Reproduction of microseism H/V spectral features using a three-dimensional complex topographical model of the sediment-bedrock interface in the Osaka sedimentary basin

Abstract

Estimating the velocity structure of microseisms based on the horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio (HVSR) is an extremely practical means of modelling the subsurface structure necessary for strong ground motion predictions. Thus, beyond the traditional framework of the 1-D velocity structure, the HVSR, derived from observation records of microseisms (microtremors with a frequency of about 1 Hz or lower originating from ocean waves) in areas where the sediment-bedrock interface has irregular topographies, was reproduced by finite differential method (FDM)-based simulation. This study was conducted for the Osaka sedimentary basin, the sediment-bedrock interface of which is three-dimensionally complicated and contains grabens, steps and ramps, because high-precision models for this basin have been constructed based on a wide range of existing exploration information. The HVSRs of two components (the east-west direction and the north-south direction to the vertical direction) derived from the FDM simulations were both well reproduced in terms of not only the peak frequency (HVfp) but also the spectral curves for a number of observation sites above the sediment-bedrock interface with complex geological features. These results suggest that with a sufficient number of observation sites for microtremors and highly accurate a priori information on geophysical constants in the sedimentary layer that spatially serves as the reference, the irregular-shaped sediment-bedrock interface may be estimated based on how well the HVSR curves and the HVfp agree between the observations and simulations. Furthermore, the FDM simulations confirmed observed phenomena such as the polarization of the amplitude of horizontal motions and broad or 'plateau-like' HVSR peaks of microseisms in grabens and step structures. It was determined that the HVfps in areas with these strong irregularities are higher than the peak frequency of Rayleigh wave ellipticity for the fundamental mode (RHVfp) based on the 1-D velocity structure. In addition, there was a difference of about 20per cent at most between the HVfp derived from FDM simulations and the RHVfp in areas where the depth of the sediment-bedrock interface varies only slightly. © 2012 The Authors Geophysical Journal International © 2012 RAS.