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Site Classification for Earthquake Hazard and Risk Assessment in Australia

Created 17/10/2025

Updated 17/10/2025

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One of the more important observations from the 1989 Newcastle earthquake in Australia was the spatial distribution of earthquake damage, which was strongly related to variability in near-surface regolith properties and their influence on ground-shaking (i.e. site response). This association between ground-shaking and sediment distribution is well recognised, but has not previously been investigated for much of Australia. In an effort to characterize the Australian regolith in terms of its ability to modify earthquake energy, this study develops a national site classification map of Australia for application in first order earthquake hazard and risk assessment. Site classes are assigned based on a method developed in California, which uses the relationship between geological material and the shear wave velocity of the upper 30 m (Vs30). The classification scheme is then adjusted to suit the Australian geological environment, by accounting for the presence of highly weathered in situ regolith commonly encountered in this generally stable tectonic setting. This methodology has been successfully tested using geophysical data from a variety of Quaternary sedimentary environments in the Newcastle, Sydney and Perth urban areas and from bedrock-dominated environments at a range of sites across Australia.

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Additional Info

Field Value
Title Site Classification for Earthquake Hazard and Risk Assessment in Australia
Language eng
Licence Not Specified
Landing Page https://data.gov.au/data/en/dataset/890f21a2-3b9d-4460-a436-20e54a1e6d90
Contact Point
Geoscience Australia Data
clientservices@ga.gov.au
Reference Period 22/04/2018
Geospatial Coverage
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
{
  "coordinates": [
    [
      [
        110.0,
        -44.0
      ],
      [
        156.0,
        -44.0
      ],
      [
        156.0,
        -9.0
      ],
      [
        110.0,
        -9.0
      ],
      [
        110.0,
        -44.0
      ]
    ]
  ],
  "type": "Polygon"
}
Data Portal Geoscience Australia

Data Source

This dataset was originally found on Geoscience Australia "Site Classification for Earthquake Hazard and Risk Assessment in Australia". Please visit the source to access the original metadata of the dataset:
https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/csw/dataset/site-classification-for-earthquake-hazard-and-risk-assessment-in-australia