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Characterization of site effects in Montreal, Canada

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Abstract

Recent destructive earthquakes have clearly shown that near-surface geological conditions play a major role in the level of ground shaking in urban areas. In Canada, Montreal is ranked second for seismic risk after Vancouver considering its population and regional seismic hazard. The city is largely built on recent unconsolidated marine and river deposits and most of its infrastructure is old and deteriorated. A seismic risk project that includes a combined methodology for site effects zoning in large cities, using microtremor measurements (H/V method) coupled with 1D numerical modelling (SHAKE91), has been initiated. The experimental approach gives good estimates of the fundamental frequency of soft deposits, while the numerical approach provides good estimates of the soil response in terms of amplification factor related to frequency. Main mechanical properties of soft soils were compiled from various data available, and a sample of input rock motions from real and synthetic earthquakes was used to compute soil response. The influence of marine clays on soil response is significant and is well correlated with thickness of these deposits. PGA amplification factors range from 2 to 4 at frequencies from 2 to 7 Hz, with some occasional larger values. The results demonstrate that the methodology used for our study is both fast and efficient to determine the influence of soft soils in urban environments. Such studies are essential for the effective deployment of seismic instrumentation, land-use planning and seismic mitigation.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by research grants from the Geological Survey of Canada, the National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and Fonds Québécois de la Recherche sur la Nature et la Technologie. The authors would like to acknowledge Michel Jacques from City of Montreal for his help in the compilation of the geological database, John Adams from the Geological Survey of Canada for his support all along the project. Alejandro de la Puente and Ricardo Madriz were involved in the development of the methodology and the surveys. The manuscript was improved thanks to the comments of two anonymous reviewers and Myriam Bour.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. World Agency of Planetary Monitoring and Earthquake Risk Reduction, Geneva, Switzerland

    P. Rosset

  2. Department of Civil Engineering & Applied Mechanics, McGill University, Montreal, Canada

    L. E. Chouinard

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  1. P. Rosset
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  2. L. E. Chouinard
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Correspondence to P. Rosset.

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Rosset, P., Chouinard, L.E. Characterization of site effects in Montreal, Canada. Nat Hazards 48, 295–308 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-008-9263-1

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