Abstract
The eastern Arabian Peninsula lies close to the Zagros fold-thrust fault belt that has been considered as one of the most active seismotectonic regions in the Middle East, where the occurrences of large earthquakes (M-w >= 5.0) are in abundance. The southern Kuwait seismic zone is the nearest source to the study area. Hence, widespread damage can be expected in this region due to the presence of a thick section of soft sediments. Here, an earthquake catalogue is compiled, reviewed precisely and compared with international seismological data. The affected seismotectonic zones are modeled and their seismicity parameters and maximum moment magnitude are estimated. Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA) values for earthquakes with magnitudes 4.0 <= M-w <= 7.5 have been simulated at distances up to 300 km from the source using a stochastic model. The predicted attenuation for PGA at bedrock is estimated from an established formula having obtained suitable values for the model parameters. With the help of this equation, the potential seismic hazard for the eastern part of the Arabian Peninsula can be assessed.