Site response in Tecoman, Colima, Mexico—II. Determination of subsoil structure and comparison with observations

In a companion paper local transfer functions were estimated at Tecoman using earthquake and microtremor data. In this paper, the subsoil structure at this city is investigated using seismic refraction and cross-correlation of noise records as a case study. P- and S-wave refraction profiles were measured at five sites within the city. Standard analysis constrained only very shallow layers. The P-wave refraction deployment was also used to record ambient vibration. These data were processed using an extension of the SPAC (SPatial AutoCorrelation (Aki, 1957) [1]) method; cross-correlation is computed between station pairs and the results are inverted to obtain a phase velocity dispersion curve. Penetration depth was larger than that from the refraction experiments but the shear-wave velocity of the basement could not be determined. For this reason, additional microtremor measurements were made using broad band seismometers with a larger spacing between stations. The results allowed to constrain the shear-wave velocity of the basement. Site amplification computed for the final profiles compare well with observed ground motion amplification at Tecoman. The case of Tecoman illustrates that even a simple subsoil structure may require crossing data from different experiments to correctly constrain site effects.