Quake Catalogs from an Optical Monitoring of an Interfacial Crack Propagation

Using an experimental setup which allows to follow optically the propagation of an interfacial crack front in a heterogeneous medium, we show that the fracture front dynamics is governed by local and irregular avalanches with large velocity fluctuations. Events defined as high velocity bursts are ranked in catalogs with analogous characteristics to seismicity catalogs: time of occurence, epicenter location and energy parameter (moment). Despite differences in the fracturing mode (opening for the experiments and shear rupture for earthquakes), in the acquisition mode and in the range of time scales, the distributions of moment and epicenter jumps in the experimental catalogs obey the same scaling laws with exponents similar to the corresponding distributions for earthquakes. The record-breaking event analysis also shows very strong similarities between experimental and real seismicity catalogs. The results suggest that the dynamics of crack propagation is controlled by the elastic interactions between microstructures within the material.     

Transient flexural vibrations of an elastic column supported by an elastic half-space

An analysis is presented of the transient flexural vibrations of an elastic column supported by an elastic half-space under the condition that an arbitrarily shaped free-field lateral acceleration and displacement are given as inputs. Applying Laplace transformations with respect to time and numerical inverse Laplace transformations, the time histories of the column acceleration at the interface and free end, and the column and half-space displacement distributions are obtained. After the input free-field acceleration terminates, slightly damped and almost harmonically variable acceleration is observed. The acceleration frequency after the disappearance of the input acceleration nearly coincides with the resonant frequency of the system. The slight damping with the first resonant frequency, even if the half-space is soft compared with the column, is characteristic of the transient flexural vibrations of a column supported by a half-space. Such a phenomenon is not typical of the transient longitudinal vibration problem. Therefore, it may be concluded: when buildings and structures are subjected to an earthquake or an explosive force, their flexural vibrations will continue with their first resonant frequencies, even if their foundations are soft.     

Repeating earthquakes from rupture of an asperity under an Antarctic outlet glacier

The inner regions of the Antarctic continent are generally regarded as nearly aseismic, although microseismicity is known to occur beneath some outlet ice streams, related to the interaction between the fast flowing ice and the bedrock. Here we show the occurrence of unusual earthquakes beneath an Antarctic outlet glacier that share almost the same magnitude, pointing to the repeated rupture of a single asperity. These seismic events produce waveforms with very high similarity and uncommon spectrum and are tightly clustered in space but, unlike other reported instances of repeating earthquakes on a patch of the San Andreas Fault, they occur in frequent irregular swarms. Evidence locates these events at the rock–ice interface under the glacier, and shows the existence of stick–slip motion on a smaller scale than the large slow slip events detected by global seismographs. Seismic behaviour of large glaciers can presumably be connected to surges in ice motion. This study determines a little known environment for fracture dynamics studies, while also contributing to the understanding of the coupling processes between fast flowing glaciers and bedrock that influence ice stream evolution and stability.     

Waves in an elastic plate with an irregular boundary

Summary Green's function corresponding to the displacements for anSH-line source inside a wedge shaped medium finite or infinite in which the density and the elastic parameter are not constant throughout but some class of function ofr, the radial distance (i.e. and satisfy some differential equation) has been obtained. The paths of propagation of the cylindrical waves, their reflections on different boundaries and their continuous refractions within the medium has been clearly established. The scattered field from the different parts of the body have been pointed out with prescribed distribution of and in this inhomogeneous wedge. It is shown that for some distribution of and the rays are curved and the reflections at the two plane boundaries occur in such a way that no ray will go to infinity by reflection, rather they are coming back towards the apex after suitable number of reflections with variable intensity. Also there are some distributions of and in the same class as mentioned earlier, such that the behaviour of the waves is similar to that in a homogeneous wedge, i.e. these waves will go to infinity by a suitable number of reflections and ultimately die out. The first case is quite unlike the usual homogeneous medium with non parallel boundaries and so care must be taken in computing the field within the nonhomogeneous medium within the non-parallel boundaries.     

Responses of an intertidal gastropod to field exposure of an oil and a dispersant

Field observations have been made of short-term acute and long-term sublethal responses of Nerita (Melanerita) atramentosa melanotragus, to experimental applications of Maui Condensate, and a relatively new oil dispersing agent, Shell SD LTX. Short-term responses suggested condensate/dispersant mixtures to be highly toxic, whereas weathered condensate and LTX, when applied separately, produced no significant mortality. In the longer term, however, sublethal effects such as changes in wet weight, gonad weight, and gonad fertility indices were especially noticeable on LTX treatments. Unexpectedly large reductions in weight, and aberrations in gonad tissue structure were recorded. Ecological implications of these results are discussed.     

Reconnaissance of an oil spill

When oil is spilled in the sea at a temperature near its pour point, it can become invisible to aerial reconnaissance through being fragmented by wave action. The lumps formed drift in the wind at a velocity less than 2–4% of the wind speed and the velocity of oil lenses.     

Resistivity and IP modelling of an anisotropic body located in an isotropic environment

A solution based on Tabarovskii's coupled pair of surface integral equations is given for the potential of a direct current flowing in an electrically anisotropic body and within the enclosing isotropic surroundings. The sources of the secondary potential exterior and interior to the body are fictitious surface charge distributions. The equations are solved numerically using point matching with pulse functions as subsectional basis functions. The model used in the applications is a long prism, excited by long line current electrodes aligned parallel to the strike. The strike length is set at a length sufficient to guarantee 2D behaviour of the model.   Comparisons of computation results indicate that for the models, electrode arrays and numerical procedures applied, the solutions based on fictitious surface sources converge faster and behave more regularly than those based on real surface charges. When compared with previously published integral equation solutions, the present solution seems to be relatively efficient, even in the case of purely isotropic models. The model experiments also showed that at moderate resistivity contrasts, the anomaly shapes are strongly dependent on the directions of the principal axes of the body resistivity. However, when the external resistivity is more than 100 times that of the geometric mean of the principal resistivities in the body, with the principal resistivities differing from each other by at most one order of magnitude, the contribution of the anisotropy to the anomaly diminishes as a result of electrical saturation.     

Detection of an Impermeable Boundary in an Anisotropic Formation: A Case Study

Direct mirror-well image theory to locate an impermeable boundary does not apply in anisotropic formations because the relationship between flow lines and equipotential lines is distorted due to directional transmissivity. A simple approach enables an impermeable boundary to be located in anisotropic formations, and it can be verified with a field example.     

Deployment of an unmanned aerial system to assist in mapping an intermittent stream

Recent growth in the capabilities of unmanned aerial vehicles and systems (UASs) as airborne platforms for collecting environmental data has been very rapid. There are now ample examples in the literature of UASs being deployed to map fine‐scale vegetation, glacial, soil and atmospheric conditions. The purported advantages of UASs are their ability to collect spatial data at lower cost, lower risk, higher resolution and higher frequency than ground surveys or satellite platforms. In this specific study, whether or not obtaining high‐resolution UAS imagery was advantageous for identifying an intermittent stream network was determined by comparing it with coarse‐scale satellite imagery collected for the same purpose. It was also determined if the UAS imagery could be an improvement to Global Positioning System acquired ground‐truth points for classifying an intermittent stream network across the same large‐scale satellite image. The UAS‐acquired and satellite‐acquired imageries were derived from a visible spectrum camera capable of 2‐cm resolution and multispectral SPOT‐5 with 10‐m resolution, respectively. The SPOT‐5 imagery with its relatively coarse resolution could not always detect the narrow intermittent stream, which was well resolved in the UAS imagery. When a classified UAS image was applied as a training area for the SPOT‐5 image, the identification of the stream network and accuracy of the satellite imagery classification did not necessarily improve. UASs have the potential to revolutionize hydrological research the same way that geographic information systems did three decades ago. A final goal of the paper is to provide insight into the advantages and disadvantages of deploying a UAS for this kind of research. © 2015 Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada. Hydrological Processes. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Reflection of an internal wave at an interface representing a rapid increase in viscosity

Abstract

Internal waves at high altitudes are greatly damped by the drastic increase in molecular viscosity and thermal diffusivity, resulting in important heating and other effects at those altitudes. Here we consider the case where this increase in viscosity is very rapid, idealized as an interface with inviscid flow in the lower layer and constant viscosity in the upper layer. The results show that waves are partially reflected by this interface, with a reflection coefficient that increases monotonically with an increase in the viscosity of the upper layer. This mechanism would have a significant impact on the vertical distribution of thermal energy at high altitudes.     

A two-layer primitive equation model of an idealized Strait of Gibraltar connected to an eastern basin

We describe the solutions of a numerical two-layer primitive equation model of an idealized Strait of Gibraltar and an adjacent eastward basin. The quasi-steady circulation pattern in the basin features an anticyclonic gyre southward of the strait exit and an eastward boundary current attached to the southern boundary of the basin. A variation of the initial upper-layer depth and the target interface height at the eastern boundary causes minor changes of the upper-layer circulation in a basin with rectangular coastline and larger changes when a cape is added to the coastline of the southern boundary.     

Eutrophication of an impounded estuarine lagoon

A small lagoon to the east of Hobart is cut off from a larger body of tidal salt water by a causeway, allowing only a limited tidal interchange. Primary treated effluent from a small township is discharged into the lagoon. Causes for noxious odours emanating from the lagoon were investigated. It was found that the effluent, combined with agricultural runoff, has accelerated eutrophication. Wide variations in temperature and salinity occur. Decomposing algal mats account for most of the odours, while rooted aquatics and molluscs appear to play only a small part. Proposed remedies will be costly and still might not achieve their objective.