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Deterministic seismic hazard assessment for Sultanate of Oman

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Abstract

The Sultanate of Oman forms the southeastern part of the Arabian plate, which is surrounded by relatively high active tectonic zones. Studies of seismic risk assessment in Oman have been an important on-going socioeconomic concern. Using the results of the seismic hazard assessment to improve building design and construction is an effective way to reduce the seismic risk. In the current study, seismic hazard assessment for the Sultanate of Oman is performed through the deterministic approach with particular attention on the uncertainty analysis applying a recently developed method. The input data set contains a defined seismotectonic model consisting of 26 seismic zones, maximum magnitudes, and 6 alternative ground motion prediction equations that were used in four different tectonic environments: obduction zone earthquake (Zagros fold thrust belt), subduction zone earthquakes (Makran subduction zones), normal and strike-slip transform earthquakes (Owen and Gulf of Aden zones), and stable craton seismicity (Arabian stable craton). This input data set yielded a total of 76 scenarios at each point of interest. A 10 % probability that any of the 76 scenarios may exceed the largest median ground acceleration is selected. The deterministic seismic hazards in terms of PGA, 5 % damped spectral acceleration at 0.1, 0.2, 1.0 and 2.0 s are performed at 254 selected points. The ground motion was calculated at the 50th and 84th percentile levels for selected probability of exceeding the median value. The largest ground motion in the Sultanate of Oman is observed in the northeastern part of the country.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to express our appreciation to the Oman Ministerial Cabinet for funding this project under project number 22409017. Thanks are also due to Sultan Qaboos University, for the strong support and encouragement. We would like to express our sincere thanks to the Seismic Hazard committee members for their continuous interest and its assistance to complete this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Earthquake Monitoring Center, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman

    A. Deif, I. El-Hussain, S. Al-Hashmi, K. Al-Toubi, Y. Al-Shijbi & M. Al-Saifi

  2. Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman

    K. Al-Jabri

  3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA

    N. Toksoz

  4. National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics, Helwan, Egypt

    A. Deif & S. El-Hady

  5. Faculty of Earth Science, Geophysics Department, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

    S. El-Hady

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  1. A. Deif
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  2. I. El-Hussain
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  3. K. Al-Jabri
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  4. N. Toksoz
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  5. S. El-Hady
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  6. S. Al-Hashmi
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  7. K. Al-Toubi
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  8. Y. Al-Shijbi
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  9. M. Al-Saifi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to I. El-Hussain.

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Deif, A., El-Hussain, I., Al-Jabri, K. et al. Deterministic seismic hazard assessment for Sultanate of Oman. Arab J Geosci 6, 4947–4960 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-012-0790-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-012-0790-4

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