Developing a Ground Motion Model for the Coastal Plain Region

Researchers are creating the first ground motion model for the Coastal Plain, including West Tennessee, using new seismic data to improve hazard maps, building codes, and earthquake preparedness

Dr. Shahram Pezeshk, Director of the Center for Disaster Recovery and Resiliency and Professor of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering, along with Dr. Mehran Davatgari-Tafreshi, Postdoctoral Fellow in the Center, are leading important research to improve earthquake prediction and safety in the Coastal Plain (CP) region of the United States.

In this region—which includes West Tennessee—the soil and rock layers are unique, causing earthquake shaking to behave differently than in other parts of the Central and Eastern U.S. Yet most current Ground Motion Models (GMMs) used to estimate earthquake shaking rely on data from outside the CP, making them less accurate for local conditions.

Thanks to newly available data on sediment thickness and recent earthquake recordings, the team is now developing a specialized GMM tailored to the CP’s geology. Using these datasets and advanced statistical methods, their model aims to provide more reliable predictions of earthquake shaking in the region.

The potential impacts are significant:

• More accurate hazard maps for the U.S. Geological Survey.
• Safer building codes and infrastructure designs to protect lives and reduce losses.
• Better disaster planning and response, improving community preparedness.
• Scientific advancement, filling a major knowledge gap in earthquake research.

By creating a model specifically designed for the CP, this project has the potential to strengthen resilience, reduce economic losses, and improve public safety for communities across the region.

Figure 1.  The geographical distribution of earthquakes used in this study.  The solid black line shows the boundary of the Coastal Plain.

Figure 2.  The geographical distribution of earthquake recording stations. 

For more information, contact Pezeshk at spezeshk@memphis.edu.