Isotope hydrological study of mean transit time in the granitic Strengbach catchment (Vosges massif,France): application of the FlowPC model with modified input function

Measurements of ¹⁸O concentrations in precipitation, soil solution, spring and runoff are used to determine water transit time in the small granitic Strengbach catchment (0·8 km²; 883–1146 m above sea level) located in the Vosges Mountains of northeastern France. Water transit times were calculated by applying the exponential, exponential piston and dispersion models of the FlowPC program to isotopic input (rainfall) and output (spring and stream water) data sets during the period 1989–95. The input function of the model was modified compared with the former version of the model and estimated by a deterministic approach based on a simplified hydrological balance. The fit between observed and calculated output data showed marked improvements compared with results obtained using the initial version of the model. An exponential piston version of the model applied to spring water indicates a 38·5 month mean transit time, which suggests that the volume in the aquifer, expressed in water depth, is 2·4 m. A considerable thickness (>45 m) of fractured bedrock may be involved for such a volume of water to be stored in the aquifer. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Green Lake Landslide and other giant and very large postglacial landslides in Fiordland,New Zealand

Green Lake Landslide is an ancient giant rock slide in gneiss and granodiorite located in the deeply glaciated Fiordland region of New Zealand. The landslide covers an area of 45 km² and has a volume of about 27 km³. It is believed to be New Zealand's largest landslide, and possibly the largest landslide of its type on Earth. It is one of 39 known very large (10⁶–10⁷ m³) and giant (≥10⁸ m³) postglacial landslides in Fiordland discussed in the paper. Green Lake Landslide resulted in the collapse of a 9 km segment of the southern Hunter Mountains. Slide debris moved up to 2.5 km laterally and 700 m vertically, and formed a landslide dam about 800 m high, impounding a lake about 11 km long that was eventually infilled with sediments. Geomorphic evidence supported by radiocarbon dating indicates that Green Lake Landslide probably occurred 12 000–13 000 years ago, near the end of the last (Otira) glaciation. The landslide is described, and its geomorphic significance, age, failure mechanism, cause, and relevance in the region are discussed, in relation to other large landslides and recent earthquake-induced landslides in Fiordland. The slope failure occurred on a low-angle fault zone undercut by glacial erosion, and was probably triggered by strong shaking (MM IX–X) associated with a large (≥ M 7.5–8) earthquake, on the Alpine Fault c. 80 km to the northwest. Geology was a major factor that controlled the style and size of Green Lake landslide, and in that respect it is significantly different from most other gigantic landslides. Future large earthquakes on the Alpine Fault in Fiordland are likely to trigger more very large and giant landslides across the region, causing ground damage and devastation on a scale that has not occurred during the last 160 years, with potentially disastrous effects on towns, tourist centres, roads, and infrastructure. The probability of such an event occurring within the next 50 years may be as high as 45%.     

Microstructures of co-axially folded vein segments and crenulation cleavage： Evidence for dissolution phenomena in the Chamba Thrust Sheet, western Himalayas

The metasediments in the Chamba region experienced three phases of deformation: DF1, DF2 and DF3.Folded quartz veins are co-folded with the F2 crenulation folds. Their geometric and tectonic significance is studied by microstructures and shortening adjacent to the discrete crenulation cleavage, S2. Microstructures of folded vein segments, their geometric changes and truncation to cleavage (S2) are mainly due to pressure-solution phenomena and the estimated volume loss from reconstructed vein segments range from 16 to 25.5%,which is closely related to volume decrease (26%) calculated from the polydeformed slates of North Wales areas.     

A critical state model for sands dependent on stress and density

An elastoplastic model for sands is presented in this paper, which can describe stress–strain behaviour dependent on mean effective stress level and void ratio. The main features of the proposed model are: (a) a new state parameter, which is dependent on the initial void ratio and initial mean stress, is proposed and applied to the yield function in order to predict the plastic deformation for very loose sands; and (b) another new state parameter, which is used to determine the peak strength and describe the critical state behaviour of sands during shearing, is proposed in order to predict simply negative/positive dilatancy and the hardening/softening behaviour of medium or dense sands. In addition, the proposed model can also predict the stress–strain behaviour of sands under three-dimensional stress conditions by using a transformed stress tensor instead of ordinary stress tensor. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Spectrophotometry of comet Levy (1990c)

Two spectrophotometric scans of comet Levy (1990c) have been analysed to estimate Haser model column densities and production rates of CN andC ₂ molecules.     

Finite-element analysis of time-dependent large-deformation problems

An updated Lagrangian finite-element formulation has been developed for time-dependent problems of soil consolidation involving finite deformations. Large plastic strains as well as rotations occur in such problems and nominal stress measures are introduced in the formulation to redefine stresses. This leads to corrective terms for equilibrium and yield violations in addition to geometric stiffening terms in the governing integral equations. The soil is considered to be either a linear elastic or an elastoplastic, critical-state material. Some simple numerical examples are studied to validate the formulation, followed by a detailed analysis of the problem of penetration of a pile into soil. The results of this problem are viewed with emphasis on the physical interpretation and practical significance.