• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2014

To reveal and classify site characteristics in densely populated areas in Chuncheon, Korea, Rayleigh-waves were recorded at 50 sites including four sites in the forest area using four 1-Hz velocity sensors and 24 4.5-Hz vertical geophones during the period of January 2011 to May 2013. Dispersion curves of the Rayleigh waves obtained by the extended spatial autocorrelation method were inverted to derive shear-wave velocity ($v_s$) models comprising 40 horizontal layers of 1-m thickness. Depths to weathered rocks ($D_b$), shear wave velocities of these basement rocks ($v_s^b$), average velocities of the overburden layer ($\bar{v}_s^s$), and the average velocity to a depth of 30 m ($v_s30$), were then derived from those models. The estimated values of $D_b$, $v_s^b$, $\bar{v}_s^s$, and $v_s30$ for 46 sites at lower altitudes were in the ranges of 5 to 29 m, 404 to 561 m/s, 208 to 375 ms/s, and 226 to 583 m/s, respectively. According to the Korean building code for seismic design, the estimated $v_s30$ indicates that the lower altitude areas in Chuncheon are classified as $S_C$ (very dense soil and soft rock) or $S_D$ (stiff soil). To determine adequate proxies for $v_s30$, we compared the computed values with land cover, lithology, topographic slope, and surface elevation at each of the measurement sites. Due to a weak correlation (r = 0.41) between $v_s30$ and elevation, the best proxy of them, applications of this proxy to Chuncheon of a relatively small area seem to be limited.