Seismic microzonation and site effects detection through microtremors measures: A review

Seismic microzonation of a city can be a difficult and expensive undertaking depending on the method used. In the last years, the HVSR method has been one of the most popular ways to define the natural frequency of the soil and seismic amplification factor in order to make quick microzonations due to that it is an expeditious and cheap method. This is very important in developing countries and poor countries. The fundamental reason to use this method is the fact that the amplification factor has well correlation with damage distribution. Additionally with the help of another methods it is possible obtain the structure of the superficial soil strata. In this chapter, an introduction with seismic microzonation, site effects concepts, microtremors, description of the HVSR method, advantages and disadvantages of this method, limitations and comparison with other methods, are presented. Finally, highlight of the importance of the method in order to identify site effects are displayed as examples and the incorporation of these data to Geographic Information Systems is also shown.