Edward Cranswick

The 1987 Whittier Narrows Earthquake in the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area, California

The Whittier Narrows earthquake sequence (local magnitude, ML = 5.9), which caused over

The information content of high-frequency seismograms and the near-surface geologic structure of “hard rock” recording sites

358-million damage, indicates that assessments of earthquake hazards in the Los Angeles metropolitan area may be underestimated. The sequence ruptured a previously unidentified thrust fault that may be part of a large system of thrust faults that extends across the entire east-west length of the northern margin of the Los Angeles basin. Peak horizontal accelerations from the main shock, which were measured at ground level and in structures, were as high as 0.6g (where g is the acceleration of gravity at sea level) within 50 kilometers of the epicenter. The distribution of the modified Mercalli intensity VII reflects a broad north-south elongated zone of damage that is approximately centered on the main shock epicenter.

Observations of basin ground motions from a dense seismic array in San Jose, California

Due to hardware developments in the last decade, the high-frequency end of the frequency band of seismic waves analyzed for source mechanisms has been extended into the audio-frequency range (>20 Hz). In principle, the short wavelengths corresponding to these frequencies can provide information about the details of seismic sources, but in fact, much of the “signal” is the site response of the nearsurface. Several examples of waveform data recorded at “hard rock” sites, which are generally assumed to have a “flat” transfer function, are presented to demonstrate the severe signal distortions, includingfmax, produced by near-surface structures. Analysis of the geology of a number of sites indicates that the overall attenuation of high-frequency (>1 Hz) seismic waves is controlled by the whole-path-Q between source and receiver but the presence of distinctfmax site resonance peaks is controlled by the nature of the surface layer and the underlying near-surface structure. Models of vertical decoupling of the surface and nearsurface and horizontal decoupling of adjacent sites on hard rock outcrops are proposed and their behaviour is compared to the observations of hard rock site response. The upper bound to the frequency band of the seismic waves that contain significant source information which can be deconvolved from a site response or an array response is discussed in terms offmax and the correlation of waveform distortion with the outcrop-scale geologic structure of hard rock sites. It is concluded that although the velocity structures of hard rock sites, unlike those of alluvium sites, allow some audio-frequency seismic energy to propagate to the surface, the resulting signals are a highly distorted, limited subset of the source spectra.

Site response for Seattle and source parameters of earthquakes in the Puget Sound Region

We installed a dense array of 41 digital seismographs in San Jose, California, to evaluate in detail the effects of a deep sedimentary basin and shallow sedimentary deposits on earthquake ground motions. This urban array is located near the eastern edge of the Santa Clara Valley and spans the Evergreen sedimentary basin identified by gravity data. Average station spacing is 1 km, with three stations initially spaced 110 m apart. Despite the high-noise urban environment, the stations of the array successfully triggered on and recorded small local earthquakes ( M 2.5–2.8 at 10–25 km distance) and larger regional events such as the M 5.0 Bolinas earthquake (90 km distance), M 4.6–5.6 earthquakes near Mammoth Lakes (270 km distance), M 4.9–5.6 events in western Nevada (420 km distance) and the M 7.1 Hector Mine earthquake (590 km distance). Maps of spectral ratios across the array show that the highest amplitudes in all frequency bands studied (0.125–8 Hz) are generally observed at stations farther from the eastern edge of the Santa Clara Valley. Larger spectral amplitudes are often observed above the western edge of the Evergreen Basin. Snapshots of the recorded wavefield crossing the array for regional events to the east reveal that large, low-frequency (0.125–0.5 Hz) arrivals after the S -wave travel from south to north across the array. A moving-window, cross-correlation analysis finds that these later arrivals are surface waves traveling from the south. The timing and propagation direction of these arrivals indicates that they were likely produced by scattering of incident S waves at the border of the Santa Clara Valley to the south of the array. It is remarkable that the largest low-frequency phases at many of the valley sites for regional events to the east are basin surface waves coming from a direction about 70 degrees different from that of the epicenters. Basin surface waves emanating from the eastern edge of the valley are also identified by the cross-correlation analysis.

Correlation of 1- to 10-Hz earthquake resonances with surface measurements of S-wave reflections and refractions in the upper 50 m

We analyzed seismograms from 21 earthquakes ( ML 2.0-4.9) recorded by digital seismographs we deployed in urban Seattle to determine site response and earthquake stress drops. The seismometers were situated on a wide variety of geologic units, including artificial fill (e.g., Kingdome, Harbor Island), Pleistocene age soils (glacial till and outwash deposits of Seattles hills), modified land (downtown Seattle, Space Needle), and Tertiary sedimentary rock. Two mainshock-aftershock sequences were recorded: the June 1997 Bremerton sequence (mainshock ML 4.9) and the February 1997 South Seattle sequence (mainshock ML 3.5), along with other events in the Puget Sound region. We developed a new inversion procedure to estimate site response, source corner frequencies, and seismic moments from the S -wave spectra. This inversion uses corner frequencies determined from spectral ratios of mainshock-aftershock pairs as constraints. The site responses found from the inversion are not relative to the rock site but are relative to an idealized site with a flat frequency response. The response of the rock site is also found from the inversion. The inversion results show high response for the sites on artificial fill, more moderate amplification for most sites on stiff Pleistocene soils or modified land, and low response for the rock site. Some sites display resonances, such as a strong 2-Hz resonance at our site near the Kingdome, which is caused by the surficial layers of fill and younger alluvium. The sites in West Seattle exhibit high amplification, even though they are on relatively stiff soils of glacial outwash. This may be partly caused by basin surface waves produced by conversion of incident S waves. This high response in West Seattle is consistent with damage reports from the 1949 ( mb 7.1) and 1965 ( mb 6.5) earthquakes. Stress-drop estimates for the events we recorded were generally low, between 0.4 and 25 bars, although some of the events may have had higher stress drops that could not be resolved because of the limited passband. We calculated a stress drop of 24 bars for the Bremerton mainshock and 10 bars for the South Seattle mainshock.

Site Effects in Avcilar, West of Istanbul, Turkey, from Strong- and Weak-Motion Data

Resonances observed in earthquake seismograms recorded in Seattle, Washington, the central United States and Sherman Oaks, California, are correlated with each sites respective near-surface seismic velocity profile and reflectivity determined from shallow seismic-reflection/refraction surveys. In all of these cases the resonance accounts for the highest amplitude shaking at the site above 1 Hz. These results show that imaging near-surface reflections from the ground surface can locate impedance structures that are important contributors to earthquake ground shaking. A high-amplitude S -wave reflection, recorded 250-m northeast and 300-m east of the Seattle Kingdome earthquake-recording station, with a two-way travel time of about 0.23 to 0.27 sec (about 18- to 22-m depth) marks the boundary between overlying alluvium ( V S < 180 m/sec) and a higher velocity material ( V S about 400 m/sec). This reflector probably causes a strong 2-Hz resonance that is observed in the earthquake data for the site near the Kingdome. In the central United States, S -wave reflections from a high-impedance boundary (an S -wave velocity increase from about 200 m/sec to 2000 m/sec) at about 40-m depth corresponds to a strong fundamental resonance at about 1.5 Hz. In Sherman Oaks, strong resonances at about 1.0 and 4 Hz are consistently observed on earthquake seismograms. A strong S -wave reflector at about 40-m depth may cause the 1.0 Hz resonance. The 4.0-Hz resonance is possibly explained by constructive interference between the first overtone of the 1.0-Hz resonance and a 3.25- to 3.9-Hz resonance calculated from an areally consistent impedance boundary at about 10-m depth as determined by S -wave refraction data.

Variability of site response in Seattle, Washington

Approximately 1000 people were killed in the collapse of buildings in Istanbul, Turkey, during the 17 August 1999 Izmit earthquake, whose epicenter was roughly 90 km east of the city. Most of the fatalities and damage occurred in the suburb of Avcilar that is 20 km further west of the epicenter than the city proper. To investigate this pattern of damage, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Kandilli Observatory & Earthquake Research Institute (KOERI), deployed portable digital seismographs at seven free-field sites in western Istanbul, to record aftershocks during the period from 24 August to 2 September. The primary objective of this deployment was to study the site effects by comparing the aftershock ground motions recorded at sites inside and outside the damaged area, and to correlate site effects with the distribution of the damaged buildings. In addition to using weak-motion data, mainshock and aftershock acceleration records from the KOERI permanent strong-motion array were also used in estimating the site effects. Site effects were estimated using S waves from both types of records. For the weak-motion data set, 22 events were selected according to the criteria of signal-to-noise ratio (S/N ratio) and the number of stations recording the same event. The magnitudes of these events ranged from 3.0 to 5.2. The acceleration data set consisted of 12 events with magnitudes ranging from 4.3 to 5.8 and included two mainshock events. Results show that the amplifying frequency band is, in general, less than 4 Hz, and the physical properties of the geologic materials are capable of amplifying the motions by a factor of 5-10. In this frequency band, there is a good agreement among the spectral ratios obtained from the two mainshocks and their aftershocks. The damage pattern for the 17 August Izmit earthquake is determined by several factors. However, our study suggests that the site effects in Avcilar played an important role in contributing to the damage. Manuscript received 30 August 2000.

Source parameters of the 1980 Mammoth Lakes, California, earthquake sequence

Ground motion from local earthquakes and the SHIPS (Seismic Hazards Investigation in Puget Sound) experiment is used to estimate site amplification factors in Seattle. Earthquake and SHIPS records are analyzed by two methods: (1) spectral ratios relative to a nearby site on Tertiary sandstone, and (2) a source/site spectral inversion technique. Our results show site amplifications between 3 and 4 below 5 Hz for West Seattle relative to Tertiary rock. These values are approximately 30% lower than amplification in the Duwamish Valley on artificial fill, but significantly higher than the calculated range of 2 to 2.5 below 5 Hz for the till-covered hills east of downtown Seattle. Although spectral amplitudes are only 30% higher in the Duwamish Valley compared to West Seattle, the duration of long-period ground motion is significantly greater on the artificial fill sites. Using a three-dimensional displacement response spectrum measure that includes the effects of ground-motion duration, values in the Duwamish Valley are 2 to 3 times greater than West Seattle. These calculations and estimates of site response as a function of receiver azimuth point out the importance of trapped surface-wave energy within the shallow, low-velocity, sedimentary layers of the Duwamish Valley. One-dimensional velocity models yield spectral amplification factors close to the observations for till sites east of downtown Seattle and the Duwamish Valley, but underpredict amplifications by a factor of 2 in West Seattle. A two-dimensional finite-difference model does equally well for the till sites and the Duwamish Valley and also yields duration estimates consistent with the observations for the Duwamish Valley. The two-dimensional model, however, still underpredicts amplification in West Seattle by up to a factor of 2. This discrepancy is attributed to 3D effects, including basin-edge–induced surface waves and basin-geometry–focusing effects, caused by the proximity of the Seattle thrust fault and the sediment-filled Seattle basin.