Mortandad Canyon seismic modeling (Progress Report)
The goal of this project is to assess site amplification for LANL through modeling of site and topography effects. Such assessment is difficult due to the lack of data documenting site effects for large normal faulting earthquakes such as the Pajarito Fault System that was found to be governing the seismic hazard at LANL. LANL site is also characterized by unique geologic settings, a series of mesa at the edge of the huge volcanic complex of the Jemez caldera. The latter has produced a series of successive and intertwined deposits of volcanic flow and sedimentary layer. Such layering of material with different elastic properties is expected to create large amplification effects magnified further by the presence at the surface of tuff materials. In 2014, a seismic campaign was performed in the Mortandad Canyon with a network of sensors on and near a local mesa. That campaign was designed to provide experimental data to estimation and prediction of amplification and site effects at LANL. An analysis on the seismic noise records of that campaign shows evidence of amplification of the seismic amplitude for the stations on the top of the mesa. Our goal is to reproduce the effect observed (both retrieving the resonance frequencies and amplification levels). We also plan to test if amplification effects observed for seismic noise can be extended to shaking produced by earthquakes. We are using a 3D modeling tool based on the Spectral Element Method (SEM) that is a particular type of high-order finite element modeling. Two types of seismic sources will be considered: (1) earthquakes for purpose of seismic hazard evaluation, (2) ambient noise. We show 2 series of numerical computations: (1) seismic waves are generated by random sources to simulate ambient noise. (2) seismic waves are planar waves to simulate a distant earthquake. We plan in the future to model rupture scenario on the Pajarito Fault System.