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Determining the site effects of 23 October 2011 earthquake (Van province, Turkey) on the rural areas using HVSR microtremor method

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Abstract

A magnitude of 7.1 Mw earthquake struck Van city on October 23, 2011. Although, construction practices of all rural housing units are similar in the region, the earthquake caused massive damage to villages located on soft soils in northern region of the city. In this study, the effects of soil conditions on damaged housing units were determined by conducting horizontal to vertical spectral ratios of microtremor (HVSR) measurements. The level of damage in the villages that are settled on lacustrine and stream sediments has verified that the damage correlates well with comparatively high HVSR peak period and HVSR peak amplitude values in the range of 0.2–1.6 s and 4–10, respectively. The HVSR peak period and HVSR peak amplitude levels on rock units are in the range of 0.1–0.2 s and 1.5–2, respectively. It is important to note that hillside effect is found to be another key factor that increased the level of damage to the housing units in some villages.

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Acknowledgements

This study was financially supported by the Scientific Research Projects Office of Yüzüncü Yıl University (YYU-BAP, Project No. 2012-HIZ-MİM002). The authors would like to thank Dr. Ünal Dikmen and Dr. Yavuz Özdemir for their support and guidance. They also thank Mesut BOR, for his help during the field studies. The manuscript proofreading was done by Blue Tower Educational Services. The authors are grateful to the reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geophysical Engineering, Yüzüncü Yıl University, Van, Turkey

    İsmail Akkaya

  2. Department of Geological Engineering, Yüzüncü Yıl University, Van, Turkey

    Ali Özvan

  3. Department of Civil Engineering, Yüzüncü Yıl University, Van, Turkey

    Mücip Tapan

  4. Disaster Management and Earthquake Research and Application Center, Yüzüncü Yıl University, Van, Turkey

    Mücip Tapan

  5. Department of Geological Engineering, Istanbul University, İstanbul, Turkey

    M Alper Şengül

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  1. İsmail Akkaya
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  4. M Alper Şengül
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Correspondence to İsmail Akkaya.

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Akkaya, İ., Özvan, A., Tapan, M. et al. Determining the site effects of 23 October 2011 earthquake (Van province, Turkey) on the rural areas using HVSR microtremor method. J Earth Syst Sci 124, 1429–1443 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-015-0626-1

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