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FINAL REPORT: Seismic Microzonation Studies

of Port of Spain, Trinidad, based on H/V spectral
ratios and Genetic Inversion of Phase Velocity
on Microtremors
Technical Report · October 2014
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FINAL REPORT
Seismic Microzonation Studies of Port of Spain,

Trinidad, based on H/V spectral ratios and Genetic
Inversion of Phase Velocity on Microtremors
Prepared for:
Ministry of Planning & Sustainable Development
Eric Williams Finance Building
Independence Square
Port of Spain
Prepared by:
Walter Salazar
Principal Investigator
and
Garth Mannette, Kafele Reddock, Clevon Ash,
Marie Hinds
October 3rd 2014

W. Salazar, G. Mannette, K. Reddock, C. Ash, M. Hinds
Seismic Microzonation Studies of Port of Spain,

Trinidad, based on H/V spectral ratios and Genetic
Inversion of Phase Velocity on Microtremors
Walter Salazar1, Garth Mannette1, Kafele Reddock1, Clevon Ash1 and Marie Hinds2
1. Seismic Research Centre, The University of the West Indies (UWI), St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago
2. Ministry of Planning and Sustainable Development, Trinidad and Tobago
Abstract: We performed single mobile microtremor measurements at 1,197 sites at Port of Spain (POS) in Trinidad with the
objective of estimating the amplification effects due to the earthquake ground motion on the surface geology. The Fourier
Transform was applied to the most stationary parts of the triaxial wave motion recordings for each individual site and
applied the traditional Nakamura technique, namely, the Horizontal to Vertical spectral ratio (H/V) to retrieve the
predominant shear wave period of vibration of the soil profiles above the bedrock. The results yield predominant periods of
about 1.2-1.7s in the Port Area, 0.9 – 1.2 s in Woodbrook, 0.3-0.6 s in the downtown area and St James and 0.1 – 0.3s in
the surrounding area of the city and a clear rock site conditions at the East of POS in Lavantille. The authors performed
microtremor arrays at nine sites to retrieve the shear wave velocity (VS) profiles employing the spatial auto correlation
method (SPAC) via application of Genetic Algorithms (GAs) inversion of phase velocity. The GAs results coincide well
with the depth of 75 m in a borehole at the Queen’s Savannah Park; the ellipticity pattern for the first mode of Rayleigh
waves explain well the resulting predominant peak in the H/V ratios for all array sites. The level of amplification of ground
motion is between 3-5 for the period range of engineering interest (0.1 – 3.0s) with VS between 150-650 m/s with the deepest
part of 250m at the South of Woodbrook and the Port Area . The level of amplification, the fundamental period of motion
retrieve from the microtremors, the alluvium fan deposits and the level of water table suggest a high liquefaction potential in
a wide area of POS.
Key words: Rayleigh and S-waves, amplification factor, fundamental period of vibration, ellipticity, genetic algorithms.
Introduction
Research documenting the destructiveness of several seismic events have established the pervasive influence of
the sedimentary deposits on the preferential distribution of damages; such distribution appears to correlate well
with the degree of amplifications caused by the surface geology; we can then regard the local distribution of the
ground shaking intensity as a phenomenon closely related to the filtering effects of the soil profile (Salazar et al.,
2007; Salazar & Seo, 2003). Several studies have shown that Nakamura’s technique (Nakamura, 1989) for
estimating shear wave resonant periods is a robust method that can yield useful information regarding the soil
profile of a site in the near surface. In this work, we study the site effects in City of Port of Spain (POS) in
Trinidad by performing single mobile microtremor measurements at 1,197 sites with the objective of compute the
Corresponding author: Walter Salazar, Doctor of Engineering Seismology, now at Earthquake Engineering Consultants, El Salvador.
2
H/V spectral ratios; we complement the survey with 9 microtremor arrays sites to retrieve the shear wave velocity
profile.
We divide this report in five sections; firstly, we introduce the surface geological setting of Port of Spain (POS)
based on available references for the City; secondly, an outline the theoretical background of the Nakamura
technique to retrieve the quasi-transfer function of the soil profile is presented. In the third section the authors
explain the methodology involved in the collection and processing of the mobile microtremor data; from this
study an isoperiod contour map and a preliminary map for liquefaction potential for the POS have been proposed.
In the fourth part, we apply the genetic inversion on phase velocity on microtremor arrays with the objective of
getting the shear wave velocity VS profile of nine sites distributed in POS and compare the theoretical S-wave
transfer function and the H/V ratios. We conclude our study with further recommendation for planning and
research for the City.
1. Geological Setting of Port of Spain
Port of Spain Gravels an alluvial fan deposited by the three main rivers that flow from the north through the city
and its environs namely, the Maraval River (to the west), the St. Ann’s River (to the north and east) and the
Cascade River (to the north). This alluvium forms the Port of Spain costal aquifer which is over 300ft deep and
comprising of Quaternary gravel beds, the Port of Spain Gravels. It consists of poorly sorted gravels, sand and
clay. Some boulders of grey limestone and some slates are found. The fan rises gently from sea level at the Port of
Port of Spain to above 30m elevation to the North where it meets the foothills of the Northern Range. Few wells
dug into the alluvium have reached bedrock and thus the shape of the underlying bedrock and thickness of the
alluvium are not well known. To the North are the foothills of the Northern Range which all lie on the
Cretaceous Chancellor Fm. This occurs as blocks of low grade meta-pelites (muds or fine grained clastics),
phyllites and quartz-mica schists. The Quartz and Quartz-Mica Schist member (Schistose Quartzite) is exposed in
areas such as The Trinidad Hilton car park as well as the weathered phyllite member (Lady Young Rd) with
interbedded quartz conglomerates as seen on Lady Chancellor Hill. The muds or meta-pelites are exposed
throughout the northern areas of the study site and were noted in north-western St. James, and Bossiere Village.
These areas show ductile deformation from the gentle folding exposed in the Bossiere Village area to the more
highly folded phyllites on Lady Chancellor Road. West of this are the gently slopping colluvial deposits which
site Ellerslie Park, Long Circular and northern St. James.
More recent alluvium is present in the Maraval River valley system to the north-northwest as well as the Cascade
and St. Ann’s valleys to the north-northeast. To the east, in the Belmont area the Lopinot Phyllite as well as the
Cretaceous Laventille Metalimestone is present. The Laventille Metalimestone also dominates East Port of Spain
it is comprised of massive, hard, grey fossiliferous limestones and black slates in the study area. Toward the coast,
the once mangrove swamps of the area have been reclaimed by anthropogenic means. Much of this is
non-engineered and unconsolidated. However the Port of Port of Spain is sited on engineered landfill. This
reclaimed land and much of the alluvium of the Port of Spain Gravels may be highly susceptible to liquefaction
due to their unconsolidated nature and high water table. These conditions were confirmed by our microtremor
survey in the area.
3
2. Theoretical Background of H/V ratios of Microtremors
Microtremors are a general term for constantly existing minute vibrations at the surface of the ground with
body and surface waves being the main component of microtremors. Microtremors show specific characteristics
of the surface geology, and are periodic and contain the amplification characteristics of the soil, which is often
referred to as site-effect. The periodic characteristics of microtremors are similar to the ones during earthquakes;
however, the amplitude of microtremors is quite small caused by human activity, machinery, traffic, sea waves,
etc. Due to the close relation between the nature of microtremors and the fundamental dynamic behaviour of the
surface soil layers, these small vibrations are useful and also well known in the field of earthquake engineering.
To assess the transfer functions we used the traditional method of Nakamura, the Horizontal to Vertical Spectral
(H/V) ratio (Salazar et al., 2013).
While studying the characteristics of microtremors, Nogoshi & Igarashi (1970) found a conspicuous similitude
of the horizontal to vertical spectral ratios (H/V) of microtremors to that of Rayleigh waves. This led them in
the first instance to suggest Rayleigh waves as the main component of microtremor recordings. This constitutes
the origin of the horizontal to vertical spectral ratio technique applied in the estimation of the amplification of the
horizontal motion in the presence of surface layers using microtremors (Rodríguez & Midorikawa, 2002; Konno
& Ohmachi, 1998). Nakamura (1989) revisited this method and brought it back to the engineering community as
non-reference site technique providing a theoretical interpretation in the form of his Semi-Quasi Transfer
Spectrum model incorporating the effects of Rayleigh and S-waves in his formulation. Nakamura’s formulation
of the H/V spectral ratio departs from the assumption that the vertical component of motion reaches the surface
without undergoing significant amplification within the frequency range of interest in engineering, thereby
retaining the characteristics of the horizontal motion at the engineering bedrock. Nakamura proved the validity of
this crucial assumption at the Tabata and Kanonomiya sites in Japan for the usual frequency range of practical
interest in engineering, namely, from 0.33 to 10 Hertz (0.1 to 3.0 seconds). We define Hi(f) and Hb(f) as the
surface i and engineering bedrock b horizontal Fourier amplitude spectrum of microtremors, respectively. If f
denotes the frequency of ground motion then we can express the site effects function Gi(f) at a site i, by applying
the following expression:
(1)
It seems worth noting that although dealing with microtremor recordings, Equation 1 results in a transfer
function formulation quite similar to that proposed by Borchedt (1970) for earthquake ground motion recordings.
In their original formulation, Nakamura assumed that the energy of microtremors comprises both body and
surface waves, and that the surface sources generate Rayleigh waves equally affecting the horizontal and vertical
components of motion (Rodríguez & Midorikawa, 2002). If we assume that the vertical motion due only to
body waves undergoes no amplification, then we can express the effect of the Rayleigh waves on the vertical
motion ES (f) as follows:
(2)
4
According to this development, ES yields 1.0 in the absence of Rayleigh waves, whereas values over 1.0
indicate the effect of Rayleigh waves. The next step in this formulation comprises the vertical and horizontal
components of motion assuming a similar effect of Rayleigh waves on both. On these premises, the formulation
of the horizontal to vertical motion spectral ratio (H/V) aims at eliminating the Rayleigh wave’s effect via
calculation of the ratio Gi(f)/Es(f):
(3)
According to the previous assumptions, at the engineering bedrock the ratio Hb(f)/Vb(f) equates 1.0 within a
relatively wide period range. Accordingly, we can estimate the soil transfer function by taking the Hi(f)/Vi(f) ratios
of the surface recordings.
3. Mobile Microtremors Survey and Data Processing
We performed a mobile microtremors survey at Port of Spain (Fig. 1) from June 2013 to March 2014. A total of
1,197 measurements with an average of 100m spacing was made employing a triaxial Tokyo Sokushin 24 bit
sensor, model VSE-15D6 with a flat response between 0.1Hz to 100Hz (Fig. 2) and a recording system of Δt=
0.01s (100 samples per second); the sensors measured micromotion in terms of velocity. In general, measurements
were done in environments with low ambient noise, for 15 minutes at each location (see Fig. 5 and 7); the
horizontal sensors were located with north-south and east-west orientations (Magnetic North). Measurements in
the downtown area were carried out on Sundays, between the hours of 4:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., and on heavily
trafficked streets, from 4:30 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. Residential areas were usually measured from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00
p.m. The survey thus far has been divided into sixteen areas (A-P) as shown in Table 1 (see Fig. 1) including the
peripheries of the City. The data were stored in a SAMTAC 802-H 24-bit recorder (Fig. 3). The receipt of the
Project’s vehicle allowed data collection exercises with a dense mobile microtremors survey being conducted in
Port of Spain (Fig. 4).
The following six steps were adopted to perform the surveys and to analyze the data (see Fig. 6-8):
i) We tried to make the measurement whenever in a silent environment for 15 minutes at each location
(trying to maintain the survey, interval; however there are some locations where we had to collect in the
closest possible location relative to this interval); since the instrument can easily record surrounding noise
such as heavy traffic or the eventual pass of pedestrians near the sensors. These are reflected in spikes on the
records that can perturb the periodic features of the microtremors. The horizontal sensors were located with
north-south and east-west orientations (Magnetic North) and the geographical coordinates of each
microtremor measurment was acquire by a GPS unit. We employed a gain of 0dB or 20dB in the recording
ranging the microtremor velocity between 8x10-5 to 0.001 cm/s respectively (Fig. 5). We accept in first
instance that the measurment were correctly done just plotting the uncorrected wave motion (raw data). A
common case of error in the measurements is the unproper levelling of the plate that support the sensors that
can be seen in the uncorrected time history (usually reflected in jolts in the vertical component). We noticed
also that another caused of error was to locate the sensors above drains or near big trees.
5
Fig. 1. Top: General Location Map of Trinidad and Port of Spain; Bottom: Map of Port of Spain Area and the 1,197
Microtremor points surveyed (solid color circles). Letters in the map (A-P) refers to each area in Table 1. Each area is also
indicated by the color dots for each microtremor measurements. The locations of the 9 microtremor arrays are depicted by
an orange number and a X (see Section 4 and Table 2).
6
Number
Area District of points
measured
A Woodbrook 187
B Saint Clair 82
C Port of Spain Proper 229
D Saint James 195
E Queen’s Park Savanna 81
F Federation Park 35
G Ellerslie Park 19
H Newtown 15
I Cocorite 51
J Port of Port of Spain 80
K Sea Lots 39
L Long Circular Road 17
M La Perouse Cemetery 6
N East Port of Spain 61
O Belmont 36
P Peripheries 64
Total 1,197
Table 1. Areas in Port of Spain and number of points, at which microtremor data were collected . See
location of each area and the correspondent microtremors points in Fig. 1.
VSE-15D6
1000
Sensitivity V/m/s
100
10
1
0.01 0.1 1 10 100 1000
Frequency （Hz)
Fig. 2. Transfer Function for the Tokyo Sokushin Sensor VSE-15D6 (Courtesy of Isamu Yokoi, Tokyo Sokushin).
7
Fig. 3. VSE-15D6 Sensors for micromotion, oriented in N-S, E-W and vertical direction (left) and the SAMTAC 802-H
recorder (right).
Fig. 4. Vehicle Toyota Fortuner used to perform the Microtremor Survey in Port of Spain.
8
ii) To avoid padding with zeros the signal employing the Fast Fourier Transformation (FFT), samples of 163.84
s (which the number of velocity values matches the power of two = 214 in accordance with the recording rate
of 100 samples per second) of the stationary parts of the recording were selected initially for processing (see
Fig. 7). However under some cimcurstances, we could only perform the measurements when constant pass of
vehicles were inevitable at the site (e.g. roads or highways that have traffic the 24 hours a day), in these cases
we retrieved from the records a shorter stationary parts of 40.96 s that also matches the power of two = 212
(see Fig. 8); it is noted that a clear predominant peak appears for a shorter time window selection excluding
the pass of the cars in the analysis. The first 10 s of the records were not selected for the analysis because we
usually closed the cover of the recorder and walk next to the instrument that results in spikes that would affect
the stationary characterisitics of microtremors. Some measurements were repeated if we could not retrieve at
least 40.96 s of stationary micromotion if we observed erros in the level of the instrument according to (i).
iii) For each stationary sample, we applied a baseline correction that targets the elimination of the noise
associated with the unknown zero-level line associated with long period components, this serves to remove
the signal offset responsible for constant shifts of all velocity values. The Fourier Transform was then applied
to the records and with the band pass raised cosine filter. We selected the low cutoff frequency in the filter
according to the dynamic amplification factor (flat response) provided by the sensor manufacturer (Fig. 2) and
the high cutoff frequency as 1/2Δt=50Hz, which corresponds to the Nyquist frequency phisically representing
the maximum frequency to be analyzed in discrete functions. It is noted that the manufacturer applies already
a real time filter installed in the electronics of the recorder to avoid aliasing phenomena setting a high cut off
filter of 0.8 of the Nyquist frequency.
iv) We applied the inverse Fourier Transform to obtain the corrected velocity time history for each stationary
sample.
v) For each corrected stationary part we computed the resultant Fourier velocity amplitude spectrum and
compute the mean of all parts and the correspondent uncertainties for the horizontal and vertical components
of motion. In this case the uncertainty was computed in terms of the minimum and maximum spectral velocity
observed during the measurments. We smoothed the spectra applying a Parzen Window with a bandwidth of
0.3 Hz (Salazar et al., 2013).
vi) Finally, after verifying the similiraty in both horizontal components we calculated the Horizontal to Vertical
Spectral ratio (H/V) employing the resultant vector of the orthogonal north-south and east-west components
of motion and averaging the results for all the stationary parts selected for each record; the maximum and
minimum ratios were computed as well. We identified the peak in the H/V ratio and its amplitude and located
it in the Geographical Information System. We plotted the spectra for 0.1 to 3.0 s coinciding with the period
range of interest for engineering practice (Fig. 7-8). The signal processing was done basically on the months
of April to June 2014.
9
N-S E-W UD
A 13/06/2013 11:07 0.0002
8E-005
0 0
-8E-005
-0.0002
B 15/07/2013 10:14 0.0002
0.0001
0 0
-0.0001
-0.0002
0.001 C 26/01/2014 05:49 0.0002
0 0
-0.001 -0.0002
D 24/01/2014 13:05 8E-005
0.0001
0 0
-0.0001
-8E-005
4E-005 E 21/08/2013 11:53 2E-005
0 0
-2E-005
-4E-005
4E-005 F 16/08/2013 09:37 4E-005
0 0
-4E-005 -4E-005
0.0002
G 29/08/2013 11:36 0.0002
0 0
-0.0002
-0.0002
4E-005 H 27/10/2013 07:41 4E-005
0 0
-4E-005 -4E-005
0.0004 I 26/11/2013 19:41 0.002
0 0
-0.002
-0.0004
8E-005 J 12/11/2013 10:31 0.0002
0 0
-0.0002
-8E-005
0.001 K 04/12/2013 10:22
0.0002
0 0
-0.001 -0.0002
L 14/01/2014 16:02 0.0004
0.0002
0 0
-0.0002
-0.0004
0.0001 M 31/07/2013 14:18 8E-005
0 0
-0.0001 -8E-005
N 29/01/2014 12:07 0.0008
0.0002
0 0
-0.0002
-0.0008
0.0004 O 07/02/2014 13:12 0.0004
0 0
-0.0004 -0.0004
P 10/01/2014 16:40
0.0002 0.0002
0 0
-0.0002 -0.0002
0 4 8 12 16 20 0 4 8 12 16 20 0 4 8 12 16 20
Time (s)
Fig. 5. Wave motion microtremors for the North-South (N-S), East-West (E-W) and Vertical (UD) component for each area
(A-P) depicted in Figure 1 at Port of Spain. The y axis is plotted in terms of velocity (cm/s). The recording time of the
measurements is located in the upper left part of each vertical component.
10
1,197 POINTS
(i) Microtremors survey and recording
(ii) Samples selection
*stationary part 1 *stationary part 2….*stationary part 5
(iii) Fourier Transformation of the N-S, E-W and UD components
(iv) Application of Band Pass Filter
(v) Computation of Smoothed Fourier Spectra
(vi) Obtain the H/V ratio and predominant period
Fig. 6. Flowchart showing the methodology for data collection and digital signal processing.
Fig. 7. Top: Microtremor recording at Cocorite (Area I) depicting the time window employed in the digital signal processing
(dashed area corresponding to 163.84 s each); Bottom: Fourier Amplitude Spectra for the three component of motion (N-S:
North-South, E-W: East-West, UD: Vertical) and the Horizontal to Vertical Spectral Ratio (H/V). The mean amplitude is
depicted with a thick line while the maximum and minimum amplitudes are depicted by the thin lines. The predominant peak
is indicated by the arrows in the H/V spectral ratios (right).
11
Fig. 8. Top: Microtremor recording at Saint James (Area D) depicting the time window employed in the digital signal
processing (open squares corresponding to 163.84 s and dashed squares corresponding to 40.96 s); Middle: Fourier Amplitude
Spectra for the three component of motion (N-S: North-South, E-W: East-West, UD: Vertical) and the Horizontal to Vertical
Spectral Ratio (H/V) for 163.84 s windowing; Bottom: Fourier Amplitude Spectra and H/V ratios for 40.96 s. Note that the
clear predominant peak appears (arrow) for the shorter time window selection when the pass of the cars are excluded in the
analysis. The mean amplitude is depicted with a thick line while the maximum and minimum amplitudes are depicted by the
thin lines.
3.1 Fundamental period of vibration of soil deposits
We developed two maps employing the resulting predominant periods of vibration of the soil for the 1,197
microtremor points, one depicting the period at each point of measurement (Fig. 9) and another seismic
microzonation map with isoperiod patches corresponding to a grid of 10 m x 10 m via application of Linear
Triangular Interpolation method (Fig. 10). The largest periods of vibration in POS yields at the Port Area East,
Movie Town and the south part of Saint James between 1.2 -1.7 s as a resulting of both, deep sediments and
reclaimed land, presumably, poorly compacted. The area of Sea Lots results in predominant periods between 0.9 –
1.2 s. Intermediate periods (0.3-0.6s) are observed in the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port of Spain Proper, Saint Clair
and the North Part of Saint James. The shorter period yields less than 0.3s in the Peripheries of POS, Long Circular
and Belmont and East of POS corresponding to a very stiff soil conditions and in sometimes a clear rock formation
12
like in Lavantille area of Cretaceous Limenstone.
The only borehole data reporting the depth of the engineering bedrock in POS is located at the Queen’s Savannah
Park yielding 75 m reported by the water authority (WASA) in Trinidad. The average VS of the sediments
constituted mainly by sand and gravels is estimated as a 472 m/s with a depth of 73 m according to the microtremor
array performed in this Park and the Genetic Algorithms (GAs) inversion of Section 4 of this report; taking the
fundamental period T in seconds of a soil profile equal to:
(4)
Introducing the values of H and Vs in Eq. (4) resulting from the GAs inversion, the period T yields 0.6 s
coinciding with the one obtained by the H/V spectral ratio technique. Moreover, the calculated depth of the
sediments by GAs coincides fairly well by reported borehole data of WASA. We noted that the borehole is located
about 50 m away from the microtremor array. The shorter period yields less than 0.3s in the Peripheries of POS,
Long Circular and Belmont and East of POS.
Fig. 9. Predominant period of vibration for soil deposits based on Horizontal to Vertical Spectral Ratio (H/V) employing the
1,197 points of microtremor measurements at Port of Spain. The units of the fundamental period of soil vibration are in
seconds. Letters in the map (A-P) refers to each area/district in Table 1.
13
Fig. 10. Seismic Microzonation Map of Port of Spain based on Isoperiod patches. The units of the fundamental period of soil
vibration are in seconds. We divide the region in five zones according to its correspondent period.
The shape of the H/V spectral ratios and the absolute velocity Fourier Amplitude Spectra introduce an insight of
the wave propagation of microtremors in Port of Spain (Fig. 12-15): an important characteristic of this quasi transfer
function is that the peak observed in H/V ratios of vibration is clearly caused by the trough in the vertical component
physically representing the change from prograde to retrograde particle motion at the surface, in other words, the
ellipticity of the fundamental modes of Rayleigh waves explain such peak at the first mode of vibration; these
characteristics are validated by a further analysis employing microtremor arrays and inversion of surface waves via
GAs inversion in Section 4 of this article. A further examination of the H/V ratio for Saint James area (Fig. 12)
reflects two peaks at 0.8 s and 0.15 s, which presumably constitutes the fundamental mode and one of the harmonics
of the soil profile, such peaks are clearly caused by the two troughs in the vertical component, then the ellipticity of
the fundamental modes of Rayleigh waves explain again such peaks.
In some cases, note that through period T1 is nearly half of the peak period T2 in the H/V spectral ratios presented
in areas as Port of Spain Proper (area C), Saint James (area D), Newtown (area H) and the Port (area J). Previous
studies has demonstrated that the sharp peak (T2) and a sharp trough (T1) suggests a high velocity contrast between
14
the basement rock (VR) and the velocity of the surface layers (VS) yielding VR/ VS ≥ 2.5 (Konno & Ohmachi, 1998).
The shear wave velocity VR for the cretaceous limestone in Trinidad and North Eastern Venezuela is reported by
Schmitz et al (2005) equal to VR ≈ 2,000 m/s; then setting VS = 472 m/s (see section 6) for the alluvium; VR/ VS ≈ 4.25
The shapes of the absolute spectra and the H/V ratios at Cocorite (I) yield different features for the wave
propagation in comparison with other parts of POS. It is noticed that the second mode of vibration of 0.32s
constituting the predominant period in this case with a first mode at 0.65s; both peaks are caused again by the trough
in the vertical component suggesting intercalation of rigid and soft materials in this area (Salazar & Seo, 2002). In
the case of Newtown area (area H) the second mode is caused by the peaks observed in the horizontal components
rather that a sharp through in the vertical component representing a multiple refraction of S-waves at the shorter
period ranges.
Stiff soils or rock site conditions are found on the east part of Port of Spain (at Lavantille) and Long Circular area,
yielding an H/V ratio ≈ 1.0 for periods between 0.1 s and 3.0 s (Fig. 14 and 15) representing a circular wave motion
particle instead of an elliptical one. The authors also found visible outcrop-rock conditions toward to the east of Port
of Spain at the district of Lavantille and surrounding areas (Fig. 11); these geological conditions were confirmed
with the microtremor recordings.
Fig. 11. Outcrop Cretaceous Limestone at Lavantille area East Port of Spain consider as the bedrock in the region.
15
0.03 10
Amplitude (cm/s * s)
0.02 Woodbrook (A)

5
0.01
H/V ratio
3
0.005
2
0.003
0.002 1
N-S E-W UD
0.001
0.1 10
0.05 Saint Clair (B)

0.03 5
H/V ratio
0.02
3
0.01
2
0.005
0.003
0.002 1
0.001
0.1 10
0.05 T2
0.03 5
H/V ratio
0.02
3
0.01
2
0.005
0.003
Port of Spain 1
0.002 T1
Proper (C)
0.001
0.03 10
0.02 Saint James (D)

T2
5
0.01
H/V ratio
3
0.005
2
0.003
0.002 1
T1
0.001
0.2 0.5 2 0.2 0.5 2 0.2 0.5 2 0.2 0.5 2
0.1 1 0.1 1 0.1 1 0.1 1
Period (s) Period (s) Period (s) Period (s)
Fig. 12. Absolute Fourier Amplitude Spectra (Velocity) and H/V ratios at four sites in different areas of Port of Spain (Figure 1
and Table 1). The mean amplitude is depicted with a thick line while the maximum and minimum amplitudes are depicted by
the thin lines. The H/V ratios are computed using the resultant vector of the orthogonal north-south and east-west
components of motion and averaging the results for all the stationary parts selected for each record. T1 is nearly
1/2T2 indicating a high contrast between the sediments and the basement rock. Fundamental period of vibration are indicated
by the arrows in the H/V spectral ratios (right).
16
0.01
0.005 10
H/V ratio
0.002 5
0.001 3
0.0005 2
Queen's Park
0.0002 E-W UD 1
Savannah (E) N-S
0.0001
0.01 10
0.005 Federation Park (F)

5
H/V ratio
0.002
3
0.001
2
0.0005
0.0002 1
0.0001
0.1 10
0.05
0.02 5
0.01
H/V ratio
0.005 3
0.002 2
0.001
0.0005
Ellerslie (G)
1
0.0002
0.0001
0.01 10
0.005 T2
5
H/V ratio
0.002
3
0.001
2
0.0005
0.0002 1
Newtown (H) T1
0.0001
0.2 0.5 2 0.2 0.5 2 0.2 0.5 2 0.2 0.5 2
0.1 1 0.1 1 0.1 1 0.1 1
Fig. 13. Absolute Fourier Amplitude Spectra (Velocity) and H/V ratios at four sites in different areas of Port of Spain (Figure
1 and Table 1). The mean amplitude is depicted with a thick line while the maximum and minimum amplitudes are depicted by
17
0.1
10
Cocorite (I)
0.05
5
3
H/V ratio
0.02
2
0.01 1
0.005 0.5
0.3
0.002 0.2
N-S E-W UD
0.001 0.1
0.1
T2 10
0.05 Port of Port of Spain (J)

5
0.03
3
H/V ratio
0.02
2
0.01 1
0.005 T1 0.5
0.003 0.3
0.002 0.2
0.001 0.1
1 20
0.5 Sea Lots (K) 10

0.3 5
H/V ratio
0.2 3
2
0.1
1
0.05
0.5
0.03 0.3
0.02 0.2
0.01 0.1
0.1 10
0.05 Long Circular (L)

0.03 5
H/V ratio
0.02
3
0.01
2
0.005
0.003
0.002 1
0.001
0.2 0.5 2 0.2 0.5 2 0.2 0.5 2 0.2 0.5 2
0.1 1 0.1 1 0.1 1 0.1 1
18
0.03 10
0.02
5
0.01
H/V ratio
3
0.005
2
0.003
0.002 Laperouse 1
Cemetery (M) N-S E-W UD
0.001
1 10
0.5
East of Port of Pain (N)
0.2 5
0.1
H/V ratio
0.05 3
0.02 2
0.01
0.005
1
0.002
0.001
1 10
0.5
Belmont (O)
0.2 5
0.1
H/V ratio
0.05 3
0.02 2
0.01
0.005
1
0.002
0.001
0.1
0.05 Peripheries (P) 10
H/V ratio
0.02 5
0.01 3
0.005 2
0.002 1
0.001
0.2 0.5 2 0.2 0.5 2 0.2 0.5 2 0.2 0.5 2
0.1 1 0.1 1 0.1 1 0.1 1
components of motion and averaging the results for all the stationary parts selected for each record. Fundamental
period of vibration are indicated by the arrows in the H/V spectral ratios (right).
During the survey in the district of Woodbrook, we recorded one small earthquake dated on July 11th 2013 at 10:37
local time with a M 3.4, epicentral coordinates of 11.489N, 62.183W and a depth of 20 km, located at the North of
Paria Penisula, approximately 150 km away from POS. We retrieved the S-wave part of the earthquake recording
and compute the H/V ratio and compare with the ones of the microtremor (ambient noise) – see Figure 16. A period
19
of 1.0s is observed for both, the earthquake and the microtremor recordings even with the same level of
amplification of 4-5. This exercise demonstrate that a strong motion network in POS might be an essential part of
future research to understand more precisely the amplification characteristics of the soil in the area and validate the
results of the H/V spectral ratios employing microtremors.
0.001 S-waves
Velocity (cm/s)
0.0005
-0.0005
-0.001
0 10 20 30
Time (s)
10
Earthquake
Microtremor
T2
5
H/V ratio
3
2
1
T1 Woodbrook
0.2 0.5 2
0.1 1
Period (s)
Fig. 16. Comparisonof earthquake and microtremors. Top: E-W component recorded on July 11 2013 14:37 UTC M 3.4 at
11.489 N 62.183W with depth of 20 km at Woodbrook area in POS during the microtremor suvery. Bottom: Comparision of
H/V spectral ratios between earthquake data (S-waves) and microtremors at Woodbrook area. Clear predominant peaks are
indicated by the arrows.
3.2 Preliminary Assessment of Liquefaction Potential
Nakamura (1997) proposed a simple technique to investigate the liquefaction potential based on microtremor
measurements, namely the vulnerability index Kg for the surface ground, as follows:
20
(5)
where Ag is the amplification factor referenced to the engineering bedrock and Fg is the predominant frequency of
vibration of the soil profile (the inverse of the fundamental period); both values can be taken from the Horizontal to
Vertical Spectral Ratio (H/V) of microtremors; Ag is considered to be the H/V ratio at the predominant frequency.
Values of Kg greater than 20 are considered likely to liquefy. The authors computed the liquefaction potential using
Eq. 5 at each point and develop an iso liquefaction potential map interpolating the Kg value of the 1,197 points at a
grid of 10 m x 10m using the linear triangular interpolation method (Fig. 17). The results are very concerning
regarding with this hazard because the water table in POS can be found just at the surface (being in fact an
acquifier), the soil conditions then are saturated sands and gravels, and sometimes poor consolidated reclaimed land
has been placed specially in the coastal areas. The areas with a high liquefaction potential are the east of the Port,
Sea Lots, some parts of Woodbrook, a small spot in Cocorite (where in fact exists reclaimed land) and some small
areas in the Queen’s Park Savannah and Federation Park. Also South of Saint James in the Coastal area yields a
clear area of high liquefaction potential. It is noted that the study of Kraft (2013) has yielded similar conclusions for
POS and another cities of Trinidad employing general soil maps conditions.
Fig. 17. Liquefaction Index (Kg) for Port of Spain. Zones with Kg above 20 yields a high liquefaction potential.
21
4. Microtremors arrays and Genetic Inversion of Phase Velocity
The objective of the microtremors array is to obtain the shear wave velocity (VS) profile at the site locating 7 sensors
in a circular configuration (see Figs. 18 and 19). The main idea is to compare in first instance the vertical motion of
sensor (1) in the centre of the circle and sensors (2,3,4) seaparated by a distance equal to the radius “r” of the circle
that are located in the vertexes of the triangle. Such comparison is made in the frequency domain via application of
the Spatial Autocorrelation Method (SPAC), giving as a result an experimental PhaseVelocity Curve; the velocity
changes with the frequency of motion since Rayleigh waves are dispersive. The vertical motion is also compare
with sensor (1) and sensors (5,6,7) which corresponds to a radius equal to “r/2” (Fig. 20). In the case of the nine
arrays we use several aperture radius depending of the available space at the site of interest and we repeat the
procedure for a small arrays that corresponds to r/4 and r/8 (see Table 2). As a final step via application of Genetic
Algorithms (GAs) inversion we selected the best individuals comprising the Vs and the thicknes (H) of soil profiles
that match the experimental phase velocity retrieve from the microtremors arrays.
During May – June 2014, nine microtremors array were done in the following sites (see Fig. 1 and Table 2):
Array Location Area Size of the array (radius r) Date and time
Number Large circle Small circle
st
1X Queen’s Park Savannah E 40 m (1 ) 20 m (1st) May 6th, 2014 from 2:00 p.m.
10 m (2nd) 5 m (2nd) to 6:00 p.m.
2X King George the V Park D 40 m (1st) 20 m (1st) May 22nd, 2014 from 1:00 p.m
nd
10 m (2 ) 5 m (2nd) to 5:00 p.m.
3X Mucurapo Secondary A 40 m (1st) 20 m (1st) May 23rd 201 from 4:00 a.m.
nd
School 10 m (2 ) 5 m (2nd) to 8:00 a.m.
4X Federation Park F 20 m (1st) 10 m (1st) June 3rd 2014 from 4:00 a.m.
nd
5 m (2 ) 2.5 m (2nd) to 8:00 a.m.
5X Port Area (License Office) J 40 m (1st) 20 m (1st) June 5th 2014 from 2:00 p.m.
nd
10 m (2 ) 5 m (2nd) to 6:00 p.m.
6X Sea Lots K 40 m (1st) 20 m (1st) June 10th 2014 from 8:00 a.m.
nd
10 m (2 ) 5 m (2nd) to 12 p.m.
7X Belmont Secondary O 20 m (1st) 10 m (1st) June 14th 2014 from 12:00
nd
School 5 m (2 ) 2.5 m (2nd) p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
8X Woodford Park C 40 m (1st) 20 m (1st) June 21st 2014 from 2:00 p.m.
nd
10 m (2 ) 5 m (2nd) to 6:00 p.m.
9X St James Hospital E 20 m (1st) 10 m (1st) June 23rd 2014 from 10:00
nd
5 m (2 ) 2.5 m (2nd) a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Table 2. Selected sites for the microtremors arrays at Port of Spain (see location in Fig. 1) and general plan view in
Fig. 18. See also a photo of an array (3X) in Fig. 19.
To perform the microtremors array we use a Tokyo Sokushin 9-channel SAMTAC 802-H and the sensors
VSE-15D6 with a flat response between 0.1Hz to 100Hz (Fig. 2) and a recording system of Δt=0.01 s equivalent to
100 samples per second; the sensors measured micromotion in terms of velocity. We recorded a total of 25 min for
each array in a silent environment. Since we had a recorder of 9 channels, we locate in location number 1 three
22
channels corresponding to two horizontal and one vertical component to compute the H/V spectra ratios as well;
while in the remain numbers (2-7) we locate just one vertical sensor.
In this section, firstly, we present the basic theory behind the SPAC method and the Genetic inversion technique
applied for POS with an example for the Queen’s Savannah Park, for which a borehole data is available reaching the
bedrock. Later, the authors present the results for the other eight sites for which microtremors arrays were done.
Fig. 18. General array configuration in a plan view. The sensors 1,2,3 and 4 represents the array with the largest radius r, while
the sensors 1, 5, 6 and 7 represents the array with the smallest radius r/2. Since we had a recorder of 9 channels, we locate in
location number 1 three channels corresponding to two horizontal and one vertical component; while in the remain numbers
(2-7) we locate just one vertical sensor.
2
5
6
1
4 7
3
Fig. 19. Photo of an array at Mucurapo Secondary School. See plan view in Figure 18.
23
0.0004 1
0
-0.0004
0.0004
2
0
-0.0004
0.0004 3
0
-0.0004
0.0004 4
0
-0.0004
0.0004 5
0
-0.0004
0.0004 6
0
-0.0004
0.0004 7
0
-0.0004
0 4 8 12 16 20
Time (s)
Fig. 20. Example of velocity (cm/s) for the vertical component of the microtremors array at Mucurapo Secondary School. See
the number of channel in the left upper part of each record in accordance to the array configuration in Figure 18 and 19.
Channels 1 corresponds to the sensor located in the center, sensors 2,3 and 4 corresponds to the radius of 40m and the sensors
4,5 and 7 to the radius of 20m in the vertexes of the triangles.
4.1 SPAC method
The objective of the Spatial Autocorrelation Coefficient (SPAC) Method is to obtain the Rayleigh wave velocity via
comparison of the recordings of the sensor located in the center of the circle with the ones located in the vertices of
the triangles. Once a stationary part of the microtremor record is selected (usually with time length that matches the
power of two), the first step in the SPAC is to compute the Cross Spectra Sij from Fourier Transformation of the
signal, then the autocorrelation function R1j of the sensor j with central site 1 (see Figure 18) yields as follows:
S1j  f 
R1j  f  
S  f S  f 
11 jj
0.5 (6)
24
where f denotes frequency domain.
Then the direction average of the autocorrelation function ρ (SPAC) for the three sensors separated by a radius r
gives:
1 3
  f,r    R  f,r  (7)
3 j  1 1j
Fig. 21 shows the SPAC for the radius of 5, 10, 20 and 40 m at the Queen’s Park Savannah array; we present the
average of the SPAC for 81.92 s of stationary parts of the signal. SPAC with values of about +1.0 mean that the
wave motion at short frequencies is very similar regardless of the aperture of the array, such correlation decreases as
the frequency increases; the negative value in the SPAC represents change of polarity in the wave motion for longer
frequencies (shorter periods).
To obtain the observed Rayleigh wave velocity co(f) , a 0-order Bessel function of first kind Jo(x) is used as follows:
( ) (8)
Employing the argument x of the Bessel function, the velocity yields:
(9)
1.2
Array 5m
1 Array 10 m
Array 20m
Array 40m
0.8
0.6
SPAC
0.4
0.2
-0.2
-0.4
2 3 5 20 30 50
10
Frequency (Hz)
Fig. 21. Spatial Autocorrelation Coefficient (SPAC) for the Queen’s Park Savannah array of microtremors.
25
Fig. 22 shows the resulting Phase velocity for the Queen’s Savannah Park array. We averaged the four reliable parts
of each phase velocities from the different arrays to get a single curve to be used in the Genetic inversion. Arrays
with a bigger aperture are capable to retrieve the velocity for short frequencies (long period) of motion and
subsequently to retrieve a deeper soil structure, and arrays with smaller aperture are capable to retrieve the velocities
for long frequencies (shorter period) with a better resolution for soil structures near the surface. Note that each phase
velocity in the arrays has unreliable parts for very short and long frequency components of motion due to the
aperture radius used in each case; in other words, an array has a limited frequency band of usefulness that is
dependent of its aperture. Rayleigh waves are dispersive and their velocity decreases with frequency, then, the
reliable parts of each phase velocity must follow such trend eliminating in the average calculation the increase of
velocity at short and long frequencies of motion. We noticed that the maximum wave length (λ=co/f) at which the
phase velocity can be estimated is between 10-30 times the radius r of the arrays (Fig. 22); and the minimum
wavelength is about 2 times the radius r of the arrays (Miyakoshi et al.,1996 ). To obtain the average velocity at each
frequency of motion, we used nf frequencies equally separated by the value of Δf in terms of a logarithm scale as
follows:
(10)
Δfmax and Δfmin is the maximum and minimum reliable interval frequency for the aperture arrays. In our case we set
the value of nf = 20 and select the correspondent velocity that belongs to the nearest frequency in such interval.
4.2 Genetic Algorithms (GAs) Inversion
Once the experimental Rayleigh wave dispersion curve (phase velocity) is obtained via the SPAC method, we must
find a soil profile, namely, the thickness of layers with its correspondent shear wave velocity VS that matches that
experimental curve. In the past, linearized least square inversion has been used to find such soil profiles, however
many problems were often encountered as given the answer as a local minimum instead of a global minimum in the
misfit function, a strong dependency of the initial soil model, instability and even generation of negative parameters
during the inversion scheme. To solve these difficulties, we use in this work the Genetic Algorithms inversion
developed by Yamanaka and Ishida (1996) that includes elite selection and dynamic mutation.
Genetic Algorithms (GAs) are mathematical simulations based on biological evolution of natural selection rules.
The GAs were developed by Holland in 1975 and has been used in engineering optimization problems since the
1980’s (Goldberg, 1989). Generally, the parameters (e.g. shear wave velocity and thickness of layer) are digitized to
gene-type with n bits in series of 0 and 1. Each bit represents a gene and a series of bit concatenate a chromosome.
So, and optimal solution is searched using the chromosome that better matches the soil model represented by the
experimental phase velocity curve developed using the microtremor array. To accomplish such search, the GAs
scheme first generates an initial population that consider M individuals (the M soil models) based on random
number generation. The reproduction of the initial population to a new population relies on the fitness function of
each individual applying the three genetic operations modulated by the selection, crossover and mutation.
26
1200
co=10*(40m)*f
Array 5m
co=15*(10m)*f Array 10m
Array 20m
Array 40 m
co=20*(20m)*f
Average
800
Velocity (m/s)
co=30*(5m)*f
400
co=2*(40m)*f
co=2*(20m)*f co=2*(10m)*f
co=2*(5m)*f
fmin fmax
0
2 3 5 20 30 50
1 10
Frequency (Hz)
Fig. 22. Dispersion curve of Rayleigh wave (phase velocity) for Queen’s Park Savannah array. We select the average velocity
(solid circles) of the four radius to be used in the Genetic inversion. The broken lines depict the wavelength that cooresponds to
10-30 times and 2 times the radius of the arrays.
The selection process begins declaring a misfit function ϕj for a j individual is defined as follows:
∑ [ ] (11)
27
Where N is the number of observed data, co(f) is the observed Rayleigh wave velocity, cc(f) is the calculated
Rayleigh wave velocity and σ is the standard deviation of the observed velocity at a frequency f. Then a fitness
function fit is based on the misfit function as follows:
(12)
In the inversion the soil model that fits the observed data must have a high value of fitness. Then, the selection of
models in the next generations is based on the roulette rule (Fig. 23) relying on the following probability of being
reproduced for and individual j:
(13)
∑
Pｍ
Pm－1
P1
P3 P2
Fig. 23. Example of a roulette rule. Rounding the roulette employing random numbers several times will select the best
individuals to conform the next generation based on the probability P calculated in Equation 13. For example, the P1 would be
selected several times in several tries and less would be P2 and P3; Pm would be never selected in relation with the area of each
model in the circle that represents in fact, the probability of being reproduced.
Once the best individuals are selected, crossover and mutation operations take place; all surviving individuals were
randomly paired. Making the analogy with the actual crossover operation in humans, two randomly chosen soil
models (e.g. two parents namely P1 and P2) exchange parts of their chromosome (the bit string) to generate two new
models (their children) for the next generation; then the crossover operation cut two chromosomes at one location
and exchange them for children (Fig. 24); in other words, the crossover acts to generate a new good model with the
combination of good parts of chromosomes of two parents replacing the parents by the children. During the
calculation random numbers are generated between 0.0 and 1.0 and are compared with given a crossover probability
pc (e.g. 0.7), if the random number is smaller than pc, the crossover takes place. Elite selection is also used in which
the worst model in the current generation is replaced by the best individual in the previous generation; elite selection
is necessary because the chromosome of the best individual might be destroyed in the crossover operations.
28
before crossover after crossover

P１（１０／１１０１） C１（１０１００１）
P２（０１／１００１） C２（０１１１０１）
Fig. 24. Example of crossover operation.
In the mutation operation a gene is reversed (e.g. from 1 to 0 or visceversa) with a define mutation probability pm
(.e.g. 0.01), see Fig. 25 ; in similarly with the crossover operations, mutation occurs comparing pm with generating
random numbers between 0 and 1.0. The mutation procedure is necessary to escape trapping at local minimum
solutions. Dynamic mutation is used to avoid premature convergence caused by elite selection in the crossover
setting a generation-variant mutation probability that varies dynamically during the inversion process; when most of
the individuals have similar chromosome patterns the pm is set higher than defined initially, and after the
chromosomes vary in the population, the pm is set again to its initial value (Yamanaka and Ishida, 1996). We show in
Fig. 26 the general procedure followed to perform the GAs.
（１０１１０１）（１０１００１）
Fig. 25. Example of mutation operation.
4.2.1 Example of GA’s for the Queen’s Savannah Park
The authors tested the GAs method performing an array at Queen’s Savannah Park (see location in Figure 1). The
lower and upper bounds during the genetic reproduction of shear wave velocity and thickness of soil layers are
shown in Table 3. We used a four layers model; the three top layers can vary with thickness between 1 and 50 m
with shear wave velocities between 200 to 700 m/s in accordance with the alluvium and gravels present in POS; we
assume that the stiffness of soil increase with the depth. We practically fixed the VS for the fourth layer representing
half space bedrock Cretaceous Limestone with a shear wave velocity ranging between only 2000 to 2100 m/s
according to the seismic refraction data for the region of Schmitz et al. (2005). Then the total number of unknown
parameters yields four velocities and three thicknesses searching an optimal combination of them in the inversion
that matches the experimental phase velocity presented in Fig. 22. These parameters were digitized as 8-bit binary
strings, setting the population size at 30 individuals with a crossover probability of 0.7 and an initial mutation
probability of 0.01 terminating the iterations at the 100th generation. Since the algorithm used initial random
numbers finding the global minimum solution, we performed 5 iterations (or inversions) that indeed had different
initial random numbers.
29
generation of
initial population
conversion to
physical values
calculation of
dispersion curve
calculation of fitness
selection
crossover
determination of
mutation probability
mutation
elite selection
new generation
generation
counts
end
Flow of GA-based inversion

Fig. 26. Flowchart for Genetic Algorithm Inversion (after Yamanaka and Ishida, 1996).
The minimum misfit value obtained at each generation is shown in Figure 27; each misfit value is the average of the
5 inversions; it is noted that the misfit value decreases rapidly in the first 10 generations and later gradually for the
rest of 90 generations suggesting a convergence near the minimum solution.
Vs(m/s) H (m) ρ(g/cm3)

200-500 1-50 1.6
300-600 1-50 1.7
400-700 1-50 1.8
2000-2100 α 2.4
Table 3. Search space for the inversion of Phase Velocity shown in Fig. 22 employing a 4 layer model.
30
0.05
0.04
0.03
Min misfit 0.02
0.01
0 20 40 60 80 100
Generation
Fig. 27. Minimum misfit value as a function of generation for the inversion of Phase Velocity for the Queen’s Savannah Park
array.
The soil model obtained by the GAs inversion at the Queen’s Savannah Park is presented in Fig. 28B. The results
yield a first layer of VS=396.32 m/s with a thickness of 20.63 m, a second layer of VS=444.04 m/s with a thickness of
29.57 m and a third layer of VS=578.75 m/s with a thickness of 23.07 m above a limestone bedrock of 2018.53 m/s.
The average VS yields 472.17 m/s with a total depth of 73.27 m and the fundamental period employing Eq. 4 yields
0.62 s. Such depth coincides quite well with one borehole data available about 50 m away from the array site,
reporting 75 m of depth in the area.
The soil profile results by the GAs inversion are validated via five alternative analysis (see Fig. 28): i) the
experimental curve of phase velocity is compared with the theoretical one employing the soil profile via application
of the Haskell (1953) model for plane waves; ii) the calculation of a 1-D transfer function for SH waves iii) the
computation of H/V spectral ratios for a triaxial recording of 15 min at the same site of the array; iv) the theoretical
H/V ellipticity for the first mode of Rayleigh waves and v) the absolute Fourier amplitude spectra for the three
components of motion. Firstly, it is noted a good match between the experimental and calculated phase velocity (Fig.
28A) confirming the effectiveness of the searching for a good soil model that matches the measured velocity
patterns at the surface, moreover the period of about 0.6s is well constrained by both, the theoretical transfer
function for 1-D propagation and the H/V ratios (Fig. 28C). It is interesting also that the change in the ellipticity
pattern depicted in Figure 28C that clearly reflects the change of particle motion from prograde to retrograde at the
fundamental period of vibration observed for the theoretical and experimental calculations. The through in the
vertical component (Fig. 28E) confirm the analysis causing the peak observed in the H/V ratios and finally, the
depth of 75 m of the available borehole near the site validate the results of the GAs.
Another eight microtremor arrays were made in Port of Spain equally distributed in the City (see Table 2 and Figure
1) and the results are presented from Figure 29-36. It is noted that for deeper soil structures we performed 10
inversions instead of 5, and used 5 layers instead of 4 to find the best individual in the GAs. The shear wave velocity
yields from 150 m/s to 650 ms/ and increases with depth from the surface ranging from 30 – 250 m toward the south
of the City with shallow depth in the peripheries. The fundamental periods and the level of amplification are well
31
explained for all sites due to ellipticity pattern in the wave motion of microtremors confirming the effectiveness of
the application of the H/V technique and the GAs for the region.
32
Fig. 28. Analysis of microtremors array for

Queen’s Savannah Park (Area E – Point 1X in
Fig. 1). A: Rayleigh wave curve; B:Shear
wave velocity profile; D: Transfer function for
1-D propagation; E: Ellipticity of Rayleigh
waves for the first mode of vibration; E:
Absolute velocity spectrum. Diagram of
ellipticity pattern in (D) taken from Konno &
Ohmachi (1998).
33
KING GEORGE THE V PARK

1000
0
Experimental A
B
800 Theoretical
-40
Velocity (m/s)
Depth (m)
600 -80
-120
400
-160
200 half space
2 3 5 20 30
1 10 0 800 1600 2400
Frequency (Hz) Shear wave velocity (m/s)
20
40
C
10 Theoretical (1D)
Mean H/V ratio
D
Maximum H/V ratio
Minimum H/V ratio 20
H/V Ellipticity
Amplification
3 0
2
-20
1
-40
0.5
0.2 0.3 0.5 2 3 0.2 0.3 0.5 2 3
0.1 1 0.1 1
Period (s) Period (s)
N-S
E-W E
Amplituce (cm/s * s)
Vertical
0.01 Fig. 29. Analysis of microtremors array for
King George the V (Area D – Point 2X in Fig.
1). A: Rayleigh wave curve; B:Shear wave
velocity profile; D: Transfer function for 1-D
propagation; E: Ellipticity of Rayleigh waves
for the first mode of vibration; E: Absolute
velocity spectrum.
0.001
0.2 0.3 0.5 2 3
0.1 1
Period (s)
34
MUCURAPO SECONDARY SCHOOL

1000
0
Experimental
A
B
800 Theoretical
Velocity (m/s)
Depth (m)
600 -100
400
-200
200
half space
0
2 3 5 20 30 0 800 1600 2400
1 10
Shear wave velocity (m/s)
Frequency (Hz)
10 80
D
C 60
5
H/V Ellipticity
Amplification
3
40
2 20
0
1
Theoretical (1D)
Mean H/V ratio
Maximum H/V ratio
-20
0.5 Minimum H/V ratio
-40
0.2 0.3 0.5 2 3 0.2 0.3 0.5 2 3
0.1 1 0.1 1
N-S
E-W E
Vertical
0.1 Fig. 30. Analysis of microtremors array for
Mucurapo Secondary School (Area A – Point
3X in Fig. 1). A: Rayleigh wave curve;
B:Shear wave velocity profile; D: Transfer
function for 1-D propagation; E: Ellipticity of
Rayleigh waves for the first mode of
vibration; E: Absolute velocity spectrum.
0.01
0.2 0.3 0.5 2 3
0.1 1
Period (s)
35
FEDERATION PARK
1400
0
A
1200 Experimental
B
Theoretical -20
Velocity (m/s)
1000
Depth (m)
-40
800
-60
600
-80
400 half space
-100
200
2 3 5 20 30 50 0 800 1600 2400
1 10 100 Shear wave velocity (m/s)
Frequency (Hz)
10 30
Theoretical (1D)
Mean H/V ratio
D
Maximum H/V ratio 20
Minimum H/V ratio
5
H/V Ellipticity
Amplification
C 10
3
0
2
-10
1 -20
0.2 0.3 0.5 2 3
0.2 0.3 0.5 2 3 0.1 1
0.1 1
Period (s)
Period (s)
0.1
N-S E
E-W
Vertical

Federation Park (Area F – Point 4X in Fig. 1).
0.01 A: Rayleigh wave curve; B:Shear wave
velocity spectrum.
0.001
0.2 0.3 0.5 2 3
0.1 1
Period (s)
36
PORT (LICENSE OFFICE)

1200
0
A
1000 Experimental
Theoretical
B
Velocity (m/s)
800 -100
Depth (m)
600
-200
400
200 half space

-300
0
0 800 1600 2400
2 3 5 20
1 10 Shear wave velocity (m/s)
Frequency (Hz)
10
40
5 C 20 D
H/V Ellipticity
Amplification
3 0
2
-20
1 -40
Theoretical (1D)
Mean H/V ratio
-60
0.5 Maximum H/V ratio
Minimum H/V ratio
-80
0.3
0.2 0.3 0.5 2 3
0.2 0.3 0.5 2 3 0.1 1
0.1 1 Period (s)
Period (s)
E Fig. 32. Analysis of microtremors array for

the Port Area (Area J – Point 5X in Fig. 1). A:
0.1 Rayleigh wave curve; B:Shear wave velocity

profile; D: Transfer function for 1-D
N-S
velocity spectrum.
E-W
Vertical
0.01
0.2 0.3 0.5 2 3
0.1 1
Period (s)
37
SEA LOTS
600 0
B
A
500
Experimental
Velocity (m/s)
Theoretical -40
Depth (m)
400
300
-80
200
half space
100 -120
2 3 5 20
1 10 0 800 1600 2400
10 30
5 20 D
C
3
H/V Ellipticity
10
Amplification
2
0
1
-10
0.5
Theoretical (1D)
Mean H/V ratio
-20
0.3 Maximum H/V ratio
Minimum H/V ratio
0.2 -30
0.2 0.3 0.5 2 3 0.2 0.3 0.5 2 3
0.1 1 0.1 1
E

Sea Lots (Area K – Point 6X in Fig. 1). A:
0.1 Rayleigh wave curve; B:Shear wave velocity
profile; D: Transfer function for 1-D
N-S
E-W
Vertical
velocity spectrum.
0.01
0.2 0.3 0.5 2 3
0.1 1
Period (s)
38
BELMONT SECONDARY SCHOOL

1000 0
Experimental
A
Theoretical B
800 -10
Velocity (m/s)
Depth (m)
600 -20
400 -30
half space
200 -40
6 7 8 9 20 30 0 800 1600 2400

10
10 30
Theoretical (1D) C D
Mean H/V ratio 20
Maximum H/V ratio
Minimum H/V ratio
5
Amplification
H/V Ellipticity
10
3 0
2 -10
-20
1
-30
0.2 0.3 0.5 2 3 0.2 0.3 0.5
0.1 1 0.1 1
0.1
E

Belmont Secondary School (Area O – Point
0.01 7X in Fig. 1). A: Rayleigh wave curve;
B:Shear wave velocity profile; D: Transfer
function for 1-D propagation; E: Ellipticity of
N-S
E-W
Vertical
Rayleigh waves for the first mode of
vibration; E: Absolute velocity spectrum.
0.001
0.2 0.3 0.5 2 3
0.1 1
Period (s)
39
WOODFORD PARK
A 0
800
Experimental
Theoretical
B
Velocity (m/s)
-40
Depth (m)
600
400 -80
half space
200 -120
2 3 5 20 30
10 0 800 1600 2400
10 Theoretical (1D)
Mean H/V ratio 40
Maximum H/V ratio
Minimum H/V ratio C D
20
5
Amplification
H/V ellipticity
0
3
-20
2
-40
1
-60
0.2 0.3 0.5 2 3 0.2 0.3 0.5 2 3
0.1 1 0.1 1
N-S
E
E-W
Vertical
0.1
Woodford Park (Area C – Point 8X in Fig. 1).
A: Rayleigh wave curve; B:Shear wave
0.01 propagation; E: Ellipticity of Rayleigh waves

velocity spectrum.
0.2 0.3 0.5 2 3
0.1 1
Period (s)
40
SAINT JAMES HOSPITAL

1000 0
Experimental
Theoretical A B
800
Velocity (m/s)
-20
Depth (m)
600
-40
400
half space
200 -60
6 8 20 0 800 1600 2400
10
10 40
D
5 20
H/V ellipticity
Amplification
3 0
2
-20
1
Theoretical (1D)
Mean H/V ratio
-40
Maximum H/V ratio
0.5
Minimum H/V ratio
C
-60
0.2 0.3 0.5 2 3 0.2 0.3 0.5 2 3
0.1 1 0.1 1
N-S
E-W
Vertical
E Fig. 36 Analysis of microtremors array for St
James Hospital (Area D – Point 9X in Fig.1).

0.1
A: Rayleigh wave curve; B:Shear wave
velocity spectrum.
0.01
0.2 0.3 0.5 2 3

0.1 1
Period (s)
41
5. Conclusions and recommendations
We performed a very dense mobile microtremor survey in a grid of 100 m x 100 m with 9 microtremor arrays that
permitted to retrieve the fundamental characteristics of the soil of POS, namely, the fundamental period of vibration,
the amplification factors and the shear wave velocity profiles.
The results reveal that the deeper part of POS is located at the Port Area and South of Woodbrook with a depth of
250 m with the softer materials in the surface with a low VS of 200 m/s presumably reclaimed land; toward the north
of the City the depth of the sediments decrease substantially from 75 m in the Savannah to 30 m in Federation Park.
Toward the South-East part of POS in Sea Lots the depth of sediments yields 100 m; toward the West the depth of
the soil yields about 30 m in Saint James and Cocorite. Generally the VS in the soil increases with depth in the range
of 150 m/s to 650 m/s and the variants of the stiffness in the soil are mainly found near the surface due to the reclaim
land - compacted or not- during construction works. Irregularities in the isoperiod patches (Fig. 10) might be related
to the heterogeneous quality of landfill activities for building foundation works in POS.
Rock site conditions are clearly found in the East part of POS at Lavantille area. The use of the VS 30 (namely, the
shear wave velocity in the upper 30 m) must be used with caution to characterize the soil profiles especially at
Woodbrook, the Port and Sea Lots areas where deeper sediments are found according to our survey. The results
from the GAs inversion confirm that the fundamental periods of vibration retrieve from the Nakamura Technique,
namely, the H/V ratios employing the triaxial sensor yields reliable results that can be used to propose a
microzonation of POS (Fig. 10). The fundamental period observed in the city ranging from 0 – 1.7 s is well
explained by the ellipticity pattern of Rayleigh waves in the whole City with level of amplification of 5.0 at the
resonant peak. Then, we have proposed a new microzonation map dividing the City in five zones according to
period of vibration that can be used for planning purposes, e.g. retrofit activities for some buildings or residential
houses or to avoid the construction of new buildings that could experiment the resonance phenomena when both, the
period of the soil and the period of the structure coincide when the next earthquake strikes. We have also proposed a
complementary map for the liquefaction potential (Fig. 17) that could be used to implement remedial measures
against such hazard. The last hazard peer-reviewed maps for Trinidad and the Eastern Caribbean have been
proposed by Bozzoni et al. (2011) yielding 0.32g and 0.59g of Peak Ground Acceleration for POS for 500 and 2,500
years return period at a rock site, this shaking level is strong enough to trigger the liquefaction in the saturated
alluvium in POS.
The installation of a new strong motion network in POS is a must for the future Earthquake Engineering Research in
Trinidad. Employing the earthquake recordings and computing the H/V ratios would validate more the results of the
microtremors survey. The authors recommend installing at least one instrument at the rock in Lavantille area which
will be the reference rock site and least five strong motion instruments per zone depicted in the microzonation. This
would allow conducting two additional techniques, namely a generalized inversion analysis on strong motion data
and the traditional spectral ratios (soil/rock site) to retrieve the transfer function at the soil (see Salazar et al., 2007)
and compare with the amplification factors that results from the microtremors. Borehole data in POS reaching the
bedrock is very limited, a parallel research would be focused conducting boreholes reaching the depth of the
42
bedrock at the strong motion stations or critical facilities, and if possible, to get the VS employing alternative
methods (e.g. cross hole or laboratory soil test). The frequency-wave number method (F-K) would retrieve the
structural model at deeper depth (e.g. 1 km).
Since our microtremor survey study only permits to study the soil behaviour in the linear range, the effect of the
non-linearity in the soil is still a big question to solve for the area. Future risk maps will be possible at POS if a
vulnerability assessment and socio economic research is well conducted with the correspondent new probabilisitic
seismic hazard assessment for Trinidad, incorporating the effects of soil amplification founded in this work.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank the Ministry of Planning and Sustainable Development of Trinidad and Tobago for funding this
research. We thank also all the governmental institutions in Trinidad that permit to do the survey in their facilities.
We greatly acknowledge Prof. Hiroaki Yamanaka (Tokyo Institute of Technology) to provide to the first author of
this article the original Fortran Codes of Genetic Inversion through the sponsor of the Japanese International
Cooperation Agency in El Salvador supporting his postdoctoral studies. Tokyo Sokushin personnel in Japan were
always assisting us with our queries regarding the microtremor instrumentation. We used QGIS Open Software
version 2.4 to generate the maps presented in this work.
References
Borchedt, R. (1970) Effects of local geology on ground motion in San Francisco Bay. Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am. 60, 29-61.
Bozzoni, F., M. Corigliano, C. Lai, W. Salazar, L. Scandella, E. Zuccolo, J. Latchman; L. Lynch; R. Robertson (2011)
Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Assessment at the Eastern Caribbean Islands. . Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am. 101, no. 5,
pp.2499-2521.
Goldberg, D. (1989) Genetic Algorithms, in Search, Optimization and Machine Learning. Addison Wesley Longman, Inc. pp.
412.
Haskell, N.A. (1953) The dispersion of surface waves on multi-layered media. Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am. 43, 17-34.
Nakamura, Y. (1989) A method for dynamic characteristics estimation of subsurface using microtremor on the ground surface. QR of
RTRI, Vol. 30, No. 1.
Nakamura, Y/ (1997) Seismic vulnerability indices for ground and structures using microtremors, in: World Conference on Railway
Research, Florence
Konno, K. & T. Ohmachi (1998) Ground-Motion characteristics estimated from spectral ratio between horizontal and vertical
components of microtremors. Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am. 88, 228-241.
Kraft, J. (2013) Development of Liquefaction Susceptibility and Hazard Maps for the Islands of Jamaica and Trinidad. Master Thesis,
Georgia Institute of Technology. pp. 109.
43
Miyakoshi, K., H. Okada & S. Suqun (1996 )A Range of Wavelengths to Estimate the Phase Velocities of Surface Waves in
Microtremors. Proc. 94th SEGT Conf. 178-182 (in Japanese).
Nogoshi, M. & T. Igarashi (1970) On the amplitude characteristics of Microtremors (Part I). Jour. Seism. Soc. Jap. 23, 281-303.
Rodríguez, V. & S. Midorikawa (2002) Applicability of the H/V spectral ratio of microtremors in assessing site effects on seismic
motion. Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics. 31, 261-279.
Salazar, W. and K. Seo (2002) Spectral and amplification characteristics in San Salvador City (El Salvador) for upper-crustal and
subduction earthquakes. 11th Japan Earthquake Engineering Symposium, P065, pp.329-334.
Salazar, W. & K. Seo (2003) Earthquake disasters of January 13th and February 13th 2001, El Salvador. Seismological Research Letters,
74, No. 4, 420-439.
Salazar, W. & K. Seo (2003) Earthquake disasters of January 13th and February 13th 2001, El Salvador. Seismological Research Letters,
74, No. 4, 420-439.
Salazar, W., V. Sardina & J. Cortina (2007) A Hybrid Inversion Technique for the Evaluation of Source, Path and Site effects
employing S-wave spectra for Subduction and Upper-crustal earthquakes in El Salvador. Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am., 97, no. 1B, 208-221.
Salazar, W., L. Brown and G. Mannette (2013) Surface soil effects studies based on H/V ratios of Microtremors at Kingston
Metropolitan Area, Jamaica. Journal of Civil Engineering and Architecture, ISSN 1934-7359, USA, Oct., Volume 7, No. 10 (Serial
No. 71), pp. 1301-1322.
Schmitz, M., L. Alvarado & S. Lüth (2005) The velocity structure of the Cariaco sedimentary basin, northeastern Venezuela, form the
refraction seismic data and possible relation to earthquake hazard. Journal of South American Sciences, Vol. 18, issue 2, 89-105.
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44

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FINAL REPORT: Seismic Microzonation Studies

Technical Report · October 2014

Seismic Microzonation Studies of Port of Spain,

Garth Mannette, Kafele Reddock, Clevon Ash,

October 3rd 2014

Seismic Microzonation Studies of Port of Spain,

1. Geological Setting of Port of Spain

2. Theoretical Background of H/V ratios of Microtremors

3. Mobile Microtremors Survey and Data Processing

(i) Microtremors survey and recording

(ii) Samples selection

*stationary part 1 *stationary part 2….*stationary part 5

(iii) Fourier Transformation of the N-S, E-W and UD components

(iv) Application of Band Pass Filter

(v) Computation of Smoothed Fourier Spectra

(vi) Obtain the H/V ratio and predominant period

3.1 Fundamental period of vibration of soil deposits

like in Lavantille area of Cretaceous Limenstone.

0.02 Woodbrook (A)

0.05 Saint Clair (B)

0.02 Saint James (D)

0.005 Federation Park (F)

0.05 Port of Port of Spain (J)

0.5 Sea Lots (K) 10

0.05 Long Circular (L)

0.05 Peripheries (P) 10

3.2 Preliminary Assessment of Liquefaction Potential

4. Microtremors arrays and Genetic Inversion of Phase Velocity

4.1 SPAC method

where f denotes frequency domain.

Employing the argument x of the Bessel function, the velocity yields:

4.2 Genetic Algorithms (GAs) Inversion

before crossover after crossover

Fig. 25. Example of mutation operation.

4.2.1 Example of GA’s for the Queen’s Savannah Park

Flow of GA-based inversion

Vs(m/s) H (m) ρ(g/cm3)

Min misfit 0.02

Fig. 28. Analysis of microtremors array for

KING GEORGE THE V PARK

MUCURAPO SECONDARY SCHOOL

Fig. 31. Analysis of microtremors array for

PORT (LICENSE OFFICE)

200 half space

E Fig. 32. Analysis of microtremors array for

the Port Area (Area J – Point 5X in Fig. 1). A:

0.1 Rayleigh wave curve; B:Shear wave velocity

Fig. 33. Analysis of microtremors array for

BELMONT SECONDARY SCHOOL

6 7 8 9 20 30 0 800 1600 2400

Fig. 34. Analysis of microtremors array for

0.01 propagation; E: Ellipticity of Rayleigh waves

SAINT JAMES HOSPITAL

James Hospital (Area D – Point 9X in Fig.1).

0.2 0.3 0.5 2 3

5. Conclusions and recommendations

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stationary part 1 stationary part 2….*stationary part 5