The Use of Ambient Seismic Noise Measurements for the Estimation of Surface Soil Effects: The Motril City Case (Southern Spain)

This paper presents a study of the ambient seismic noise features in Motril City. The predominant resonant period at each site was determined using the Horizontal to Vertical Noise Ratio (HVNR) of the microtremors records; it was applied to 91 points which cover the city and we present the distribution of the periods over a map which shows important characteristics requiring consideration in a study focussing on the mitigation of the seismic risk. Using these results, two zones can be distinguished: north of the GG’ profile with predominant periods smaller than 0.25 sec which corresponds with a hard soil, and south of GG’ with periods ranging from 0.25 to 0.6 indicating a medium-soft soil. Microtremors are a preliminary useful tool that compensates for the lack of seismic recorded data, and that can complement other valuable information (borehole logs, geology, etc.) to evaluate the seismic risk on places as Motril City where some of this information is unavailable. Through the predominant period the HVNR indicates the kind of soil we are dealing with.