A general framework for assessing potential seismic risk in geotechnical projects

Summary In this paper a general framework is discussed for assessing the seismicity and the seismic risk using a couple-information model. A deterministic model is used to define the different types of information that can represent the input variables of the model; that is, constants, random, fuzzy, linguistic, hybrid and chaotic variables. Other types of models are also discussed having information similar to the input variables, and a way is presented to implement them for assessing risk.     

Velocity structure of upper-mantle transition zones beneath central eurasia from seismic inversion using genetic algorithms

We present velocity constraints for the upper-mantle transition zones beneath Central Siberia based on observations of the 1982 RIFT Deep Seismic Sounding (DSS) profile. The data consist of seismic recordings of a nuclear explosion in north-western Siberia along a 2600 km long seismic profile extending from the Yamal Peninsula to Lake Baikal. We invert seismic data from the mantle transition zones using a non-linear inversion scheme using a genetic algorithm for optimization and the WKBJ method to compute the synthetic seismograms. A statistical error analysis using a graph-binning technique was performed to provide uncertainty values in the velocity models.
Our best model for the upper-mantle velocity discontinuity near 410 km depth has a two-stage velocity-gradient structure, with velocities increasing from 8.70–9.25 km s⁻¹ over a depth range of 400–415 km, a gradient of 0.0433 s⁻¹, and from 9.25–9.60 km s⁻¹ over a depth range of 415–435 km, a gradient of 0.0175 s⁻¹. This derived model is consistent with other seismological observations and mineral-physics models. The model for the velocity discontinuity near 660 km depth is simple, sharp and includes velocities increasing from 10.15 km s⁻¹ at 655 km depth to 10.70 km s⁻¹ at 660 km depth, a gradient of 0.055 s⁻¹.     

Perfezionamenti nelle misure di elettricità atmosferica

Riassunto Nelle misure di elettricità atmosferica già altri AA. (L. Koenigsfeld & Ph. Piraux) si sono serviti di valvole ad elettrodi invertiti (placca pilota), accorgimento che eleva a qualche centinaia di volt la tensione di controllo senza ricorrere a resistenze di riduzione. Partendo da tale impiego di una valvola elettronica opportuna, gli AA. hanno costruito un elettrometro per la registrazione del potenziale atmosferico che presenta le principali caratteristiche seguenti: 1) la valvola elettrometrica fa corpo unico con la sonda radioattiva di captazione del campo, il che elimina le difficoltà di isolamento; 2) con una opportuna controtensione, l'apparecchio è atto a registrare sia il campo positivo come quello negativo, con diversi valori scala; 3) lo strumento, completo di captatore elettrometrico, registratore e batterie, è completamente autonomo e facilmente trasportabile.

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Summary A recording electrometer for atmospheric potential is described. It makes use of a special triode with inverted electrodes (controlled by the anode, as already made byL. Koenigsfeld & Ph. Piraux). Among the improvements realised, the following chief characteristics are to be noted; 1) The difficulties of electric insulation are overcomed because the electrometric tube is built as a whole with the radioactive eollector; 2) Both the positive and the negative field can be recorded with different sensitivity by a convenient back-voltage; 3) The instrument operates with dry batteries alone and, also in account of its light weight, can be carried about quite easily and quickly installed.

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Comunicazione presentata l'll Aprile 1953 alla Prima Assemblea Generale della Società Italiana di Geofisica e Meteorologia (Genova, 10–12 Aprile 1953).     

Three-dimensional SeaMARC II,gravity, and magnetics study of large-offset rift propagation at the Pito Rift,Easter microplate

We present results from a SeaMARC II bathymetry, gravity, and magnetics survey of the northern end of the large-offset propagating East Rift of the Easter microplate. The East Rift is offset by more than 300 km from the East Pacific Rise and its northern end has rifted into approximately 3 Ma lithosphere of the Nazca Plate forming a broad (70–100 km) zone of high (up to 4 km) relief referred to as the Pito Rift. This region appears to have undergone distributed and asymmetric extension that has been primarily accommodated tectonically, by block faulting and tilting, and to a lesser degree by seafloor spreading on a more recently developed magmatic accretionary axis. The larger fault blocks have dimensions of 10–15 km and have up to several km of throw between adjacent blocks suggesting that isostatic adjustments occur on the scale of the individual blocks. Three-dimensional terrain corrected Bouguer anomalies, a three-dimensional magnetic inversion, and SeaMARC II backscatter data locate the recently developed magmatic axis in an asymmetric position in the western part of the rift. The zone of magmatic accretion is characterized by an axis of negative Bouguer gravity anomalies, a band of positive magnetizations, and a high amplitude magnetization zone locating its tip approximately 10 km south of the Pito Deep, the deepest point in the rift area. Positive Bouguer gravity anomalies and negative magnetizations characterize the faulted area to the east of the spreading axis supporting the interpretation that this area consists primarily of pre-existing Nazca plate that has been block faulted and stretched, and that no substantial new accretion has occurred there. The wide zone of deformation in the Pito Rift area and the changing trend of the fault blocks from nearly N-S in the east to NW-SE in the west may be a result of the rapidly changing kinematics of the Easter microplate and/or may result from ridge-transform like shear stresses developed at the termination of the East Rift against the Nazca plate. The broad zone of deformation developed at the Pito Rift and its apparent continuation some distance south along the East Rift has important implications for microplate mechanics and kinematic reconstructions since it suggests that initial microplate boundaries may consist in part of broad zones of deformation characterized by the formation of lithospheric scale fault blocks, and that what appear to be pseudofaults may actually be the outer boundaries of tectonized zones enclosing significant amounts of stretched pre-existing lithosphere.     

Unusual diatoms linked to climatic events in the northeastern English Channel

The composition of the micro-phytoplankton was investigated at two fixed stations in the northeastern English Channel from November 1997 to December 2005. In late summer-autumn 2005, proliferations of the centric diatoms Proboscia indica and Rhizosolenia hebetata f. semispina were recorded for the first time in this area. The weather in 2005 was abnormal: a cold winter and early arrival of summer conditions that extended to late autumn. This resulted in an unusually long, sustained calm and warm period. We suggest that the reduction in mixing may have allowed diatoms of more-stratified waters to be competitive in the normally highly mixed northeastern English Channel in summer-autumn 2005. In 2003 and in 2005, two warm-water diatom species were recorded for the first time. A colony of Eucampia cornuta was observed after an exceptional heat wave in September of 2003, and again in September 2005. Simultaneously at both fixed stations, Chaetoceros peruvianus was recorded in the warm October of 2005. The climatic events are associated with the northward spreading of thermophilic diatoms such as E. cornuta and Ch. peruvianus in the European Atlantic waters, and the proliferation of diatoms of stratified environments such as P. indica and R. hebetata f. semispina in the usually highly turbulent waters of the northeastern English Channel.     

Political coordination costs in the Spanish port devolution process: A note

Spain’s port system was subjected to significant legislative reforms during the 1990s. Spanish Law 62/97 allowed regional governments to manage commercial ports, whereas the central government continued to control the main organisation in charge of the Spanish port system – the Spanish National Ports and Harbours Authority (SNPHA). This paper analyses the evolution of maritime traffic to measure the possible costs of political coordination between the SNPHA and the port authorities controlled by various political parties that rule regional governments. The findings point to coordination costs having a limited effect on the evolution of maritime traffic.     

Trichodesmium spp. population structure in the eastern North Atlantic subtropical gyre

Trichodesmium spp. population structure was studied based on a transect in the eastern subtropical North Atlantic in October 2006, covering a gradient from near-temperate conditions up to fully subtropical, oligotrophic waters. Trichodesmium spp. trichomes were counted and measured, distinguishing free trichomes from those forming macroscopic colonies (“puffs” or “tufts”). Moreover, for both free and colonial individuals, abundance and size structure variation were quantified from single trichome-level data. Nitrogen fixation rates were estimated using an empirical approach based on abundance observations and a heuristic approach to incorporate variation in trichome size and environmental temperature. A gradual change towards greater sizes and increased abundances was observed as physical conditions became subtropical. An extreme response was detected at one station (29.8°W, 26.3°N), in which both in situ and remote sensing data revealed the presence of a Trichodesmium bloom. Despite the presence of a mesoscale anticyclonic eddy, a close examination of prior surface conditions using altimeter data indicated that the bloom was related to the advection of southern waters. In general, our results highlighted the importance of free trichomes in Trichodesmium spp. populations in this part of the North Atlantic. Furthermore, they suggested a possible role of both size and population structure on the wide range of N₂ fixation estimates currently available in the literature.     

Identification of potential subsidence related to pumping in the Almería basin (SE Spain)

Ground subsidence of detrital deposits in the Almería basin (SE Spain) was studied using the remote sensing technique of Differential Interferometry SAR (DInSAR). This basin is one of the most arid in Europe, receiving an average rainfall of 250 mm per year. Over the last 60 years the region has experienced an enormous agricultural and urban expansion, whose water demand has been largely supplied from groundwater, leading to the current situation of overexploitation of water resources. This paper outlines the likely relationship between groundwater abstraction and subsidence. To this end, 34 ERS and Envisat images, taken between 2003 and 2009, were analysed to estimate ground surface deformations, and hence, compared with water table variations measured in a number of piezometers in the basin. The analysis shows a clear parallelism between the variations in piezometric level and deformation of the ground surface. In addition, the zones of greatest subsidence coincide with those areas where groundwater abstractions are concentrated. Subsidence over the examined period varies from 10 to 30 mm, with extreme values as high as 50 mm, which translates to a rate of between 1·7 and 5 mm/year, reaching maximum rates of 8 mm/year at some points. Given such subsidence rates, damage to urban infrastructures are, for the moment, incipient. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mineral assemblages of the Francisco I. Madero Zn–Cu–Pb–(Ag) deposit, Zacatecas, Mexico: Implications for ore deposit genesis

The Francisco I. Madero deposit, central Mexico, occurs in the Mesozoic Guerrero Terrane, which hosts many ore deposits, both Cretaceous (volcanogenic massive sulfides) and Tertiary (epithermal and skarn deposits). It is hosted by a 600 m-thick calcareous-pelitic unit, of Lower Cretaceous age, crosscut by porphyritic dikes that strike NW–SE. A thick felsic volcanic Tertiary sequence, consisting of andesites and rhyolitic ignimbrites, unconformably overlies the Cretaceous series. At the base, the mineralization consists of several mantos developed within calcareous beds. They are dominantly composed of sphalerite, pyrrhotite and pyrite with minor chalcopyrite, arsenopyrite and galena. At the top of the orebody, there are calcic skarns formed through prograde and retrograde stages. The resulting mineral assemblages are rich in manganoan hedenbergite (Hd_75–28Di_40–4Jh_40–20), andraditic garnets (Adr_100–62Grs_38–0), epidote (Ep_95–36Czo_60–5Pie_8–0), chamosite, calcite and quartz. The temperature of ore deposition, estimated by chlorite and arsenopyrite geothermometry, ranges from 243° to 277 °C and from 300° to 340 °C, respectively. The pressure estimated from sphalerite geobarometry averages 2.1 kbar. This value corresponds to a moderately deep skarn and agrees with the high Cu content of the deposit. Paragenesis, P–T conditions and geological characteristics are compatible with a distal, dike-related, Zn skarn deposit. Its style of mineralization is similar to that of many high-temperature carbonate replacement skarn deposits in the Southern Cordillera.