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U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2010-1136

Maps and Documentation of Seismic CPT Soundings in the Central, Eastern, and Western United States

By Thomas L. Holzer, Thomas E. Noce, and Michael J. Bennett

Introduction

Thumbnail of and link to report PDF (50.1 MB) Nine hundred twenty seven seismic cone penetration tests (CPT) in a variety of geologic deposits and geographic locations were conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) primarily between 1998 and 2008 for the purpose of collecting penetration test data to evaluate the liquefaction potential of different types of surficial geologic deposits (table 1). The evaluation is described in Holzer and others (in press). This open-file report summarizes the seismic CPT and geotechnical data that were collected for the evaluation, outlines the general conditions under which the data were acquired, and briefly describes the geographic location of each study area and local geologic conditions. This report also describes the field methods used to obtain the seismic CPT data and summarizes the results of shear-wave velocities measurements at 2-m intervals in each sounding. Although the average depth of the 927 soundings was 18.5 m, we estimated a time-averaged shear-wave velocity to depths of 20 m and 30 m, VS20 and VS30, respectively, for soundings deeper than 10 m and 20 m. Soil sampling also was selectively conducted in many of the study areas at representative seismic CPT soundings. These data are described and laboratory analyses of geotechnical properties of these samples are summarized in table 2.

  • This report is available only on the Web.

For additional information:
Contact Information, Earthquake Science Center, Menlo Park Science Center
U.S. Geological Survey
345 Middlefield Road, MS 977
Menlo Park, California 94025
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/contactus/menlo/

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Suggested citation:

Holzer, Thomas L., Noce, Thomas E., and Bennett, Michael J., 2010, Maps and documentation of seismic CPT soundings in the central, eastern, and western United States: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2010-1136, 80 p. and 3 data tables.



Contents

Introduction

Methodology

Study Areas

Discussion

Acknowledgments

References Cited


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