Effect of the development of notches and tension cracks on instability of limestone coastal cliffs in the Ryukyus, Japan

Notches cut by waves are currently developing at the base of vertical coastal limestone cliffs in Okinawa, Japan. The cliff height varies from 3.0–22.1 m, and the maximum notch depth is 8.8 m. Many rectangular or cubic blocks, which appear to have originated from cliff failures, are found on platforms in front of the cliffs. On the flat top surface of the cliff, tension cracks often run parallel to the cliff face. The vertical face of the cliffs displays small undulations but no sliding striation, suggesting that cliff failures have been caused by toppling rather than by shearing or sliding. We use slope stability analysis to determine the critical condition for toppling failure. Physical and mechanical properties of the cliff material were first obtained from laboratory tests. The results indicate that the strength of limestone shows a scale effect, such that the strength decreases with increasing size of the test specimens. Based on this result, we estimated the strength of a rock mass corresponding to the size of the coastal cliff. Cliff stability was then analyzed using a cantilever beam model. Comparison of the stability analysis and the dimension of fallen blocks indicates that toppling failure is strongly associated with the development of notches and tension cracks.     

The role of strong earthquakes and tsunami in the Late Holocene evolution of the Fortore River coastal plain (Apulia, Italy): A synthesis

Morphological analysis of the Fortore River coastal plain and the Lesina Lake coastal barrier integrated with radiocarbon age data indicates that the evolution of the coastal landscape has been strongly affected by a number of strong earthquakes and related tsunamis which occurred during the last 3000 years. The first seismic event struck this coastal area in the V century BC. It produced strong erosion of the Fortore River coastal plain and significant emersion of Punta delle Pietre Nere, as well as the large tsunami responsible for the development of the Sant'Andrea washover fan. The second event occurred in 493 AD; it induced severe erosion of the Fortore River coastal plain and triggered the large tsunami that hit the Lesina Lake coastal barrier, producing the Foce Cauto washover fan. Then later in 1627, an earthquake was responsible for the further coseismic uplift of Punta delle Pietre Nere, the subsidence of Lesina village area and the development of a tsunami which produced two washover fans.Morphological analysis points out that seismic events strong enough to control the morphological evolution of local coastal landscapes show a statistical return period of about 1000 years. These major events produced important coseismic vertical movements and large tsunamis. However, the correct identification of the tectonic structure responsible for the generation of these strong earthquakes is still an unsolved problem.     

七里海泻湖湿地演变过程及其生态环境效应分析

以河北省秦皇岛市昌黎县七里海泻湖湿地为研究区,选取1919～2005年间的4幅地形图和1987年以来的10景landsat TM(ETM)遥感影像为数据源,运用遥感和地理信息系统技术,研究了七里海泻湖湿地近百年的时空演变过程,分析了泻湖湿地演变的影响因素与生态环境效应.结果表明,近百年来,七里海泻湖面积发生明显变化,由1919年的711.1 hm2缩减为2005年的279.1 hm2;1919年泻湖周边沼泽湿地面积为2 263.3 hm2,2005年泻湖周边的沼泽湿地已经基本消失;1956年以前,泻湖湿地以自然演变为主,主要受雨量充沛、入湖河流径流量丰富的影响,泻湖水面面积呈逐年增加趋势,1956以后,受流域开发治理工程、围垦和水产养殖等人类活动的影响,泻湖及周边湿地水动力条件发生改变,泻湖周边天然湿地逐渐为人工湿地所代替,泻湖水面面积减小,淤积加重,湿地生态系统受到极大干扰,呈现出生物多样性降低、景观单一化、湿地效应减弱等生态环境恶化的特征.     

The development of talus slopes around Lord Howe island and implications for the history of island planation

Lord Howe Island is a small eroded remnant of a Late Miocene shield volcano. A fringing coral reef dissipates wave energy along a portion of the shoreline, but the remainder of the coast is rugged with spectacular high basaltic sea cliffs. This paper investigates the evolution of talus slopes that occur beneath the loftiest cliffs, and places this analysis within the context of a longer history of island planation that has resulted in a wide truncated shelf around the island. During the Last Glacial, when the sea level was lower than at present, talus slopes accumulated around the extent of the island's cliffed coast because material eroded from cliffs by subaerial processes could not be removed by marine processes. The survival of these slopes during the Holocene has depended on a balance achieved between rates of subaerial and marine erosion. This balance is fundamentally influenced by cliff height, as cliffs higher than 200 m are plunging or veneered by talus slopes, whereas lower cliffs have erosional shore platforms. On comparison with published erosion rates from inland basalt scarps it appears that marine processes may account for over 90 per cent of the total cliff retreat that has occurred at Lord Howe Island, yet contemporary coastal morphology attests to the significance of subaerial processes in recent times. It is likely that marine cliffing was very rapid soon after volcanism ceased, but rates of erosion decreased through time as wave energy became increasingly attenuated across a widening planation surface, and as increasing cliff heights yielded greater quantities of talus that provided protection from rapid marine erosion.     

Indian Ocean tsunamis: environmental and socio-economic impacts in Langkawi, Malaysia

We report the results of a study of the physical characteristics and socio-economic impacts of the Indian Ocean Tsunami of 26 December 2004 on the tourist island of Langkawi, Malaysia. In comparison with many other locations struck by the tsunami, the immediate physical and socio-economic impacts in Langkawi were relatively minor. A detailed survey of the watermark and ground elevations was undertaken in the worst affected area between Sungei Kuala Teriang and Sungei Kuala Melaka. Here, the tsunami reached a maximum elevation of 4.29 m as it crossed the coast, with a maximum flow depth of 2.0 m and a very consistent run-up elevation relative to mean sea level of 300 ± 10 cm. The tsunami inundated inshore areas for 300 m and penetrated inland along creeks for 500–1000 m. Structural damage to buildings was confined to within 50–150 m of the shoreline where about 10% of the houses were completely destroyed and 60–70% suffered significant structural damage. Damage was particularly severe in areas where there was no engineered coastal protection, but while coastal revetments did provide enhanced protection for houses at the waterfront, the coastline in the study area appeared to be more heavily impacted than elsewhere in Langkawi because wave energy was focused on the area by offshore breakwaters built to protect the Langkawi port and airport. Emergency response after the tsunami was rapid and efficient but would have been improved if the local police station had not been rendered inoperative by the first wave, and if a mechanism had been in place to ensure that informal advance warnings transmitted between Phuket (Thailand), Langkawi and Penang (Malaysia) by tourist operators could have been more widely disseminated.     

Processes and rate of retreat of the clay and sandstone sea cliffs of the northern Boulonnais (France)

Retreat of the clay and sandstone cliffs of the northern Boulonnais (France) has been quantified using stereophotogrammetry. The low retreat rate of this coastal strip — 0.08 m/yr between 1939 and 2003 — is far less than that encountered on chalk and clay-chalk cliffs of either side of the Channel, and even less than a previous estimate of 0.17 m/yr regularly quoted in management studies. The retreat rate is closely related to shore platform morphology and dynamics. The shore platform presents 1) a steeply sloping ramp due to the accumulation of flat calcareous megaclasts that reduce marine erosion; 2) upstanding bare platform surfaces, related to tectonic deformation; and 3) thick platform-beaches trapped in troughs. In all three cases, the reflective behaviour of the nearshore protects the cliff foot from the incoming waves. Two critical eroding segments are the result of changes in the platform sedimentary budget. Around Cran Poulet, and between Plage de la Sirène and Pointe de la Courte Dune, the retreat rate is up to 0.25 and 0.15 m/yr, respectively. At Cran Poulet, recession has been facilitated by the extraction of pebble for more than half a century, whereas erosion of the beach at la Sirène is probably linked to severe erosion of the coastline in the adjacent Wissant Bay. Mass movements on the cliff face are essentially shallow-seated translational slides along with small debris falls and mudflows. The instability of the Argiles de Châtillon is greatly diminished by their sandy and silty texture and by the presence of interstratified solid shelly limestone beds that allow steep slopes to develop in rather weak material. The ‘vertical erosion antecedent’ is the erosional mode of the cliff, and its reduced efficiency explains the slow recession of the cliff. This study will help to determine the long term evolution of the Boulonnais coast.     

海南岛西北部火山海岸的研究

海南岛西北岸有晚更新世以来二期火山活动,共5次喷发,沿海岸密集的火山喷发孔、岩流堆积,构成了独特的海蚀型火山港湾岸。火山活动改变了沿岸地形、河流流向与沉积环境,使海岸沉积相数次变化。据岩石学研究,该区系洋岛型橄榄玄武岩及大洋中脊型拉斑玄武岩,反映了海南岛—北部湾海底有扩张的迹象。     

南极长城湾网采浮游植物的数量分布

198 5年 2月在南极长城湾进行了浮游植物采样 ,在鉴定出的 3 1种浮游植物中 ,冷水性种类占的比例最大。湾内浮游植物细胞数量平均为 1 6 2 .5× 1 0 4 个 / m3 ,其分布湾内低于湾口。优势种类为聚生角刺藻、无刺冀根管藻和条纹盒形藻 ,前者的分布集中于湾内 ,后两者密集在湾口。     

南极普里兹湾的海水化学特征

本文利用 1 989/1 990年度中国第六次南极考察期间所获得的调查资料 ,探讨了普里兹湾营养盐分布及其与生物生产力间的相互关系。结果表明 ,在艾默里冰架外侧存在大片温暖高盐水域 ,该水域真光层内营养盐含量较低 ,溶解氧饱和度高达 1 2 0 %,叶绿素 A含量大于 1 .0 0 mg/m3 ,表明了普里兹湾是南极高生产力区。化学要素垂直分布如温度一样出现了强跃层 ,并于3 5 0 m层出现了异常的营养盐垂直分布 ,但盐度无明显跃层存在。最后讨论了引起异常分布的原因。     

The formation and evolution of the barrier islands of Inhaca and Bazaruto, Mozambique

The barrier islands of Inhaca and Bazaruto are related to the extensive coastal dune system of the Mozambican coastal plain, south-east Africa. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating of key stratigraphic units indicates that accretion of sediment within these systems is episodic. Both islands appear to have been initiated as spits extending from structural offsets in the coastline. Superposition of significant quantities of sediment upon these spits during subsequent sea-level highstands formed the core of the islands, which were anchored and protected by beachrock and aeolianite formation. At least two distinct dune-building phases occurred during Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage (MIS) 5, tentatively attributed to marine transgressions during sub-stages 5e and 5c. Although some localized reactivation of dune surfaces occurred prior to the Holocene, large quantities of sediment were not deposited on either island during the low sea-levels associated with MIS 2. Significant dune-building and sediment reworking occurred immediately prior to and during the Holocene, though it is not clear whether these processes were continuous or episodic. Significant erosion of the eastern shoreline of Bazaruto suggests that it is far less stable than Inhaca and may suffer further large-scale erosion. A model is presented for the formation of barrier islands along the Mozambican coastal plain.     

汉江丹江口水库下游河床演变

丹江口水库建库20多年来,下游河道由堆积性河道变成了冲刷性的河道,河床物质沿程粗化,比降得以调平。水深增加幅度大于河宽,流速并不随着水深增加而加快。深槽、浅滩分布明显化,宽深比不断在减少。整个库下游变化可分为三段:1)近库段,游荡河道向单一限制性曲流转化;2)大支流影响段,河道仍保持着游荡特性;3)下游段,游荡段游荡特性减弱,弯曲段则深蚀作用加强。     

大同-阳原盆地古泥河湾湖的岸线变化

本文通过大同-阳原盆地古湖岸线遗迹的分析,阐述第四纪古泥河湾湖的出现、发展和消亡,指出湖泊变迁是构造运动和气候变化等因素共同作用的结果,构造运动是主要因素。     

GEOMORPHOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION OF THE EXCAVATION-INDUCED DÜNDAR LANDSLIDE, BURSA — TURKEY

This paper discusses the occurrence and development of the excavation‐induce deep‐seated landslide, which took place near Dündar village, located west of Orhaneli town in northwestern Turkey. The event occurred in the Bursa‐Orhaneli lignite field, which has been actively operating since 1979. Due to undermining of a gently inclined slope (10°) to extract a coal seam, primary tension cracks, which were precursors of the movement, were first observed in the northern head area in mid‐ to late October 2003. This movement happened simultaneously with precipitation that was significantly above long‐term average measured at a nearby climatology station (Keles). This precipitation amount is characterized statistically by a significant standardized anomaly of 1.6. The majority of the monthly precipitation total in October 2003, which mainly consisted of rain showers and thunderstorms, occurred in the last week of the month. By April 2004, rotational failure continued intermittently. After a relatively wet (rainy and snowy) period from January 2004 to April 2004, the main rotational slump occurred in late April 2004, causing the entire destruction of Dündar village's cemetery. Daily climatic and synoptic meteorological data have proved that heavy showers in late April may had triggered the last slump by producing rain showers of 19.3 mm and 19.9 mm daily total on 27 and 28 April 2004, respectively. Field observations carried out along the main head scarp have shown that the slope failure was facilitated by a pre‐existing normal fault with an east‐ west direction and 80° dip. Grain‐size analysis showed that the failure occurred on clayey silt, which forms 55% of the slip surface material. Based on the evidence from X‐ray fluorescence and energy dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy results, smectite‐type clay ‐ a product of the chemical weathering of tuff ‐ was the main constituent of the slip surface material. The landslide occurred over an area of 600 m × 650 m with a total volume of 8775 000 m³. Approximately 28 hectares of farm land were entirely destroyed and the excavated coal seam was buried. The mining operation was moved to 100 m north of the landslide area near Gümü?p?nar village. From morphological evidence, it is concluded that excavation activities caused the failure to extend in more than one direction as an enlarging sliding mechanism; this produced a high landslide risk for Gümü?p?nar village, where the most significant normal fault with a 75 m vertical displacement in a coal‐bearing sequence is found in the lignite field.     

Quaternary inheritance of coastal landforms,Cobourg Peninsula,northern territory

In contrast to the abundant evidence of former shorelines on the sea floor of the Sahul Shelf in northern Australia, little evidence has been reported for late Pleistocene coastal landforms along the modern coast of north Australia. Using radiocarbon, thermoluminescence and uranium/thorium dating techniques, however, it can be shown that the present coastal morphology on the Cobourg Peninsula is partly inherited from features both deposited and eroded during the late Quaternary. Shore platforms, in particular, are veneered with ferricretes, some of which can be U/Th dated. In places bedforms are preserved within the ferricrete, suggesting that the platform existed at, and was modified during, the Last Interglacial, and probably formed during earlier interglacials. TL dating indicates that sands around Cape Don were deposited when sea level was lower, but may have been reworked during a Holocene high stand. A sequence of beach ridges at Smith Point indicates Holocene progradation over an earlier planation surface, and also provides support for slight Holocene emergence.     

Shallow lake trophic status linked to late Holocene climate and human impacts

Lake Mattamuskeet, North Carolina, USA is a large (162 km²) and shallow (mean depth = 1 m) coastal lake, which was significantly modified to support agricultural activities following European settlement in 1850. Paleolimnological proxies measured on a 400-cm sediment core collected from Lake Mattamuskeet reveal shifts in organic matter input and primary producer community structure in response to climatic and human impacts on the lake during the late Holocene. Stratigraphic changes in organic matter content, nutrients, metals, lignin phenols and photosynthetic pigments were used to divide the sediment core into three intervals. Interval I includes sediment deposited between A.D. 360–1584 and indicates a clear-water, sand-bottom state with low algal abundance. In addition, the lake catchment area experienced two significant fires during this interval that were recorded as charcoal layers in the core around A.D. 360 and A.D. 1435 (calibrated ¹⁴C AMS dates). Trophic structure changed with the onset of Interval II (A.D. 1584–1860) when total algal abundance increased, and the primary producer community was comprised primarily of diatoms, chrysophytes, cryptophytes and cyanobacteria. During this interval there was also an increase in terrestrial organic material input into the lake as well as a shift in plant type from woody gymnosperms to non-woody angiosperms as determined from lignin data. Sediment deposited in Lake Mattamuskeet following European settlement (Interval III, A.D. 1860-present) suggests a dramatic increase in organic-matter deposition, metals, primary-producer abundance and the onset of cyanobacterial dominance. Sedimentary evidence indicates that shallow-water primary producers can respond rapidly to climate change and human development.     

大连半岛地貌,新构造运动与市区安全性

辽东半岛南端的大连半岛是一个刚性断块。其上无活动性大断裂穿过,老断裂多而规模小,在地貌和新地层上无新活动表现。穿越它们的第四纪河、海阶地均平行分布,无明显的垂直或水平错位。整个半岛第四纪以来作整体断块上升。半岛上的小震稀少零星,属刚性断块地壳应力作用下的微破坏活动。位于其上的大连市是安全的,无发生破坏性大震的危险。     

Morphological and geological aspects related to large slope failures on oceanic islands: The huge La Orotava landslides on Tenerife, Canary Islands

Huge volcanic landslides are one of the most hazardous geomorphological processes that can occur during the evolution of volcanic ocean islands. The causes of these phenomena, however, are very complex and combine non-volcanic and volcanic factors. In the Canary Islands, more than 20 events have been detected during the last decades. A detailed analysis was carried out for La Orotava amphitheatre on Tenerife in order to understand the relationship between geomorphological and geological aspects and huge volcanic landslides. The results indicated four major features that play a significant role in such mass movements: deep erosive canyons, high coastal cliffs, widespread residual soils and structural axes. High coastal cliffs and deep erosive canyons locally reduce the stability conditions and control both the seaward and the lateral boundary of the landslide. Weak residual soils formed above phonolitic pyroclastic deposits occur repeatedly in the stratigraphic column of La Orotava and are characterised by their large extent. Thus, one of these soils may have evolved into the slip surface of the failure. Part of the head scarp of the amphitheatre is defined by a volcanic rift zone, as indicated by the measurement of dike orientation and a density map of eruptive vents. The four features are not able to trigger a failure, but to destabilise the volcano flank and determine the boundary of the slide. Therefore, information on depth and orientation of canyons; location and height of coastal cliffs; stratigraphic repetition, extension and thickness of residual soils and orientation and density of dikes and eruptive vents along structural axes should be incorporated into a hazard assessment on large landslides on volcanic islands.     

An empirical–conceptual gully evolution model for channelled sea cliffs

Incised coastal channels are a specific form of incised channel that are found in locations where stream channels flowing to cliffed coasts have the excess energy required to cut down through the cliff to reach the outlet water body. The southern coast of the Isle of Wight, southern England, comprises soft cliffs that vary in height between 15 and 100 m and which are retreating at rates ≤ 1.5 m a^− 1, due to a combination of wave erosion and landslides. In several locations, river channels have cut through the cliffs to create deeply (≤ 45 m) incised gullies, known locally as ‘Chines’. The Chines are unusual in that their formation is associated with dynamic shoreline encroachment during a period of rising sea-level, whereas existing models of incised channel evolution emphasise the significance of base level lowering. This paper develops a conceptual model of Chine evolution by applying space for time substitution methods using empirical data gathered from Chine channel surveys and remotely sensed data. The model identifies a sequence of evolutionary stages, which are classified based on a suite of morphometric indices and associated processes. The extent to which individual Chines are in a state of growth or decay is estimated by determining the relative rates of shoreline retreat and knickpoint recession, the former via analysis of historical aerial images and the latter through the use of a stream power erosion model.     

Landform and Vegetation Change in the Greaves Creek Basin: An asymmetric hanging valley in the Blue Mountains,New South Wales

Greaves Creek has cut a hanging valley through the entire Triassic sandstone sequence near Blackheath in the western Blue Mountains, New South Wales. Downstream of Beauchamp Falls, it cuts into Permian strata in the Grose Gorge. The hanging valley has a valley-in-valley structure. The narrow inner valley is bounded by high cliffs and its floor is cut by a deep narrow slot canyon where stream incision has occurred without valley widening. The course of the creek is related to joint directions. Intense jointing, minor faulting and sapping influence the stability of cliffs but up to 30m of incision has occurred without valley widening in the slot canyon. Topographic asymmetry expressed as unequal slopes of the valley sides is related to differential insolation, erosion, vegetation cover, bioturbation and fire intensity. In the western Blue Mountains and elsewhere in the Sydney Basin asymmetric slopes occur in many other valley-ridge systems, particularly those whose long axes are oriented between about east-west and north-east-south-west. Vegetation structure and floristics within Greaves Creek valley are related to physiography of the valley and to aspect through their effects on fire, moisture availability, light availability, soil depth and temperature.     

渤海莱州湾南岸平原黄土阜地貌及其古地理意义

在莱州湾南岸滨海平原上发现一种新地貌类型黄土阜。研究表明，它形成于晚更新世晚玉木冰期。在此寒冷时期，渤海曾水退为平原，由于极少植被覆盖，形成陆架荒漠。裸露的海底松散沉积物被强劲的北风向南吹扬搬运，于南岸平原有利地形位置上沉积下来，形成厚层砂质黄土，并顺风向形成了阜状黄土地貌。