Earthquake Hazard Assessment : India and Adjacent Regions

The book provides an overview of the background to and details of earthquake hazard estimation in India in a very comprehensive manner with details on seismicity data management, seismicity analysis, seismic source characterization, seismic hazard estimation using various methods and site characterization. The work presents a scientific approach for earthquake hazard analysis with a case study covering India and adjoining regions, a spatiotemporally complex region with varied tectonic provinces featuring different seismicity characteristics.

This book represents a significant contribution to the area of earthquake data processing and to the development of region-specific magnitude correlations to create an up-to-date homogeneous earthquake catalogue that is uniform in magnitude scale. The book discusses seismicity analysis and estimation of seismicity parameters of a region at both finer and broader levels using different methodologies. The delineation and characterization of regional seismic source zones which requires reasonable observation and engineering judgement is another subject covered. Considering the complex seismotectonic composition of a region, use of numerous methodologies (DSHA and PSHA) in analyzing the seismic hazard using appropriate instruments such as the logic tree will be elaborated to explicitly account for epistemic uncertainties considering alternative models (for Source model, Mmax estimation and Ground motion prediction equations) to estimate the PGA value at bedrock level. Further, VS30 characterization based on the topographic gradient, to facilitate the development of surface level PGA maps using appropriate amplification factors, is discussed. Evaluation of probabilistic liquefaction potential is also explained in the book. Necessary backgrounds and contexts of the aforementioned topics are elaborated through a case study specific to India which features spatiotemporally varied and complex tectonics. The methodology and outcomes presented in this book will be beneficial to practising engineers and researchers working in the fields of seismology and geotechnical engineering in particular and to society in general.