Geophysical investigations for seismic zonation in municipal areas with complex geology: The case study of Celano, Italy

A quantitative prediction of seismic site effects requires the definition of a subsoil parametric model for ground motion numerical modelling. This paper describes an application of integrated geophysical methods to define an earthquake engineering parametric model for the seismic zonation of the municipal area of Celano, Italy. In municipal areas of such extent, particularly in case of complex geology, subsurface characterization is an optimization procedure, where the objective function to be minimized is the uncertainty related to the subsoil features, under the constraint of fixed resources and logistical limitations. In the particular case of Celano, correlation between different geophysical results was very profitable in discriminating different geological scenarios in the historical centre and in areas designed for urban expansion, while defining the elastic properties of the near-surface deposits throughout the municipal area