THE CHANGE OF ROCK CONDITION OBSERVED BY H/V SPECTRAL AND ELLIPTICITY CURVE INVERSION ANALYSIS (CASE STUDY: PALU EARTHQUAKE SEPTEMBER 28, 2018)

Abstract

Palu City is composed of sedimentary rocks so that it has a high level of vulnerability when an earthquake occurs. The earthquake that occurred on September 28, 2018, 25 km north of Donggala with a magnitude of 7.4 Mw, had caused a tsunami that struck Palu City, Sigi Regency, Donggala Regency, and Parigi Mouthong Regency, Central Sulawesi Province. This earthquake also caused liquefactions in the Petobo and Balaroa areas, Palu City, and Jono Oge in Sigi Regency. In this study, the authors used microtremor data at 8 points measured before and after the earthquake. Processing using the Horizontal to Vertical Spectra Ratio method shows that the predominant frequency and amplification factor changes due to changes in local rock conditions. The analysis also shows the value of soil vulnerability index (Kg) mostly increased after the earthquake. Besides, the elliptic curve inversion method shows that before the earthquake event, the value of the S wave velocity (Vs30) in layer one was between 157.1-211.4 m/sec with a layer thickness between 65.3-90.6 meters, while after the earthquake, the velocity becomes 156-214.6 m/sec with a layer thickness ranging between 66-99.2 meters. This indicates that the area consists of soft and medium soils, which subsequently increased sediment thickness in most areas after the earthquake.