Mapas de tipos de suelos (segun el UBC 97) y potencial de licuacion para el municipio de Mayaguez, Puerto Rico (Spanish text)

The island of Puerto Rico is located in an area of high seismicity. The complex tectonic setting that surrounds the island threatens to produce a major seismic event similar to the one that occurred on October 11, 1918 (Ms = 7.3). The objectives of this research are to develop a soil map for the city of Mayaguez based on the provisions of the Uniform Building Code 1997 and a soil liquefaction potential assessment based on the revised simplified liquefaction potential method (Youd et al., 2001). The work consisted of the characterization of the subsurface conditions of Mayaguez using over 600 test borings collected from both public and private entities. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology was used to develop a database of the geotechnical information gathered and to prepare the maps of soil classification and liquefaction potential. The maps obtained indicate that the coastal area of Mayaguez has a high liquefaction potential since it is composed mainly of loose, sandy alluvial soils.