that the depth of the Moho boundary in the L-models is shallower than its depth in the R-models. The existence of an anisotropic layer associated with the Moho boundary at depths of 30–45 km may explain this phenomenon. The anisotropy coefficient was calculated as the relative velocity difference between both R- and L-models at the same depths. The value of this coefficient varies between 0% and 20%. Generally, the anisotropy of the medium caused by the polarization anisotropy is up to 10–12%, so the maximum observed discrepancies between both types of models are also due to the lateral heterogeneity of the shear-wave velocity structure of the crust and the upper mantle in the region.     

基于微动方法研究五大连池火山区尾山火山锥浅层剪切波速度结构

为了研究五大连池火山区尾山火山锥浅层三维波速结构特征,在尾山火山锥附近区域布设了无线地震检波器密集台阵,记录连续地震背景噪声波形数据.基于微动方法(拓展空间自相关方法)提取了台站间2~5 Hz频率范围的Rayleigh面波相速度频散曲线.利用面波层析成像方法反演获得2~5 Hz Rayleigh面波二维相速度图像,基于每一个网格节点的频散曲线,进一步反演获得了尾山火山锥附近区域地表至700m深度的三维剪切波速度结构.成像结果显示:在0~150m较浅深度,靠近尾山火山锥区域显示为相对高速异常,远离火山锥区域则显示为相对低速异常.而至150~700m较深深度,波速异常特征与浅部相反,靠近尾山火山锥的区域显示为相对低速异常,远离火山锥的区域显示为相对高速异常.在远离尾山火山锥区域,浅层的相对低速异常可能与松散沉积层有关,深部的高速异常则反映了结晶变质岩的影响.在靠近尾山火山锥区域,浅部的相对高速异常应该反映了出露地表的玄武岩,而深部的相对低速异常则可能反映了火山通道周围广泛发育的破碎裂隙结构及其火山喷发后孔隙流体填充的影响.     

Spatial Variability of the Depth of Weathered and Engineering Bedrock using Multichannel Analysis of Surface Wave Method

In this paper an attempt has been made to evaluate the spatial variability of the depth of weathered and engineering bedrock in Bangalore, south India using Multichannel Analysis of Surface Wave (MASW) survey. One-dimensional MASW survey has been carried out at 58 locations and shear-wave velocities are measured. Using velocity profiles, the depth of weathered rock and engineering rock surface levels has been determined. Based on the literature, shear-wave velocity of 330 ± 30 m/s for weathered rock or soft rock and 760 ± 60 m/s for engineering rock or hard rock has been considered. Depths corresponding to these velocity ranges are evaluated with respect to ground contour levels and top surface levels have been mapped with an interpolation technique using natural neighborhood. The depth of weathered rock varies from 1 m to about 21 m. In 58 testing locations, only 42 locations reached the depths which have a shear-wave velocity of more than 760 ± 60 m/s. The depth of engineering rock is evaluated from these data and it varies from 1 m to about 50 m. Further, these rock depths have been compared with a subsurface profile obtained from a two-dimensional (2-D) MASW survey at 20 locations and a few selected available bore logs from the deep geotechnical boreholes.     

Induced seismicity during the construction of the Gotthard Base Tunnel, Switzerland: hypocenter locations and source dimensions

A series of 112 earthquakes was recorded between October 2005 and August 2007 during the excavation of the MFS Faido, the southernmost access point of the new Gotthard Base Tunnel. Earthquakes were recorded at a dense network of 11 stations, including 2 stations in the tunnel. Local magnitudes computed from Wood–Anderson-filtered horizontal component seismograms ranged from −1.0 to 2.4; the largest earthquake was strongly felt at the surface and caused considerable damage in the tunnel. Hypocenter locations obtained routinely using a regional 3-D P-wave velocity model and a constant Vp/Vs ratio 1.71 were about 2 km below the tunnel. The use of seismic velocities calibrated from a shot in the tunnel revealed that routinely obtained hypocenter locations were systematically biased to greater depth and are now relocated to be on the tunnel level. Relocation of the shot using these calibrated velocities yields a location accuracy of 25 m in longitude, 70 m in latitude, and 250 m in focal depth. Double-difference relative relocations of two clusters with highly similar waveforms showed a NW–SE striking trend that is consistent with the strike of mapped faults in the MFS Faido. Source dimensions computed using the quasidynamic model of Madariaga (Bull Seismo Soc Am 66(3):639–666, 1976) range from 50 to 170 m. Overlapping source dimensions for earthquakes within the two main clusters suggests that the same fault patch was ruptured repeatedly. The observed seismicity was likely caused by stress redistribution due to the excavation work in the MFS Faido.     

Crust and upper mantle structure of East Asia from ambient noise and earthquake surface wave tomography

The complex tectonic background of East Asia makes it an ideal region for investigating the evolution of the continental lithosphere, for which high-resolution lithospheric structural models are essential. In this study, we measured Rayleigh-wave phase-velocity dispersion curves at periods of 10–120 s and group velocity dispersion curves at periods of 10–140 s using event records from more than 1,000 seismic stations in and around China. By jointly inverting new and previously published dispersion data from ambient noise and earthquakes, we developed a high-resolution shear-wave velocity model down to a depth of ～300 km beneath East Asia. Our model revealed heterogeneous lithospheric structures beneath East Asia, and allowed us to investigate the velocity structure of the entire lithosphere. We also derived crustal and lithospheric thickness models from the three-dimensional (3D) shear-wave model, revealing strong spatial heterogeneity and a general thinning trend of lithospheric thickness from west to east across the study region. Overall, our models reveal important lithospheric features beneath East Asia and provide a valuable baseline dataset for understanding continental-scale dynamics and evolution.     

Application of passive source surface-wave method in site engineering seismic survey

Site engineering seismic survey provides basic data for seismic effect analysis. As an important parameter of soil, shear-wave velocity is usually obtained through wave velocity testing in borehole. In this paper, the passive source surface-wave method is introduced into the site engineering seismic survey and practically applied in an engineering site of Shijingshan District. By recording the ubiquitous weak vibration on the earth surface, extract the dispersion curve from the surface-wave components using the SPAC method and obtain the shear-wave velocity structure from inversion. Over the depth of 42 m underground, it totally consists of five layers with interface depth of 3.31, 4.50, 7.23, 17.41, and 42.00 m; and shear-wave velocity of 144.0, 198.3, 339.4, 744.2, and 903.7 m/s, respectively. The inversion result is used to evaluate site classification, determine the maximum shear modulus of soil, provide basis for further seismic hazard analysis and site assessment or site zoning, etc. The result shows that the passive source surface-wave method is feasible in the site engineering seismic survey and can replace boreholes, shorten survey period, and reduce engineering cost to some extent.     

Crustal shear-wave splitting in the epicentral zone of the 2001 Mw 7.7 Bhuj earthquake, Gujarat, India

We report here crustal shear-wave anisotropy, ranging from 1% to 10.76% with an average of 2.4% in the aftershock zone of the 2001 Bhuj earthquake, Gujarat, India, from a study of leading shear-wave polarization directions (LPSDs), which vary on average from NNW–SSE to E–W with a delay of 0.07–0.14 s. The delays in the NNW–SSE to NE–SW directions observed at seven stations, near the seismogenic fault, suggest cracks parallel to the direction of the maximum horizontal regional compressional stress prevailing in the region, suggesting a dilatancy-induced anisotropy resulting from approximately stress-aligned parallel vertical micro-cracks. In contrast, the LPSDs at Ramvav, Rapar and Vondh stations, away from the seismogenic fault, are fault parallel, approximately E–W and almost orthogonal to the stress-aligned polarizations inferred elsewhere. The maximum average time delay of 0.14 s is observed at Lodai, where the fast polarization direction is found to be N338°W. This has been observed from anisotropic poro-elastic (APE) modelling and observations that these are 90° flips in shear-wave polarization, resulting from propagation through micro-cracks containing fluids at critically high pore-fluid pressure surrounding the hypocenter of the 2001 mainshock. The presence of high pore-fluid pressure in the seismogenic fault zone could also explain the observed scatter in shear-wave time delays. Further, the coincidence of the N–S trending intrusive bodies (as inferred from tomographic studies in the area) with the N–S direction of regional maximum horizontal compressional stress supports the interpretation of stress-aligned vertical extensive-dilatant anisotropic (EDA) cracks. The depth distribution of the estimated anisotropy (1–10.76%), b-values and stress drop values suggests an increase at 18–30 km depths, which could be attributed to high pore-fluid pressures resulting from a fluid-filled fractured rock matrix or open micro-cracks (characterized by high crack density and high porosity) coinciding with a low velocity zone (at 18–30 km depths) as delineated from tomographic studies in the area.     

Imaging the source area of the 1995 southern Hyogo (Kobe) earthquake (M7.3) using double-difference tomography

To understand the generation process of inland earthquake, we determined the seismic velocity structure in and around the source area of the 1995 southern Hyogo (Kobe) earthquake (M7.3) in SW Japan. We adopted the double-difference (DD) tomography method [Zhang, H. and C. Thurber. Double-Difference Tomography: the method and its application to the Hayward Fault,California. Bull Seism Soc Am 93 (2003) 1875–1889.]. We inverted arrival times recorded by a dense temporary seismic network for aftershocks and seismic networks routinely operated by Japanese Universities. Obtained results are summarized as follows: (1) Low-velocity zones of a few kilometers' width are distributed along the fault or along the aftershock alignment, suggesting that the fault of the 1995 earthquake is located primarily in a low-velocity zone. (2) Amount of velocity decrease within this low-velocity zone varies along the strike of the fault. Most of large slip areas (asperities) seem to correspond to higher velocity areas relative to the surroundings on the fault, rather than to lower velocity areas.     

Stochastic modeling of Iranian earthquakes and estimation of ground motion for future earthquakes in Greater Tehran

Strong-motion data from eight significant well-documented earthquakes in Iran have been simulated using a stochastic modeling technique for finite faults proposed by Beresnev and Atkinson [Bull Seismol Soc Am 87 (1997) 67–84; Seism Res Lett 69 (1998) 27–32]. The database consists of 61 three-component records from eight earthquakes of magnitude ranging from M 6.3 to M 7.4, recorded at hypocentral distances up to 200 km. The model predictions are in good agreement with available Iranian strong-motion data as evidenced by near-zero average of differences between logarithms of the observed and predicted values for all frequencies. The strength factor, sfact, a quantity that controls the high-frequency radiation from the source is determined, on an event-by-event basis, by fitting simulated to observed response spectra.     

Application of an improved algorithm to high precision relocation of ISC test events

New location features for possible implementation by the International Seismological Centre in its standard location procedures are tested using a set of 156 well-located and geographically well-distributed earthquakes and explosions. The tests are performed using the Engdahl et al. ([Engdahl, E.R., Van der Hilst, R.D., Buland, R.P., 1998. Global teleseismic earthquake relocation with improved travel times and procedures for depth determination. Bull. Seism. Soc. Am. 88, 3295-3314]; EHB) location algorithm with the 1-D reference Earth model ak135 [Kennett, B.L.N., Engdahl, E.R., Buland, R., 1995. Constraints on seismic velocities in the Earth from travel times, Geophys. J. Int. 122, 108-124]. Weighting by phase variance as a function of distance improves location accuracy by 7%. Use of later phase arrival times does not result in a significant improvement in location or depth for events with observing stations well distributed in azimuth. However, with application of an improved phase identification technique, depth phases provide significantly better estimates of focal depth.     

An automatic scheme for baseline correction of strong-motion records in coseismic deformation determination

Coseismic deformation can be determined from strong-motion records of large earthquakes. Iwan et al. (Bull Seismol Soc Am 75:1225–1246, 1985) showed that baseline corrections are often required to obtain reliable coseismic deformation because baseline offsets lead to unrealistic permanent displacements. Boore (Bull Seismol Soc Am 91:1199–1211, 2001) demonstrated that different choices of time points for baseline correction can yield realistically looking displacements, but with variable amplitudes. The baseline correction procedure of Wu and Wu (J Seismol 11:159–170, 2007) improved upon Iwan et al. (Bull Seismol Soc Am 75:1225–1246, 1985) and achieved stable results. However, their time points for baseline correction were chosen by a recursive process with an artificial criterion. In this study, we follow the procedure of Wu and Wu (J Seismol 11:159–170, 2007) but use the ratio of energy distribution in accelerograms as the criterion to determine the time points of baseline correction automatically, thus avoiding the manual choice of time points and speeding up the estimation of coseismic deformation. We use the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake in central Taiwan and the 2003 Chengkung and 2006 Taitung earthquakes in eastern Taiwan to illustrate this new approach. Comparison between the results from this and previous studies shows that our new procedure is suitable for quick and reliable determination of coseismic deformation from strong-motion records.     

Horizontal and vertical ground motion prediction equations derived from the Italian Accelerometric Archive (ITACA)

A set of Ground Motion Prediction Equations (GMPEs) for the Italian territory is proposed, exploiting a new strong-motion data set become available since July 2007 through the Italian Accelerometric Archive (ITACA). The data set is composed by 561 three-component waveforms from 107 earthquakes with moment magnitude in the range 4.0–6.9, occurred in Italy from 1972 to 2007 and recorded by 206 stations at distances up to 100 km. The functional form used to derive GMPEs in Italy (Sabetta and Pugliese in Bull Seismol Soc Am 86(2):337–352, 1996) has been modified introducing a quadratic term for magnitude and a magnitude-dependent geometrical spreading. The coefficients for the prediction of horizontal and vertical peak ground acceleration, peak ground velocity and 5% damped acceleration response spectra are evaluated. This paper illustrates the new data set, the regression analysis and the comparisons with recently derived GMPEs in Europe and in the Next Generation Attenuation of Ground Motions (NGA) Project.