Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Seismic-hazard maps for the conterminous United States

June 3, 2005

This publication consists of six map sheets (titles and text included in this document, below), geospatial datasets, and metadata. The geospatial datasets consist of ArcInfo export files for the seismic-hazard point and polygon data shown on the sheets.
Probabilistic seismic-hazard maps were prepared for the conterminous United States portraying peak horizontal acceleration and horizontal spectral response acceleration for 0.2- and 1.0-second periods with probabilities of exceedance of 10 percent in 50 years and 2 percent in 50 years. All of the maps were prepared by combining the hazard derived from spatially smoothed historic seismicity with the hazard from fault-specific sources. The acceleration values contoured are the random horizontal component. The reference site condition is firm rock, defined as having an average shear-wave velocity of 760 m/sec in the top 30 meters corresponding to the boundary between NEHRP (National Earthquake Hazards Reduction program) site classes B and C.
This data set represents the results of calculations of hazard curves for a grid of points with a spacing of 0.05 degrees in latitude and longitude. The points were contoured to produce the final representation of the seismic hazard.

Publication Year 2005
Title Seismic-hazard maps for the conterminous United States
DOI 10.3133/sim2883
Authors Arthur D. Frankel, Mark D. Petersen, Charles S. Mueller, Kathleen M. Haller, Russell L. Wheeler, E. V. Leyendecker, Robert L. Wesson, Stephen C. Harmsen, Chris H. Cramer, David M. Perkins, Kenneth S. Rukstales
Publication Type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Series Title Scientific Investigations Map
Series Number 2883
Index ID sim2883
Record Source USGS Publications Warehouse