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Journal of Applied Geophysics xxx (2009) xxxxxx
Seismic velocities and geotechnical data applied to the soil microzoning of western
Algarve, Portugal
J. Carvalho a,, L. Torres a, R. Castro a, R. Dias a, L. Mendes-Victor b
a
Former Instituto Geolgico e Mineiro, Estrada da Portela, Zambujal, 2720-461 Amadora, Portugal
Instituto Infante D. Lus, Rua Escola Politcnica 51, 1050 Lisboa, Portugal
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history:
Received 3 April 2007
Accepted 5 January 2009
Available online xxxx
Keywords:
Seismic refraction
P-wave
S-wave
Standard penetration tests
Soil classication
a b s t r a c t
The Algarve province of Portugal is located near the EW EurasiaAfrica plate boundary. It is characterized by
a moderate seismicity with some important historical and instrumental earthquakes causing important loss
of lives, serious damage and economical problems. It has therefore been a target of several risk assessment
projects. This paper focuses the evaluation of the most interesting and useful geotechnical near-surface
parameters, through the acquisition, processing and interpretation of P and S-waves refraction proles and
the use of SPT parameters. VP/VS ratios and the Poisson's ratio were estimated and a subsoil classication
based on geophysical and geotechnical parameters is presented. The classication based upon the European
Code 8 for civil engineering and SPT bedrock data, was carried out for land use planning and design of critical
facilities. Other parameters were computed to provide information for future site effect studies. The quality
and volume of the data gathered here using established approaches can be quite useful to estimate soil
microzoning in the absence of local earthquake records. The results also show that the lithology is the most
inuent parameter on the values of seismic velocities and SPT data. Therefore, surcial geology is
inappropriate for this kind of studies and lithological maps should be used instead.
2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
The study area (Fig. 1a), the Algarve province of Southern Portugal,
is located close to the West-Iberia continental margin, which is in a
transitional state to a convergent plate boundary (Cabral, 1995;
Ribeiro et al., 1996; Ribeiro, 2002), and near the EW EurasiaAfrica
plate boundary extending from the Azores Islands to Gibraltar along
the AzoresGibraltar fracture zone. This tectonic setting is responsible
for an important regional seismotectonic activity, that is evidenced by
a signicant seismicity (Fig. 1b), presenting a scenario of important
seismogenic potential (Dias, 2001; Dias and Cabral, 2002).
The study area is characterized as a zone of moderate seismicity
(GSHAP et al., 1997; PGA [m/s2] 90% non exceedance probability
50 years = 0.81.6). Several important historical and instrumental
earthquakes have affected some of the major cities of this Portuguese
province (Carrilho et al., 1997), causing loss of lives. In the Algarve
region, the Portimo and the S. MarcosQuarteira faults are two of the
most important tectonic features (Fig. 1b). The main populated areas,
Faro and Portimo, are located close to these faults (see Fig. 1a and b).
0926-9851/$ see front matter 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jappgeo.2009.01.001
Please cite this article as: Carvalho, J., et al., Seismic velocities and geotechnical data applied to the soil microzoning of western Algarve,
Portugal, Journal of Applied Geophysics (2009), doi:10.1016/j.jappgeo.2009.01.001
ARTICLE IN PRESS
2
Fig. 1. a) Study area location and schematic geological map of Algarve (adapted from Oliveira et al., 1992). 1 Quaternary; 2 PliocenePleistocene; 3 Miocene; 4 Paleogene; 5 Mesozoic;
6 Paleozoic; 7 Monchique intrusive massif; 8 dyke; 9 fault. b) Seismicity for the period 19581998 (source: Instituto de Meteorologia) and active faults (after Dias and Cabral, 2002).
SMQ: S. MarcosQuarteira fault; PF: Portimo fault.
e.g.) with the magnitude and distance of the seismic event. The
relations often incorporate a crude site parameter, such as 1 for soils
and 0 for hard rock (Penelis, 1997).
S-wave velocities and SPT data from the rst meters below the
ground surface are important data, not only in the assessment of site
effects but also in the design of seismic actions for earthquake
engineering. If macroseismic data or earthquake records are not
available, this information is even more important to obtain the
microzoning data and to estimate site effects. Several methods for
estimating shear waves can be used (Turesson, 2007), such as borehole
logging, seismic refraction proles or surface waves inversion.
The objective of this work is to provide information about the
geomechanical properties for the rst 10 m of the subsurface, using P
Please cite this article as: Carvalho, J., et al., Seismic velocities and geotechnical data applied to the soil microzoning of western Algarve,
Portugal, Journal of Applied Geophysics (2009), doi:10.1016/j.jappgeo.2009.01.001
ARTICLE IN PRESS
J. Carvalho et al. / Journal of Applied Geophysics xxx (2009) xxxxxx
Table 1
Poisson's coefcient and VP/VS ratios for shallow layers in western Algarve calculated from seismic refraction studies
Geology
Prole
Holocenic deposits
PN1
ALV1
OD1
FRA2
LG2
LGA1
POR1
TUN1
ALV2
ALB1
LG1
FRA1
Odixere Gravels
Ludo Formation
Velocity (m/s)
1st layer
P wave
S wave
265
541
325
499
285
365
529
255
249
311
365
308
108
166
188
331
189
250
307
111
113
193
179
121
VP1/VS1
Poisson's
coefcient
2.45
3.26
1.73
1.51
1.51
1.46
1.72
2.30
2.20
1.61
2.04
2.55
0.40
0.45
0.25
0.11
0.11
0.06
0.25
0.38
0.37
0.19
0.34
0.41
Velocity (m/s)
2nd layer
P wave
S wave
1902
2038
1396
905
736
816
826
724
736
582
1152
1795
301
291
885
520
457
495
472
340
376
334
665
1222
VP2/VS2
Poisson's
coefcient
6.32
7.00
1.58
1.74
1.61
1.65
1.75
2.13
1.96
1.74
1.73
1.47
0.49
0.49
0.16
0.25
0.19
0.21
0.26
0.36
0.32
0.25
0.25
0.07
Fig. 2. Location of the geotechnical soundings and refraction proles used in this study.
Please cite this article as: Carvalho, J., et al., Seismic velocities and geotechnical data applied to the soil microzoning of western Algarve,
Portugal, Journal of Applied Geophysics (2009), doi:10.1016/j.jappgeo.2009.01.001
ARTICLE IN PRESS
4
Please cite this article as: Carvalho, J., et al., Seismic velocities and geotechnical data applied to the soil microzoning of western Algarve,
Portugal, Journal of Applied Geophysics (2009), doi:10.1016/j.jappgeo.2009.01.001
ARTICLE IN PRESS
J. Carvalho et al. / Journal of Applied Geophysics xxx (2009) xxxxxx
Table 2
SPT (non-refusal) values from the Cenozoic formations covering the study area
Geology
Age
Prole
SPT (N value)
Average
Extreme values
Average
Number of
wells/soundings
331
17
3.531.6
14.8
45
2444
34
225
16
22
1745
860
31
25
6.527
0.531
18.4
11.8
17
72
Extreme values
Holocenic deposits
Holocene
Odixere Gravels
Pleistocene
Ludo Formation
Plio-Quaternary
Upper Miocene
MiddleLower Miocene
PN1
ALV1
OD1
FRA2
LG2
LGA1
POR1
TUN1
ALV2
ALB1
LG1
FRA1
The basement is dened as a layer with N = 60 at the rst phase of the SPT or several consecutive values of 60 at the second phase. Tests were performed every 1 or 2 m but only
average and extreme values are shown.
a
Carbonates, sandstones and silts.
Velocities, Poisson's ratio and VP/VS ratios for each prole are
shown in Table 1.
In the rst two layers, the shear wave velocities observed in the
transverse receiver component are ranging from 108 m/s to 1222 m/s,
Fig. 3. Examples of raw records from the P and S-wave refraction surveys (summed shear-pair display). Top: Alvor 1(ALV1); Middle: Penina 1(PN1); Bottom: Alvor 2 (ALV2).
Please cite this article as: Carvalho, J., et al., Seismic velocities and geotechnical data applied to the soil microzoning of western Algarve,
Portugal, Journal of Applied Geophysics (2009), doi:10.1016/j.jappgeo.2009.01.001
ARTICLE IN PRESS
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Fig. 4. Examples of models obtained from the refraction interpretation and respective timedistance curves.
Please cite this article as: Carvalho, J., et al., Seismic velocities and geotechnical data applied to the soil microzoning of western Algarve,
Portugal, Journal of Applied Geophysics (2009), doi:10.1016/j.jappgeo.2009.01.001
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J. Carvalho et al. / Journal of Applied Geophysics xxx (2009) xxxxxx
Fig. 4 (continued).
while compressional waves velocities, P, vary from 249 m/s to 2038 m/s.
For the rst layer, VP/VS ratios exhibit a range from 1.46 to 3.26 and for
the second layer this ratio is from 1.47 to 7.0, while Poisson's ratio varies
from 0.06 to 0.49 for two layers. Good conformity between P-wave and
S-wave models was found for all, except for two proles, Penina (Pn1)
and Alvor 1(Alv1) (see Table 1), where the water table is very shallow.
These two proles present the highest VP/VS ratios and Poisson's ratio for
both rst and second layers.
The determined values of VP/VS ratios and the Poisson's ratio are
consistent with those found in the literature for similar shallow
sediments (Lankston, 1990; Almeida et al., 1999; Salem, 2000). The
proles of Penina and Alvor 1 present, for the second layer, higher
values than those usually found for totally saturated shallow
sediments (Lankston, 1990; Salem, 2000). Values of VP/VS ratios up
to 9 however, have been several times reported in water-saturated,
unconsolidated or clayish sediments (Salem, 2000).
6. Results and discussion
In order to protect human lives, reduce damage and maintain the
integrity of society the construction of buildings and civil engineering
structures have to be realized in accordance with local subsoil classication established on the basis of the respective seismic risk (Penelis, 1997).
Shear-wave data collected in the framework of the present project
and the reports from selected standard penetration tests are used to
propose a classication of the gross soil dynamic properties. In order to
achieve that, a local characterization of the geophysical and geotechnical
sampled areas was based on a suitably adopted soil classication
(Penelis, 1997). Then, the coarse sampling was generalised using
available digital geological cartography, in a GIS environment.
Please cite this article as: Carvalho, J., et al., Seismic velocities and geotechnical data applied to the soil microzoning of western Algarve,
Portugal, Journal of Applied Geophysics (2009), doi:10.1016/j.jappgeo.2009.01.001
ARTICLE IN PRESS
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Fig. 5. Soil classication (adapted from Penelis, 1997) map according to shear-wave velocity, layer thickness and SPT data.
((Oliveira et al., 1992) was available digitally at the time, the results are
presented at that scale.
The soil classication is presented in Fig. 5 for the Algarve area.
Soils of class C were not found in the study area because of the
limited depth penetration of the refraction proles. Classication AB
was attributed to soils with mixed properties of types A and B.
Mesozoic and Paleozoic formations were not studied, since it was
assumed that they represent a very low susceptibility of amplication or of liquefaction (Jorge, 1994).
However, unpublished data collected by the authors in Mesozoic
and Paleozoic formations in other areas of Portugal suggest that this
assumption may not be correct. P-wave velocities for the rst layer
obtained from many refraction proles, in similar lithologies of those
in the Algarve, are in the range 152751 m/s (Galhano et al., 1998).
The average thickness surface layer varies from 1 m to 7 m
approximately. If we use an average VP/VS ratio for non-saturated
Fig. 6. Variations of seismic (VS/100; VP/VS), geomechanical (Poisson's ratio, N parameter) parameters and depth for the different geological formation found in the study area.
Please cite this article as: Carvalho, J., et al., Seismic velocities and geotechnical data applied to the soil microzoning of western Algarve,
Portugal, Journal of Applied Geophysics (2009), doi:10.1016/j.jappgeo.2009.01.001
ARTICLE IN PRESS
J. Carvalho et al. / Journal of Applied Geophysics xxx (2009) xxxxxx
Fig. 7. Distribution of the N-value (non-refusal tests) by different lithologies of the LagosPortimo Formation. Limestones correspond to refusal tests and were not included in the
graphic. A total of 72 soundings were used.
7. Conclusions
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Please cite this article as: Carvalho, J., et al., Seismic velocities and geotechnical data applied to the soil microzoning of western Algarve,
Portugal, Journal of Applied Geophysics (2009), doi:10.1016/j.jappgeo.2009.01.001