Development of New Attenuation Equation For Subduction

Arab J Geosci (2016) 9:741
DOI 10.1007/s12517-016-2773-3
ORIGINAL PAPER
Development of new attenuation equation for subduction

mechanisms in Malaysia water
Ramli Nazir 1 & Hossein Moayedi 2
&
Rozaimi Bin Mohd Noor 3 & Soheil Ghareh 4
Received: 29 August 2016 / Accepted: 29 November 2016

# Saudi Society for Geosciences 2016
Abstract The attenuation equation for far field earthquake is

important because the earthquake occurring in neighboring
countries can be felt in Malaysia. In this study, a new attenuation was generated using the regression method. It was developed to calculate the peak ground acceleration (PGA)
onsite (offshore platform). The database consisting of more
than 150 PGAs from 9 events of earthquakes recorded by
the Seismology Station in Malaysia was used to develop the
relationship. In addition, attenuation relationships for subduction mechanisms from previous researchers are then compared
with the newly generated ones in this research. The new attenuation equation was also validated and used to calculate the
acceleration for far field earthquake in a case study of offshore
platform at a Terengganu seaside. The result of PGA from the
new generated attenuation relationship was in a good match
with previous attenuation equations.
Keywords Attenuation equation . Subduction mechanisms .

Earthquake . Peak ground acceleration . Malaysia water
* Hossein Moayedi
Hossein.moayedi@gmail.com
Tropical Geoengineering Centre, Faculty of Civil Engineering,

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, Malaysia
Department of Civil Engineering, Kermanshah University of

Technology, Kermanshah, Iran
Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor

Bahru, Malaysia
Department of Civil Engineering, Payame Noor University,

P.O. Box 19395-4697, Tehran, Iran
Introduction
Malaysia is located near the boundaries of a major tectonic
plate. The wave from a large magnitude of an earthquake
could spread or extend to the Malaysian region. Major earthquakes located over Southern Philippines and in the Straits of
Macassar, Sulu Sea, and Celebes Sea can be felt in the east
Malaysian area, in which these two locations have experienced earthquakes of local origin. In the west, the Indian
Ocean plate moves northeast ward and is subducted under
Sumatra. The nearest location of this subduction zone is about
600 km to Singapore. Most of the earthquakes generated in
this zone are shallow to intermediate with very unusual deep
events. According to the historical records in the last 300 years,
four great earthquakes have occurred in this zone. Two occurred in the 1800s: moment magnitude (Mw) of 8.75 in 1833
and Mw of 8.4 in 1861 (Newcomb and McCann, 1987) and
another two occurred in recent years: Mw of 9.3 Aceh earthquake in Dec 2004 and Mw of 8.7 Nias earthquake in
March 2005. Aceh earthquake generated a great tsunami that
killed over 230,000 people and half a million were injured
(Farrell et al., 2015).
According to Vigny et al. (2005), three general seismic
patterns occurred in Peninsular Malaysia, which are interseismic or pre-seismic, co-seismic, and post-seismic. These
three patterns occur in the subduction zone. The subduction
zone are the zones where the widespread recycling of hydrated
material such as sediment, upper mantle, and hydrated oceanic
crust occurs at great depth, followed by the metamorphic process that will transform it into a series of high-pressure mineral
(Lallemand and Funiciello, 2009). The Peninsular Malaysia is
located in a low-seismic region where the closest seismic
zones are located approximately 350 km away from the
Sumatran seismic zones, namely, the Sumatran subduction
and fault zones. Although Peninsular Malaysia lies on a
741
Page 2 of 13
seismically stable region, structures in this region frequently

experience earthquakes generated from the Sumatran seismic
zones with magnitudes as low as 5.0.
According to Balendra et al. (1990), the earthquake in
Sumatera caused a far field effect occurring at buildings situated on soft soil elsewhere. Peninsula Malaysia is located on
the stable part of the Eurasian plate. However, neighboring
countries with an unstable plate can also experience the
tremors due to the far field effect from the earthquake. Tall
buildings in Singapore and peninsula Malaysia can feel these
tremors from the Sumatera earthquake. The mechanism for
such tremors for far field effect of earthquakes is illustrated
in Fig. 1 (Balendra and Li, 2008).
The Sumatera earthquake produced seismic waves which
travel for a long distance before reaching the Singapore bedrock. This is called wave propagation. In the wave propagation, the high magnitude of earthquake will dampen out rapidly while the low magnitude of waves is more vigorous to
energy dissipation, since the wave travels for a long distance.
Thus, the seismic waves reach the bedrock of Singapore or
Peninsula Malaysia in long-period waves and the seismic
waves also significantly become amplified due to the resonance when they propagate upward through the local soft soil
sites. The period of propagation is close to the main period of
the seismic waves. Residents in the building can feel shaking
from the amplified waves because of the resulting motion.
Many researchers have conducted studies to find whether
the motions from earthquake can cause damage to the buildings. These include researchers such as Balendra et al. (2002),
Megawati and Pan (2002), Megawati et al. (2003), and
Megawati et al. (2005). On the other hand, researchers such
as Earnest et al. (2005), Ozbulut and Hurlebaus (2012), and
Aghabarati and Tehranizadeh (2009) investigated near-field
earthquake. Earnest et al. (2005) conducted a study on nearfield earthquake observations and the seismic deformation
associated with the Andaman-Sumatra earthquake. For instance, Aghabarati and Tehranizadeh (2009) presented attenuation equations for the PGA and PSA of the horizontal and
vertical components based on the near-source ground motion.
Attenuation relationships for subduction mechanisms

The seismic wave moving away from the epicenter is known
as attenuation. Energy from the epicenter grows smaller as the
energy is attenuated by the ground. The attenuation of waves
depends on the distance. The attenuation in the signal of
ground motion intensity plays an important role in the assessment of possible strong ground shaking. A seismic wave loses
energy as it propagates through the earth (attenuation). The
attenuation equation has been applied for the last two decades.
It was developed due to ground motion and categorized as
tectonic.
Attenuation relationships are mostly developed to determine the estimated peak ground acceleration (PGA) or peak
horizontal acceleration at the site. The PGA is equal to the
maximum ground acceleration that occurred in time of earthquake where the ground is shaking at a location. Peak ground
acceleration is equal to the amplitude of the largest absolute
acceleration recorded on an accelerogram at a site during a
particular earthquake. The relationships that were developed
were based on a simple mathematical model that relates
ground motion parameters and earthquake source parameters
such as source to structure distance, moment magnitude, and
local site condition. In general, the peak ground acceleration
can be divided into two categories: subduction and fault
zones. Attenuation from subduction source is different than
from strike slip sources. Table 1 shows the previous attenuation relations for fault zones by Campbell et al. (2002): the
component attenuation model.
In a subduction zone, common attenuation relations for
earthquake used were from Crouse (1991) and Petersen et al.
(2004), whereas attenuation relationships, which were developed by Campbell et al. (2002), and Toro et al. (1997) are
recently used in estimation of ground motion for shallow
crustal earthquakes. Table 2 shows the previous attenuation
Table 1
Previous attenuation relations for fault zones
Fault Zone
I. Campbell
lnY = c1 + c2Mw + c3 (8.5 Mw)2 + c4 ln [f1 (Mw, rup)]
+ f2(rup) (c9 + c10Mw) rup
where f1 (Mw, rup) = SQRT(rup2 + [c5exp(c6Mw)]2)c
II. Component attenuation model
S vmax 1:625*
M :GR; D:R; Q

S Amax cm =s2 2Svmax=T 1 PGA Svmax=3
Fig. 1 Schematic diagram for far-field effects of earthquakes (Balendra

and Li, 2008)
where (M) = *[a1 + a2 (M 5) a3]; G(R,D) = (30/1.5D)(2.5D/R)0.5;

(R,Q) = (30/R)C1C2RC; the coefficients C1, C2 and the exponent c
are defined as follows:
C1 = 0.005, C2 = 0.043 (Q/100)2 0.53 (Q/100) + 1.8; and C =
0.022 (Q/100) + 0.8

Table 2
Page 3 of 13 741
Previous attenuation relations for subduction zone
Data Collection
Subduction zone
I. Adnan and Hendriyawan (2005)
lnY = 21.6187 + 3.3993 * Mw + 0.6040 * Mw1.1034 7.7091 * ln
[Rhypo + 6.6233 exp (0.5554 * Mw)] + 0.061 * H
II. Adnan and Suhatril (2009)
lnY = 0.469151 + 7.108251 104 M + 0.456626 M0.032769 +
2.122059 103 ln (R + 235088.506 exp (0.664657 M))
2.860212 107 H
where Y = mean of ground motion (PGA) in gal
M = magnitude of the earthquake (moment magnitude)
R = distance from the source to the site being considered
(hypocentral distance) in km
H = focal depth of site characteristics function in km
equation relations for subduction zones by Adnan and Suhatril

(2009). Subduction zones exist at convergent plate boundaries
where one plate of oceanic lithosphere converges with another
plate. The strike slip earthquake commonly occurs along vertical fault planes on one side of the fault slides horizontally
past the other.
Table 3
Time Series of Earthquake from Malaysia

Meteorology Department (MMD)
Analysis of the data

Develop New Attenuation Equation
Plot the graph

Determine Peak Ground Acceleration at
Offshore Platform and Dummy Station
Fig. 2 Flow of methodology
Lin and Lee (2008) presented a study on ground motion

attenuation relationships for subduction zone earthquakes in
northeastern Taiwan:
lnPGA 0:9 1:0M1:90ln R 0:9918 e0:5263M
0:004H 0:31zt
The summary of the previous research on seismic wave propagation
Author
Finding
Gap of study
Kadinsky-Cade et al. (1981)
The isostatic compensation of the plateaus could be due

to the anomalously hot uppermost mantle that
developed behind the mid-to-upper Tertiary subduction
zone(s) in this region and to a subsequent crustal
shortening after the collision of the Arabian and
Eurasian plates
Sn wave propagation was efficient in the uppermost
mantle beneath most of the Tibetan Plateau. The
physiographic tectonic boundaries did not affect
the Sn transmission in Tibet
The study was conducted in the Middle East area for

high frequency seismic wave propagation. The
difference is this study was conducted for the
Malaysian region which was affected by far-field
earthquake.
Barazangi and Ni (1982)
Graves (1996)
The detailed formulation was provided to describe the

incorporation of the moment-tensor sources; a stable
and accurate representation was implemented for
planar free-surface boundary for 3D models. The
approximate technique was derived to model
spatially variable on elastic attenuation with
time-domain finite-difference computations.
Komatitsch and Tromp (2002) The spectral element method is based on the weak
formulation of the equations of motion. It combines
the flexibility of a finite element method with
accuracy of a global pseudo-spectral method. The
three domains are matched at the inner core and
coremantle boundaries, honoring the continuity
of traction and the normal component of velocity
Moczo et al. (2007)
The finite difference (FD) and finite element (FE) is
implementation of the traction-at-split-nodes
method for simulation of dynamic rupture
propagation
The seismic wave propagation beneath the Indian

Shield, Himalayan Arc, Tibetan Plateau and
surrounding region. The difference is that this
study was conducted for seismic wave propagation
beneath the subduction zone in Sunda Trench,
Philippine Trench, and Manila Trench.
The planar free-surface boundary for 3D models
was used to simulate seismic wave propagation.
The difference is that this study used new attenuation
equation and non-linear earthquake site response
analysis to study the wave propagation.
The spectra element method was used to study the

seismic wave propagation. The different method was
used in this study to analyze the wave propagation.
The methods used in this study are the new attenuation
equation and non-linear earthquake site response analysis.
The finite difference and finite element modeling was

used to study the seismic wave propagation, unlike
this study which used new attenuation equation and
the non-linear earthquake site response analysis (NERA).
741
Table 4
Page 4 of 13
The database from MMD (10 of 117 data)
No
Source
Coordinate Of platform
Coordinate Of events
Date
Time
001
002
003
004
005
006
007
008
009
010
Southern Sumatera Indonesia

5.61 N , 103.91 E
5.61 N , 103.91 E
5.61 N , 103.91 E
5.61 N , 103.91 E
5.61 N , 103.91 E
5.61 N , 103.91 E
5.61 N , 103.91 E
5.61 N , 103.91 E
5.61 N , 103.91 E
5.61 N , 103.91 E
2.8 S, 100.8 E
2.8 S, 100.8 E
2.8 S, 100.8 E
2.8 S, 100.8 E
2.8 S, 100.8 E
2.8 S, 100.8 E
2.6 S, 99.7 E
2.6 S, 99.7 E
2.6 S, 99.7 E
2.6 S, 99.7 E
09 Dec. 2007
09 Dec. 2007
09 Dec. 2007
09 Dec. 2007
09 Dec. 2007
09 Dec. 2007
25 Feb. 2008
25 Feb. 2008
25 Feb. 2008
25 Feb. 2008
23:49:00
23:49:00
23:49:00
23:49:00
23:49:00
23:49:00
8:36:00
8:36:00
8:36:00
8:36:00
where M = moment magnitude; R = hypocentral distance;

h = the focal depth; and Zt = the subduction zoneearthquake
type. Noteworthy, in the presented formula, Zt is considered to
be zt = 0 in interface earthquake and zt = 1 in intraslab
earthquake.
Balendra and Li (2008) studied the seismic hazard of
Singapore and Malaysia and found that the prediction for
Aceh earthquake was not good because the fault rupture was
directed away from Singapore, and the epicenter was nearly
1000 km from Singapore. Noteworthy, the present study considered two strong earthquakes: the 2004 Acheh earthquake
(Mw = 9.3) and the 2005 Niah earthquake (Mw = 8.7), unlike
the new attenuation equation which considered all magnitudes
of earthquake.
Megawati and Pan (2009) investigated ground-motion attenuation relationship for the Sumatran Megathrust earthquakes. The result was presented as follows:
lnY a0 a1 Mw 6 a2 Mw 62 a3 lnR
a4 a5 Mw R lny
Table 5 The database from

MMD (10 of 117 data)
where Y = geometric mean of the horizontal PGA (cm/s2),

PGV (cm/s), or RSA (cm/s2) values.
Mw = moment magnitude, and R = distance from the
station to the center of the corresponding fault plane
(km).
Ulutas and Ozer (2010) studied an empirical attenuation relationship of PGA for the eastern Marmara region
in Turkey. The logarithm equation used to calculate the
PGA did not consider the focal depth, and H, which is
the value of focal depth, different from that of the new
attenuation must be considered:
logA C1 C2 Mw log10 rrup h
logC3 rrup
where A = peak ground acceleration (PGA), rrup = source to

site distance, and Mw = magnitude.
Research comparison is used to compare this study with
previous studies. The difference between this topic with previous ones is known as gap of study. Table 3 shows the previous study for several researchers on seismic wave
propagation.
No.
Type
Station
involved
PGA (Z)
PGA (N)
PGA (E)
Hypocentral
distance
001
002
SB 1A
SB 1A
IPM
KOM
0.000493
0.000625
0.000377
0.000927
0.000460
0.000937
996.5
996.5
003
004
005
006
007
008
009
010
SB 1A
SB 1A
SB 1A
SB 1A
SB 1B
SB 1B
SB 1B
SB 1B
KSM
KTM
LDM
SBM
KOM
IPM
KSM
KTM
0.000162
0.000371
0.000061
0.000101
0.000380
0.000119
0.000126
0.000164
0.000162
0.000263
0.000077
0.000280
0.000239
0.000092
0.000195
0.000098
0.000138
0.000652
0.000073
0.000118
0.000261
0.000627
0.000138
0.000229
996.5
996.5
996.5
996.5
1025
1025
1025
1025

Table 6
Page 5 of 13 741
Regression variable results
Regression variable results

Variable
Results
C1
3.25
C2
2.27
C3
2.28
C4
1.13
C5
2.22
C6
360.46
C7
0.05
C8
0.005
Many attenuation formulas have been proposed by previous researchers. However, no attenuation relationship was developed for the Malaysian region, a region that is affected by
the subduction mechanism. Therefore, the development of
appropriate attenuation relationship for Malaysia was needed
and it is the main objective of this study.
Data collection and methodology

In Fig. 2, data (distance, peak ground acceleration at the station, and the source of the earthquakes location) collection
and information required for the analysis are presented. In this
research, the graph was plotted to determine the peak ground
acceleration at the platform and the dummy station. The dummy station is a non-analysis station which was chosen to check
the validation of the attenuation relationship derived. The chosen seismology station for the dummy station is Kulim
Station.
Development of new attenuation equation
A new attenuation relationship for far-field earthquakes
considered by a subduction mechanism was developed.
Fig. 3 Location of offshore

platform at a Terengganu seaside
(Google maps, 2015)
The attenuation relation function was developed using

regression analysis by maximum likelihood analysis. In
this research, the new attenuation equation for subduction mechanism followed typical forms of attenuation
relationship proposed by Kramer (1996) and Youngs
et al. (1997) developed by Adnan et al. (2004). A typical form of attenuation relationship may have the following equation:
In Y C1 C2 M C3 MC4 C5 lnR C6 expC7 M
4
C8 H f P
In Eq. (1), Y is the mean of ground motion parameters, M is the magnitude of the earthquake, R is the
measure of distance from the source to the site being
considered, H is the focal depth of the earthquake, f(P)
is other parameters such a source and site characteristics
functions, and C1 to C8 are the coefficients of the attenuation function that is obtained from the regression
analysis by maximum likelihood analysis.
Analyzing the collected data using regression method
The regression method was used to analyze the collected data. One of the regression analyses that can used is
the least squares method. The solver application for the
least squares method can be added to the Excel program. Random effects model for the regression analysis
was used in this study. The random effects model is a
maximum likelihood method that becomes correlations
for recorded data. There are 117 databases used to analyze the 8 coefficients of the attenuation function. The
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Page 6 of 13
Sulu Archipelago (02/05/2012)
Off West Coast (28/03/2005)
Sumatera Acheh (11/04/2012)
Sumatera Acheh (11/04/2012)

Northern Sumatera (06/04/2010)
Northern Sumatera (01/12/2006)
Southern Sumatera (30/09/2009)

Fig. 4 Subduction earthquake location on Maps
database used for the study has been made available by

the Malaysian Meteorological Department (MMD) located in Petaling Jaya, which has deployed a few of stations in Malaysia Region. Tables 4 and 5 show the
database for Southern Sumatera Indonesia.
The regression variable was resulted as shown in
Table 6. There are 8 coefficients that produced after
the least squares analysis by using 117 databases for 5
sources of earthquake.
The database consisting of more than 150 peak
ground accelerations from 5 sources of earthquakes recorded by MMD was used to develop the relationship.
The new attenuation function is shown in Eq. (5):
In Y 3:252:27M 2:28M1:13
2:22lnR 360:46exp0:05M0:005H
where Y = mean of ground motion (PGA) in grams,

M = magnitude of the earthquake (moment magnitude),
R = distance from the source to the site being considered (hypocentral distance) in kilometers, and H = focal
depth of site characteristics function in kilometers.
As stated, a non-linear model was used to obtain the
PGA results. A successful application of these models
to justify the methodology could be found in studies by
Valipour (2012), Valipour et al. (2013), and Valipour

(2014).
PGA data
More than 150 available ground motions were recorded.
However, only 117 data were selected for the analysis of
PGA. This is because ground motion records with noises
were excluded. Furthermore, insignificant waveforms,
which exist within the available dataset, were removed
by applying resolution values for PGA. The database
consisting of more than 150 peak ground accelerations
from 9 events of earthquakes recorded by the
Seismology Station in Malaysia was used to develop the
relationship. The focus of this study is to investigate the
new attenuation relationship for subduction earthquake to
gain exact peak ground acceleration at the location on site.
Based on this study, the platform is located at a
Terengganu seaside (longitude 5.61 N, latitude 103.91 E)
as shown in Fig. 3. In the Southern Asian regions
(Indonesia, Philippines, and Malaysia) for example, there
is significant hazard from the earthquake along the subduction fault.
From years 2004 to 2012, few interpolations for earthquake events of magnitude Mw 3.5 were recorded. Out
of these 21 events, 10 were shallow strike-slip events,

Table 7 Location of recorded
seismology stations in Malaysia
Page 7 of 13 741
No.
Station code
Station name
Latitude
Longitude
Foundation
Elevation
1
2
3
4
5
KUM
IPM
FRM
KTM
KGM
Kulim
Ipoh
Frim Kepong
Kuala Terengganu
Kluang
5.29N
4.58N
3.24N
5.33N
2.01N
100.65E
101.03E
101.63E
103.14E
103.32E
Granite
Granite
Granite
Meta sediment
Granite
74
247
97
33
103
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
KOM
JRM
BNM
SPM
KSM
SBM
BTM
KKM
KDM
SDM
TSM
LDM
PYSM_BO
PYSM_B9
BKSM
SASM
GTSM
JBSM
Kota Tinggi
Jerantut
Bakun
Sapulut
Kuching
Sibu
Bintulu
Kota Kinabalu
Kudat
Sandakan
Tawau
Lahad Datu
Putrajaya Basement
Putrajaya Level9
Bukit Kiara
Shah Alam
Goh Tong Jaya
Janda Baik
1.79N
3.89N
2.78N
4.71N
1.47N
2.45N
3.21N
6.04N
6.94N
5.64N
4.29N
5.18N
2.92N
2.92N
3.15N
3.10N
3.39N
3.32N
103.85E
102.48E
114.03E
116.46E
110.31E
112.21E
113.10E
116.21E
116.80E
117.19E
117.87E
118.50E
101.68E
101.68E
101.65E
101.51E
101.77E
101.86E
Granite
Sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone
Volcanic rock
Sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone
Granite
Sandstone
Granite
Sandstone
Granite
Concrete floor
Soft soil
Soft soil
Rocky
Rocky
49
55
166
275
66
237
156
830
3
463
62
177
N.A
74
66
28
844
577
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
KNSM
SRSM
BRSM
DTSM
PJSM
UYSM
BTSM
Offshore Platform
Kundang
Serendah
Beranang
Dusun Tua
Wet Land
Ulu Yam
Bukit Tinggi
Terengganu
3.27N
3.37N
2.90N
3.13N
2.97N
3.27N
3.35N
5.61N
101.51E
101.62E
101.86E
101.84E
101.69E
101.69E
101.82E
103.91E
Soft soil
Soft soil
Rocky
Rocky
Soft soil
Soft soil
Soft soil
Stiff clay
27
61
73
67
45
84
322
66
which occurred along the Sumatran, Peninsular Malaysia,

Sabah and Sarawak fault, while the remaining 9 events
occurred within the subduction zone. The magnitude of
the events was adopted by the Malaysian Meteorological
Department (MMD) and National Earthquake Information
Center (NEIC) of the US Geological Survey (USGS). As
recorded, Fig. 4 shows the subduction earthquake locations on maps. The subduction earthquakes were recorded
between 2005 until 2012.
The data used for this study has been made available
by MMD, located at Petaling Jaya which has deployed a
few stations in Malaysia. Table 7 and Fig. 5 show the list
of recorded seismology stations in Malaysia and the location of recorded seismology station on maps respectively. The subduction earthquakes were recorded between 2005 and 2012.
Table 8 shows the subduction earthquake profile for event

sources in Southern Sumatera, Indonesia. The event was divided into three sources which are SD 1A, SD 1B, and SD 1C,
as shown in Table 8. The events occurred between 2007 and
2009.
Table 9 shows the subduction earthquake profile for the
event source in Sumatera Acheh. The event was divided into
two: SD 2A and SD 2B, as shown in Table 9. The events
occurred in 2012 on the very same day but at different times.
event source in Northern Sumatera Indonesia. The event was
separated into two: SD 3A and SD 3B. The events occurred
between 2006 and 2010.
event source off the west coast of Northern Sumatera
Indonesia. An event occurred in 2005.
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Page 8 of 13
Fig. 5 Location of recorded seismology station

event source on Sulu Archipelago (SD 5). An event occurred
in 2012. The Sulu Archipelago is a chain of islands located in
the Pacific Ocean, in the southwestern Philippines.
Information of the event is presented in Table 12 where the
depth of 4.47 magnitude earthquake was 7.8 km, and the
distance from the Sulu Archipelago was 1720 km. As stated
from literature, the earthquakes occurring at a focus depth of
less than 70 km, such as we can see in the Sulu Archipelago,
are classified as shallow-focus earthquakes, while those with a
focal depth between 70 and 300 km are commonly termed
Table 8
mid-focus or intermediate-depth earthquakes (Yu, 2013, Liu

et al., 2014).
Table 13 shows the summary of selected subduction earthquakes which includes the date and time of each earthquake.
PGA analysis
According to Husen et al. (2013), PGA is the measure of
intensity for earthquakes. The parameters included for PGA
are earthquake magnitude, distance of earthquake to the structure, and the geological condition. The worst destruction that
Subduction earthquake profile for three event sources in Southern Sumatera, Indonesia (SD 1)
Source/event and description
Southern Sumatera
Indonesia (SD 1A)
Southern Sumatera
Indonesia (SD 1B)
Southern Sumatera Indonesia (SD 1C)
Date
12 Sept. 2007
25 Feb. 2008
30 Sept. 2009
Time
Depth (km)
Distance (km)
Magnitude
Longitudinal and latitude
Station involved
23:49:00
35
996.5
7.9
2.8S, 100.8E
IPM, KOM, KSM, KTM,
LDM, SBM
08:36:00
25
1025
7.2
2.6S, 99.7E
KOM, IPM, KSM, KTM
10:09:09
81
996.8
7.6
0.87S, 97.7E
KUM, IPM, FRM, KTM, KGM, KOM,
JRM, BNM, SPM, KSM, SBM, BTM,
KKM, KDM, SDM, TSM, LDM,
PYSM_B0, PYSM, PYSM_B9,
BKSM, GTSM, BRSM
Type of earthquake
Subduction

Table 9 Subduction earthquake
profile for two event sources (SD
2) Sumatera Acheh
Page 9 of 13 741
Source/event and
description
Sumatera Acheh (SD 2A)
Sumatera Acheh (SD 2B)
Date
Time
Depth (km)
Distance (km)
Magnitude
Station involved
11 April 2012
08:38:00
10
1242
7.71
2.27S, 93.22E
BNM, BKSM, BRSM, BTM, DTSM,
FRM, GTSM, IPM, JRM, KDM,
KKM, KNSM, KOM, KSM,
KTM,
KUM, LDM, SBM, SRSM, TSM,
UYSM, KGM
Subduction
11 April 2012
10:43:00
10
1383
7.61
0.74S, 92.44E
BNM, BKSM, BRSM, BTM, DTSM,
FRM, GTSM, IPM, JRM, KDM,
KKM, KNSM, KOM, KSM,
KTM,
KUM, LDM, SBM, TSM, UYSM,
KGM
Type of earthquake
occurred had a high PGA. The PGA for different events was
analyzed using Eq. 3, which is the new attenuation equation.
The nine events with different magnitudes, distances, and focal depths were used to calculate the value of PGA:
In Y 3:252:27M 2:28M1:13
2:22lnR 360:46exp0:05M0:005H

(hypocentral distance) in kilometers, and H = focal depth of
site characteristics function in kilometers.
As stated earlier, the new attenuation equation was
developed to calculate the value of PGA due to subduction zones. This attenuation equation is different with
Table 10 Subduction earthquake

profile for two event sources (SD
3) Northern Sumatera Indonesia
the attenuation equation for strike slip earthquake because usually, the attenuation models for shallow crustal
earthquake use the effects of shallow site conditions
based on the shear-wave velocity time averaged over
the top 30 m (Vs30) using predictive equation (Hung
and Kiyomiya, 2012).
The value of PGA is different for every event. This is because the magnitude of earthquake, the distance of wave traveling, and the soil stratification are different. The value of
PGA for each event was affected by the distance of earthquake
source and station. However, the reducing magnitude does not
directly depend on the distance of waves traveling because it is
also dependent on the soil condition along the propagation.
Table 14 shows the summary of different PGAs at offshore
structure.
Table 15 shows the summary analysis for attenuation
in dummy stations. The Kulim Station (KUM) was used
Northern Sumatera Indonesia

(SD 3A)
Northern Sumatera Indonesia (SD 3B)
Date
Time
Depth (km)
Distance (km)
Magnitude
Station involved
01 Dec. 2006
01:58:00
204
616.8
6.6
3.4N, 98.8E
FRM, IPM, KGM, KTM, KUM
06 April 2010
22:15:06
31
829.7
7.24
3.412N, 97.145E
KGM, KUM, IPM, FRM, KTM,
KOM, JRM, BNM, KSM, SBM,
KDM, SDM, TSM, PYSM_B0,
PYSM_B9, SASM, UYSM, KKM,
BKSM, SPM
Type of earthquake
Subduction
741
Page 10 of 13
Table 11 Subduction earthquake profile for one event source (SD 4)

off the west coast of Northern Sumatera Indonesia
Date
Time
Depth (km)
Distance (km)
Magnitude
Station involved
Type of earthquake
Off West Coast Northern

Sumatera Indonesia (SD 4A)
28 Mar. 2005
16:09:00
30
835.4
8.6
2.0N, 97.3E
KSM, KKM, KGM, BTM,
IPM, FRM, KTM, KUM,
SBM
Subduction
as dummy station. The data from the dummy station was

recorded to calculate the acceleration using the new attenuation equation. The value of acceleration from the
new attenuation equation was then compared with the
actual data recorded by the Malaysian Meteorology
Department (MMD).
Discussion of summary analysis for new attenuation
equation
As stated earlier, there was not any particular attenuation
relationship developed for the Malaysian water.
Noteworthy is that the Malaysia region is largely affected
by the subduction mechanism where the development of
suitable and unique attenuation relationship significantly
affected the design of the offshore structures located in
Malaysian water.
Attenuation relationship for the subduction mechanism
was developed to estimate the Peak Ground Acceleration
(PGA) or peak horizontal acceleration on site. The parameters involved are distance from the sources to the
Table 12 Subduction earthquake profile for one event source (SD 5) on

Sulu Archipelago
Sulu Archipelago (SD 5A)
Date
02 May 2012
Time
Depth (km)
Distance (km)
Magnitude
Station involved
Type of earthquake
12:32:00
7.8
1720
4.47
4.89N, 119.42E
LDM, KKM
Subduction
Table 13
Summary of subduction selected earthquake
No.
Source/event
1.
Southern Sumatera
Indonesia
2.
Sumatera Acheh
3.
Northern Sumatera
Indonesia
4.
Off West Coast

Northern Sumatera
Indonesia
Sulu Archipelago
5.
Date
Time
SD 1A
SD 1B
SD 1C
SD 2A
SD 2B
SD 3A
SD 3B
SD 4A
12 Sept. 2007
25 Feb. 2008
30 Sept. 2009
11 April 2012
11 April 2012
01 Dec. 2006
06 April 2010
28 Mar. 2005
23:49:00
08:36:00
10:09:09
08:38:00
10:43:00
03:58:00
22:15:06
16:09:00
SD 5A
02 May 2012
12:32:00
structure, the moment magnitude, and the local site condition. All the data was collected from the Malaysian
Meteorology Department (MMD). The dummy station
was used to ascertain if the attenuation function process
was acceptable. If the PGA value approaches the real value from MMD, the equation is acceptable to be used. The
dummy stations were chosen at the outermost station, and
the constant data at the stations were collected from MMD
to compare with the attenuation function.
The aim of this study was to establish the new attenuation relationship for subduction earthquakes. More than
150 peak ground accelerations from 9 events of earthquake recorded by the Seismology Station in Malaysia
were used to develop the relationship. Among the 21
events that occurred between 2004 and 2012, 9 events
occurred within the subduction zone. The event occurred
in five sources; three events in Southern Sumatera
Indonesia, two events in Sumatera Acheh, two events in
Northern Sumatera Indonesia, one event in Off West Coast
Northern Sumatera Indonesia, and one event in Sulu
Archipelago.
As stated earlier, the regression method was used to
develop the new attenuation equation for a subduction
mechanism. In the regression analysis, the random effects
model is a maximum likelihood method that becomes
correlations for recorded data. The new attenuation then
was compared with the attenuation from Adnan and
Suhatril (2009) and Adnan et al. (2004). The new attenuation was also compared with the actual data from MMD.
Table 16 shows the validation of the new attenuation
equation compared with the dummy station, attenuation
equation developed by Adnan et al. (2004) and attenuation equation developed for the neighboring country
which is Singapore. Except in one case (equation
developed for Singapore from Adnan et al. 2004), the
result of PGA from the new generated attenuation relationship was in a good match.
Page 11 of 13 741
Table 14
Summary of peak ground acceleration at offshore structure
No.
Source/event
Magnitude, M
(Richter Scale)
Distance, R (km)
Focal depth,
H (km)
Peak ground
acceleration at
offshore structure (g)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Southern Sumatera Indonesia (SD 1A)

Southern Sumatera Indonesia (SD 1B)
Southern Sumatera Indonesia (SD 1C)
Sumatera Acheh (SD 2A)
Sumatera Acheh (SD 2B)
Northern Sumatera Indonesia (SD 3A)
Northern Sumatera Indonesia (SD 3B)
Off West Coast Northern Sumatera
Indonesia (SD 4A)
Sulu Archipelago (SD 5A)
7.9
7.2
7.6
7.71
7.61
6.6
7.24
8.6
996.5
1025
996.8
1242
1383
616.8
829.7
835.4
35
25
81
10
10
204
31
30
0.000431
0.000214
0.000223
0.000289
0.000220
0.000100
0.000292
0.001170
4.47
1720
9.
Conclusions
The development on new attenuation equation for subduction
mechanism is important to calculate the Peak Ground
Acceleration (PGA) which was received in Malaysia. A new
attenuation equation of subduction zone fault for far-field
earthquakes was established by using the regression method.
The validity of regression method was tested by plotting the
scattered residuals and with no discernable pattern.
Attenuation is the loss of energy of seismic waves that propagate through the earth. The attenuation was used to establish
Table 15 Summary analysis for

PGA at KUM Station using new
attenuation equation
7.8
0.000008
the PGA at the site BTerengganu seaside platform^ due to

subduction mechanism considering the ground motion parameters and earthquake source parameters. From the analysis, the
new attenuation equation was produced as shown below:
4
In Y 3:252:27M 2:28M1:13
2:22lnR 360:46exp0:05M0:005H

Source of event
Mean NE
(actual data
by MMD) (g)
Unit
New equation
derivation (g)
SD 1A
0.000075
SD 1B
0.000132
SD 1C
0.000170
SD 2A
0.000210
SD 2B
0.000090
g
gal (cm/s2)
g
gal (cm/s2)
g
gal (cm/s2)
g
gal (cm/s2)
g
gal (cm/s2)
0.000124
0.124455
0.000156
0.156269
0.000052
0.052287
0.000071
0.070679
0.000063
0.062509
SD 3A
0.000090
SD 3B
0.000018

Sumatera Indonesia (SD 4)
SD 4A
0.000135
Sulu Archipelago (SD 5)
SD 5A
0.000006
g
gal (cm/s2)
g
gal (cm/s2)
g
gal (cm/s2)
g
gal (cm/s2)
0.000120
0.119816
0.000057
0.056933
0.000271
0.271211
0.000071
0.071076
Southern Sumatera (SD 1)
Sumatera Acheh (SD 2)
Northern Sumatera
Indonesia (SD 3)
741
Page 12 of 13
Table 16
Validation of the new attenuation equation
Sources
Event
PGA Kulim station

(dummy) (g)
PGA new
attenuation (g)
PGA Adnan and

Hendriyawan (g)
PGA using equation

for Singapore (g)
SD 1A
SD 1B
SD 1C
SD 2A
0.000075
0.000132
0.00017
0.0002
0.0001
0.0002
0.00005
0.000071
0.0019
0.0045
0.00007
0.00015
0.0479
0.1753
0.0003
0.0787
SD 2B
SD 3A
SD 3B
SD 4A
0.00009
0.00009
0.00002
0.00014
0.000063
0.0001
0.00006
0.0003
0.0001
0.0003
0.0001
0.00002
0.0600
0.00000004
0.0111
0.3426
SD 5A
0.000006
0.00007
0.0007
0.0276
Sumatera Acheh
Northern Sumatera Indonesia
Sumatera Indonesia
Sulu Archipelago

(hypocentral distance) in kilometers, and H = focal depth of
site characteristics function in kilometers.
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Development of New Attenuation Equation For Subduction

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Arab J Geosci (2016) 9:741