A model for the conservation of geological remains as documents

 Geological remains are conserved mainly either together with living beings for the sake of the integrity of nature or for their economical or aesthetic value. However, they also have scientific value for the geologist to reconstruct the earth's past. For this reason we propose a model which is an application of marginal utility theory in economics and takes into account the informational utility of geological remains. Informational utility of geological remains ranges over their geological significance which is induced by the importance of the geological processes that produce them, and over their spatial extensiveness. Our model takes into account also the cost and budget of conservation and proposes to solve the differential equations of informational utility and cost simultaneously in order to obtain the optimum quantity of the remains to be conserved. Received: 9 January 1998 · Accepted: 4 February 1998     

Which way do you lean? Using slope aspect variations to understand Critical Zone processes and feedbacks

Soil‐mantled pole‐facing hillslopes on Earth tend to be steeper, wetter, and have more vegetation cover compared with adjacent equator‐facing hillslopes. These and other slope aspect controls are often the consequence of feedbacks among hydrologic, ecologic, pedogenic, and geomorphic processes triggered by spatial variations in mean annual insolation. In this paper we review the state of knowledge on slope aspect controls of Critical Zone (CZ) processes using the latitudinal and elevational dependence of topographic asymmetry as a motivating observation. At relatively low latitudes and elevations, pole‐facing hillslopes tend to be steeper. At higher latitudes and elevations this pattern reverses. We reproduce this pattern using an empirical model based on parsimonious functions of latitude, an aridity index, mean‐annual temperature, and slope gradient. Using this empirical model and the literature as guides, we present a conceptual model for the slope‐aspect‐driven CZ feedbacks that generate asymmetry in water‐limited and temperature‐limited end‐member cases. In this conceptual model the dominant factor driving slope aspect differences at relatively low latitudes and elevations is the difference in mean‐annual soil moisture. The dominant factor at higher latitudes and elevations is temperature limitation on vegetation growth. In water‐limited cases, we propose that higher mean‐annual soil moisture on pole‐facing hillslopes drives higher soil production rates, higher water storage potential, more vegetation cover, faster dust deposition, and lower erosional efficiency in a positive feedback. At higher latitudes and elevations, pole‐facing hillslopes tend to have less vegetation cover, greater erosional efficiency, and gentler slopes, thus reversing the pattern of asymmetry found at lower latitudes and elevations. Our conceptual model emphasizes the linkages among short‐ and long‐timescale processes and across CZ sub‐disciplines; it also points to opportunities to further understand how CZ processes interact. We also demonstrate the importance of paleoclimatic conditions and non‐climatic factors in influencing slope aspect variations. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Site dependent and spatially varying response spectra

The goal of this study is to provide a stochastic method to investigate the effects of the randomness of soil properties due to their natural spatial variability on the response spectra spatial variation at sites with varying conditions. For this purpose, Monte Carlo Simulations are used to include the variability of both incident ground motion and soil parameters in the response spectra by mean of an appropriate coherency loss function and a site-dependent transfer function, respectively. The approach is built on the assumption of vertical propagation of SH type waves in soil strata with uncertain parameters. The response spectra are obtained by numerical integration of the governing equation of a single-degree-of-freedom(SDOF) system under non-stationary site-dependent and spatially varying ground motion accelerations simulated with non-uniform spectral densities and coherency loss functions. Numerical examples showed that randomness of soil properties significantly affects the amplitudes of the response spectra, indicating that as the heterogeneity induced by the randomness of the parameters of the medium increases, the spectral ordinates attenuate.     

Cyclic Displacement Model for Reinforced Concrete Columns

Reinforced concrete (RC) structures in low to moderate seismic regions and many older RC structures in high seismic regions include columns with steel reinforcement details not meeting the requirements of modern seismic design codes. These columns typically fail in shear or in a brittle manner and their behavior must be accurately captured when RC structures are modeled and analyzed. The total lateral displacement of a low ductility or shear critical RC column can be represented as the sum of three displacement components: (1) flexural displacement, (2) displacement due to slippage of the reinforcing bars at column ends, and (3) shear displacement. In this study, these three displacement components are separately modeled and then combined together following a proposed procedure based on the expected overall behavior of the column and its failure mechanism. A simplified slip model is proposed. The main objective of this research is to develop an easy-to-apply method to model and capture the cyclic behavior of RC columns considering the shear failure mechanism. The proposed model is validated using the available data from RC column and frame experiments.     

Early Miocene to Quaternary evolution of volcanism and the basin formation in western Anatolia: a review

Western Anatolia, largely affected by extensional tectonics, witnessed widespread volcanic activity since the Early Miocene. The volcanic vents of the region are represented by epicontinental calderas, stratovolcanoes and monogenetic vents which are associated with small-scale intrusions as sills and dykes. The volcanic activity began with an explosive character producing a large ignimbritic plateau all over the region, indicating the initiation of the crustal extension event. These rhyolitic magmas are nearly contemporaneous with granitic intrusions in western Anatolia. The ignimbrites, emplaced approximately contemporaneous with alluvial fan and braided river deposits, flowed over the basement rocks prior to extensional basin formation. The lacustrine deposits overlie the ignimbrites. The potassic and ultrapotassic lavas with lamprophyric affinities were emplaced during the Late Miocene–Pliocene. The volcanic activities have continued with alkali basalts during the Quaternary.     

Seismic hazard analysis of Mersin Province,Turkey using probabilistic and statistical methods

Nearly 108-km lengths of Mersin shores are composed of natural beaches. The region is located between major tourist centers. In the future, this region is thought to be built with a great number of tourist facilities. Turkey’s largest seaport, Ata? refinery (Mersin International Port) is located in Mersin. Recently, Mersin is becoming of great importance to Turkey as the latter plans to construct its second nuclear power plant in the region. Therefore, as nuclear power plants are built to withstand environmental hazards, it is very important to analyze the seismic risk of the areas where the nuclear power plant will be constructed. The region is located between the East Anatolian Fault Zone and Center Anatolian Fault Zone. Based on the Turkey Earthquake Regions Map, Mersin is divided into second-, third-, and fourth-degree earthquake regions. In this study, we sampled earthquakes of magnitude of 4.0 or greater between 01 Jan 1900 and 31 Dec 2010 in the area; seismic hazard of Mersin province was estimated with probabilistic and statistical methods. The study area was selected as the coordinates between 36.03° and 37.42° North and 32.57° and 35.16° East. On the study area, different scaled magnitude values in the last 110 years converted to a common scale (Mw) and earthquake catalog was re-compiled and also seismic sources that may affect the area was determined. In this study, the seismic hazards of the region were obtained using the methods of probability and statistics. This study used three different attenuation relationships. Using the attenuation relationships suggested by Boore et al. (Seismol Res Lett 68(1):128–153, 1997) and Kalkan and Gülkan (Earthquake Spectra 20:1111–1138, 2004), the largest ground acceleration which corresponds to a recurrence period of 475 years was found as 0.08–0.09 g and Akkar and Ça?nan (Bull Seismol Soc Am 100 6:2978–2995, 2010), 0.04 g for bedrock at the central district. When computing for seismic hazard curves, Mut district appears to have a greater seismic hazard compared with other districts. Moreover, according to the attenuation relationships, seismic hazard curves corresponding to a recurrence period of 475 years were obtained for the Mersin Central, Mut, Erdemli, Çaml?yayla, and Tarsus districts.     

Seismic risk assessment of buildings in Izmir,Turkey

Izmir, the third largest city and a major economic center in Turkey, has more than three million residents and half million buildings. In this study, the seismic risk in reinforced concrete buildings that dominate the building inventory in Izmir is investigated through multiple approaches. Five typical reinforced concrete buildings were designed, modeled and assessed for seismic vulnerability. The sample structures represent typical existing reinforced concrete hospital, school, public, and residential buildings in Izmir. The seismic assessments of the considered structures indicate that they are vulnerable to damage during expected future earthquakes.     

Melting of crustal xenoliths within ascending basalt: Example from the Kula volcanic field,western Anatolia,Turkey

During its storage or ascent, basaltic magma inevitably interacts with the surrounding rocks. In this study, schist xenoliths incorporated within ascending basalt are examined. Heating of the xenoliths combined with decompression effect of rapid magma uprise led to dehydration melting of hydrous minerals producing hercynitic spinel, melt, sillimanite and FeTi oxides. The melt is rhyolitic, strongly peraluminous (1.77 < A/CNK < 2.35) and corundum normative. It may contain up to 8 wt%FeO_t. It occurs between the foliation planes and in the intragranular environment. Dehydration melting of micas in the schist is probably related to combined effects of heating by basaltic magma and decompression due to the rapid rise. Melting of xenoliths was a progressive process at low pressure. To cite this article: H. Bayhan et al., C. R. Geoscience 338 (2006).     

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S167498711000040X

The Eastern Pontides orogenic belt in the Black Sea region of Turkey offers a critical window to plate kinematics and subduction polarity during the closure of the Paleotethys. Here we provide a brief synthesis on recent information from this belt. We infer a southward subduction for the origin of the Eastern Pontides orogenic belt and its associated late Mesozoic–Cenozoic magmatism based on clear spatial and temporal variations in Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic arc magmatism, together with the existence of a prominent south-dipping reverse fault system along the entire southern coast of the Black Sea. Our model is at variance with some recent proposals favoring a northward subduction polarity, and illustrates the importance of arc magmatism in evaluating the geodynamic milieu associated with convergent margin processes.