In this study, microtremors are measured to obtain site amplification effects for soils in and around Boston, MA. Fifteen sites have been analyzed using both the horizontal-to-vertical (H/V) and the sediment-to-hard-rock (sed/rk) spectral ratio techniques which have been established as useful for obtaining site response in previous studies. Computer models of transfer functions for most of the sites have been calculated to form a comparison of observational with theoretical results.
Both spectral ratio methods have been successful in determining the frequency at which peak amplification occurs, but the H/V technique produces results with more reliability. Relative amplification of ground motion for sites in and around Boston is shown to be better resolved through time domain rather than frequency domain analysis.
