Earthquake readiness in volatile regions: the case of Israel

Natural Hazards - The Jordan Rift Valley is a high-risk low-occurrence zone for earthquakes, with documented incidences within the last millennium causing widespread destruction. This research...     

青藏高原东缘新构造及其对汶川地震的控制作用

基于卫星遥感图像解译、地形起伏度分析和地面调查资料,论述了青藏高原东缘构造地貌格局、新构造演化阶段和活动断裂特征,提出青藏高原东缘不同地块在晚新生代时期有序的向东挤出过程,并划分为4个阶段：中新世早期川滇地块向北东挤出、中新世晚期川滇地块的再次强烈向东挤出、上新世至早中更新世时期川青地块的向东挤出、晚更新世以来最新构造变动阶段,青藏高原东缘地貌边界带也经历了由西向东、由南向北的有规律的迁移过程。基于活动构造的最新研究成果和现今GPS测量成果,阐述了东昆仑岷山龙门山走滑逆冲断裂系统的运动学特征。根据地震破裂构造的实地调查,分析了汶川地震的地表破裂行为,提出了汶川地震的发震构造模型。研究认为,青藏高原东部地区NW向楔状条块向东运动速度的一半被鲜水河断裂及其北西延伸的构造带所吸收,而龙门山构造带向东运动受阻于四川盆地之下扬子刚性地块,使得龙门山断裂带处在低应变、高应力环境下,因长期应力应变累积而导致向西陡倾的断裂带突然向东逆冲运动而释放能量。汶川强震发生的深部机理值得深入研究。     

Children in disasters: the role of household preparedness

To increase children’s resilience to disasters, it is important to expand our understanding of what increases their vulnerability. One household factor that has been tied to disaster resilience in general is the extent to which households have prepared themselves. In the context of wildfire preparedness, the current study examined whether households with very young, young, or teenage children differ in the extent to which they prepare their household compared to childless households. A two-wave survey study amongst Australian residents of wildfire-prone areas (N _wave1 = 998, N _wave2 = 514) found that households with young (under twelve years old) and very young (under six years old) children had prepared their properties less for wildfires compared to childless households at the start of the wildfire season, but they had caught up in property preparedness by the end of it. However, households with younger children also performed fewer disaster-planning actions than childless households. This difference remained significant throughout the season. The former group also reported lower motivation to prepare, greater perceived difficulty in preparing, and greater lack of time to prepare than childless households. The majority of these findings were explained by the younger age of the adult parents rather than the presence of younger children per se. An exception was that those with young and very young children reported a greater lack of time to prepare than childless adults of a similar age. We discuss practice and public policy implications that follow from this research.     

中国东部新生代岩石圈构造滑脱、岩浆活动和地震

在岩浆活动比较发育的中国东部地区,通过研究岩浆起源深度来大致判断岩石圈底部和内部是否存在局部构造滑脱面是一种可行的研究方法。华北期（始新世-渐新世）的构造滑脱主要局限在岩石圈底面与先存的NW或E-W向与NNE向岩石圈断裂的交点附近。喜马拉雅期（中新世-早更新世）在先存的NNE和NE向3条岩石圈断裂（太行山断裂,郯庐断裂和东南沿海断裂）与岩石圈底面相交部位发生较强烈的滑脱。根据地震资料分析,新构造期（中更新世以来）的构造滑脱主要发生在莫霍面和中地壳附近,局部呈面状分布,但华南地区则不发育构造滑脱。现代的重力梯度带就是大陆岩石圈地幔与大洋岩石圈地幔的分界线,也是岩浆作用强烈与微弱区的分界,此界线从白垩纪到现代最大向东移动了大约200 km。作者认为,主干断层是造成岩石圈内构造滑脱的主导因素。中国东部新生代岩石圈内部不同圈层之间的构造滑脱作用与断层控制了板内岩浆活动和地震的性质、强度及空间分布。研究结果不支持在中国东部新生代岩石圈深部存在广泛的地幔羽和热地幔上隆作用,也不支持中国东部在新生代发生大规模的岩石圈拉张减薄作用的假说。     

Earthquake damage identification: a case study using soft classification approach

The October 8, 2005, Kashmir earthquake (M _w 7.6) affected the rough mountainous regions of India and Pakistan with poor accessibility, and thus, no proper comprehensive ground survey was possible. However, due to the ability of remote sensing technology to acquire spectral measurements of damaged areas at various spatial and temporal scales, extraction of damaged areas can be carried out quickly and with great reliability. The fuzzy-based classifiers [Possibilistic c-Means (PCM), noise cluster (NC), and NC with entropy (NCE)] were applied to identify 2005 Kashmir earthquake, induced landslides, as well as built-up damage (BD) areas, as soft computing approaches using supervised classification. Results indicate that for the identification of landslides and BD areas, NCE classifier generated the best outputs, while for the identification of built-up undamaged areas, NC classifier generated the best output. Further, it was found that the proposed Class Based Sensor Independent (CBSI) technique can improve spectral information of specific class for better identification.     

东澳大利亚南悉尼盆地二叠系与地震沉积有关的软沉积变形构造

悉尼盆地位于澳大利亚东部,Lachlan褶皱带和New England褶皱带之间。悉尼盆地从晚石炭世末到中三叠世经历了弧后扩张到前陆盆地的不同阶段:弧后扩张阶段(石炭纪)、被动热沉降阶段(早、中二叠世Berry组)和挤压挠曲负载阶段(中二叠世Broughton组—三叠纪)。此时位于悉尼盆地东侧的New England褶皱带为岛弧背景。因此,二叠纪处于弧后盆地的南悉尼盆地受弧后扩张和东侧弧前海沟俯冲的影响地震活动强烈,发育一系列与地震有关的震积岩,形成多种类型的与地震活动有关的软沉积物变形构造。南悉尼盆地二叠系的软沉积物变形包括地裂缝、震褶层、液化脉、沙火山、负荷构造、火焰构造、枕状构造、球状构造、枕状层、滑塌构造、角砾岩化等。其中地裂缝、震褶层是地震颤动直接引起的断裂和褶皱;枕状层是地震颤动引起的砂层脱水、下沉形成的;液化脉、沙火山为液化的砂层穿入地震形成的裂隙形成的;负荷构造、火焰构造、枕状构造、球状构造是受地震颤动在砂、泥岩界面上由于砂层下沉、泥层上穿形成的;滑塌构造和角砾岩化是地震引起的重力滑塌或泥石流形成的。地裂缝、震褶层、液化脉、沙火山、负荷构造、火焰构造、枕状构造、球状构造、枕状层相当于原地震积岩,而滑塌构造和角砾岩化属于异地震积岩。     

Policies for rural Eastern Europe in transition: The case of Slovakia

After losing much of their demographic vitality under communism, rural areas of Eastern Europe are now handicapped by greatly reduced commuting opportunities and by a lack of foreign investment in the countryside. Although restitution and privatisation has placed much of the land under the control of private farmers, there is a need to modernise agriculture and rural infrastructure generally and also to increase the scope for pluriactivity. At the same time, functional links with the towns must be restored through a growth of employment linked with the central place system. Despite the importance of private enterprise under the conditions of a market economy, the government must take a lead and this paper deals with initiatives taken in rural Slovakia to mobilise the human resources of the countryside. The paper is heavily oriented towards research by the geographers at Nitra who have been much involved with the transformation of their local area. It is evident that while there has been no shortage of ideas, progress has been limited on account of low investment and the tensions associated with a series of three Meciar governments which have dominated Slovak politics through the 1990s. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Crustal Motion Characteristics in the Eastern Margin of the Tibetan Plateau and Adjacent Regions after the Wenchuan Earthquake

The Wenchuan earthquake has altered the crustal motion characteristics in the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau and adjacent regions.Using discontinuous GPS survey data for 2008–2012, the velocity field for the Eurasia reference framework has been obtained, and the general trend of contemporary crustal motion after the occurrence of the Wenchuan earthquake has been studied.In addition, using the velocity field, the block movement velocity has been estimated by least-squares fitting.Furthermore, the properties and displacement rates of main faults have been obtained from the differences in velocity vectors of the blocks on both sides of the faults.The results reveal that there are no obvious changes in the general characteristics of crustal motion in this area after the Wenchuan earthquake.The earthquake mainly changed the rate of the movement of the Chuan-Qing block and caused variation in the movement direction of the South China block.The effect of the earthquake on faults is mainly reflected in variations in fault displacement velocity; there is no fundamental change in the properties of fault activity.The displacement rates of the Xianshuihe fault decreased by 3–4 mm/a, the Longmenshan fault increased by 9–10 mm/a, and the northern segment of the Anninghe fault increased by approximately 9 mm/a.Furthermore, the displacement rates of the Minjiang, Xueshan, Huya, Longquanshan, and Xinjin faults increased by 2–3 mm/a.This implies that the effects of the Wenchuan earthquake on crustal movement can mainly be observed in the Chuan-Qing, South China, and N-Chuan-Dian blocks and their internal faults, as well as the Xianshuihe and Longmenshan faults and the northern section of the Anninghe fault.The reason for this is that the Wenchuan earthquake disturbed the kinematic and dynamic balance in the region.     

Parameters of Coseismic Reverse- and Oblique-Slip Surface Ruptures of the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake,Eastern Tibetan Plateau

On May 12th,2008,the M_w7.9 Wenchuan earthquake ruptured the Beichuan,Pengguan and Xiaoyudong faults simultaneously along the middle segment of the Longmenshan thrust belt at the eastern margin of the Tibetan plateau.Field investigations constrain the surface rupture pattern, length and offsets related to the Wenchuan earthquake.The Beichuan fault has a NE-trending rightlateral reverse rupture with a total length of 240 km.Reassessment yields a maximum vertical offset of 6.5±0.5 m and a maximum right-lat...     

Spatial student enrolment at UAE University: A quantitative analysis

Very few geographic studies have been carried out on student enrolment in the Gulf region. To the best knowledge of the present author, no geographic study exists on student enrolment at the UAE University. This paper is primarily concerned with analyzing one of the prominent characteristics of UAE University students, ie the pattern of sex distribution, thereby hoping to fill a research gap in the geographical literature. The grand total of UAE University students has exceeded 12,000, with 78% females and 22% males. The females proportion is considered to be the highest when compared with other neighbouring countries. This study aims to analyze this particular characteristic in its spatial context. The analysis will be statistically tested by chi-square (x²) to determine to which extent the pattern differs from one area to another. The conclusion is that more male students from Abu Dhabi and Al-Ain areas and more female students from Dubai area come to study at UAE University than were expected.     

The missing link between flood risk awareness and preparedness: findings from case studies in an Alpine Region

The low risk awareness of the residents living in flood-prone areas is usually considered among the main causes of their low preparedness, which in turns generates inadequate response to natural disasters. In this paper, we challenge this assumption by reporting on the results of a sociological research in four communities exposed to flood risk in the Eastern Italian Alps. The research design included semi-structured interviews and focus groups with key local stakeholders and a standardized questionnaire submitted to 400 residents. Results revealed that residents felt both slightly worried about flood risk and slightly prepared to face an event. Considerable differences were found between the evaluations of individual subjects as opposed to overall communities. There was also a clear discrepancy between the actual adoption of household preparatory measures and the willingness to take self-protection actions. Overall, the risk awareness was significantly higher among those residents who had been personally affected by a flood in the past, were living in isolated (vs. urban) communities, in the most risky areas or had a lower level of trust in local authorities. The improvement of residents?? knowledge about their environment and the residual risk seemed to be crucial to increase risk awareness, and the same was true for the strengthening of local support networks to foster preparedness. The link between risk awareness and preparedness was not at all straightforward. Results revealed instead the complexity of residents?? perspectives, attitudes, behaviours and decisions about risk-related issues.     

Geochemistry of coastal sands of Eastern Mediterranean: The case of Nisyros volcanic materials

Coastal sand samples collected from the northern part of Nisyros volcanic island (Dodecanese, Greece) were investigated for first time for their potential in strategic metals and compared with parental rocks of the island which are Quaternary volcanics with alternating lava flows, pyroclastic layers and lava domes and relevant materials located near granitoids of Northern Greece. The PXRD and SEM-EDS study of the sands revealed enhanced content of feldspars, Fe-Mn oxides, magnetite, tourmaline, pyroxenes, ilmenites, along with zircons, apatite and sulfide inclusions. The fresh hydrothermally deposited clayely material collected from the Nisyros caldera crater had a rather different mineralogical composition from the coastal one (alunite, anhydrite, opal-CT, quartz, kaolinite). UCC-normalized spidergrams indicated that the weathering processes contributed to accumulation of heavy minerals (mainly ilmenite), and strategic metals including V (1920 mg/kg) and Nb (245 mg/kg), in the coastal sand. The low REE concentration (ΣREE + Y = 240 mg/kg) could be attributed to the absence of REE-rich minerals. Moreover, the sands exhibit different geochemical patterns compared to the volcanic source rocks of the island, which are especially enriched in Large-Ion Lithophile Elements (LILE) and depleted in High Field Strength Elements (HFSE), such as Nb and Ta. On the other hand, the caldera material is enriched in volatile components, sulfur, chalcophile elements (Se, Bi, Hg, As, Pb) and Ba. Micro-XRF analyses of representative crystals showed that the high Nb content of the sands was associated with the Ti/Fe-rich phases (e.g. ilmenites). The geochemical composition of N Greece sands showed, because of their origin, enrichment not only in HFSE but also in REE.The study of the coastal heavy mineral sands originating from different geological environments of Greece provides information about the association of their mineral components with REE, other elements of economic interest (e.g. Co, Nb, Ta) and natural actinides. In addition, the study of the black sands of Nisyros island could be considered as a characteristic example of those from other parts of Hellenic Volcanic Arc (HVA) and other relevant Mediterranean regions.     

Provenance of buried esker groundwater: the case of Vars-Winchester esker aquifer,Eastern Ontario,Canada

An innovative mode of groundwater recharge to a buried esker aquifer is considered. The current conceptual model affords a natural safeguard to underlying aquifers from the overlying muds. A hypothesis of groundwater recharge to a buried esker aquifer via preferential pathways across its overlying muds is tested here by heuristic numerical one-dimensional and two-dimensional modeling simulations. The hypothesis has been tested against two other conventionally accepted scenarios involving: (1) distal esker outcrop areas and (2) remote shallow-bedrock recharge areas. The main evidence comes from documented recharge pressure pulses in the overlying mud aquitard and in the underlying esker hydraulic-head time series for the Vars-Winchester esker aquifer in Eastern Ontario, Canada. These perturbations to the potentiometric surface are believed to be the aquifer response to recharge events. The migration rate of these pressure pulses is directly related to the hydraulic diffusivity of the formation. The measured response time and response amplitude between singular radar precipitation events and well hydrographs constituted the heuristic model calibration targets. The main evidence also includes mud-layering deformation (water escape features) which was observed in seismic surveys of the over-esker muds. These disturbed stratigraphic elements provide a realistic mechanism for migrating water to transit through the muds. The effective hydraulic conductivities of these preferential pathways in the muds were estimated to be between 2?×?10^?6 and 7?×?10^?6 m/s. The implications of these findings relate to the alleged natural safeguard of these overlying muds.     

Tectonic Stress State Changes Before and After the Wenchuan Ms 8.0 Earthquake in the Eastern Margin of the Tibetan Plateau

Crustal tectonic activities are essentially the consequences of the accumulation and release of in situ stress. Therefore, studying the stress state near active faults is important for understanding crustal dynamics and earthquake occurrences. In this paper, using in situ stress measurement results obtained by hydraulic fracturing in the vicinity of the Longmenshan fault zone before and after the Wenchuan Ms 8.0 earthquake and finite element modeling, the variation of stress state before and after the Wenchuan Ms 8.0 earthquake is investigated. The results show that the shear stress, which is proportional to the difference between principal stresses, increases with depth and distance from the active fault in the calm period or after the earthquakes, and tends to approach to the regional stress level outside the zone influenced by the fault. This distribution appears to gradually reverse with time and the change of fault properties such as frictional strength. With an increase in friction coefficient, low stress areas are reduced and areas with increased stress accumulation are more obvious near the fault. In sections of the fault with high frictional strengths, in situ stress clearly increases in the fault. Stress accumulates more rapidly in the fault zone relative to the surrounding areas, eventually leading to a stress field that peaks at the fault zone. Such a reversal in the stress field between the fault zone and surrounding areas in the magnitude of the stress field is a potential indicator for the occurrence of strong earthquakes.     

Seismic loss estimation tool as rapid survey for prioritizing buildings for disaster preparedness: case study to hospital buildings

Natural Hazards - Hospital buildings must be fully operational after the earthquake to protect the lives of patients as well as to provide emergency care and medical treatment to the victims....     

A model of household preparedness for earthquakes: how individuals make meaning of earthquake information and how this influences preparedness

One way to reduce the risk from earthquakes is for individuals to undertake preparations for earthquakes at home. Common preparation measures include gathering together survival items, undertaking mitigation actions, developing a household emergency plan, gaining survival skills or participating in wider social preparedness actions. While current earthquake education programmes advocate that people undertake a variety of these activities, actual household preparedness remains at modest levels. Effective earthquake education is inhibited by an incomplete understanding of how the preparedness process works. Previous research has focused on understanding the influence individual cognitive processes have on the earthquake preparedness process but has been limited in identifying other influences posed by the wider social contextual environment. This project used a symbolic interactionism perspective to explore the earthquake preparedness process through a series of qualitative interviews with householders in three New Zealand urban locations. It investigated earthquake information that individuals are exposed to, how people make meaning of this information and how this relates to undertaking actual preparedness measures. During the study, the relative influence of cognitive, emotive and societal factors on the preparedness process was explored and the interactions between these identified. A model of the preparedness process based on the interviews was developed and is presented in this paper.     

地下水位对近震和远震异常响应的比较——以汶川地震和苏门答腊地震为例

地震引起的深层地下水位异常具有多样性和复杂性的特点。为了进一步探索深层地下水位动态与地震作用过程之间的联系机制,发挥深层地下水位对地震活动的指示作用,以2008年汶川Ms8.0地震和2007年苏门答腊Ms8.5地震为研究背景,对川、滇、陕、甘、渝地区井水位对两次地震的响应特征进行了比较。研究发现:地下水位远震响应形态主要以振荡型和阶变型为主,异常出现的时间较晚;地下水位近震响应形态比较复杂,以阶变型、脉冲型以及振荡型为主,异常出现的时间几乎与地震的发生同步。根据深层地下水位对地壳应力的响应机理,分析了各典型井水位对远震和近震不同响应的原因。结果表明:地下水位对远震的响应主要是由于含水层介质受到地震波应力的作用;对近震异常响应原因比较复杂,主要是含水层介质受到区域构造应力和地震波应力的共同作用的结果,震中距越小,含水层受到震源构造应力场的控制作用越大。     

关于造山带深熔型花岗质岩石的初步思考——以东喜马拉雅构造结为例

造山带演化中高级变质岩石发生深熔作用形成的花岗质岩石在东喜马拉雅构造结尤为常见.野外地质调查发现,在大型韧性剪切带和脆性断层中多分布着与区域构造线及围岩片麻理方向一致的混合岩和花岗岩类的小脉体和透镜体.综合分析可知,深熔型花岗质岩石能量主要来自强烈褶皱、推覆、剪切、断裂等驱动力所产生的热压能量,主要是泥质岩、杂砂岩等沉积源岩在不同物化条件下部分熔融的结果.花岗质岩石处于喜马拉雅碰撞造山带构造转换阶段,变沉积岩在深部的部分熔融并折返,是对印欧碰撞造山作用的响应,它们跟构造-岩浆-变质-成矿作用相辅相成.     

Soft-sediment Deformation Structures Related to Earthquake from the Devonian of the Eastern North Qilian Mts. and Its Tectonic Significance

Devonian in the North Qilian orogenic belt and Hexi Corridor developed terrestrial molasse of later stage of foreland basin caused by collision between the North China plate and Qaidam microplate. The foreland basin triggered a intense earthquake, and formed seismites and earthquake-related soft-sediment deformation. The soft-sediment deformation structures of Devonian in the eastern North Qilian Mts. consist of seismo-cracks, sandstone dykes, syn-depositional faults, microfolds (micro-corrugated lamination), fluidized veins, load casts, flame structures, pillow structures and brecciation. The seismo-cracks, syn-depositional faults and microfolds are cracks, faults and folds formed directly by oscillation of earthquake. The seismic dykes formed by sediment instilling into seismic cracks. Fluidized veins were made by instilling into the seismo-fissures of the fluidized sands. The load casts, flame structures and pillow structures were formed by sinking and instilling caused from oscillation of earthquake along the face between sandy and muddy beds. The brecciation resulted from the oscillation of earthquake and cracking of sedimentary layers. The seismites and soft-sediment deformations in Devonian triggered the earthquake related to tectonic activities during the orogeny and uplift of North Qilian Mts.     

Soft-sediment Deformation Structures Related to Earthquake from the Devonian of the Eastern North Qilian Mts. and Its Tectonic Significance

Devonian in the North Qilian orogenic belt and Hexi Corridor developed terrestrial molasse of later stage of foreland basin caused by collision between the North China plate and Qaidam microplate. The foreland basin triggered a intense earthquake, and formed seismites and earthquake-related soft-sediment deformation. The soft-sediment deformation structures of Devonian in the eastern North Qilian Mts. consist of seismo-cracks, sandstone dykes, syn-depositional faults, microfolds (micro-corrugated lamination), fluidized veins, load casts, flame structures, pillow structures and brecciation. The seismo-cracks, syn-depositional faults and microfolds are cracks, faults and folds formed directly by oscillation of earthquake. The seismic dykes formed by sediment instilling into seismic cracks. Fluidized veins were made by instilling into the seismo-fissures of the fluidized sands. The load casts, flame structures and pillow structures were formed by sinking and instilling caused from oscillation of earthquake along the face between sandy and muddy beds. The brecciation resulted from the oscillation of earthquake and cracking of sedimentary layers. The seismites and soft-sediment deformations in Devonian triggered the earthquake related to tectonic activities during the orogeny and uplift of North Qilian Mts.