Effects of the hanging wall and footwall on peak acceleration during the Jiji (Chi-Chi), Taiwan Province, earthquake

Introduction In the study of ground motion attenuation model the considered parameters are generally sim-plified as ground motion parameters (acceleration, velocity, displacement, response spectrum, dura-tion, etc), earthquake magnitude, distance and site condition. As the accumulation of ground motion records, it was found that the characteristic of ground motion attenuation in tectonicly compressional region was different from that in tectonicly tensional region and the peak ground accelerat…

Effects of the hanging wall and footwall on peak acceleration during the Jiji (Chi-Chi), Taiwan Province, earthquake

The M=7.6 Jiji (Chi-Chi) earthquake, Taiwan Province, on September 21, 1999 (local time) is a thrust fault style earthquake. The empirical attenuation relations of the horizontal and vertical peak ground accelerations (PGA) for the Jiji (Chi-Chi) earthquake are developed by regression method. By examining the residuals from the Jiji (Chi-Chi) earthquake-specific peak acceleration attenuation relations, it is found that there are systematic differ-ences between PGA on the hanging-wall and footwall. The recorded peak accelerations are higher on the hang-ing-wall and lower on the footwall. The clear asymmetry of PGA distribution to the surface rupture trace can also be seen from the PGA contour map. These evidences indicate that the PGA attenuates faster on the hanging-wall than on the footwall. In the study of near-source strong motion, seismic hazard assessment, scenario earthquake and seismic disaster prediction, the style-of-faulting must be considered in order that the attenuation model can reflect the characteristic of ground motion in various seismic environmental regions.