Experiences in Pumice Soil Characterization by Surface Wave Analysis

Guadalajara, México, is a large city located mainly over a thick deposit (up 100 m) of pumice, in a seismic zone. Then, besides the stiffness of pumice soils, it is important to predict their behavior under seismic movements. Pumice soils are so crushable that SPT or CPT does not adequately characterize them. As a complement or alternative to SPT, CPT and other field testing, in recent years there has been a gradual increment in the use of surface wave analysis for soil characterization, by measuring shear wave velocity (VS). ReMi is one of the surface wave analysis methods and have been used in different locations of Guadalajara for determining the stiffness of pumice soils, depth to bedrock, classify the soil according to IBC, and calculate fundamental periods. Also one-dimensional ground response seismic analysis of four different sites in Guadalajara, under two different seismic scenarios, is presented. From this seismic analysis there are five different response spectra and other parameters