Natural Hazards Research Summit 2022: Relative Influence of Source and Ground Motion Correlation for Multiple Sites in the Central and Eastern United States

When assessing seismic risk to multiple sites, several different causes of correlation need to be considered. These include correlation induced by the seismic source, ground motion prediction errors, infrastructure fragility and failure consequences. This poster focuses on the relative influence of source and ground motion correlation, specifically in the context of the characterization of seismic hazard in the Central and Eastern United States (CEUS). Given the lack of mapped faults in the CEUS, the seismic hazard is characterized by area or grid source zones derived from historic seismicity. Therefore, the correlation in seismic risk at multiple sites is inherently limited by the spatial distribution of the assumed grid. Assessing this source correlation is valuable to practicing engineers because it will help establish the tradeoffs between effort and accuracy when characterizing the correlation of the ground motion errors.