(Na,Ca)(Ti3+,Mg)Si2O6-clinopyroxenes at high pressure: influence of cation substitution on elastic behavior and phase transition

A compressional study of (Na,Ca)(Ti³⁺,Mg)Si₂O₆-clinopyroxenes was carried out at high pressures between 10⁻⁴ and 10.2 GPa using in situ single-crystal X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy and optical absorption spectroscopy. Compressional discontinuities accompanied by structural changes, in particular, the appearance of two distinct Ti³⁺–Ti³⁺ distances within the octahedral chains at 4.37 GPa, provide evidence for the occurrence of a phase transition in NaTi³⁺Si₂O₆. Equation-of-state parameters are K ₀ = 115.9(7) GPa with K′ = −0.9(3) and K ₀ = 102.7(8) GPa with K′ = 4.08(5) for the low- and high-pressure range, respectively. The transition involves a C2/c–P [`1] \overline{1} symmetry change, which can be confirmed by the occurrence of new modes in Raman spectra. Since no significant discontinuity in the evolution of the unit-cell volume with pressure has been observed, the transition appears to be second-order in character. The influence of the coupled substitution Na⁺Ti³⁺↔Ca²⁺Mg²⁺ on the static compression behavior and the structural stability has been investigated using a sample of the intermediate composition (Na_0.54Ca_0.46)(Mg_0.46Ti_0.54)Si₂O₆. No evidence for a deviation from continuous compression behavior has been found, neither in lattice parameter nor in structural data and the fit of a third-order Birch–Murnaghan equation-of-state to the pressure–volume data yields a bulk modulus of K ₀ = 109.1(5) GPa and K′ = 5.02(13). Raman and polarized absorption spectra have been compared to NaTiSi₂O₆ and reveal major similarities. The main driving force for the phase transition in NaTi³⁺Si₂O₆ is the localization of the Ti³⁺ d-electron and the accompanying distortion, which is suppressed in the (Na,Ca)(Ti³⁺,Mg)Si₂O₆-clinopyroxene.     

Biaxial effects in modelling earthquake response of R/C structures

Recent studies reveal that R/C structural members subjected to biaxial flexure due to two-dimensional earthquake excitation can deform much more than would be predicted by conventional one-dimensional response analysis. The biaxial flexure may therefore have a significant effect on the dynamic collapse process of structures subjected to intense ground motions. The present paper is intended to develop a new formulation of the two-dimensional restoring force model of R/C columns acted upon by biaxial bending moments, and to discuss the dynamic response properties of R/C structures. The model considered is a two-dimensional extension of various non-linear models for one-dimensional response analysis, including the degrading trilinear stiffness model which is one of the simpler idealizations of the restoring force characteristics of flexural-failure-type R/C structures. The modelling validity is then examined by comparison with experimental data on the biaxial bending behaviour of R/C columns. Calculations are made to study the role of different system properties on the influence of inelastic biaxial bending on the dynamic structural response. It is shown that the inelastic biaxial effect is generally significant and, in some cases, critical in the case of R/C structures with stiffness-degrading properties, while the effect is not so important for the non-degrading inelastic cases.     

Tidal triggering of earthquakes in the subducting Philippine Sea plate beneath the locked zone of the plate interface in the Tokai region, Japan

We found a characteristic space–time pattern of the tidal triggering effect on earthquake occurrence in the subducting Philippine Sea plate beneath the locked zone of the plate interface in the Tokai region, central Japan, where a large interplate earthquake may be impending. We measured the correlation between the Earth tide and earthquake occurrence using microearthquakes that took place in the Philippine Sea plate for about two decades. For each event, we assigned the tidal phase angle at the origin time by theoretically calculating the tidal shear stress on the fault plane. Based on the distribution of the tidal phase angles, we statistically tested whether they concentrate near some particular angle or not by using Schuster's test. In this test, the result is evaluated by p-value, which represents the significance level to reject the null hypothesis that earthquakes occur randomly irrespective of the tidal phase angle. As a result of analysis, no correlation was found for the data set including all the earthquakes. However, we found a systematic pattern in the temporal variation of the tidal effect; the p-value significantly decreased preceding the occurrence of M ≥ 4.5 earthquakes, and it recovered a high level afterwards. We note that those M ≥ 4.5 earthquakes were considerably larger than the normal background seismicity in the study area. The frequency distribution of tidal phase angles in the pre-event period exhibited a peak at the phase angle where the tidal shear stress is at its maximum to accelerate the fault slip. This indicates that the observed small p-value is a physical consequence of the tidal effect. We also found a distinctive feature in the spatial distribution of p-values. The small p-values appeared just beneath the strongly coupled portion of the plate interface, as inferred from the seismicity rate change in the past few years.     

Prediction method of sand-movement direction in rivers by geochemical elements

 The analysis of sand samples by X-ray fluorescent spectroscopy (XRF) gives the ratio of the geochemical elements to construct the sand samples. The application of the ratio matching to sand samples represents the correlation number between two sand samples with respect to geochemical elements. When the correlation number between two sand samples is low, the two samples are not geochemically similar each other. This denotes that the exchange of sand between two sampling points is scarce or the two samples are independent. When the correlation number between two sand samples is high, the two samples are geochemically similar, signifying that the exchange of sand between two sampling points is frequent or there is sand movement between two sampling points. If there exists prominent sand movement in the study area, the correlation number is almost 1 and kilo count number per second of each geochemical element per weight decreases along the flow direction. The decrease is caused by the reduction of sizes and the adherence of dirt on the surface of sand particles. Since the flow direction in rivers is usually the same as the direction of sand movement, it can be verified. This study obtains satisfactory results applying the method of prediction in sand movement to sediments in rivers. Received: 17 May 1995 · Accepted: 14 August 1995     

Effect of the contraction of Zn-O bonds on X-ray emission spectra

Physics and Chemistry of Minerals - The X-ray emission spectra were measured for tetrahedrally coordinated Zn ion in several synthetic compounds. Intensity ratios of L β and L α spectral...     

Temporal change in scattering and attenuation associated with the earthquake occurrence—A review of recent studies on coda waves

The study of coda waves has recently attracted increasing attention from seismologists. This is due to the fact that it is viewed as a new means by which the stress accumulation stage preceding a large earthquake can be measured, since the scattering paths nearly uniformly cover a fairly large region around the focus and observation stations, compared with the direct ray paths. To date, we have had many reports on the temporal variation of the relation between coda duration and amplitude magnitude, and that of the coda attenuationQ _c ^–1 which is estimated from coda amplitude decay. Some of these have shown a precursor-like behavior; however, others seem to have shown a coseismic change. We have critically reviewed these reports, and discussed what these observational facts tell us about the change in the heterogeneous crust. We found significant temporal variations, not only in the mean but also in the scatter ofQ _c ^–1 , associated with the mainshock occurrence. The formation of new cracks, the reopening and growing of existing cracks, the interaction of these cracks, and the pore water movement through these cracks might correspond to such variations. In addition, we may expect an inhomogeneous distribution of crack clusters in a fairly large region, compared with the aftershock region. The gradual appearance of such crack clusters seems to be the most plausible mechanism by which coda decay gradients are caused to largely scatter in the stress accumulation stage.