Abstract:Based on the strong motion records, the amplification effects of 48 stations in Sendai Basin, Japan, were analyzed by using the generalized inversion and HVSR methods. Then, the impacts of site vS30 and basin depth on the amplification effect were analyzed. Results show that compared with the generalized inversion method, the HVSR method can provide the main frequency of a site, but it underestimates the amplitude of the amplification effect. The amplification effects of the basin induced by shallow earthquakes in different locations outside the basin considerably vary. The amplification effect caused by ocean earthquakes in the southern part of Sendai Basin is the largest, whereas that caused by land earthquakes in the northern part of Sendai Basin is the smallest. The amplification effect of S-wave caused by earthquakes in the southern and eastern parts of the basin shows a strong correlation with vS30, whereas that in the northern part shows little correlation with vS30. The amplification effect of the S-wave in the basin is strongly correlated with the depth of the basin in the frequency band of 0.5-5 Hz but is basically irrelevant in the frequency band of 0.25-0.5 and 5-10 Hz.