Microtremor measurements in Yanbu city of Western Saudi Arabia: A tool for seismic microzonation

Microtremor measurements are one of the most popular world-wide tool for estimation of site response especially within the urban area. This technique has been applied over 85 sites distributed regularly through Yanbu metropolitan area with an ultimate aim of seismic hazard microzonation for ground-shaking site effects. The horizontal to vertical spectral analysis (H/V) was carried out over all the sites to estimate both the fundamental resonance frequency and its corresponding amplification for the ground vibration. In most sites, H/V curve for amplitude spectra display a clear peak suggesting the presence of a soil-bedrock impedance contrast. Other sites, however, show more than one peak indicating the presence of more than one impedance contrast through sedimentary cover. The estimated values of fundamental frequency range from 0.25 Hz up to 7.9 Hz increases with decreasing depths of basement rock. It has lower values at the central zone extending from north to south compared to the eastern and western parts of Yanbu area. On the other hand, the estimated values of amplification factor ranges from the value of 2 to 5, where the higher values prevailing through the central zone with increasing thickness of sediments. Analyses of the acquired data set have clearly shown that, both of two parameters vary considerably through Yanbu city. This could be due to lateral variations in soil thickness and/or variations in the soil type at Yanbu area. These results show the 2D and 3D effect of basin geometry. The estimated values for the fundamental frequency from microtremor data are compared with that from shear-wave velocity structure within the area of interest and show an excellent agreement. © 2010 King Saud University.