Abstract
Up to now, almost all of the ground motion modeling and hazard
assessment for induced seismicity in Groningen, the Netherlands, has
been focused on the horizontal components of earthquake waves. Including
the vertical component in site response studies is hardly being done for
low magnitude earthquakes. Since the top part of the soils in the
Netherlands is practically always unconsolidated, the elastic waves
generated by deeper (~3000m) seated earthquakes will be
subject to transformation when arriving in these layers. Recordings over
a range of depth levels in a borehole show most of the amplification in
the upper 50 meters of the sedimentary cover. We observe not only a
strong amplification from shear waves on the horizontal components, but
also from longitudinal waves on the vertical component. Furthermore, the
seismic velocities show a large lateral heterogeneity. A better
understanding of the vertical component of low magnitude earthquakes (to
date, max M=3.6 in Groningen) aims to support the design of
re-enforcement measures for buildings in areas affected by induced
seismicity. This study focuses on longitudinal wave amplification in a
sedimentary basin setting.Generally, the vertical component of ground
motion is less than the horizontal, but the longitudinal waves are
concentrated in a high frequency band which can cause damage to
buildings with vertical periods in this range. Furthermore, interference
between the longitudinal and shear waves might contribute to extra
damage on structures. In Groningen, a dense borehole network is
continuously recording seismic activity. From 19 seismic events with a
minimum of magnitude two, transfer functions are retrieved between
geophones at 50m depth and accelerometers at the surface, for 70
borehole sites. Peak frequencies and amplitudes derived from the
transfer functions, do show significant variability across the region.
Highest longitudinal wave amplification is measured in the center of the
field, which is also the epicenter of most seismic activity. We
investigate if the variations in amplification can be linked to the
local geology. Additionally, the possibility and consequences of
interference between the shear and longitudinal waves are presented.