Detection and interpretation of the Earth’s free oscillations excited by the great Sumatra-Andaman earthquake with GGP station data

The mode serials of the Earth’s free oscillation provide some important information on the Earth’s deep structure and superconducting gravimeters (SG) can investigate the phenomena of the Earth’s free oscillations with high accuracy. The great Sumatra-Andaman earthquake fully excited the Earth’s free oscillations and these signals were perfectly recorded by five superconducting gravimeters in the globe. After the pre-treatment and spectral analysis on the SG observation data, we obtained the experimented mo...     

Spheroidal oscillations of the Earth stimulated by the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake with CDSN data

The 0S2~0S54 spheroidal modes of Earth’s free oscillations, triggered by the great Sumatra-Andaman earthquake of 26 December 2004 are retrieved from VHZ data recorded by seven upgraded stations of China Digital Seismograph Network (CDSN). We compare these spheroidal modes with theoretical free oscillation spectra calculated from the Preliminary Reference Earth Model (PREM) and find a coincidence between their periods. Spectral splitting phenomenon is observed obviously in 0S2, 0S3, 0S4, 2S1 and 1S2 free oscillation modes. What is most noticeable is that the oscillation mode 2S1 is reported for the second time (the first time by Rosat et al) without any data stacking. We simulated the split singlet of 0S2 mode on seven CDSN stations based on general focal mechanism and seismic moment of the earthquake. The result shows that seismic moment of the earthquake can reach 1023 N.m. We also find that the recording of Earth’s free oscillations carries abundant information of source mechanism and earthquake location, which is applicable to the detailed study of source rupture parameters.     

Evolution mechanisms of the intraseasonal oscillation associated with the Yangtze River Basin flood in 1998

Early in the1970s,Madden and Julian[1,2]first re-vealed the existence of eastward propagation of the intraseasonal(or30-60-day)oscillation(ISO)in the zonal wind fields over the tropics.Later on,the northward propagation of the ISO activities over the Indian Ocean was discovered by Yasunari[3,4],which accounts for the seasonal variations of the Indian summer monsoon.Similar studies were carried out on the low-frequency oscillation activities related to the ENSO and the East Asian summer …     

Study on the simulation of transparency of Lake Taihu under different hydrodynamic conditions

It was indicated in this study that there were negative relations between the concentrations of suspended solid (SS) and transparency according to the analysis of measured data of Lake Taihu. Their relations in pervious studies were reviewed, which showed that the changes of transparency in Lake Taihu could be reflected by simulating suspended solid concentration (SSC). Measured data showed that the changes of SSC with wind speed were similar at different water depths. SSC increased with the increasing of wind speed. Both wave and lake current of Lake Taihu had positive relations with SSC. However, wave was the main factor affecting sediment suspension, while flow took the second place. In this study, a numerical model coupling lake current, wave and SSC of Lake Taihu was developed. In the SS model, the combined effects of wave and current were included. The amounts of suspended and deposited sediments near the lake bed surface layer were treated separately. The stochastic characteristics of turbulent flow pulsation near lake beds were also considered, and the start-up conditions of sediment suspension were introduced to the model. The model elucidated the mutual exchange processes between sediment particles in SS and active sediments within and on the bed surface layer. Simulated results showed that lake current had relatively significant effects on the SSC at littoral areas of Lake Taihu, while SSC at the central area of the lake was mainly influenced by wave. The changes of transparency with SSC were simulated for Lake Taihu using this model. Calculated results were validated by measured data with good fitness, which indicated that the model is basically suitable for the simulation and prediction of transparency of Lake Taihu.     

Differential Tectonic Stress Pattern Between the Deep and Shallow Crust in North China and Its Possible Genesis

This paper approaches the neotectonic stress field based on the data of foeal mechanismsolution,ground stress measurement,tectonic mechanical analysis and geodetic surveying,and finds out that the orientations of the maximum principal comproessive sterss patterns arequite discordant with different methods and the stress patterns are widely differnt betweenthose in the shallow and deep part of the crust in North China.Based on the analysis ofabove-mentioned data,we established a duplex model by considering the diversities of theStress patterns in 3-dimentional spaces,the boundary conditions and the lithospheric media,and made an inverse calculation by using the finite element method.The calculated results fitwell with the reality in North China,i.e.the stress patterns in lower crust which is below thedetachment interface at the deptp of 10 km from ground surface are relatively consistent withnearly horizontal state and NE-ENE trending of the maximum principal compressive stressaxes,whereas the stress patt     

Probabilistic Estimation of Hazard on Engineering Site Based on the Intensity of Historic Earthquakes and A Preliminary Comparison with Seismic Hazard Analysis

This paper introduces a new method to estimate the seismic hazard on engineering site.The method is mainly based on intensity data of historical earthquakes.The obvious feature of the method is to use some ideas of seismic hazard analysis and considering regional seismicity tendency.The authors depict the comprehensive method to estimate the related parameters and predict the seismic hazards for 14 sites as practical examples.Some problems are also discussed.Compared with seismic hazard analysis,this method has certain advantages,such as simpler computation,lower uncertainty and smaller sensitivity factor.Moreover total hazard P(I≥i)of a site can be examined with real historic data.The result given by the method in this paper can be more stable than that given by seismic hazard analysis nowadays.     

Detectability and reliability analysis of the local seismic network in Pakistan

The detectability and reliability analysis for the local seismic network is performed employing by Bungum and Husebye technique.The events were relocated using standard computer codes for hypocentral locations.The de-tectability levels are estimated from the twenty-five years of recorded data in terms of 50%,90%and 100% cumu-lative detectability threshokls,which were derived from frequency-magnitude distribution.From this analysis the 100%level of detectability of the network is ML=1.7 for events which occur within the network.The accuracy in hypocentral solutions of the network is investigated by considering the fixed real hypocenter within the network.The epicentral errors are found to be less than 4km then the events occur within the network.Finally.the prob-lems faced during continuous operation of the local network,which effects its detectability,are discussed.     

An alternative approach to predict human response to blast induced ground vibration

The aim of this study is to create alternative approaches to predict human response to ground vibration.Site measurements were conducted in an urban quarry.The multiple discriminant analysis technique was used to develop classification models.The measured ground vibration values were grouped based on the limit values appearing in the literature.Two classification models were created to predict human response to ground vibration.In addition,classical predictor equations were developed to compare to the classification models.The best equations were chosen considering several error measures.All the models were tested on the independent data.The prediction accuracy of the discriminant analysis models is quite promising.Nearly eighty-nine percent of the test data were correctly classified.The classification models have a combined structure.The results of the models can be directly presented to the neighbors of the studied quarry.The models are not complex.They do not require additional software or information to practice and can be easily used by site engineers.     

Analysis of the b-value and Seismic Deformation in the North of China

The accuracy of b-value is limited by the uncertainty of the magnitude.In order to improvethe accuracy of the b-value,a statistic methodology was used to estimate the number of eventsbased on that there are several magnitude values for one historical event by several methods toestimate the magnitude.The b-value and seismic strain rates were calculated for the threeregions in the North of China.The method proved to be valid for all the regions,especiallyfor the data with large fluctuation.In order to study the stress state,the strain rate tensorand the principal axes of tension and compression were calculated for each of three regions bythe data of the focal mechanism,finally the stress state in each region was discussed.     

Crustal structure study based on principal component analysis of receiver functions

The receiver function(RF) technique is an effective method for studying crustal structure. For a single station, the average 1-D crustal structure is usually derived by stacking the radial RFs from all back-azimuths, whereas structural variations(such as dipping discontinuities or anisotropy) can be constrained through analysis of waveform dependence on the backazimuth of both the radial and tangential RFs. However, it is often difficult to directly extract information about structural variations from the waveform of RF, due to the common presence of noise in real data. In this study, we proposed a new method to derive structural variation information for individual stations by applying principal component analysis(PCA) to RFs sorted by back-azimuth. In this method(termed as RF-PCA), a set of principal components(PCs), which are uncorrelated with each other and reflect different characteristics of the RF data, were extracted and utilized separately to reconstruct new RFs. Synthetic tests show that the first PC of the radial RFs contains the average structural information of the crust beneath the corresponding station, and the second PC of the radial RFs and the first PC of the tangential RFs both reflect the variations of the crustal structure. Our synthetic modeling results indicate that the new RF-PCA method is valid for a variety of synthetic models with intra-crustal dipping discontinuities and/or anisotropy. We applied this method to the real data from a broadband temporary seismic station(s233) in the central part of the Sichuan Basin. The results suggest that the RF data can be best explained by the presence of two nearly parallel dipping discontinuities within the crust. Combining with previous logging data, seismic exploration and deep sounding observations, we interpret the shallow dipping discontinuity as the top boundary of the Precambrian crystalline basement of the Sichuan Basin and the deep one corresponding to the Conrad interface between the upper and lower crust, consistent with the geological feature of the study area. In this work, both synthetic tests and real data application results demonstrate the effectiveness of the RF-PCA method for studying crustal structures.     

Specific patterns of XCO2 observed by GOSAT during 2009–2016 and assessed with model simulations over China

Spatiotemporal patterns of column-averaged dry air mole fraction of CO2(XCO2)have not been well characterized on a regional scale due to limitations in data availability and precision.This paper addresses these issues by examining such patterns in China using the long-term mapping XCO2 dataset(2009-2016)derived from the Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite(GOSAT).XCO2 simulations are also constructed using the high-resolution nested-grid GEOS-Chem model.The following results are found:Firstly,the correlation coefficient between the anthropogenic emissions and XCO2 spatial distribution is nearly zero in summer but up to 0.32 in autumn.Secondly,on average,XCO2 increases by 2.08 ppm every year from2010 to 2015,with a sharp increase of 2.6 ppm in 2013.Lastly,in the analysis of three typical regions,the GOSAT XCO2 time series is inbetter agreement with the GEOS-Chem simulation of XCO2 in the Taklimakan Desert region(the least difference with bias 0.65±0.78 ppm),compared with the northern urban agglomerationregion(-1.3±1.2 ppm)and the northeastern forest region(-1.4±1.4 ppm).The results are likely attributable to uncertainty in both the satellite-retrieved XCO2 data and the model simulation data.     

Tracing the Forecast of Earthquakes Based on the Seismicity Characteristics of the Chi-Chi Strong Earthquake Swarm Sequence

The data of earthquakes with M≥3.0 during the 7 years from September 21, 1993 to September 20, 2000 recorded by the Taiwan Central Weather Bureau (CWB) show that there were 6 types of clear characteristics of seismicity during the Chi-Chi strong earthquake swarm of September 21. These 6 types of characteristics are (1) foreshock types, (2) seismic gaps, (3) seismic bands, (4) clustering activity of foreshocks and signal shock, (5) quiescence before the main shock and (6) secondary aftershocks in the aftershock sequence. Using the procedures for analyzing the yearly strong earthquake tendency, further tracing based on the earthquake sequence characteristics, and taking the Chi-Chi earthquake sequence as an example, tracing analysis of the earthquake tendency was attempted using the shorter time range of monthly rather than in a yearly time scale. An attempt was made to establish the procedures for tracing analysis of shallow-focus earthquakes in the seismic belt of western Taiwan. It is hoped that this can provide an analystical method for approaching the short-imminent time scale of seismometry-based earthquake forecasting.     

A study of scale effect on specific sediment yield in the Loess Plateau,China

Based on data from 148 hydrometric stations in the Yellow River Basin, an analysis of regional scale relationship, or the relationship between specific sediment yield and drainage basin area, has been undertaken in the study area of the Loess Plateau. For different regions, scale relationship in log-log ordinate can be fitted by two types of lines: straight and parabola, and for each line, a function was fitted using regression analysis. The different scale relationships have been explained in terms of the difference in surface material distribution and landforms. To offset the scale-induced influence, calcu-lation has been done based on the fitted functions, in order to adjust the data of specific sediment yield to a common standard area. Based on the scaled data, a map of specific sediment yield was con-structed using Kriging interpolation. For comparison, a map based on the un-scaled data of specific sediment yield was also constructed using the same method. The two maps show that the basic pattern of specific sediment yield was basically the same. The severely eroded areas (Ys >10000 t km-2a-1) were at the same locations from Hekouzhen to Longmen in the middle Yellow River Basin. However, after the adjustment to a common standard area, the very severely eroded area (Ys >20000 t km-2a-1) became much enlarged because after the adjustment, all the values of Ys in the lower river basin in those regions became much larger than before.     

Development of a national VNIR soil-spectral library for soil classification and prediction of organic matter concentrations

Soil visible-near infrared diffuse reflectance spectroscopy(vis-NIR DRS)has become an important area of research in the fields of remote and proximal soil sensing.The technique is considered to be particularly useful for acquiring data for soil digital mapping,precision agriculture and soil survey.In this study,1581 soil samples were collected from 14 provinces in China,including Tibet,Xinjiang,Heilongjiang,and Hainan.The samples represent 16 soil groups of the Genetic Soil Classification of China.After air-drying and sieving,the diffuse reflectance spectra of the samples were measured under laboratory conditions in the range between 350 and 2500 nm using a portable vis-NIR spectrometer.All the soil spectra were smoothed using the Savitzky-Golay method with first derivatives before performing multivariate data analyses.The spectra were compressed using principal components analysis and the fuzzy k-means method was used to calculate the optimal soil spectral classification.The scores of the principal component analyses were classified into five clusters that describe the mineral and organic composition of the soils.The results on the classification of the spectra are comparable to the results of other similar research.Spectroscopic predictions of soil organic matter concentrations used a combination of the soil spectral classification with multivariate calibration using partial least squares regression(PLSR).This combination significantly improved the predictions of soil organic matter(R2=0.899;RPD=3.158)compared with using PLSR alone(R2=0.697;RPD=1.817).     

Temporal and spatial variation in the sediment volume along the beaches between Ovari and Kanyakumari (SE INDIA)

A 2-year set of profile data from Ovari to Kanyakumari Beach,SE India has been analysed by using empirical orthogonal function(EOF) techniques to identify characteristic patterns of temporal and spatial variation in the sediment volume of the beaches.The results show that variation in the sediment volume of the beach is determined by interaction between the biennial and seasonal exchanges.EOF analysis the pattern of alongshore sediment exchange along the study area.The method facilitated separation of onshore-offshore and alongshore modes of sediment transfer and identification of the patterns of alongshore sediment exchange.The eigenfunction modes confirm the dominance of biennial,annual,and biannual sediment transfers occurring on study area.The sediment movement along the shoreline of study area is mainly governed by the forces associated with the incoming waves and the availability of sediments within the area.The present investigation has been made as an attempt to appreciate the sediment movement in relation to wave activity along the coast.The longshore sediment transport is intensive in the northerly direction as compared to southerly direction.The normal condition is for and to be moved annually or more frequently in the shallows and on the beach.Waves and wave-driven currents cause longshore drift of sand along the beach and offshore.     

Local site effects evaluation by surface wave and H/V survey methods in Senirkent (Isparta) region,southwestern Turkey

This study aimed to investigate the site characterization of the Senirkent Basin(Isparta) by using the microtremor(H/V) and surface wave analysis(ReMi) methods. Senirkent district, which is located on the foothill of the Kap? Mountain, are prone to seismic and landslide hazards. After the last landslip disaster(1995), the city has continued to develop on the alluvial basin. The microtremor data collected at 41 stations were analyzed. The predominant frequency and the amplification of the soil were found to be in the range of 1.8–6.6 Hz and 0.8–6.8, respectively. These are 4.0-6.8 Hz and 1-2.5 around the slope of the Kap? Mountain and 0.8-3.6 Hz and 3.0-6.6 at alluvium deposits of the valley. The ReMi data collected along 41 profiles were analyzed to obtain a V_(s30) map. The soil classifications were done by using V_(s30) values according to NEHRP soil classification criteria. The results showed that the southern area of the study had better soil conditions with V_(s30) between 360-1160 m/s and soil class between C and B. The alluvium deposits on the north are relatively low with V_(s30) in the range of 260-360 m/s and soil class D.     

Evaluation of sediment contamination in the Red Sea coastal area combining multiple pollution indices and multivariate statistical techniques

In the recent years,the Red Sea coast of Yemen has been severely affected by intensive anthropogenic activities.The current study constitutes a thorough inquiry to evaluate the extent of heavy metals pollution in Yemen's Red Sea coast sediment and identifies the possible sources of pollution.The concentrations of five metals(copper(Cu),zinc(Zn),cadmium(Cd),lead(Pb),and nickel(Ni))collected from nine sites along the Red Sea coast of Yemen were assessed using an atomic absorption spectrophotometer(ASS).Sediment quality indices,such as the sediment quality guidelines(SQGs),potential ecological risk(RI),contamination factor(CF),pollution load index(PLI),geoaccumulation index(Igeo),and modified degree of contamination(mCd)were computed.In addition,multivariate statistical techniques(principal component analysis(PCA),hierarchical cluster analysis,and Pearson's correlation analysis)were applied to identify the potential sources of metals.The mean concentrations of Cu,Zn,Cd,Pb,and Ni were 51.3,61.9,4.02,9.9,and 33.4 mg/kg dry wt,respectively.The spatial distribution revealed that the metals concentrations were high at the middle zone and low southward of Hodeida city.According to the SQGs,the adverse biological effects of metals were occasionally associated with Cu and Cd,frequently associated with Ni,and not expected to occur with Zn and Pb.The RI indicated that the sediment of the studied sites pose low(RI<50)to considerable(100≤RI<200)ecological risk.The mean effect range-median quotient(M-ERM-Q)indicated that the combination of the studied metals had the toxicity probability of 21%at all studied sites.Igeo and CF indicated that the metals concentrations were in the descending order of:Zn>Ni>Pb>Cd>Cu,whereas the PLI and mCd indicated that Ras Isa(Site 5)and Urj village(Site 6)were the most polluted sites.PCA,cluster analysis,and correlation analysis found that Cd,Pb,and Ni mostly originated from anthropogenic sources while Cu and Zn were mainly derived from natural sources.Thus,it is evident that the intensive anthropogenic activities had negative influence on metals accumulation in the sediment of the Red Sea coast of Yemen leading to detrimental effects to the whole ecosystem.These comprehensive findings provide valuable information and data for future monitoring studies regarding heavy metals pollution and sediment quality at the Red Sea coast of Yemen.     

Sensor location in concrete slabs with various layout of opening using modified ‘FEMS-COMAC’ approach

Two-way concrete slabs are widely used around the world for the construction of many types of infrastructures and common buildings. The optimal sensor placement(OSP) in slabs with various opening positions is the most important issue in structural health monitoring(SHM) to increase reliability. In this study, a novel approach of OSP was evaluated to obtain the number and placement of sensors using examination of the closed loop performance. The nonlinear finite element(NFE) was used to discretize the mechanism behavior of slab. Multi-Objective Optimization based on the coordinate modal assurance criterion(COMAC) and cost considerations was considered in the optimization processes. All of the analysis, discretization and optimization process was designed and developed as a novel approach in Matlab by the author under the name ‘FEMS-COMAC'(FEM analysis of slab with COMAC). The points in the finite element method(FEM) mesh were classified as line by line information along the slab. The OSP in each line was optimized according to the objective function. The slabs with various width, thickness, aspect ratio and opening position were selected as case studies. The results of the OSP using the COMAC algorithm around the slab openings were compared with the novel ‘FEMS-COMAC' method. The statistical analysis according Mann-Whitney criteria shows that there were significant differences between them in some of the case studies(mean P-value=0.54).     

Terrestrial transect study on driving mechanism of vegetation changes

In terms of Chinese climate-vegetation model based on the classification of plant functional types, to- gether with climatic data from 1951 to 1980 and two future climatic scenarios (SRES-A2 and SRES-B2) in China from the highest and the lowest emission scenarios of greenhouse gases, the distribution patterns of vegetation types and their changes along the Northeast China Transect (NECT) and the North-South Transect of Eastern China (NSTEC) were simulated in order to understand the driving mechanisms of vegetation changes under climatic change. The results indicated that the vegetation distribution patterns would change significantly under future climate, and the major factors driving the vegetation changes were water and heat. However, the responses of various vegetation types to the changes in water and heat factors were obviously different. The vegetation changes were more sensi- tive to heat factors than to water factors. Thus, in the future climate warming will significantly affect vegetation distribution patterns.