The knowledge of the local soil structure is important for the assessment of seismic hazards. A widespread, but time-consuming technique to retrieve the parameters of the local underground is the drilling of boreholes. Another way to obtain the shear wave velocity profile at a given location is the inversion of surface wave dispersion curves. To ensure a good resolution for both superficial and deeper layers, the used dispersion curves need to cover a wide frequency range. This wide frequency range can be obtained using several arrays of seismic sensors or a single array comprising a large number of sensors. Consequently, these measurements are time-consuming. A simpler alternative is provided by the use of the ellipticity of Rayleigh waves. The frequency dependence of the ellipticity is tightly linked to the shear wave velocity profile. Furthermore, it can be measured using a single seismic sensor. As soil structures obtained by scaling of a given model exhibit the same ellipticity curve, any inversion of the ellipticity curve alone will be ambiguous. Therefore, additional measurements which fix the absolute value of the shear wave velocity profile at some points have to be included in the inversion process. Small-scale spatial autocorrelation measurements or MASW measurements can provide the needed data. Using a theoretical soil structure, we show which parts of the ellipticity curve have to be included in the inversion process to get a reliable result and which parts can be omitted. Furthermore, the use of autocorrelation or high-frequency dispersion curves will be highlighted. The resulting guidelines for inversions including ellipticity data are then applied to real data measurements collected at 14 different sites during the European NERIES project. It is found that the results are in good agreement with dispersion curve measurements. Furthermore, the method can help in identifying the mode of Rayleigh waves in dispersion curve measurements.

Following the Mw 6.3 L’Aquila Earthquake of 6^th April, 2009, the Colle di Roio village, central Italy, suffered severe building damages. The village is located on top of an elongated carbonate ridge characterized by a complex subsurface structure, a condition prone to seismic amplification due to topographic and stratigraphic effects. We address the role of the subsurface structure and topography in the ground-motion amplification observed at the ridge top. To characterize the subsurface structure of the ridge we performed geological investigations and ambient vibration measurements in single-station as well as 2D-array configuration. Geological investigations pointed out that the ridge top is characterized by the presence of fractured rock material as a consequence of its anticlinal fold structure. Horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio processing of ambient vibration records (HVSR) showed a broad peak in the HVSR functions in the frequency range 4-6 Hz and 2D-array data demonstrated that locally the subsurface structure at the ridge top cannot be considered homogeneous. In summer 2009, we further installed one accelerometric station on the ridge top to experimentally evaluate the site amplification. By means of Horizontal-to-Vertical spectral ratio analysis of a sample of 18 weak-motion records (H/V), we found that ground-motion amplification occurs in a narrow frequency range centred around 4 Hz with mean ratio amplitude of 6. We also analysed the dependence of seismic amplification on the azimuth by calculating H/V ratios for horizontal components rotated into a range of azimuths. This analysis showed that the higher level of horizontal amplification occurs in the direction perpendicular to the ridge trending direction. With the aim of evaluating the contribution of the topography and the local subsurface structure on the observed seismic amplification, we performed 2D finite difference modelling of wave propagation through the ridge, adopting both homogeneous and heterogeneous models. We were able to reproduce the frequency dependent amplification only by using an heterogeneous 2D model with a low velocity layer (shear-wave velocity of 400 m/s and maximum thickness of 20 m) at the ridge top. From the comparison between observations and numerical results we suggest that the amplification at the Colle di Roio ridge top is due to the interplay between local shear-wave velocity structure and topography, rather than to topography alone.

We applied a joint survey approach integrating time domain electromagnetic soundings and single‐station ambient vibration surveys in the Middle Aterno Valley (MAV), an intermontane basin in central Italy and the locus of the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake. By imaging the buried interface between the infilling deposits and the top of the pre‐Quaternary bedrock, we reveal the 3‐D basin geometry and gain insights into the long‐term basin evolution. We reconstruct a complex subsurface architecture, characterized by three main depocenters separated by thresholds. Basin infill thickness varies from ~200–300 m in the north to more than 450 m to the southeast. Our subsurface model indicates a strong structural control on the architecture of the basin and highlights that the MAV experienced considerable modifications in its configuration over time. The buried shape of the MAV suggests a recent and still ongoing predominant tectonic control by the NW‐SE trending Paganica‐San Demetrio Fault System (PSDFS), which crosscuts older ~ENE and NNE trending extensional faults. Furthermore, we postulate that the present‐day arrangement of the PSDFS is the result of the linkage of two previously isolated fault segments. We provide constraints on the location of the southeastern boundary of the PSDFS, defining an overall ~19 km long fault system characterized by a considerable seismogenetic potential and a maximum expected magnitude larger thanM 6.5. This study emphasizes the benefit of combining two easily deployable geophysical methods for reconstructing the 3‐D geometry of a tectonically controlled basin. Our joint approach provided us with a consistent match between these two independent estimations of the basin substratum depth within 15%.