This paper describes the methods and results of a two-year research project to evaluate seismic hazards in West Tennessee and to produce a new set of acceleration contour maps to be used in the design of Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) facilities. The work was performed by the researchers at the University of Memphis Department of Civil Engineering and the Center for Earthquake Research and Information in consultation with local consulting engineers, TDOT, and the United State Geological Survey (USGS).

The investigation is composed of three major tasks:

1. Develop procedures to generate horizontal bedrock motions in West Tennessee from a seismologically based model. The model must include the effects of attenuation, characteristics of the source zone, recurrence interval (500 and 2500 years), and seismotectonic setting of the region.

2. Perform seismic field investigation to determine the dynamic properties of soil in West Tennessee.

3. Propagate the bedrock motion through the layered soil deposits using the computer program SHAKE to determine the earthquake motions at the ground surface of a site.

Methods employed and the results of these tasks are discussed.

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