State-of-the-art for Assessing Earthquake Hazards in the United States Report 12, Credible Earthquakes for the Central United States

This report is concerned with the problem of estimating credible values of the peak velocity and acceleration of the ground motion for central United States earthquakes. The report contains a catalog of all known earthquakes large enough to be felt or of body-wave magnitude greater than or equal to 3. The data of the catalog are plotted on a map, which together with structural geological information is used to identify eight seismic source zones in the central United States. The boundaries of the source zones are inexact, so that special study will be required for establishing credible ground-motion values for sites near the boundaries. A maximum-magnitude earthquake is determined for each zone, as well as a magnitude-recurrence equation. Using the Murphy-O'Brien formulation, as well as theoretical results of Herrmann and a limited amount of strong-motion data for the central United States, equations are derived for that region which relate maximum horizontal acceleration and velocity to body-wave magnitude and epicentral distance. (Author).