Earthquake ground motion in Mexico City: An analysis of data recorded at Roma array

We analysed in detail three earthquakes recorded in a small-aperture accelerometric array in Mexico City, using the correlation of the records as a function of time along the accelerogram and frequency. Ground response is strongly conditioned by the fundamental period of the soft soils at the site of the array (T0). Energy at periods longer than 2T0 is guided by the crustal structure (with a thickness of 45 km). The wave field at periods between T0 and 2T0 also consists of surface waves but guided by the upper 2–3 km of volcanic sediments in central Mexico. For periods smaller than T0, ground motion is uncorrelated among the stations. Our results indicate that seismic response of Mexico City, including its very long duration, results from deeply guided surface waves (between 2 and 45 km depth) interacting with the very local response of the soft surficial clay layer.