SCEC Award Number 11207 View PDF
Proposal Category Workshop Proposal
Proposal Title 4th International IASPEI/IAEE Symposium on the Effects of Surface Geology on Seismic Motion
Investigator(s)
Name Organization
Ralph Archuleta University of California, Santa Barbara Jamison Steidl University of California, Santa Barbara Sandra Seale Earth Research Institute
Other Participants
SCEC Priorities SCEC Groups EEII, Seismology, CEO
Report Due Date 02/29/2012 Date Report Submitted N/A
Project Abstract
 The 4th International IASPEI/IAEE Symposium on the Effects of Surface Geology on Seismic Motion (ESG) was held at the University of California, Santa Barbara from 23 – 26 August 2011. Approximately 200 scientists and engineers from around the world attended this symposium to present the latest results on how local site conditions affect ground motion induced by earthquakes. Since the 3rd Symposium in Grenoble in 2006, there have been significant earthquakes in Japan, China, Italy, Haiti, Chile, Mexico, and New Zealand that have provided a wealth of data. In particular, the 2010 Darfield event in New Zealand and the 2011 Tohoku event in Japan induced widespread liquefaction. Analysis of the data from these events and dissemination of the results to larger communities will aid in the mitigation of damaging effects from earthquakes in the future.
Intellectual Merit Earthquakes are expensive to each community in the loss of lives and the impacts on the economy. In the past year, the world has seen two examples of great losses due to earthquakes in Japan and New Zealand. In consideration of the ground shaking, the two primary factors are the earthquake source and the local site conditions. The “local site condition” is more than the immediate geology beneath a site. The local site condition takes into account the surrounding area and the depth to basement rock.
Broader Impacts This conference brings together an international community of earthquake scientists and engineers. It promotes an interdisciplinary exchange of ideas and provide everyone with a perspective on the current state-of-art research into the fundamental problems associated with quantifying the effects of the local site geology. Understanding the spatial extent of a local site condition is one way to mitigate against the expected losses.
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