Basin effects on ground motion: the case of a high-resolution experiment in Cephalonia (Greece)

In this study data and results of a high-resolution experiment in Cephalonia (Greece) regarding empirical basin effects are presented. A total of 59 velocimeters and 17 accelerometers were deployed in the basin of Argostoli Cephalonia (Greece), for a period of 7 months (September 2011–April 2012). Due to high seismicity of the western Greece and surrounding area this array recorded thousands of local, regional and global events. Data used in this work come from a selection of 162 regional and local earthquakes, 3 km ≤ R ≤ 600 km, with magnitude range, 1.0 ≤ M ≤ 5.2. Based on high signal-to-noise ratio recordings and two selected reference stations, variation of several intensity measures (PGA, PGV, Arias Intensity, Cumulative Absolute Velocity), significant duration, HVSR and SSR of ground motion recordings on soil sites within the basin is carefully examined for a range of frequencies of engineering interest. Comparison of results with a detailed 2D geologic model shows a good consistency both in amplification and frequency domain. Influence of “reference” site on ground motion variation of soil sites is also discussed in light of our results. Finally, it is suggested that 2D or/and 3D theoretical modeling should be performed given the availability of geological and geophysical parameters to define a realistic model of the basin. Results of this study can undoubtedly serve in model validation and improvement of ground motion simulation tools.     

Site effects of the Roio basin, L��Aquila

During the microzonation studies of the April 6th, 2009 L??Aquila earthquake, we observed local seismic amplifications in the Roio area??a plane separated from L??Aquila city center by mount Luco. Six portable, digital instruments were deployed across the plain from 15 April to mid-May 2009. This array recorded 152 aftershocks. We analyzed the ground motion from these events to determine relative site amplification within the plain and on surrounding ridges. Horizontal over vertical spectral ratio on noise data (HVSRN), aftershock recordings (HVEQ) and standard spectral ratio (SSR) showed amplifications at 1.3 and 4.0?Hz on quaternary deposits. Seismic amplifications in the frequency range of 4 and 6?Hz were also observed on a carbonate ridge of Colle di Roio, on the northwestern border of the plateau. A small amplification was noticed near the top of mount Luco, another rocky site. Large discrepancies in the amplification levels between methods have been observed for these sites, but the HVSRN, HVEQ and SSR gave similar results at the stations located in the Roio plain. On the rocky sites, the SSR was more reliable than the HVSRN at estimating the transfer function of the site, even if the resonance frequency seemed to be well detected by the latter method.     

Correlation between damage distribution and ambient noise H/V spectral ratio: the SESAME project results

In the framework of the SESAME project one of the tasks was the compilation of all available ambient noise measurements within urban environments affected by historical or/and recent strong earthquakes in Europe. The aim of such a task was to give an answer to the question; “How does horizontal-to-vertical ambient noise spectral ratio compare with damage in modern cities?”. For this purpose five European urban areas, namely, Angra do Heroismo (Portugal), Fabriano and Palermo (Italy), Thessaloniki and Kalamata (Greece) were selected for which spatial damage information was available either in terms of modified Mercalli intensity or in EMS98 damage grades. The geological setting of the examined sites as well as the causative earthquakes are satisfactorily known. Ambient noise recordings compiled for all examined sites have been homogeneously processed by a technique developed and agreed upon SESAME project. Using a standard multivariate statistical analysis, namely, factor analysis and canonical correlation, the horizontal-to-vertical ambient noise spectral ratio (HVNSR) is correlated with damage pattern observed within examined urban areas. Results show that, in some cases (Thessaloniki, Palermo), the HVNSR seems to be able to differentiate between areas previously shown to be associated with higher damage. In other cases however (Angra do Heroismo, Fabriano, Kalamata), the correlation is not statistically significant indicating thus the complex character of the parameters involved, implying that currently there is no a straightforward way that a value of HVNSR can correctly predict the extent to which a given region will be associated with increased damage.     

Study of site effects in the area of Nocera Umbra (Central Italy) during the 1997 Umbria-Marche seismic sequence

During the M_L = 5.6 and 5.8 earthquakes occurredin central Italy on 26 September 1997 the historiccentre of Nocera Umbra, lying on top of a 120 m highhill, was diffusely damaged (VII-VIII degrees of MCSintensity). Some recently built houses in the modernpart of the town suffered an even higher level ofdamage. A temporary seismic array was deployed toinvestigate a possible correlation between localamplifications of ground motion in this area and theobserved pattern of damage. After a geologic andmacroseismic survey, eight sites were selected asrepresentative of different local conditions, such astopographic irregularities, sharp hard-to-softlithology transitions, alluvium-filled valleys, andboth undisturbed and deformed rocks.Horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratios for bothmicrotremor and earthquake recordings, as well asspectral ratios referred to undisturbed rock sites,were used to quantify local variations of groundmotion. In spite of the diffuse damage in the historiccentre of Nocera Umbra, a small amplification isobserved at the stations on the hill's top. Thissuggests that the higher vulnerability of the ancientbuildings mainly accounts for the diffuse damage inthat part of the town. In the frequency band ofengineering interest (1 to 10 Hz) the largestamplifications of ground motion are found at softsites: in the Topino river valley, where many episodesof severe structural damage occurred, spectralamplification is significant over a broad frequencyband ranging from 2 Hz to more than 20 Hz. Inparticular, in the central part of the valley highamplification (> 4) is found from 3 to 10 Hz,reaching a maximum of 20 around 4 Hz. At the edge ofthe valley, close to the soil-to-rock transition,amplification is as large as 10 in a frequency bandranging from 4 to more than 20 Hz. A significantamplification (by a factor of 10 around 10 Hz) isobserved also at one of the rock sites, possibly dueto the presence of a cataclastic zone related to theactivity of a regional fault that altered themechanical properties of the rock.     

Observations of vertical ground accelerations exceeding gravity during the 1997 Umbria-Marche (central Italy) earthquakes

We found extensive evidence that the vertical ground accelerations produced during the largest shock (M = 6.0) of the 1997 Umbria-Marche earthquake sequence exceeded 1g in two areas close to the heavily-damaged villages of Annifo and Colle Croce. This evidence comes from the striking observation of thousands of freshly fractured and broken rocks and stones in these areas. Some of the broken stones lie isolated on soft detritic soil while others had been previously piled up, probably a long time agoto clear the fields for farming. The freshness of the cuts and fractures and the consistency of the observations for thousands of rocks and stones in these areas indicate that these rocks were thrown upwards during the earthquake, with breakage occurring at the time of impact. Ground motion calculations consistent with the static deformation inferred from GPS and interferometry data, show that the broken stones and rocks are found in the zone where the strongest shaking took place during the earthquake and that most of the shaking there was vertical.     

A site effect study in the Verchiano valley during the 1997 Umbria-Marche (Central Italy) earthquakes

Strong site effects were observed during the two M _W 5.7 and M _W 6.0 main shocks of the Colfiorito seismic crisis which occured on September 26, 1997 in Umbria-Marche (Central Italy).The most obvious indications of these effects are the dramatic differences in damage shown by buildings of similar construction in neighboring villages.Such observations were specifically made in the Verchiano valley in the fault area, 15 km south of Colfiorito where the Verchiano village and the Colle and Camino hamlets were heavily damaged (MCS intensity IX-X) since the first main shock of 1997/09/26,while in contrast, the Curasci village located 2 km eastwards remains almost intact.In order to study the anomalous ground motion amplifications in this area, an array of 11, 3-components seismo- and accelero-meters was set up during the 1997/10/20-24 period, extending from the western side of the valley, up to the top of Mount San Salvatore, going accross the Colle and Curasci hamlets.During the experiment, 67 aftershocks enlightened the valley from the Colfiorito (10 km north) and the Sellano (6 km south) active swarms.Seismic refraction experiments were conducted at the same time in the 500 m wide, 1500 m long Verchiano valley in order to determine the thickness and main characteristics of the alluvial infilling.The main results are: (i) compared to the valley side ground motion, and for all the events, recordings in the central part of the valley (piana di Verchiano) show relative amplification of 10 with a clear lengthening of the seismogram duration by a factor of 2 – (ii) broad band relative amplification of 6–8 is also clearly identified at the top of the Mount San Salvatore overhanging the valley – (iii) any of the site effect measurements done explains by itself the strongly contrasted damage observed at Colle and Curasci: i.e. the modification of the near-field radiation pattern by interaction with the free heterogeneous surface may have induced local shadow zones that saved Curasci.     

Large amplification of ground motion at rock sites within a fault zone in Nocera Umbra (central Italy)

During the two mainshocks of September 26, 1997 inthe Umbria-Marche border a strong-motion accelerographrecorded peak ground accelerations as large as 0.6 g,approximately, in the town of Nocera Umbra, atdistances of 10 to 15 km from the epicentres. Thisvalue is significantly larger than expected on thebasis of the usual regressions with magnitude anddistance. A broad-band amplification up to a factor of10 was consistently estimated in previous papers,using both weak and strong motion data recorded at theaccelerograph site during local moderate earthquakes.To study the cause of this amplification we deployedsix seismologic stations across the tectonic contactbetween the Ceno-Mesozoic limestone and the Mesozoicmarly sandstone where the accelerograph is installed.Seismograms of 21 shallow aftershocks in the magnituderange from 2.2 to 4.0 and a subcrustal M_w = 5.3event are analysed. Regardless of epicentre location,waveforms show a large complexity in an approximately200 m wide band adjacent to the tectonic contact. Thisis interpreted as the effect of trapped waves in thehighly fractured, lower velocity materials within thefault zone.     

Evaluation of site effects in the Aterno river valley (Central Italy) from aftershocks of the 2009 L��Aquila earthquake

A temporary network of 33 seismic stations was deployed in the area struck by the 6th April 2009, Mw 6.1 (Scognamiglio et?al. in Seism Res Lett 6/81, 2010), L??Aquila earthquake (central Italy), with the aim to investigate the site amplification within the Aterno river Valley. The seismograms of 18 earthquakes recorded by 14 of the 33 stations were used to evaluate the average horizontal to vertical spectral ratio (HVSR) for each site and the standard horizontal spectral ratio (SSR) between a site and a reference station. The obtained results have been compared to the geological and geophysical information in order to explain the resonance frequencies and the amplification levels with respect to surface geology of the valley. The results indicate that there is no uniform pattern of amplification, because of the complex geologic setting, as the thickness and degree of cementation of the deposits is highly variable.     

A new hydrostratigraphic model of Venice area (Italy)

Two environmental problems affect the Venice area: subsidence, which has been increasing due to the intensive water abstraction after the Second World War, and contamination of the soil and shallow aquifers. In order to address these problems, which are decisive factors in the entire Venetian ecosystem, the aquifer structure must be known in detail. The lithologic data are abundant and of good quality up to a depth of 50 m, whereas boreholes beyond this depth are much rarer and more dispersed, making their associated lithological data unreliable. This work, which uses the available data together with fast and low cost passive seismic measurements, provides an improved understanding of the deeper hydrogeologic domain. For this purpose, a MATLAB package (Modalstrata) has been developed to improve the correlation of the stratigraphic succession for each selected homogeneous sub-area and applied to obtain a new, upgraded hydrostratigraphic model. The horizontal to vertical spectral ratio passive seismic surveys have confirmed the lateral correlations among the sample areas at least for the two main aquifer horizons. Analysis and comparisons of several previous studies performed on the data related to the only drilling continuous coring 951 m deep in the Tronchetto Island (Venice), have allowed a satisfactory validation of the proposed hydrogeological model.     

Statistical correlation of earthquake and ambient noise spectral ratios

The Horizontal-to-Vertical Spectral Ratio from earthquake (HVSR) and from ambient noise (HVN) recordings realistically indicate the fundamental frequency of soil response but, for the majority of the worldwide examined sites, they do not provide reliable amplification curves as calculated by the earthquake standard Spectral Ratio (SSR). Given the fact that HVSR and especially HVN can be easily obtained, it is challenging to search for a meaningful correlation with SSR amplification functions for the entire frequency band and to use the results for the SSR estimate at a further site where only noise measurements are available. To this aim we used recordings from 75 sites worldwide and we applied a multivariate statistical approach (canonical correlation analysis) to investigate and quantify any correlation among spectral ratios. The canonical correlation between SSR and HVN is then used to estimate the expected SSR at each site by a weighted average of the SSR values measured at the other sites; the weights are properly set to account more for sites with similar behaviour in terms of the canonical correlation results between HVN and SSR. This procedure, repeated for all sites in turn, constitutes the basis of a cross validation. The comparison between the inferred and the original SSR highlights the improvements of site response estimation with respect to the use of ambient noise techniques. The goodness and limitations of the reconstruction procedure are explained by specific geological settings.