Soil classifications for estimating site-dependent response spectra and seismic coefficients for building code provisions in western Kentucky

One hundred thirty-four horizontally polarized shear-wave (SH) seismic soundings have been performed in the Jackson Purchase Region of western Kentucky. These data have been used to derive the thicknesses and shear-wave velocities for the various impedance horizons in the upper 30 m of the soil column at each site for the purposes of general land-use management and loss estimation in the event of an earthquake. A generalized seismic susceptibility soil classification scheme adopted by the Borcherdt (1994a,b) was fit to the results. Soils across western Kentucky were found to be either SC-II or SC-III soils, correlating to gravelly soils having soft to firm consistency and stiff clays to loose/dense sands, respectively.