SOURCE SCALING RELATIONS OF LARGE EASTERN NORTH AMERICAN EARTHQUAKES AND IMPLICATIONS FOR GROUND MOTIONS.

The source characteristics of earthquakes in eastern North America and other continental interiors are found to be consistent with constant stress drop scaling, and inconsistent with non-constant scaling models such as that of O. W. Nuttli. The stress drops of earthquakes in eastern North America and other continental interiors are not significantly different from those of earthquakes in western North America, and have median values of approximately one hundred bars. This suggests that those aspects of strong ground motion amplitudes that are attributable to the earthquake source may also not be significantly different between eastern and western North America. However, differences in ground motion amplitudes may arise from differences in crustal structure, scattering, anelasticity, and local site effects between eastern and western North America.