An Interdisciplinary Approach For The Microzonation of The Cologne Area (germany) (original) (raw)

Egs General Assembly Conference Abstracts, 2002

Abstract

ABSTRACT Situated in an active tectonic region the highly industrialised Cologne area (Germany) combines a relatively high seismic hazard with a large damage potential. The last ma- jor event in Middle Europe was the Roermond earthquake in 1992 with a Magnitude of Ml=5.9 and the epicentre approximately 70 km north-west of the city of Cologne. The Erft fault system however, having its closest surface exposure only 15 km West of the city, is the most important potential fault system for damaging earthquakes in the region under investigation (Ahorner, 2001, DGG Mittlg., 2, p 3). Being part of the German Research Network for Natural Disasters (DFNK) we aim at integrating geological, geophysical and engineering approaches for the microzona- tion of the Cologne area. Therefore, existing geological data was collected and pro- cessed into a GIS based 3D-model, ambient noise and earthquake recordings were analysed with respect to the resonance frequencies of the soil, ground motion sce- narios were computed using a hybrid modelling approach, and the vulnerability of man-made structures was analysed through finite-element modelling. We show that this integrated approach allows for comparing results coming from dif- ferent methods, improving hereby the existing knowledge of the sub-surface (e.g. thickness of sediments, shear-wave velocity with depth) and the vulnerability anal- ysis of man-made structues. In addition, results can be linked in order to obtain for example the reaction of man-made structures to seismic waves.

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