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A study of microseismic and macroseismic ground motions in Virginia

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Summary

Microseismic spectra (0.75 to 15.6 Hz) from some seventy sites throughout the state of virginia are empirically classified into three classes based on the shape of the spectrum. The spatial distribution of these spectral classes exhibits a degree of geologic provincial correlation, i.e., 75% of the occurrences of one of the spectral class occurs in two provinces while the remaining two classes occur in the state's other two provinces 89% of the time.

A resurvey of the archival literature for the 1886 Charleston, South Carolina, earthquake resulted in a doubling of the Virginia intensity data base ofDutton (1889). The resulting isoseismal map for Virginia is based on a total of 250 reports for 126 different locations and indicates a range of II to VIII (?). An increase in intensity level at provincial boundaries is noted, especially between the Coastal Plain and the Piedmont provinces.

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Ayers, R.L., Bollinger, G.A. A study of microseismic and macroseismic ground motions in Virginia. PAGEOPH 113, 695–711 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01592953

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