Estimating the Site Effects in Luoyang Basin Using Horizontal-To-Vertical Spectral Ratio Method from a Short- Period Dense Array*
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Earthq Sci (2018)31: 272–280 272 doi: 10.29382/eqs-2018-0272-7 Estimating the site effects in Luoyang basin using horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio method from a short- period dense array* Yujuan Tan1 Yunhao Wei1,2,* Yonghong Duan1 Fuyun Wang1 1 Geophysical Exploration Center, China Earthquake Administration, Zhengzhou 450002, China 2 Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China Abstract The influence of local site effects on motion and increase the duration of seismic events seismic ground motions is an important issue in seismic compared to hard rock sites. This has been observed in hazard assessment and earthquake resistant design. Deter- many earthquake cases, such as the 1985 Mexico earthq- mining site effects in densely populated cities built on basins uake (Hall and Beck, 1986), 1994 Northridge earthquake can help to reduce the earthquake hazard. Site effects of Luoyang basin are estimated by the horizontal-to-vertical (Beresnev et al., 1998), and 2008 Wenchuan earthquake spectral ratio (HVSR) method using ambient noise records (Li et al., 2008; Wen et al., 2010). Strong ground motion, from a short-period dense array. The sites in Luoyang basin earthquake damage intensity, and isoseismic distribution are sorted into three types according to the pattern of the are mainly affected and controlled by the local topography HVSR curves. There are cases with a single clear peak, two (e.g., Zhou, 2018), the interface and thickness of sediment, clear peaks, and an unclear low frequency peak or multiple and other subsurface conditions. This phenomenon is refe- peaks, which correspond to there being one large impedance rred to as site effects (e.g., Borcherdt, 1970; Zhang et al., contrast interface, two large interfaces, and a moderate one beneath the sites, respectively. The site effects characterized 2001; Chen et al., 2008). Site effects can be characterized by fundamental frequency from HVSR curves are affected by by their fundamental frequency and amplification factor underlying sedimentary layers and depth of sedimentary (Haghshenas et al., 2008). Resonance occurs at a specific basement. According to our results, the existence of thick frequency when the structural nature period of a building is sediment layer obviously lowers the fundamental frequency to close to the fundamental frequency of a local-site during the period range from 2 to 4 s in the downtown area of the strong ground motion of an earthquake (Wen et al., Luoyang city. The ground motion will amplify when through 2010). The resonant ground motion increases the destr- the sites and the buildings with height of 20–50 floors can uctive intensity due to the amplification that is experien- resonate at the similar frequency domain. Site effects estimation using HVSR method from a short-period dense ced. Therefore, the effect of resonance is the primary con- array is an effective technique in areas of moderate seismic cern and it is vital to understand the fundamental freq- risk where strong motion recordings are lacking, such as the uency for structural damage mitigation and infrastructure Luoyang basin. engineering design. Several methods have been devised to estimate the site Keywords: site effects; horizontal to vertical spectral ratio; dense effects. The first is a numerical estimation based on the array; Luoyang basin results of a geotechnical investigation, including borehole drilling and well logging technology (e.g., Bo et al., 2003; Chen and Chen, 2004). It is costly in time and resources, and is only used sparsely at a few reference sites. The 1 Introduction second method is the standard spectral ratio method, which involves the comparison of ground motion recordings Sediment basins can significantly amplify ground obtained simultaneously on a sediment site to those obtained on a reference rock site (e.g., Borcherdt, 1970; * Received 31 August 2018; accepted in revised form 4 January Zhang et al., 2001). It is limited by the high level of noise 2019; published 8 April 2019. in densely populated basin areas and the scarcity of strong * Corresponding author. e-mail: [email protected] © The Seismological Society of China and Institute of Geophysics, motion recordings in low or moderate seismicity regions. China Earthquake Administration 2018 The third method is the horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio Earthq Sci (2018)31: 272–280 273 (HVSR) technique using ambient noise recordings resident on the basin as well as numerous historical (Nakamura, 1989; Konno and Ohmachi, 1998). Studies monuments and many major industrial facilities. Seismic have shown that this method can provide a reliable hazard is a significant issue for the population center, estimate of the fundamental frequency at a given site (e.g., historic city and industrial park in the region. Considering Albarello, 2001; Haghshenas 2008; Wang et al., 2009, the lack of strong motion recordings in this moderately 2011). The noninvasive and anti-interference HVSR seismic area, the HVSR method using ambient noise is the method is very efficient and especially suitable for site preferred option to estimate the site effects of the effects determination in heavily populated basins where depositional basin. In addition, the resonance frequencies geotechnical information and strong motion records are and amplitudes both show variation on a very small scale, lacking (Chen et al., 2008). which emphasizes the importance and advantages of high- Luoyang basin is located on a transitional zone from resolution surveys. Using the ambient noise recorded by a the mountains of the Qinling-Dabie orogenic belt to the short-period dense array deployed over the basin, we plain on the southern margin of the North China Craton present new information regarding site effects for the (NCC) (Figure 1). There are more than five million people Luoyang basin based on the HVSR method. 108° E 110° 112° 114° 116° 118° 120° 38.0° N North Chinaseismic plain zone 36.0° North China Craton Fenwei seismic zone 34.0° Qinling-Dabie orogenic belt 32.0° 30.0° Ele (m) 0 1000 2000 3000 Figure 1 Map of the tectonic position of Luoyang basin showing active faults (gray lines) and historical earthquakes in excess of magnitude 5.0 (red dots). The white line corresponds to the tectonic boundary. Luoyang basin’s location is framed with a black rectangle, see Figure 2 for detail 2 Geological setting ation and evolution of the depression. There are a succe- ssive sequence of Meso-Neoproterozoic and Paleozoic dep- The Luoyang basin is located on the southwest margin osits covering the Archean to Lower Paleoproterozoic meta- of the NCC. It is a fault-depressed basin, with the shape morphosed crystalline basement of the basin (Zhang et al., controlled by two main boundary faults, the Luoyang- 2007). Later during the late Mesozoic to early Cenozoic, Yanshi fault in the north and the Luohe fault in the south the NCC experienced extensive rifting and the basin (Figure 2). These boundary faults have controlled the form- development was mainly controlled by an extensional 274 Earthq Sci (2018)31: 272–280 tectonic framework (e.g., Ren et al., 2002). The subsurface 2007; Xu et al., 2017). The P wave velocity of the structure of the Luoyang basin has been investigated using sediment varied from 3.0 km/s on the surface to 5.0 km/s geological and geophysical data sets (e.g., Zhang et al., on the bottom of the basin (Zhang et al., 1994). 112.1° E112.2° 112.3° 112.4° 112.5° 112.6° 112.7° 112.8° 112.9° 34.9° N 150 m 100 m 34.8° 204 Luoyang-Yanshi fault 220 34.7° Luoyang basin 200 m Luoyang city 150 m 522 100 m 34.6° 526 Luohe fault 306 34.5° 304 34.4° Ele (m) 0 500 1000 1500 Figure 2 Map of the geological setting of Luoyang basin. Black open triangles identify the stations of the short-period dense array, and dark blue triangles denote the sites referred in Figures 3 and 4. The normal Luoyang-Yanshi fault in the north and the normal Luohe fault in the south are two boundary faults of Luoyang basin. Blue dashed contour lines denote the thickness of Quaternary deposit. Gray lines denote the main roads in this area. Light blue lines denote two rivers that flow through the basin Inside the basin, several moderate earthquakes have ducted by the Geophysical Exploration Center, China been documented in historical records, including the 1767 Earthquake Administration, from June 20th to July 20th, B.C. Yanshi M6.0 earthquake and 519 B.C. Luoyang M5.5 2016. There were 110 short-period portable digital seism- earthquake. Luoyang basin is also close to two major ometers (PDS) deployed over the basin that continuously seismic zones in China, i.e., the Fenwei seismic zone in the recorded for a period of one month. The average space west and the North China plain seismic zone in the north between the stations across the basin was ~4 km, but was (Zhang et al., 2003) (Figure 1). The enormous 1975 more intense in the downtown area of Luoyang City where Huaxian M8.0 earthquake occurred in the surrounding area the spacing was ~2 km (Figure 2). The seismometers were and resulted in serious damage to the basin. The site buried underground at depth of ~0.5 m to reduce inter- effects caused by the overlying deposits could amplify the ference from surrounding traffic, wind flows, and temper- strong ground motion and enhance the destruction caused ature variations. Monthly observations provided sufficient by these events. recordings for site effect estimation. The information about PDS has been described in previous study (Wei et al., 3 Data and methods 2018). PDS integrates three-component velocity sensors, with a cut-off frequency at 2.5 Hz.