Estimation of the Sedimentary Basin Structure of the Southeastern Part of the Ishikari Lowland, Hokkaido, Inferred from Receiver Function

Abstract

There is a very thick (>10 km) sedimentary basin in the Ishikari lowland, the central Hokkaido. This thick sedimentary basin affects strong ground motions observed from earthquakes, e.g., the 2018 Hokkaido Eastern Iburi Earthquake occurred in the southeastern part of the Ishikari lowland. Such a thick sedimentary basin structure is difficult to explore by using microtremor array or seismic reflection. This study investigated the sedimentary basin structures at 16 strong motion stations in the southeastern part of the Ishikari lowland by using the borehole-to-surface spectral ratio and the receiver function method based on the observed strong-motion records. First, at the KiK-net stations, the surface-to-borehole spectral ratio was obtained from observed strong-motion records. The S-wave velocity structure models between the surface and the borehole seismograph were estimated by fitting theoretical spectral ratios to the observed one. Next, the velocity structure models between the surface and the seismic bedrock were derived from the receiver function calculated from the observed records. We used the downhill simplex method to obtain the velocity structure model from the receiver function. The inverse analysis with three different initial models resulted in variations in the estimated velocity structure models. Synthetic velocity waveforms of the aftershock of the 2018 Eastern Iburi earthquake were calculated based on the estimated velocity structure models. The synthetic velocities (0.1-1 Hz) agree with the S waves of the observed records. The synthetic waveforms obtained from three models at each site were very similar. We compare the resulted velocity models with the microtremor array surveys carried out by previous studies. The fundamental mode phase velocities calculated from the velocity structure models obtained from the receiver functions correspond to the observed phase velocity from the microtremor array survey in higher (>0.4-0.8 Hz) frequencies. However, in lower frequencies (<0.4 Hz), the observed phase velocities at HKD184, IKRH03, and IBUH03 agree with the higher-mode phase velocities than the fundamental ones. This agreement suggests that the higher-mode Rayleigh waves dominate the observed phase velocities in the lower frequencies. The velocity structure models estimated from the receiver function analysis indicated that the low Vs (<1.1 km/s) layer deposited thickly in the western part of the Ishikari lowland and the middle Vs (1.1<Vs<2.7 km/s) layers were thick in the eastern part of the lowland. The depth of the estimated seismic bedrock was 12 km at HDKH04, located in the southeastern part of the lowland, which was the deepest between the study sites.