BOLLETTINO DI GEOFISICA TEORICA ED APPLICATA, cilt.60, sa.4, ss.549-568, 2019 (SCI-Expanded)
In seismically active regions, the site effect plays a very important role in planning the design of structures and estimating seismic damage to existing structures. In this study, six earthquakes (M > 3.0) in the northern part of the eastern Anatolian region (Turkey), recorded by 30 accelerometers located on different soil types, were investigated for local soil characteristics using horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio (EHV) methods. The EHV results show that the predominant period values change from 0.1 to 1.2 s; also, the amplification factor (A(0)) values range between 2.0 and 10.5. The soil vulnerability index (Kg) values, which are very important in hazard assessment, range from 1 to 30. The bedrock depths were calculated with the help of empirical relations between the soil predominant period and soft soil thickness. The bedrock depths change from 0 to 110 m. Soil characterisation based on S-wave velocity (V-S) is one of the main factors for estimating seismic damages. V-S was evaluated using previous results from the surface waves method at 11 accelerometer stations. V-S(30) values are observed within the range of 250-750 m/s. For detailed study, five accelerometer stations were selected and V-S-depth cross-sections, borehole results, and SPT-N values were used.