Seismic Hazard Assessment of Dhanbad City, India, by deterministic approach

Dhanbad is the largest producer of coal in the state of Jharkhand, India, and hence, it is one of the most important cities in the country. Considering the present-day importance and future growth of the city, assessment of seismic hazard is extremely needed, especially for the mining authorities and the city planners. The prime objective of this study is to develop seismic hazard map of Dhanbad City for the bedrock level following the deterministic approach. In view of the absence of the region-specific Ground Motion Prediction Equations, the concept of logic tree comprising four different attenuation models is adopted. It is observed that the Peak Ground Acceleration in the range of 0.10–0.26 g may be expected in the city. Specifically, southern blocks of the city such as Baghmara, Jharia and Baliapur are found to be most vulnerable to the seismic hazard. Besides, developed seismic hazard map is divided into four zones and smooth acceleration response spectrums are proposed for the zones as per the expected seismicity in different parts of the city.