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The Hazard Component of the SARA Project
Seismic hazard modelling in South America presents scientists and engineers with a diverse set of challenges. Incorporating some of the most seismically active regions on the planet, and including many of the largest earthquakes ever recorded, the South American subduction zone dominantes the earthquake hazard in the west of the continent and provides the principal tectonic force driving the shallow non-subduction earthquakes in western Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru and Colombia. In addition to the tectonic complexity, further challenges arise due to the current state of knowledge, with inhomogeneous characterisation of seismicity, active faulting and strong motions between different countries.
It is within this context that the seismic hazard component SARA established several key goals for improving the state of regional seismic hazard assessment in South America. These include the harmonisation of critical earthquake data sets (including both historical and instrumental earthquake catalogues, seismically active faults, and local and national databases strong motion recordings), the development of data common standards for representation, and the development open tools for both data collection and interpretation. Whilst the technical developments of the SARA hazard component are both necessary and valuable, it is the active engagement of scientists and engineers from within the region that may best ensure that the project’s outcomes will continue to impact upon seismic hazard assessment after completion of the project. The SARA hazard component was organised into seven research areas, with scientific experts from different institutions across the region participating, and often leading, the activities in the different topics, in response to a call for proposals published by GEM in 2013. The hazard work package was organised into 7 research topics. Below we provide the definition of each topic:
- Research Topic 1 (RT1): Assessing the Current State of Practice in Seismic Hazard Analysis in South America (SA)
- Research Topic 2 (RT2): Building a harmonised database of ‘hazardous’ crustal faults
- Research Topic 3 (RT3): Modelling Subduction Zones in South America
- Research Topic 4 (RT4): The South American Earthquake Catalogue
- Research Topic 6 (RT6): A South American Strong Motion Database and Selection of ground motion prediction equations (GMPEs) for seismic hazard analysis in South America
- Research Topic 7 (RT7): Creation of a new PSHA input model for South America and calculation of results