Unified 3D critical state bounding-surface plasticity model for soils incorporating continuous plastic loading under cyclic paths. Part I: Constitutive relations

The unified three-dimensional (3D) critical state bounding-surface plasticity model gUTS enables clays, silts and sands to be treated within a single framework. Furthermore, loose and dense states of a particular soil subjected to a wide range of confinements are viewed as a single material defined by the same set of constants. The model is able to handle both monotonic and complex cyclic paths including those involving a rotation of the principal stress directions. The model incorporates the following features: combined use of radial and deviatoric mapping rules and the use of an apparent normal consolidation line for sands; use of a non-associated flow rule where the ratio of the rates of volumetric plastic strain to deviatoric plastic strain is a function only of the ratio of deviatoric to mean effective stresses and the Lode angle; adoption of a bi-linear critical state line projected onto the plane of the void ratio versus logarithm of mean effective stress; inclusion of a sub-elliptic, or super-elliptic, segment in the plastic dilatancy surface for stress ratios less than critical; use of elliptic segments in the deviatoric planes; movement of the projection centre in the deviatoric mapping region and incorporation of a plastic stiffening effect for cyclic paths which repeatedly load in the same deviatoric direction.     

The tsunami of 426 BC in the Maliakos gulf, eastern Greece

In 427 BC, a major earthquake occurred in ancient Greece. In particular, Attica, Boeotia, and the island of Euboea were the areas where seismic activity was most frequent. The fact that these events happened in conjuction with the Peloponnesian war provides us with an account made by historians of the war. Such an account is the one made by Thucydides.During the spring and summer of 426 BC shocks continued to take place. This time, the sea area between the island of Euboea and the mainland (Maliakos gulf) was also affected and as a result, a seismic sea-wave of considerable size formed. The tsunami, as it is better known, swept the surrounding coastal area. Major topographic alteration of the area occurred, resulting in a huge loss of life and the destruction of cities.In this paper, the author attempts to describe this event and to explain scientifically how it happened, and how this affected the shape of the area and human life.All the evidence used in this paper has been cross-referenced with at least one other historic or scientific source. Although it was extremely difficult to uncover hidden detail about an event so far in the past, any facts that could not be verified have not been included.     

Eocene age of eclogite metamorphism in Pakistan Himalaya: implications for India-Eurasia collision

A geochronological investigation of two rocks with an eclogitic assemblage (omphacite-garnet-quartz-rutile) from the High Himalaya using the Sm/Nd, Rb/Sr, U/Pb and Ar/Ar methods is presented here. The first three methods outline a cooling history from the time of peak metamorphism at 49±6 Ma recorded by Sm/Nd in garnet-clinopyroxene to the closure of Rb/Sr in phengite at 43±1 Ma and U/Pb in rutile at 39–40 Ma. The Sm/Nd isotopic system was fully equilibrated during eclogitization and has not been disturbed since; its mineral ages may date the peak metamorphic conditions (650±50°C at 13–18 kbar: Pognante and Spencer, 1991). The Ar/Ar data reveal the presence of substantial amounts of excess ⁴⁰Ar in hornblende, and yield a statistically acceptable but geologically meaningless phengite plateau age of 81.4±0.2 Ma, inconsistent with Sm/Nd, Rb/Sr and U/Pb. This questions the use of such a chronometer for the dating of high-pressure assemblages. The results imply a Late Palaeocene or Early Eocene subduction of the northern Indian plate margin in NW Himalaya. The fact that eclogites are restricted to NW Himalaya may be the result of a peculiar p-T-t path associated with a high convergence rate during the first indentation, in contrast to the later and slow subduction in Central and Eastern Himalaya.