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Article

Variation in Seismic Wave Velocities at Shallow Depth and the Masking of Nonlinear Soil Behavior Based on the ARGONET (Cephalonia, Greece) Vertical Array Data

by
Zafeiria Roumelioti
1,*,
Fabrice Hollender
2,3,
Nikolaos Theodoulidis
4 and
Ioannis Grendas
1
1
Department of Geology, University of Patras, 26504 Rio Patras, Greece
2
French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), DES, CEA, 13108 Saint Paul Lez Durance, France
3
University Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IRD, University Gustave Eiffel, ISTerre, 38000 Grenoble, France
4
Institute of Engineering Seismology and Earthquake Engineering (ITSAK-EPPO), 55535 Thessaloniki, Greece
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Appl. Sci. 2025, 15(19), 10727; https://doi.org/10.3390/app151910727
Submission received: 10 September 2025 / Revised: 24 September 2025 / Accepted: 29 September 2025 / Published: 5 October 2025
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Advances in Engineering Seismology)

Abstract

We investigate the variation in shear-wave velocity (VS) in the shallow soil of the ARGONET vertical array in Cephalonia, Greece, utilizing an extensive 8–10-year dataset of earthquake records and applying seismic interferometry by deconvolution and Generalized Additive Models (GAMs). We identify and quantify the contributions of seasonal variation, soil anisotropy, soil nonlinearity, and long-term Vs changes. Of the examined factors, nonlinearity produces the strongest VS changes in the form of reduction of up to several tens of m/s. The azimuthal and seasonal partial effects appear similar in strength. However, VS also exhibits year-to-year variation, with lower levels likely linked to the slow recovery of the soil following strong earthquakes in the broader region. When this partial effect is also considered, the temporal variation of VS is more significant than the azimuthal variation. We also observed that strong weather phenomena, such as the unusual hurricane “Ianos” that hit western Greece in 2020, are captured in our model through tensor interaction terms. Our model can identify VS drops related to nonlinear soil behavior even when masked by other effects. We demonstrate and verify this through seismic interferometry to stepwise increasing parts of earthquake recordings highlighting these within-events or coseismic VS drops.
Keywords: soil nonlinearity; soil response; soil anisotropy; shear-wave velocity variation; site categorization; shear-wave seasonal variation soil nonlinearity; soil response; soil anisotropy; shear-wave velocity variation; site categorization; shear-wave seasonal variation

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Roumelioti, Z.; Hollender, F.; Theodoulidis, N.; Grendas, I. Variation in Seismic Wave Velocities at Shallow Depth and the Masking of Nonlinear Soil Behavior Based on the ARGONET (Cephalonia, Greece) Vertical Array Data. Appl. Sci. 2025, 15, 10727. https://doi.org/10.3390/app151910727

AMA Style

Roumelioti Z, Hollender F, Theodoulidis N, Grendas I. Variation in Seismic Wave Velocities at Shallow Depth and the Masking of Nonlinear Soil Behavior Based on the ARGONET (Cephalonia, Greece) Vertical Array Data. Applied Sciences. 2025; 15(19):10727. https://doi.org/10.3390/app151910727

Chicago/Turabian Style

Roumelioti, Zafeiria, Fabrice Hollender, Nikolaos Theodoulidis, and Ioannis Grendas. 2025. "Variation in Seismic Wave Velocities at Shallow Depth and the Masking of Nonlinear Soil Behavior Based on the ARGONET (Cephalonia, Greece) Vertical Array Data" Applied Sciences 15, no. 19: 10727. https://doi.org/10.3390/app151910727

APA Style

Roumelioti, Z., Hollender, F., Theodoulidis, N., & Grendas, I. (2025). Variation in Seismic Wave Velocities at Shallow Depth and the Masking of Nonlinear Soil Behavior Based on the ARGONET (Cephalonia, Greece) Vertical Array Data. Applied Sciences, 15(19), 10727. https://doi.org/10.3390/app151910727

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