An updated study on near-fault ground motions of the 1978 Tabas, Iran, earthquake (Mw=7.4Mw=7.4)

This paper presents an updated study and numerical modelling of the Tabas, eastern Iran earthquake (Mw=7.4Mw=7.4), which occurred on September 16, 1978, using new techniques recently proposed by various researchers. Firstly, the near-fault ground motions recorded at a station very close to the fault were examined based on the characteristics of the velocity pulses and the frequency content of the motions. Evidence of directivity effects in recorded, near-fault ground motion, has been investigated using various methods. In the second part of this paper, stochastic simulations of near-fault, strong ground motion, using finite-fault modelling, based on a dynamic corner frequency recently proposed by Motazedian and Atkinson [Motazedian, D. and Atkinson, G. “Stochastic finite-fault modelling based on a dynamic corner frequency”, Bull. Seismol. Soc. Amer., 95(2), pp. 995–1010 (2005)], have been presented. In order to model the impulsive behaviour of near-fault ground motion, the finite-fault model was combined with the mathematical expression of Mavroeidis and Papageorgiou [Mavroeidis, G.P. and Papageorgiou, A.S. “A mathematical representation of near-fault ground motions”, Bull. Seismol. Soc. Amer., 3, pp. 1099–1131 (2003)] for modelling pulse characteristics. A new set of modelling parameters has been recommended and good agreement has been found between the recorded and simulated response spectra. The velocity pulses observed in near-fault ground motion records could also be mimicked.