Time-dependent shake map for Uttarakhand Himalayas, India, using recorded earthquakes

Uttarakhand Himalayas are highly sensitive to seismic hazard with possible occurrence of high-magnitude earthquakes. Fewer waveforms are available from previously recorded earthquakes, which are insufficient for carrying out seismic hazard studies. The recently installed strong motion instrumentation network (SMIN) in India, particularly, in Indian Himalayas is providing useful data. Using recorded data from SMIN, time-dependent peak ground acceleration and observed peak ground velocity shake maps are drawn for two earthquakes widely recorded by SMIN in Uttarakhand region of Indian Himalayan belt. Open-source Earthworm software with new algorithms is used for drawing these shake maps. The source mechanism is computed for April 4, 2011 earthquake using waveform inversion technique to relate it to the trend of shake maps. The computed focal mechanism shows one of the nodal planes in NW–SE, which are consistent with shake maps for the same earthquake. These time-dependent plotted shake maps provide useful information on the initial rupture, as well as the potential directivity of the rupture.