Seismic microzonation of Marsa Alam, Egypt using inversion HVSR of microtremor observations

An attempt was made to estimate seismic microzonation in Marsa Alam city, Egypt based on the analysis of seismic microtremor observations. Observations were carried out at 140 sites in the study region. Analysis and processing of microtremor were divided into two steps; the first one is to measure the horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratios (HVSR) for each site and picked predominant frequency and its amplitude for each site. The second step is to measure the average shear wave velocity in the upper 30 m (Vs30) of subsoil using inversion of HVSR technique. The results show well matching of theoretical HVSR and observed HVSR for body waves in all sites. The Vs30 parameter was used to classify subsoil into classes of soil properties converted to the slandered European soil code (Eurocode-8 (2002)) as follows; Vs < 180(class D), 180 ≤ Vs < 360 (class C), 360 ≤ Vs < 800 (class B) and Vs ≥ 800 m/s (class A). Our study exhibits that most of Marsa Alam city were covered by B and C classes with small portions of class D close to the shoreline and class A at the northeastern part of the region. The developed classification soil map of the study area was correlated with the distribution of the predominant frequency in view of the surface geology and given a good matching. The results of this study will be useful for planning the Marsa Alam region to be the future tourist dream for Egypt. The method used in assessment of seismic microzonation in Marsa Alam city could be the fast and inexpensive technique to measure the Vs30 based on the HVSR of microtremor and would be applied in many other areas in Egypt.