Seismic microzonation of a region with complex surficial geology based on different site classification approaches

A seismic microzonation study was conducted to refine the seismic hazard model for the city of Saguenay, Canada. The Quaternary geology underlying Saguenay shows complex glacial and post-glacial stratigraphy with a number of buried valleys filled with fluvioglacial and glaciomarine sediments. High impedance contrast between rock formations and surficial sediments is prone to seismic amplification. To evaluate their applicability, advantages and limitations in capturing the geological specificity of the study area, four site classification methods were applied: the current National Building Code of Canada (NBCC) and Eurocode 8, both mainly based on the average shear-wave velocity for the surficial sediments (V(S,avg)) and for the top 30 m (V(S,30)); a method based on the fundamental site period (T(0)); and a hybrid method based on the combination of V(S,30), T(0) and V(S,avg). The study specifically aimed to evaluate the importance of the site classification parameters on the resulting microzonation maps. V(S,30) is capable to present the geological and geotechnical site conditions, however, the results may be further improved by considering V(s,avg) in shallow and T(0) in thick layers of soil sediments as secondary parameters. The T(0) method gives also satisfactory results with T(0) showing a better correlation to V(s,30) than to V(s,avg). The versatile hybrid method may be challenging to apply in certain cases with its nine different site categories and parameters.