An Empirical Model to Predict Topographic Effects in Strong Ground Motion Using California Small- to Medium-Magnitude Earthquake Database
We develop a model to predict the effects of topography on earthquake ground motions using a database of small- to medium-magnitude earthquakes from California. The proposed model relies on a parameter called relative elevation that quantifies topography using the elevation of a site relative to its surroundings. We also investigate an alternative parameterization of topography called smoothed curvature. We study the bias in the residuals from the Chiou et al. (2010) ground motion model with respect to these parameters and fit a model to remedy those biases. We then compare these models by assessing their goodness of fit to the data. The proposed model for topographic effects is intended as a correction to the Chiou et al. (2010) small- to medium-magnitude earthquake prediction model.