TY - JOUR A1 - Strollo, Angelo A1 - Parolai, Stefano A1 - Bindi, Dino A1 - Chiauzzi, Leonardo A1 - Pagliuca, Rossella A1 - Mucciarelli, Marco A1 - Zschau, Jochen T1 - Microzonation of Potenza (Southern Italy) in terms of spectral intensity ratio using joint analysis of earthquakes and ambient noise JF - Bulletin of earthquake engineering : official publication of the European Association for Earthquake Engineering N2 - A temporary seismic network composed of 11 stations was installed in the city of Potenza (Southern Italy) to record local and regional seismicity within the context of a national project funded by the Italian Department of Civil Protection (DPC). Some stations were moved after a certain time in order to increase the number of measurement points, leading to a total of 14 sites within the city by the end of the experiment. Recordings from 26 local earthquakes (M-l 2.2-3.8 ) were analyzed to compute the site responses at the 14 sites by applying both reference and non-reference site techniques. Furthermore, the Spectral Intensity (SI) for each local earthquake, as well as their ratios with respect to the values obtained at a reference site, were also calculated. In addition, a field survey of 233 single station noise measurements within the city was carried out to increase the information available at localities different from the 14 monitoring sites. By using the results of the correlation analysis between the horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratios computed from noise recordings (NHV) at the 14 selected sites and those derived by the single station noise measurements within the town as a proxy, the spectral intensity correction factors for site amplification obtained from earthquake analysis were extended to the entire city area. This procedure allowed us to provide a microzonation map of the urban area that can be directly used when calculating risk scenarios for civil defence purposes. The amplification factors estimated following this approach show values increasing along the main valley toward east where the detrital and alluvial complexes reach their maximum thickness. KW - Site effects KW - Seismic noise KW - Earthquakes KW - Spectral intensity KW - Correlation Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10518-011-9256-4 SN - 1570-761X VL - 10 IS - 2 SP - 493 EP - 516 PB - Springer CY - Dordrecht ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gassner, Alexandra A1 - Thomas, Christine A1 - Krüger, Frank A1 - Weber, Michael H. T1 - Probing the core-mantle boundary beneath Europe and Western Eurasia: A detailed study using PcP JF - Physics of the earth and planetary interiors N2 - We use PcP (the core reflected P phase) recordings of deep earthquakes and nuclear explosions from the Grafenberg (Germany) and NORSAR (Norway) arrays to investigate the core-mantle boundary region beneath Europe and western Eurasia. We find evidence for a previously unknown ultra-low velocity zone 600 km south-east of Moscow, located at the edge of a middle-size low shear- velocity region imaged in seismic tomography that is located beneath the Volga river region. The observed amplitude variations of PcP can be modelled by velocity reductions of P and S-waves of -5% and -15%, respectively, with a density increase of +15%. Travel time delays of pre-and postcursors are indicating a thickness of about 13 km for this ultra-low velocity region (ULVZ). However, our modelling also reveals highly ambiguous amplitude variations of PcP and a reflection off the top of the anomaly for various ULVZs and topography models. Accordingly, large velocity contrasts of up to -10% in V-P and -20% in Vs cannot be excluded. In general, the whole Volga river region shows a complex pattern of PcP amplitudes caused most likely by CMB undulations. Further PcP probes beneath Paris, Kiev and northern Italy indicate likely normal CMB conditions, whereas the samples below Finland and the Hungary-Slovakia border yield strongly amplified PcP signals suggesting strong CMB topography effects. We evaluate the amplitude behaviour of PcP as a function of distance and several ULVZ models using the 1D reflectivity and the 2D Gauss beam method. The influence of the velocity and density perturbations is analysed as well as the anomaly thickness, the dominant period of the source wavelet and interface topographies. Strong variation of the PcP amplitude are obtained as a function of distance and of the impedance contrast. We also consider two types of topographies: undulations atop the CMB in the presence of flat ULVZs and vice versa. Where a broad range of CMB topography dimensions lead to large PcP amplitude variations, only large ULVZ undulations generate significant amplitude scattering. Consequently, this indicates that topography effects of anomalies may mask the true medium parameters as well as the ULVZ thickness. Moreover, there might be a possibility of misinterpreting the precursor as PcP, in particular for thin ULVZs. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. KW - Core-mantle boundary KW - Ultra-low velocity zones KW - Seismology KW - Amplitude and waveform analysis of PcP KW - Earthquakes KW - Nuclear explosions Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pepi.2015.06.007 SN - 0031-9201 SN - 1872-7395 VL - 246 SP - 9 EP - 24 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER -