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<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">EGUsphere</journal-id>
<journal-title-group>
<journal-title>EGUsphere</journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="publisher">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="nlm-ta">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
</journal-title-group>
<publisher><publisher-name>Copernicus Publications</publisher-name>
<publisher-loc>Göttingen, Germany</publisher-loc>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.5194/egusphere-2026-2676</article-id>
<title-group>
<article-title>Equal Area, Unequal Connectivity: A Random-Field Framework for Liquefaction Hazard Organization</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Tuna</surname>
<given-names>Şahin Çağlar</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
</contrib-group><aff id="aff1">
<label>1</label>
<addr-line>Yasar University, Department of Civil Engineering, Izmir, Turkey</addr-line>
</aff>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>30</day>
<month>09</month>
<year>2026</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>2026</volume>
<fpage>1</fpage>
<lpage>26</lpage>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright: &#x000a9; 2026 Şahin Çağlar Tuna</copyright-statement>
<copyright-year>2026</copyright-year>
<license license-type="open-access">
<license-p>This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit <ext-link ext-link-type="uri"  xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</ext-link></license-p>
</license>
</permissions>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-2676/">This article is available from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-2676/</self-uri>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-2676/egusphere-2026-2676.pdf">The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-2676/egusphere-2026-2676.pdf</self-uri>
<abstract>
<p>Scalar liquefaction hazard descriptors quantify the amount of potentially unstable ground, but they do not describe how susceptible or low-resistance zones are spatially organized. As a result, equal weak-zone area may correspond to fragmented, clustered, or domain-scale connected configurations with different field-scale implications.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This study develops a connectivity-based random-field framework to distinguish weak-zone extent from weak-zone organization in spatially variable liquefaction susceptibility fields. Dataset-informed synthetic Gaussian Random Field realizations were generated from cleaned SPT&lt;sub&gt;N160&lt;/sub&gt; statistics and investigation-domain geometry. The fields were converted into binary low-resistance weak-zone domains through lower-tail equal-area thresholding and quantified using graph-based connectivity descriptors.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Across a dense Pf&amp;minus;&amp;theta; parameter space, where Pf is the prescribed weak-zone area fraction and &amp;theta; is the spatial correlation length, the results reveal a systematic transition from fragmented to clustered and spanning regimes. Low-Pf fields remain fragmented across the explored range, whereas higher-Pf​ fields progressively develop larger connected components and domain-scale continuity. The clearest transition occurs around Pf=0.50, where spanning probability exceeds 0.50 once &amp;theta; reaches approximately 200 m.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;A random-allocation null model shows that spatially correlated fields produce fewer connected components, lower fragmentation, larger dominant components, and stronger top-cluster concentration than random fields with the same weak-zone area fraction. The 2011 Christchurch manifestation field further indicates that observed liquefaction patterns also contain non-random spatial organization beyond affected-area fraction. By separating hazard extent from spatial organization, the framework provides a topology-aware basis for interpreting field-scale liquefaction hazard and for identifying whether susceptible zones imply local, cluster-scale, or system-scale mitigation relevance.</p>
</abstract>
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