In situ hydraulic tests in the active fault survey tunnel, Kamioka Mine, excavated through the active Mozumi-Sukenobu Fault zone and their hydrogeological significance

Abstract   The spatial hydrogeological and structural character of the active Mozumi-Sukenobu Fault (MSF) was investigated along a survey tunnel excavated through the MSF in the Kamioka Mine, central Japan. Major groundwater conduits on both sides of the MSF are recognized. One is considered to be a subvertical conduit between the tunnel and the surface, and the other is estimated to be a major reservoir of old meteoric water alongside the MSF. Our studies indicate that part of the MSF is a sub-vertical continuous barrier that obstructs younger meteoric water observed in the south-eastern part of the Active Fault Survey Tunnel (AFST) and water recharge to the rock mass intersected by the north-western part of the AFST. The MSF might be a continuous barrier resulting in the storage of a large quantity of older groundwater to the northwest. The observations and results of in situ hydraulic tests indicate that the major reservoir is not the fault breccia associated with the northeast–southwest trending faults of the MSF, but the zone in which blocks of fractured rocks occur beside high angle faults corresponding to X shears whose tectonic stress field coincides with the present regional stress field and antithetic Riedel shears of the MSF. The results from borehole investigations in the AFST indicate that secondary porosity is developed in the major reservoir due to the destruction of filling minerals and fracture development beside these shears. The increase in hydraulic conductivity is not directly related to increased density of fractures around the MSF. Development of secondary porosity could cause the increase in hydraulic conductivity around the MSF. Our results suggest that minor conduits of the fracture network are sporadically distributed in the sedimentary rocks around the MSF in the AFST.     

Rare earth element distribution in the Melrose-b howardite: Pre-terrestrial negative Ce anomaly

In order to investigate the genetic nature of the polymict breccia howardite Melrose-b, a whole-rock sample was separated into four fractions after pulverization and the rare earth element (REE) abundances were precisely determined by isotopic dilution in those fractions. Such an investigation shows that the three precipitated fine-particle fractions are depleted in Ce by the same factor (0.62 ～ 0.64) in spite of differences in mineralogy, while the corresponding factor of Ce depletion for the suspended-matter fraction is 0.462; the smaller value indicates a greater depletion in Ce.The weight fraction values of four fractions calculated from the REE abundances are in satisfactory agreement with the actual values. The concentration ratios between plagioclase and mainly pigeonite fractions accord with those observed in similar phases of the Juvinas eucrite [1]. Moreover, the bulk pattern synthesized from the three fine-particle fractions is similar in absolute level to that for the Zmenj howardite [1]. It is concluded that the negative Ce anomaly reflects the effect predating the igneous activity in the parent planetary body.     

Estimation of spectral refractive index of colloidal sulfur at 20°C

In the marine environment, colloidal sulfurs often occur due to the redox reaction of sulfide ions and oxygen molecules. It is important to know the spectral refractive index of colloidal sulfurs for the discussion of the light scattering in the region where colloidal sulfurs are formed. We presented new methods to estimate the refractive index from the wave length of maximum absorbance (turbidity) of a nearly mono-dispersed colloidal solution. In these methods, the ripples in a first main maximum of the scattering efficiency,Q _sca , were taken into consideration. By virtue of these methods, we obtained the spectral refractive index of colloidal sulfurs,m _s (), at 20°C. The Cauchy's expression of it was given by

Current state of integrated earthquake simulation for earthquake hazard and disaster

This paper presents the current state of integrated simulation for earthquake hazard and disaster. This simulation takes advantage of the macro–micro analysis method; this method estimates an earthquake’s strong motion with high spatial and temporal resolution, using the bounding medium theory to obtain optimistic and pessimistic estimates of expected strong motion distribution and the singular perturbation expansion that results in an efficient multi-scale analysis. Integrated earthquake simulation calculates seismic responses for all structures in a target area, inputting simulated strong ground motion to a structure analysis method that is plugged into the system by means of a wrapper; a suitable method, linear or nonlinear, is chosen depending on the type of the structure. The results of all simulations are visualized so that residences and government officials can share a common recognition of earthquake hazard and disaster. Two examples of this integrated earthquake simulations are presented; one is made by plugging nonlinear structure analysis methods into the system, and the other is made for an actual city, the computer model of which is constructed with the help of available geographical information systems.     

1679年三河-平谷8级地震破裂带的大地切片实验研究

大地切片调查法,就是在不搅动的状态下从地下切出未固结的第四纪浅部地层的垂直断片,它是一种较新的活动断层探测技术。发生在1679年9月2日的三河-平谷8级地震(烈度Ⅺ),是北京及附近地区历史上记录到的最大地震。在该地震的宏观震中——潘各庄附近,运用大地切片调查法对该地震破裂带进行了实验性探测,获得了较好的效果。实验研究表明:大地切片保留了完好的沉积细结构特征;大地切片调查实施时,要选择合适的动力源,对于北京平原这种黏土含量较高的沉积层,挖掘机加振动锤的动力组合优于吊车加振动锤的动力组合;大地切片由于振动会造成一定地层厚度的压缩,但黏土含量较高的北京地区,压缩比例基本<5%。另外,结合探槽和大地切片的对比分析,揭示了最近2次古地震事件,分别是1679年事件和该地震之前的一次事件,两次地震的垂直同震位移分别是1·4m和1·2m     

Chemical compositions of refractory inclusions in the Murchison C2 chondrite

Samples from ten refractory inclusions in Murchison, some of which are splits of inclusions whose mineralogical and petrographic characteristics are known, have been analysed for thirty-six elements by neutron activation. Six inclusions have group II or group III patterns or variants of such patterns. Two inclusions, BB-5 and MUCH-1, have large negative Yb anomalies unaccompanied by correspondingly large negative Eu anomalies. It is possible that the latter condensed originally with group III patterns and preferentially took up Eu in later exchange processes under reducing conditions. One inclusion, SH-2, has heavy REE enrichment factors that increase with the refractoriness of the REE, indicating the presence of an extremely high-temperature, or ultrarefractory, REE condensate, but it also has a heavy REE/light REE ratio that indicates mixing of that component with a lower-temperature REE condensate. The frequency of highly fractionated REE patterns and absence of group I patterns suggest that refractory inclusions in Murchison stopped equilibrating with the nebular gas at higher temperatures than most Allende coarse-grained inclusions. The lower Ir/Os and Ru/Re ratios of some Murchison inclusions compared to those of Allende coarse-grained inclusions indicate that condensate alloys that contributed noble metals to the former also stopped equilibrating with the nebular gas at higher temperatures than those that contributed noble metals to the latter. Murchison inclusions tend to be lower in non-refractory elements than Allende coarse-grained inclusions, suggesting that, on average, the former underwent less severe secondary alteration than the latter.     

Chemical composition of HAL,an isotopically-unusual Allende inclusion

Thirty-seven major, minor and trace elements were determined by INAA and RNAA in samples of hibonite, black rim and portions of friable rim from an unusual Allende inclusion, HAL. The peculiar isotopic, mineralogical and textural properties of HAL are accompanied by very unusual trace element abundances. The most striking feature of the chemistry is the virtual absence of Ce from an inclusion otherwise highly enriched in REE compared to Cl chondrites. HAL is also depleted in Sr, Ba, U, V, Ru, Os and Ir, relative to other refractory elements. Of the lithophile elements determined which are normally considered to be refractory in a gas of solar composition, Sr, Ba, Ce, U and V are the most volatile in oxidizing gases. The distribution of REE between hibonite and rims seems to have been established when hibonite and other refractory minerals were removed at slightly different temperatures from a hot, oxidizing gas in which they previously coexisted as separate grains. On the basis of HAL's chemical and isotopic composition, possible locations for the chemical and mass dependent isotopic fractionation are in ejecta from the low temperature helium-burning zone of a supernova and in the locally oxidizing environment generated by evaporation of interstellar grains of near-chondritic chemical composition.     

A GRASS GIS parallel module for radio-propagation predictions

Geographical information systems are ideal candidates for the application of parallel programming techniques, mainly because they usually handle large data sets. To help us deal with complex calculations over such data sets, we investigated the performance constraints of a classic master–worker parallel paradigm over a message-passing communication model. To this end, we present a new approach that employs an external database in order to improve the calculation–communication overlap, thus reducing the idle times for the worker processes. The presented approach is implemented as part of a parallel radio-coverage prediction tool for the Geographic Resources Analysis Support System (GRASS) environment. The prediction calculation employs digital elevation models and land-usage data in order to analyze the radio coverage of a geographical area. We provide an extended analysis of the experimental results, which are based on real data from an Long Term Evolution (LTE) network currently deployed in Slovenia. Based on the results of the experiments, which were performed on a computer cluster, the new approach exhibits better scalability than the traditional master–worker approach. We successfully tackled real-world-sized data sets, while greatly reducing the processing time and saturating the hardware utilization.     

Contribution of shallow groundwater rapid fluctuation to soil salinization under arid and semiarid climate

Rising saline shallow groundwater and associated soil salinization problems are widespread especially in arid and semiarid areas. There have been numerous studies on groundwater-associated salinity, but more information is required on the effects of groundwater frequent and high fluctuations on soil salinization. In the present study, laboratory experiments and numerical simulations using HYDRUS-1D model were carried out for this purpose. The experimental and modeling results showed that groundwater fluctuation caused not only the accumulation of more salt in the soil profile compared to stable groundwater, but also an enhancement of the mechanism. Water table fluctuation induced a much greater spreading of the bromide (Br) tracer within the column than the constant water table. The Br content was on average five orders of magnitude greater under a fluctuating water table than under a constant one. Further, the numerical simulations showed that an increase in the groundwater fluctuation frequency brought about an increase in soil surface salinization under the same evaporation boundary conditions. Additional simulations with HYDRUS-1D were used to study the effects of various management strategies on soil salinization induced by shallow groundwater. Hence, by reducing the evaporation rate through the application of surface mulching, a significant reduction of salt concentration at the soil surface was observed. Moreover, frequent irrigations with small quantities were effective to reduce soil surface salt accumulation induced by saline shallow groundwater.