A Compendium of P- and S-Wave Velocities from Surface-to-Borehole Logging: Summary and Reanalysis of Previously Published Data and Analysis of Unpublished Data

Introduction

For over 28 years, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has been acquiring seismic velocity and geologic data at a number of locations in California, many of which were chosen because strong ground motions from earthquakes were recorded at the sites. The method for all measurements involves picking first arrivals of P- and S-waves from a surface source recorded at various depths in a borehole (as opposed to noninvasive methods, such as the SASW method [e.g., Brown et al., 2002]). The results from most of the sites are contained in a series of U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Reports (see References). Until now, none of the results have been available as computer files, and before 1992 the intepretation of the arrival times was in terms of piecemeal interval velocities, with no attempt to derive a layered model that would fit the travel times in an overall sense (the one exception is Porcella, 1984). In this report I reanalyze all of the arrival times in terms of layered models for P- and for S-wave velocities at each site, and I provide the results as computer files. In addition to the measurements reported in the open-file reports, I also include some borehole results from other reports, as well as some results never before published. I include data for 277 boreholes (at the time of this writing; more will be added to the web site as they are obtained), all in California (I have data from boreholes in Washington and Utah, but these will be published separately). I am also in the process of interpreting travel time data obtained using a seismic cone penetrometer at hundreds of sites; these data can be interpreted in the same way of those obtained from surface-to-borehole logging. When available, the data will be added to the web site (see below for information on obtaining data from the World Wide Web (WWW)). In addition to the basic borehole data and results, I provide information concerning strong-motion stations that I judge to be close enough to the boreholes that the borehole velocity models can be used as the velocity models beneath the stations.

First posted May 7, 2003