The aim of this project is to develop the capability for characterizing the detailed geological structure and mechanical properties of individual sites and/or complete basins by means of integrated in-situ field testing techniques, observation of ground motion from actual earthquakes, and inversion-based modeling. The two most important types of mechanical properties that the user will seek to identify are the seismic velocities (primary (P-wave), and shear (S-wave)), and the intrinsic attenuation of the various soils. To attain such characterization capabilities, the user will exploit the resources afforded by two NEES sites, the permanent and temporary instrumentation at Garner Valley in CA (nees@UCSB) operated by the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB), and the mobile shakers operated by the University of Texas at Austin (nees@UTexas), respectively. It is a central goal of the proposed work to seek to demonstrate and validate our development by characterizing a large portion of the Garner Valley in Southern California as a prototype application.
