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Use of existing data in the City of Zagreb (Croatia, Europe) for the purpose of
geo-planning

Conference Paper · November 2012

DOI: 10.3850/978-981-07-3757-3RP-161-P307

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 USE OF EXISTING DATA IN THE CITY OF ZAGREB
(CROATIA, EUROPE) FOR THE PURPOSE OF
GEO-PLANNING
SNJEŽANA MIHALIĆ ARBANAS1, MARTIN KRKAČ1, SANJA BERNAT2
and ŽELJKO ARBANAS3
1
Faculty of Mining, Geology and Petroleum Engineering, University of Zagreb, Pierottijeva
6, Zagreb, Croatia.
E-mail: snjezana.mihalic@rgn.hr
E-mail: martin.krka@rgn.hr
2
Geolog savjetovanje Ltd., Zagrebačka c. 20, Zagreb, Croatia.
E-mail: sanja.boo@gmail.com
1
Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Rijeka, Radmile Matejčić 3, Rijeka, Croatia.
E-mail: zeljko.arbanas@gradri.hr

The City of Zagreb is capitol of Croatia placed in Europe, in the Pannonian Basin composed of Neogene and
Quaternary sediments. At the territory of the City relief types changes in north-south direction encompassing
368.1 km2 of lowland area with slope <3. The total City area is 640 km2 and includes the urban area (Zagreb
City) and 69 settlements with 792,875 residents (18% of the total Croatian population). Although measures
have been taken in the City of Zagreb to promote land use, development and construction practices that do
not exacerbate the geologic hazard problem, the lack of recognition of geohazard prone terrain and
incomplete understanding of the underground conditions still exists. This paper addresses engineering
geological conditions at the area of the City as well as short overview of historical seismic-geotechnical and
landslide hazard zonation from 60-thies till today. The historical performance of Zagreb geohazard zoning
and system of geotechnical data archiving in assisting identification of the ground conditions and hazardous
phenomena demonstrates that it is necessary to establish system of data collection and data zonation for geo-
planning purposes. In the frame of this research, spatial interpretation of geological structure of City
subsurface is transferred in GIS project to enable gathering of information about depths and thickness of
lithostratigraphical formations which are important for planning of detailed ground investigations.

Keywords: The City of Zagreb, geohazard zonation, subsurface mapping, 3D modeling

1 Introduction
Owing to its geomorphological and geostructural position, the area of the City of Zagreb (capitol
of Croatia) participates into mega-geomorphological region of the European Pannonian Basin.
At the territory of the City relief types changes in north-south direction from mountain type
(ridge of the Medvednica Mt.) and hilly type (south-eastern foothills of the Medvednica Mt.),
through lowland (fluvial floodplain of the Sava River) to the hilly type (hills of the Vukomeričke
Gorice). Figure 1 shows geographic position of the City of Zagreb in Europe and administrative
boundary with relative proportions of mountain area (16%), hilly area (28%,) and lowland area
(56%). The City covers an area of 640 km2 and includes the urban area (Zagreb City) and 69
settlements with 792,875 residents (approximately 18% of the total Croatian population). The
current land-use includes 205 km2 of agricultural land, 195 km2 of forest and 240 km2 of other
land use types. The urbanized area (220 km2), i.e. administrative unit of the Zagreb City is loca-
Figure 1. Administrative units The City of Zagreb (County status) and the Zagreb City: (a) Geographic
position; (b) Histograms showing the elevation and slope angle computed from DEM of the City of Zagreb;
(c) Histograms showing the elevation and slope angle computed from DEM of the Zagreb City.

ted below the forest region of the Medvednica Mt. to the north (i.e. SE border of the Nature Park
Medvednica Mt.) and extends to the flood plain of the Sava River on the south. Relative
proportions of relief types in the Zagreb City (with prevailing plain area) are depicted on Fig. 1c.
Despite the very long history (more than 50 year) of initiation of establishing City’s
geotechnical data archive, there is no archive with geotechnical data even today. In the last 25
years the need for establishment of the archives of geotechnical data and reports about
geotechnical, seismic and hydrogeological investigation have been continuously pointed out in
relation to: seismic hazard microzonation in 1988; developing a landslide inventory (Stanić
1995); landslide hazard zonation and its application to the system of urban planning (Mihalić,
1998); design and construction in a hilly area of the City (Sokolić et al. 2008); and evaluation of
local site effects for seismic hazard microzonation (Mihalić et al. 2011; Kvasnička et al. 2011).
Contrary, in the last two decades in Europe and worldwide, local, regional, national and
international organizations have made considerable efforts to design, implement and maintain
digital inventories of geological, geotechnical and other environmental information on natural
conditions (Culshaw 2005). Thematic databases, digital inventories and cartographic archives
have become an important part of any investigation aimed at assessing the risk posed by
hazardous natural phenomena (Couture and Guzzetti 2004) as well as for preliminary
investigations of large underground spaces of the cities (Van Alboom et al. 2007). They are
important source of information, used by scientists, governmental agencies, policy makers and
professionals in various fields of the environmental engineering and earth sciences. A number
of states’ transportation departments in U.S.A. have established or are in the process of
establishing web based geotechnical databases for large infrastructure projects (Chung et al.
2010). Two European examples of geotechnical data bases have been reported by Vähäaho et
al. (2011): Databank Ondergrond Vlaanderen (DOV) - database compiling and offering subsoil
information of Flanders (Belgium); and HelsinkiSoili - a comprehensive database relating to soil
and bedrock in the area of the City of Helsinki. Gomes Coelho et al. (2007) pointed out
necessity of taking into consideration a regional geological setting, together with existing
available information, for rationale planning of site investigation and avoidance of unforeseen
geological conditions.
Intent of this paper is to re-emphasise central role of use of existing data in the process of
preliminary investigation and geo-planning at the area of the City or Zagreb, recalling that
previous knowledge of the regional geological setting is useful to plan geohazard mapping
programs and ground investigations works. In the focus of the paper is interpretation of
geological settings of underground space of the City of Zagreb based on structural-geological
interpretation of deep seismic reflection profiles and deep boreholes performed by Croatian oil
company in last few decades. Derived preliminary 3D model of subsurface can serve for
multiple applications in geotechnical engineering and land use geo-planning. Namely, there is
no any obligation in Croatia, in the form of policy or even recommendation, to use existing data.
Furthermore, the City did not established archive of geotechnical data (existing boreholes and in
situ tests). Consequently, the main disadvantage of practice of hazard zonation in Zagreb is lack
of interpretation of subsurface data. The purpose of this research is also to make a short
overview of zonation studies at the area of the City to get insight into historical use of geological
and geotechnical data for the purpose of geo-planning.

2 Review of geohazard zonations for the purpose of land use geo-planning in the City
of Zagreb
Developments of applied geological, hydrogeological and seismological maps financed by the
City government have started in 1963. Despite relatively long history of zonation practices, the
practice of geo-planning in the frame of land-use planning has not been established yet. Short
historical overview is given together with basic information about input data and presentation of
zonation results to get insight into applied methodologies of historical geohazard zonations at
the area of the City. At the beginning of this chapter, overview of engineering geological
conditions is given for zones and sub-zones derived by Jurak et al. (2008) which were used as a
basic division for conceptualization of current hazard zonation practice.

2.1 Engineering geological conditions at the area of the City

Jurak et al. (2008) divided the area of the City of Zagreb into three main zones, and six subzones
characterized by uniform geological, morphological and hydrological conditions which
influence geotechnical conditions and active geomorphological hazardous processes. Zone IV is
added for the purpose of this study. This division of the territory served for planning of
geohazard zonation studies which have been in progress from 2001. Figure 2 shows zones and
subzones by Jurak et al. (2008) with addition of the zone Vukomeričke Gorice Hills. Table 2
presents main engineering geological components of the zones from Fig. 2: lithology
(stratigraphical unit), slope angle and land cover.
Mountain area (Zone I) and hilly areas (Zones IIa, IIb, IIc and IV) are characterized by
landslides and flash-floods from mountain streams as a dominant geohazards. In the Zone I,
which is preserved as a nature park covered by forest, landslides endangered only road
infrastructure objects, because there is no urbanization and settlements. Contrary, in the hilly
zones IIa, IIb and IV landslides pose significant present or potential risk for houses and
constructions. Landslides in hilly areas of the City are mostly shallow to moderate shallow
(landslide depth in a range of 4-8 m), small to moderate small sliding phenomena (landslide
volumes in a range from 25*103 to 1*105 m3). They are mainly caused by human activities rela-
Figure 2. Slightly modified division of the City of Zagreb into zones and sub-zones by Jurak et al. (2008):
(a) Geological map showing the generalized stratigraphic units. The original scale of the geological map is
1:100.000. Histograms show the relative distribution of main geological units in the zones/sub-zones;
(b) Slope map from the 25 m x 25 m DEM. Histograms show the relative distribution of elevation and
slope angle in the zones/sub-zones computed from the DEM.

ted to construction of private houses or infrastructure facilities on gentle to moderate steep

slopes (10-30) (Mihalić et al. 2011). Flash- floods from mountain streams are only possible in
the zones IIa, IIb and in the north-western part of IIIb. According to historical data, flash-floods
have frequency of 21 year in the last four centuries (Žugaj et al. 2007). The last one happened in
July 1989 as a consequence of heavy rainfall.
In the zone IIIa Zagreb City experienced few floods of the Sava River in history (in 1876,
1880, 1895, 1923 and 1964) until the development of the multipurpose hydro-development
system consisting of dykes, flood release canals, retentions, spillway embankments, weirs,
hydropower structures, and other water structures. The results of expert forecast shows that re-
 Table 1. Characteristics of the zones according to Jurak et al. (2008) in the City of Zagreb.

Zone Geological settings Prevailing slope Land cover

angle
Pre-Neogene sedimentary,
metamorphic and magmatic rocks from
Precambrian to Creataceous ages (77%
I - Medvednica Mt. 12-48 Forest (92% area)
area);
Neogene limestones and marls (mainly)
of Badenian age (22% area)
Upper Miocene, mostly fine-grained Urbanized area
IIa soils and marls (42% area); Pleistocene 6-24 (54% area) with 74% artificial
Foothils of the engineering soils (43% area) surfaces
Medvednica Lower Miocene (43% area) and Upper Artificial surfaces
Mt. (termed IIb Miocene (32% area) soft rocks and 12-48 (54% area) (17%); agricultural
‘Podsljeme fine-grained soils area (57% area)
zone’) Artificial surfaces
Pleistocene engineering soils (62%
IIc 0-3 (77% area) (15%); agricultural
area)
area (52% area)
Artificial surfaces
Quaternary alluvial plain deposits
IIIa 0-3 (52%); agricultural
(100%)
area (41%)
Alluvial plain Pleistocene engineering soils (51% Artificial surfaces
of the Sava IIIb area) and Quaternary fluvial terrace 0-3 (47%); agricultural
River deposits (49% area) area (42%)
Agricultural area
Pleistocene engineering soils
IIIc 0-3 (57%); forest
(100% area)
(39%)
0-3 (35% area); 3- Agricultural area
IV - Vukomeričke Pleistocene engineering soils (100%
12 (41% area); 12- (42%); forest
Gorice Hills area)
48 (23% area) (57%)

currence of the catastrophic flood from 1964 is not probable today (Trninić 1991, 1997).
Considering frequency and magnitude of earthquakes, the basic seismic characteristic of
North-Western Croatia is moderate seismic activity with rare occurrence earthquake of M≥6
(Herak et al. 2009). The strongest earthquakes at the area of the City in the period 1880-1995
were the following: earthquake in 1880 with epicenter in the Medvednica Mt. (between Kašina
and Planina municipalities; Zone IIb), focal depth of 10 km and M=6.3; earthquake in 1906 with
epicenter in the Medvednica Mt. (Zone I), focal depth of 5 km and M=6.1; earthquake in 1909
with epicenter in the Vukomeričke Gorice Mt. (Zone IV), focal depth of 8 km and M=6.0.

2.2 History of geohazard zonation studies in the City

Regional geohazard studies at the area of the City of Zagreb started in 1963, mainly with the
objective of seismic-geotechnical and landslide hazard zonation aimed at land-use planning at
the level of physical planning. All activities related to history of geohazard zonation can be
grouped in the three periods: 1963-1972, 1979-1988 and 1993-2012.
First seismic macrozonation study of the wider City area date from 1965 when it was
performed by University’s Department of Geophysics on the basis of seismological data
collected from earthquake catalogs (for the period 1879-1908) and instrumentally located
earthquakes at the seismological station Grič in Zagreb (for the period 1909-1964). In 1969 the
seismic macrozonation study was followed by microtremor measurements to get insight into
local site effect at the 12 selected locations. Preliminary seismic microzonation of the City was
performed in the period 1968-1972 in cooperation between University’s Department of
Geophysics and City’s Department of Geodesy. Resulting microzonation map (for the City area
of 262 km2) was performed in scale 1:50,000 on the basis of existing data: geotechnical reports
(5,000 boreholes), geophysical investigations, lithological and hydrogeological maps. Seismic
macrozonation of the Medvednica Mt. (in scale 1:50,000), performed in 1979, employed
attenuation relations based on intensity, acceleration and velocity.
Numerous geologic thematic maps (lithological, hydrogeological, tectonic) of the City in
large scale (1:10,000) were produced in the period 1963-1968, as a result of extensive studies of
the national geological survey. Parts of applied geological studies from 1967 were also landslide
hazard maps in Zone IIa and partially Zone IIb: landslide inventory map and landslide
susceptibility map. Second campaign of extensive field mapping of landslides was in 70-thies
and 80-thies when company Geotehnika–Geoexpert Ltd. from Zagreb produced new landslide
inventories in scale 10,000 for the following areas: urbanized part of the hilly area of the
Medvednica Mt. (published in 1979); municipalities inside and outside Zagreb City (published
from 1981 to 1986). National geological survey was involved in landslide mapping of three
municipalities in 1981. Landslide inventory and susceptibility maps of the Zagreb City from
1979 were official thematic maps used for urban planning purposes until 2001.
Regional study ‘Seismic microzonation of the City of Zagreb (14 municipalities)’ from 1988
encompassed seismic-geotechnical hazard zonation of an area of 1,700 km2 accompanied by the
most extensive program of additional geotechnical and geophysical investigations. Authors of
the study were: Geotehnika–Geoexpert Ltd.; Department of Geology (National Geological
Survey); Department of Geophysics (Faculty of Science, Zagreb); and Faculty of Mining,
Geology and Petroleum Engineering (Zagreb). Input data for resulting geological and landslide
hazard maps (in the scale 1:10,000) were collected from geological and landslide hazard maps
produced in the period 1979-1986 and completed by existing data from detailed geotechnical
investigation (8,500 boreholes). Study of seismicity resulted by seismotectonic map depicting
zones of maximal earthquake magnitudes in a range from M=5 to M=7. Seismic hazard was
quantified by means of attenuation using deterministic approach and probabilistic approach
based on intensity and PGA (peak ground acceleration) on bedrock and at the surface. Local site
effects, i.e. ground motions at the surface, were estimated on the basis of new microtremor
measurement performed at 25 locations, followed by additional geophysical investigation at the
surface and in the underground (in 75 boreholes). Existing data from 1,000 geophysical reports
were also used. PGA for characteristic ground type models was obtained on the basis of
determination of amplification factor (ratio of surface layer shear-wave velocity to bedrock).
In 1993 the City authorities initiated new program of geohazard zonations for the purpose of
land use geo-planning. Concept of required studies has been developed after 12 years. In 2005
started zonation of the hilly area of Medvednica Mt. (total area 170 km2), which encompass
Zone IIa, IIb, IIc and IIIb. In the period 2005-2008 Croatian Geological Survey prepared
lithological map and landslide inventory map of the hilly area on the basis of existing data (<200
geotechnical reports) and ground survey. Development of seismic microzonation map is
currently in progress. Input data (microtremor measurements) and description of HVSR
technique, used to compute ratios of horizontal and vertical spectra of microtremors, applied in
the hilly area is described in Herak (2011). These spectra resemble, often in great detail, the
theoretical amplification spectra of the soil layers, thus enabling quick verification of existing
geotechnical models, and determine fundamental frequencies of soil deposits. New seismic
macrozonation map was produced by the same author (Herak et al. 2011) in 2011 for the
purpose of Croatian National Annex of Eurocode 8. This map depict PGA values on soil type A
(according to Eurocode 8 classification, EC8 2004) for return period Tp = 95 and 475 years.
3 Interpretation of the subsurface in the lowland area
Lowland area of the City of Zagreb is part of geological-structural unit Sava Tertiary Basin
which encompasses Zagreb Depression and two fossil terraces, Stupnik and Zagreb terraces.
Geological settings of the Sava alluvial plain area is mostly known from the data derived in the
frame of numerous investigations aimed at oil, hydrogeological and geothermal surveys which
encompassed drilling of deep boreholes and geophysical investigations. The most important
feature of the Depression is the sequence of Neogene–Quaternary sediments, estimated locally at
more than few thousands meter thickness according to (Velić et al. 2002). Isopach map of the
entire Neogene to Quaternary sequence of wider area is given in Troskot-Čorbić et al. (2009).
Based on the synthesis of subset of the available geological and geophysical data, Jurak et al.
(1998) constructed compilation geologic column of the City plain area with estimation of
average thickness of litostratigraphical formations and their seismic velocities (V p and Vs).
Figure 3 shows geological column from superficial deposits (Quaternary engineering soils) to
the bedrock (Mesozoic and Paleozoic sedimentary, metamorphic and igneous rocks) typical for
the Zagreb Depression. The main characteristic of geologic setting of plain area is thick
sequence of Neogene sediments (maximal thickens 3600 m) bounded by faults from terrace part.

Seismic wave
Average
velocities
Chronostratigraphic units Litostratigraphic units thickness Lithological column
vp vs
(m)
(m/s) (m/s)
<2000 ≤500
QUATERNARY
2190 780
LONJA FORMATION 319
2130 880
ROMANIAN
PLIOCENE 2500 950
DACIAN
2540 1000

2680 1050
ŠIROKO POLJE
UPPER PONTIAN 239
FORMATION
3000 1200
PONTIAN
UPPER MIOCENE

KLOŠTAR IVANIĆ
LOWER PONTIAN 325 3000 1500
FORMATION
MIOCENE

PANNONIAN

IVANIĆ GRAD
UPPER PANNONIAN 219 4000 1700
FORMATION

LOWER
PRKOS FORMATION 79
PANNONIAN
MIDDLE SARMATIAN
MIOCENE BADENIAN 4200 1700
PREČEC FORMATION 212
LOWER CARPATHIAN
MIOCENE OTTNANGIAN

UPPER AND MIDDLE PRE-TERTIARY

MESOZOIC 149 4500 2600
CRETACEOUS BASEMENT

PALEOZOIC ? BEDROCK ? 5600 3200

Figure 3. Compilation lithological column of the Zagreb plain area (Jurak et al. 1998).
Subsided Pleistocene and Upper Pliocene deposits form base of thick Holocene alluvial deposits
(>40 m in the middle part of the plain). Geological interpretation of Pleistocene and Holocene
sediments from particular locations (Samobor, Podsused, Prečko, Zagreb center and Jakuševec)
is presented in Velić and Saftić (1991), Velić and Durn (1993), Velić et al. (1995) and Velić et
al. (1999) together with wide spectrum of mineralogical, petrological and paleontological
analysis of borehole cores. Spatial positions of Quaternary, Upper and Middle Pleistocene
deposits are also interpreted in the frame of hydrological studies for the purpose of aquifer
research (Vlahović et al. 2009, Nakić et al. 2011).
In the frame of research presented in this paper, spatial interpretation of geological structure
in the underground is made on the basis of subsurface mapping of three horizons of geological
contacts or geological markers: α'- geological contact between Upper Pontian and Plio-
Quaternary; R7 – lower boundary of Pannonian; and PNg – lower boundary of Neogene
(unconformity between Neogene deposits and bedrock or Pre-Neogene basement). Structural
surfaces α', R7 and PNg were derived on the basis of correlation of data from 72 2D seismic
reflection profiles and 17 deep boreholes, as an primary data sources. Example of interpreted
seismic reflection profile is shown on Fig. 4a. Spatial correlation of geological markers is
presented by contour lines which depict depths of three surfaces of geological contact (Fig. 4b).
Interpretations of seismic profiles and interpolation of surfaces is made by structural geology
expert. Contours are derived semi-automatically using software package Landmark, application
Z-MAP Plus and Least Squares interpolation algorithm. Software application TDQ was used for
development of velocity model using the data about velocities measured in boreholes. Fig. 5a
shows positions of boreholes and seismic profiles. On the basis of aforementioned model,
temporal horizons are transferred to spatial by means of depths (Tomljenović, 2008 – orally
communication). Depths of all three geological horizons are presented in Fig. 5. Primary or
input data and data derived by described subsurface mapping are organized in GIS project using
ArcGIS ArcInfo software. Fig. 5b shows distribution of the youngest package of deposits in the
subsurface at the area of the Zagreb City, i.e. Lonja Formation consisting of Quaternary
(Holocene and Pleistocene) and Pliocene sediments: clays, gravels, silts and sands. The
thickness of Lonja Fm. varies from 0 (in the hilly zones IIa and IIb) to 1000 meters in zone IIIa.
Fig. 5c shows distribution of depths of Sarmatian soft rocks in a range of 0-2800 meters, which

Figure 4. Input data for subsurface mapping: (a) Seismic reflection profile with interpreted horizons of
geological contacts or geological markers α', R7 and PNg; (b) Map with input data (seismic reflection
profiles, fault traces at the surface) and interpreted contour lines which depict depth of one geological
marker.
imply that, the thickness of the whole package of Upper Miocene formations and Prkos
Fm.composed of sand, silt and marl reaches 1800 meters. Fig. 5d shows distribution of depths
of Pre-Neogene rocks and maximal thickness of Prečec Fm. (Middle and Lower Miocene)
composed of marls, limestones and sandstones of 800 meters.

Figure 5. Results of subsurface mapping overlain by selected superficial geological units and borders of
zones used for historical zonation purposes (described in chapter 2.1): (a) Positions of primary data;
(b) Depths of geological contact between Plio-Pleistocene and Pontian deposits (α' marker) and Pleistocene
deposits at the surface; (c) Depths of geological contact between Pannonian and Sarmatian deposits (R7
marker) and Pannonian and Pontian deposits at the surface; (d) Depths of geological contact between
Neogene and Pre-Neogene deposits (PNg marker) and Badenian/Sarmatian deposits at the surface.
4 Application of the results of subsurface mapping in a system of geo-planning
For geo-planning purposes the most important is geological settings of the underground till 30
meters depth. 3D geological model shows that the thickness of Quaternary, Upper Miocene and
Middle Miocene deposits varies greatly in general direction NW-SE. Estimation of depth and
thickness of lithostratigraphical formations is especially important at the locations of smaller
thickness, where vertical changes are more frequent. This relates to relatively narrow zone in
the area of transition between hilly area of Medvednica Mt. and plain area of the Sava River, i.e.,
to zone IIa, IIb and NW part of zones IIc, IIIa and IIIb. The most of the area of zones IIc, IIIa,
IIIb, IIIc and IV are characterized by more than 100 meters thick Quaternary deposits.
Presented model is of limited use for direct derivation of map which depict ground cross
sections till 30 meters depth (Vs,30 distribution map) because of widely present Quaternary
deposits of great thickness. However, in the areas relatively uniform in soil stiffness, the
variations of natural periods of the ground are linear functions of the variations in soil depths.
Deep deposits (for depths over 150 m) influenced buildings differently, depending on the
number of stories N, i.e., on their natural period. Obviously, the upper 30 m soil characteristics
alone would not be enough for determining the relationship between the building damage and
the soil characteristics. On the basis of presented 3D model it is possible to derive zones in
which deeper cross sections needs to be considered. Application of Eurocode 8 implies ground
response analysis to ensure detailed hazard analysis which constitutes the basis for establishing
ground motion for important structures. Presented model can be applied for planning of
investigation works aimed at more detailed interpretations of local site condition. On the basis
of 3D geological model it is possible to estimate borehole depths and depths of geophysical
survey which need to ensure information about distribution of rock/soil layers and their
properties for civil engineering purposes. Fig. 6 presents information gathered from GIS for
particular location near the Sava River where the thickness of Quaternary sediments is 452 m.

Figure 6. GIS project with primary data and results of subsurface mapping organized in layers (left) and
cartographic presentation of information about depths to geological horizons for particular location (right).

5 Conclusions
In the City of Zagreb a number of research programs and databases gather information about the
underground. Although, the Physical Planning and Building Act (Official Gazette 76/07, 38/09,
55/11, 90/11) requires establishment of the City’s information system for the purpose of
management and strategical planning from 2007, the system of centralized archiving geological,
geotechnical, seismological and hydrological data have not been established yet. There is need
to bring this information together and to develop comprehensive geological and geotechnical
data base. All those activities present challenges for systematic collection of input data for
evaluating of engineering geological and geotechnical conditions in the City area.
Despite limited amount of existing data from deep investigation works (72 2D seismic
reflection profiles and 17 deep boreholes at the area of 450 km2), interpretation of preliminary
3D model developed in GIS for the purpose of this research, ensure valuable framework for
understanding of geological model of the plain area of the City of Zagreb. It can be used for
rationale planning of additional geotechnical investigations which are necessary to interpret
shallower engineering geological models for land use planning or civil engineering purposes.

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