Recent Advances in the Modelling of Earthquake Hazard in Australia: Part 1 - Source, Attenuation and Site Response Models

Abstract

This paper is the first in a series of two companion papers describing the techniques currently being used to estimate earthquake hazard in Australia. This paper focuses on advances in creating the models that form the basis of any earthquake hazard assessment, specifically: a source model that defines the probability of an earthquake of a given magnitude occurring in a year; an attenuation model that describes how earthquake ground shaking or intensity decreases with distance away from an earthquake source, and; a site response model that describes how local regolith affects the ground shaking experienced during an earthquake. The models are described with examples from a recent earthquake hazard assessment of Newcastle and Lake Macquarie, NSW.