| Abstract: | The strong ground motion observation network began to operate in the Taipei Basin area as part of the Taiwan Strong Motion Instrumentation Program (TSMIP). It is operated by the Seismological Observation Centre of the Central Weather Bureau. Forty-three free-field accelerometers have been installed in the Taipei Basin, and several earthquakes have been recorded by this network since its installation. Three events with magnitudes of 5–7, 5–4 and 6–2 that triggered more than ten stations are used here to study the characteristics of the basin effects on ground motions both in the time and frequency domains. From this study, it is clear that vibrations of different frequencies have different amplifications in the Taipei Basin. In fact, the frequency responses show the variation can even be up to about 7 times. The horizontal peak ground acceleration (PGA) and spectral ratio contours in the low-frequency band are closely correlated with the geological structure in the Taipei Basin. The analysis of the response spectra also shows this correlation phenomenon and the relation between the damage from an earthquake and the basin effects. |
