Vol.:(0123456789) Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering https://doi.org/10.1007/s10518-019-00772-4 1 3 ORIGINAL RESEARCH Empirical testing of a simplifed approach for the estimation of 1D litho‑stratigraphical amplifcation factor Enrico Paolucci 1  · Anna Tanzini 1  · Giacomo Peruzzi 1  · Dario Albarello 1  · Pierpaolo Tiberi 2 Received: 10 July 2019 / Accepted: 11 December 2019 © Springer Nature B.V. 2019 Abstract To allow a widespread application of seismic microzonation studies in Italy, simplifed cost efective procedures are required. To this purpose, regional abacuses allowing the evalu- ation of 1D litho-stratigraphical amplifcation phenomena based on a small set of cheap surface measurements have been proposed. These abacuses were initially elaborated by extensive one-dimensional numerical simulations of a wide set of representative seismo- stratigraphic confgurations testifed in the study area. In order to test efectiveness of the abacuses in use in the Marche Region (Central Italy), seismic amplifcation estimates deduced from this tool have been compared with outcomes of detailed seismic response studies carried out at a number of sites included in the area afected by the 2016–2017 seismic sequence in Central Italy. This analysis indicated that abacuses provide reliable estimates in the most part of the area except a specifc geological domain where available subsoil information was not exhaustive when abacuses were initially formulated. Then, abacuses where partially reformulated by obtaining outcomes in line with independent observations. This in general, testifes the accuracy of the simplifed approach but also the requirement for accurate feld-testing before their widespread application. Keywords Seismic microzonation · Site response · Site efects · Simplifed approach 1 Introduction Mapping possible ground shaking amplifcation phenomena induced by local seismo-strati- graphical and morphological features during earthquakes is a basic tool to develop efec- tive strategies for seismic risk reduction at local scale. The identifcation of these efects at the municipality scale is provided by seismic microzonation studies, which are based on an extensive characterization of the dynamic properties of the subsoil in the frst tens/ hundreds meters (e.g., Kramer 1996). In light of this, it is evident that seismic microzo- nation represents an important tool to build anti-seismic city plans aimed at reducing the * Enrico Paolucci enricopaolucci83@gmail.com 1 Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche, della Terra e dell’Ambiente, University of Siena, Siena, Italy 2 Regional Department of Civil Protection, Marche Region Government, Ancona, Italy