Nonlinear numerical method for earthquake site response analysis II — case studies

This paper presents two numerical case studies of medium and strong motion events, namely Loma-Prieta 1989 and Hyogoken-Nambu (Kobe) 1995. These simulations were performed using CyberQuake model. The cyclic elastoplastic constitutive model is fully detailed in the companion paper. Through these case studies, we demonstrate the importance of using appropriate constitutive modelling when the part played by nonlinear phenomena is preponderant. The need to account for 3D kinematics (i.e. the three components of the input motion), is also demonstrated, even though a 1D geometry is considered, as the plastic coupling existing between components of motion during the earthquake, strongly affects the seismic soil response.     

Identifying the accidental-natural mortality of leporids in the archaeological record: insights from a taphonomical analysis of a pitfall without evidence of human presence

Leporids (Lagomorpha, Mammalia), especially the mountain hare (Lepus timidus) and the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus), have been among the most abundant small game in western Europe since the Pleistocene. These animals are preferred prey for more than 40 predators, which increases the chances of finding their skeletal remains at archaeological or natural sites, and in particular karstic formations alternately occupied by Palaeolithic human societies and other predators. Moreover, specific eco-ethological characteristics for both species also offer the possibility to produce a substantial quantity of their bones accumulated by natural mortality without predation, making it more difficult to identify their origin in the fossil record. Despite this fact, the taphonomic signature of accidental-natural accumulations of leporids in karsts, such as pitfalls, has never been properly characterised. In order to address these issues, we carried out a detailed taphonomic study of leporid remains in a pitfall without any evidence of human activity, namely at Coulet des Roches (Monieux, Vaucluse, south-eastern France). At this site, leporids are the most abundant species throughout the Last Glacial Maximum sedimentary sequence. The bone accumulation was analysed in order to determine the most relevant criteria to identify a natural accumulation that results from the accidental fall of individuals in the pitfall. The relative proportions of each species are consistent with their current ethology, and their mortality profiles are compatible with the structure of a living natural population. The completeness rate of the different skeletal portions for both species is relatively high, bones are less fragmented and, unlike what might be expected, very few anatomical connections were preserved. The observed anatomical representation, breakage, and bone surface modification patterns are discussed and compared with available data concerning accumulations with predation. Taken together, the identified criteria contribute valuable help in the recognition of accidental mortality in the fossil record, as well as to evaluate the proportion of leporid bones accumulated naturally and those accumulated by predation, human or not, in a deposit.     

A numerical method for determining the state of stress using focal mechanisms of earthquake populations: application to Tibetan teleseisms and microseismicity of Southern Peru

The numerical method described in this paper enables the study in terms of stress of the kinematics of seismic faults provided by focal mechanisms. This method assumes a mean state of stress in the source region and is based on the simple mechanical model used for fault population analysis which supposes slip in the direction of the resolved shear stress acting on the fault plane. The proposed algorithm first defines compressional and tensional zones resulting from superimposition of the compressional and tensional quadrants limited by the nodal planes. This enables one to test the data homogeneity. Furthermore, this restricts the space where the principal stress axes have to be searched. Then, for each principal stress reference whose location is constrained by above confined zones, the R value (chosen equal to (σ₂′ − σ₁′)/(σ₃′ − σ₁′)) is computed which fits the slip vector on each nodal plane. This permits one to select a set of preferred seismic fault planes from a set of auxiliary planes. Finally, a state of stress is computed from the preferred seismic fault plane set using the non-linear simplex method already applied to fault populations. This algorithm is constructed so as to avoid two major difficulties: misleading estimation of the deviatoric stress tensor which may result from excessive emphasis by minimizing the residuals by a least squares method if some of the data are wrong and a lengthy prospection of the stress references over all the space of directions. This calculation does not take into account possible changes of the strike and dip of the nodal planes. However, we use rotations of nodal planes in agreement with the first arrival data to test the compatibility of these data with the computed state of stress. Tibetan teleseisms and southern Peruvian microseisms are analyzed and results are compared with kinematics of superficial recent and active faults measured in field in the same regions. This suggests that major seismic events may give a good evaluation of the regional (mean) state of stress. Focal mechanisms of the small events are also modelled by a mean stress deviator, but this differs significantly from the regional state of stress in southern Peru deduced from Quaternary faulting. This may be due to imprecise location of the small events. However, some movements are strongly different from those predicted by the computed mean stress deviator. This suggests that small fault kinematics surely depend on the regional state of stress but that local effects may control the small deformations.     

Late Glacial and Holocene chironomid assemblages in Lac Long Inférieur (southern France, 2090 m): palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic implications

Changes in lake water temperature and trophic states were inferred using chironomid fossil assemblages from Lac Long Inférieur (Southern Alps, France). In the Late Glacial, a colder period, possibly analogous to the Younger Dryas, is characterised by a peak in Micropsectra, a cold stenothermic taxon. The increase in temperatures during the Late Glacial interstadial is indicated by a decrease in the percentages of cold stenothermic taxa (Tanytarsus lugens/Corynocera oliveri grp.) and by an increase in taxa linked to the development of vegetation in the littoral zone. The beginning of the Holocene is marked by the presence of taxa adapted to warmer and more eutrophic waters. During the Holocene, the progressive warming of the climate and increase in lake trophic status were indicated by the increase of eutrophic and warmer water indicators. An increase in tributary inflow into Lac Long Inférieur was also inferred by the increase in rheophilous taxa, reflecting increased snowmelt. During the Subatlantic, the composition of the chironomid spectra suggests a re-cooling of the climate and/or a decrease in lake trophic status.     

Seismic records of late Pleistocene aridity in Lake Tanganyika,tropical East Africa

New intermediate-resolution, normal-incidence seismic reflection profiles from Lake Tanganyika’s central basin capture dramatic evidence of base-level change during two intervals of the late Pleistocene. Four seismically-defined stratigraphic sequences (A–D) tied to radiocarbon-dated sediment cores provide a chronology for fluctuating environmental conditions along the Kalya Platform. Stacked, oblique clinoforms in Sequence C are interpreted as prograding siliciclastic deltas deposited during a major regression that shifted the paleo-lake shore ∼21 km towards the west prior to ∼106 ka. The topset-to-foreset transitions in these deltas suggest lake level was reduced by ∼435 m during the period of deposition. Mounded reflections in the overlying sequence are interpreted as the backstepping remnants of the delta system, deposited during the termination of the lowstand and the onset of transgressive conditions in the basin. The youngest depositional sequence reflects the onset of profundal sedimentation during the lake level highstand. High amplitude reflections and deeply incised channels suggest a short-lived desiccation event that reduced lake level by ∼260 m, interpreted as a product of Last Glacial Maximum (32–14 ka) aridity. Paleobathymetric maps constructed for the two interpreted regressions reveal that despite the positive lake-floor topography created by the Kavala Island Ridge Accommodation Zone, Lake Tanganyika remained a large, mostly connected water body throughout the late Pleistocene. The results of this analysis further imply that Lake Tanganyika is the most drought resistant water body in the East African tropics, and may have acted as a refuge for local and migrating fauna during periods of prolonged aridity.     

Fundamental changes in the activity of the natrocarbonatite volcano Oldoinyo Lengai, Tanzania

On September 4, 2007, after 25 years of effusive natrocarbonatite eruptions, the eruptive activity of Oldoinyo Lengai (OL), N Tanzania, changed abruptly to episodic explosive eruptions. This transition was preceded by a voluminous lava eruption in March 2006, a year of quiescence, resumption of natrocarbonatite eruptions in June 2007, and a volcano-tectonic earthquake swarm in July 2007. Despite the lack of ground-based monitoring, the evolution in OL eruption dynamics is documented based on the available field observations, ASTER and MODIS satellite images, and almost-daily photos provided by local pilots. Satellite data enabled identification of a phase of voluminous lava effusion in the 2 weeks prior to the onset of explosive eruptions. After the onset, the activity varied from 100 m high ash jets to 2–15 km high violent, steady or unsteady, eruption columns dispersing ash to 100 km distance. The explosive eruptions built up a ∼400 m wide, ∼75 m high intra-crater pyroclastic cone. Time series data for eruption column height show distinct peaks at the end of September 2007 and February 2008, the latter being associated with the first pyroclastic flows to be documented at OL. Chemical analyses of the erupted products, presented in a companion paper (Keller et al. 2010), show that the 2007–2008 explosive eruptions are associated with an undersaturated carbonated silicate melt. This new phase of explosive eruptions provides constraints on the factors causing the transition from natrocarbonatite effusive eruptions to explosive eruptions of carbonated nephelinite magma, observed repetitively in the last 100 years at OL.     

Radiochemical,scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray dispersive energy (EDAX) studies of a FAMOUS hydrothermal deposit

During the French-American Mid-Oceanic Undersea Survey (FAMOUS) the French team participating in the mission explored the active A transform fault with the diving saucer CYANA, and discovered a characteristic hydrothermal deposit. The results presented here concern the structural and radiochemical study of three samples: two metalenriched samples and one sample of consolidated calcareous sediment recovered from the area.It is shown that there is a chemical segregation between silica and iron on one hand, and manganese in the other hand, and that on such deposits the layer-by-layer radio-chemical analysis of the uranium series is not applicable.Three different age estimations may be made:In the managanese encrustation, thorium 230 is depleted towards equilibrium with its parent uranium 234, suggesting a maximum age of 45,000 years to the deposit.On the contrary, the outermost layer, 0.1 cm thick, formed essentially with loose sediment stained with oxides, presents an excess of thorium 230. The Σ²³⁰Th_(excess)/cm² may be used to calculate a minimum age of 20 years.Such a sediment thickness, in this area, corresponds to a time span of 50 years.