Empirical Study of Sediment-Filled Basin Response: The Case of Taipei City
We analyze the site response of the Taipei basin using the records obtained by the Taiwan Strong Ground Motion Instrumentation Program (TSMIP) network. Records of 66 earthquakes of M=2.6-6.5 with a hypocentral depth varying from 1 km to 118 km and hypocentral distances of up to 150 km are studied for 35 stations located within this triangle-shaped alluvium structure. The site response is obtained in terms of spectral ratios calculated by dividing of the site spectrum by the reference spectrum estimated for a hypothetical “very hard rock” site. The recently developed empirical source scaling and attenuation models for the Taiwan region are used for the reference spectra calculation. This approach allows us to evaluate the variability of spectral ratios due to uncertainties introduced by source and propagation path effects and variability in the site response itself. The characteristics of site response in the Taipei basin depend on the properties of soil deposits and, in general, may be described by 1-D models. However, there are some peculiarities of spectral ratios that show the influence of subsurface topography.