Abstract
Abstract. The travel-time averaged shear-wave velocity to a depth of 30m (Vs30) below the Earth’s surface is widely used to classify sites in many building codes. Vs30 is also used to estimate site classification in recent ground-motion prediction equations (GMPEs), and the distribution of Vs30 has been mapped in a region or country. An alternative method has recently been proposed for evaluating global seismic site conditions or Vs30, from the SRTM (Shuttle Radar Topography Mission) DEMs (digital elevation models). The basic premise of the method is that the topographic slope can be used as a reliable proxy for Vs30 in the absence of geologically and geotechnically based site-condition maps through correlations between Vs30 measurements and topographic gradient. Here, we use different resolutions (3 arcsec, 30 arcsec) DEM data to get Vs30 data separately, analyze and compare the difference of Vs30 data and site conditions obtained from different resolution DEM data. Shandong Province in eastern China and Sichuan Province in Western China are studied respectively. It is found that the higher resolution data is better at defining spatial topographic features than the 30c data, but less improvement in its correlation with Vs30.
Highlights
Vs30, the time-averaged seismic shear-wave velocity (Vs) to a depth of 30 meters below the Earth’s surface, is proved to be a key index adopted by the earthquake engineering community to account for seismic site conditions (Borcherdt, 1992; Boore, 2006)
For Vs30 profiles with depth less than 30m, Boore (2004) provided several models to estimate Vs30: vd tt d studies utilizing satellite imagery to account for site conditions, Romero and Rix (2001) used Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) data to interpret the character of surficial sediments for estimating the potential of ground shaking in the Mississippi Embayment
We use different resolutions (3 arcsec, 30 arcsec) SRTM DEM data to get Vs30 data separately, analyze and compare the difference of Vs30 data and site conditions obtained from different resolution DEM data
Summary
Vs30, the time-averaged seismic shear-wave velocity (Vs) to a depth of 30 meters below the Earth’s surface, is proved to be a key index adopted by the earthquake engineering community to account for seismic site conditions (Borcherdt, 1992; Boore, 2006). Variations in medium properties at depths of tens to hundreds of meters below the Earth’s surface are known to significantly influence ground motions, deeper variations are important (Boore, 2004). For Vs30 profiles with depth less than 30m, Boore (2004) provided several models to estimate Vs30: vd tt d studies utilizing satellite imagery to account for site conditions, Romero and Rix (2001) used Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) data to interpret the character of surficial sediments for estimating the potential of ground shaking in the Mississippi Embayment. We use different resolutions (3 arcsec, 30 arcsec) SRTM DEM data to get Vs30 data separately, analyze and compare the difference of Vs30 data and site conditions obtained from different resolution DEM data
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