Application of passive seismic to shallow geological structures in urban areas

Abstract

To study the shallow geological structure the Refraction Microtremor (ReMi) method was applied. This technique uses seismic noise analysis where a source of this small vibrations is the human activity e.g.: traffic, production, factories. The surveys were carried out in selected urban areas in the region of the Upper Silesian Industrial District: Sosnowiec-Pogon , Chorzow-Chorzow Stary and Bytom-Karb. Each area is characterized by the presence of nearby roads with a very high traffic. The results of passive seismic (ReMi) were confronted with data obtained using Multichannel Analysis of Surface Waves (MASW) and resistivity imaging (RI). Seismic surveys were performed by apparatus PASI with 24 channels using geophones of 4.5Hz. The results showed that passive seismic can be satisfactorily used in such urban conditions. The shallow geological structure interpreted by seismic methods have been well-correlated with resistivity studies.