Time–frequency representation of earthquake accelerograms and inelastic structural response records using the adaptive chirplet decomposition and empirical mode decomposition

In this paper, the adaptive chirplet decomposition combined with the Wigner-Ville transform and the empirical mode decomposition combined with the Hilbert transform are employed to process various non-stationary signals (strong ground motions and structural responses). The efficacy of these two adaptive techniques for capturing the temporal evolution of the frequency content of specific seismic signals is assessed. In this respect, two near-field and two far-field seismic accelerograms are analyzed. Further, a similar analysis is performed for records pertaining to the response of a 20-story steel frame benchmark building excited by one of the four accelerograms scaled by appropriate factors to simulate undamaged and severely damaged conditions for the structure. It is shown that the derived joint time–frequency representations of the response time histories capture quite effectively the influence of non-linearity on the variation of the effective natural frequencies of a structural system during the evolution of a seismic event; in this context, tracing the mean instantaneous frequency of records of critical structural responses is adopted.The study suggests, overall, that the aforementioned techniques are quite viable tools for detecting and monitoring damage to constructed facilities exposed to seismic excitations.     

Correlation of hydraulic conductivity with stratigraphy in a fractured-dolomite aquifer, northeastern Wisconsin, USA

This study integrated surface and subsurface stratigraphic data with geophysical logs and hydrogeologic data in order to characterize the hydraulic properties of the Silurian dolomite in northeastern Wisconsin. Silurian stratigraphy consists of predictable alternations of characteristic facies associations. A vertical profile of hydraulic conductivity, obtained from short-interval packer tests in a core hole that penetrates a majority of the Silurian section, indicates that hydraulic conductivity ranges over five orders of magnitude (10^–1 to 10^–6 cm/s). Matrix conductivity is generally low and varies with texture; the finer-grained restricted-marine and transitional facies being less permeable than the coarser-grained open-marine facies. High-conductivity values are generally associated with bedding-plane fractures, and fracture frequency is greater in the restricted-marine facies. High-flow features in 16 wells were identified using fluid-temperature/resistivity and heat-pulse flowmeter logs. Natural-gamma logs were used to identify the stratigraphic position of flow features in each well and to correlate flow features to specific stratigraphic horizons. By combining stratigraphic, geophysical, and hydrogeologic data, 14 high-permeability zones within the Silurian aquifer have been identified and correlated in wells more than 16 km apart. These zones parallel bedding, appear most pronounced at contacts between contrasting lithologies, and are most abundant in restricted-marine lithologies. Electronic Publication     

Possible spatial variability in the Selwyn Block of Central Victoria: evidence from Late Devonian felsic igneous rocks

The Neoproterozoic to Cambrian Selwyn Block in Central Victoria forms the mainly unexposed basement to the Paleozoic metasediments, granitic rocks and felsic volcanic complexes of the Melbourne Zone of the Lachlan Orogen. The Late Devonian felsic rocks are largely products of partial melting of the Selwyn Block, and their chemistry implies that their sources were most probably arc-related andesite, dacite, volcaniclastic greywackes and some pelites. When plotted against the median longitudes of the plutons and volcanic complexes, the average values for ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr_t and ?Nd_t (at 370 Ma) reveal broad trends interpreted to reflect possible compositional and/or age structure in the Selwyn Block. Assuming that the trends are real, from W to E, I-type sources are progressively less crustally evolved, probably younging eastward. The S-type sources show no trend in ?Nd_t, suggesting that there was efficient sediment mixing. The ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr_t values, however, become more evolved eastward (opposite in sense to the apparent variation in the I-type sources). This is interpreted as the original Selwyn Block sediments having been more pelitic eastward, perhaps suggesting a deepening of the basin in this direction, as well as structurally upward in the succession. The opposite senses of variation highlights the spatial separation of the S- and I-type sources and suggest that the granitic magmas here are unlikely to represent any sort of mixing continuum.     

Critical Latitude in Tidal Dynamics Using the Kara Sea as an Example

It is well known that, within the linear nonviscous equations of tidal dynamics, the amplitudes of oscillations of the barotropic and baroclinic tidal velocity components unlimitedly increase when approaching the critical latitude. It is also known that the linear equations of tidal dynamics with a constant and specified vertical eddy viscosity indicate the occurrence of significant tidal velocity shears in the near-bottom layer, which are responsible for increasing the baroclinic tidal energy dissipation, the turbulent kinetic energy, and the thickness of the bottom boundary layer. The first circumstance—the growth of the amplitudes of oscillations of the barotropic and baroclinic tidal velocity components—is due to the elimination in the original equations of small terms, which are small everywhere except for the critical latitude zone. The second circumstance—the occurrence of significant tidal velocity shears—is due to the fact that internal tidal waves, which induce the dissipation of the baroclinic tidal energy and the diapycnal diffusion, are either not taken into account or described inadequately. It is suggested that diapycnal diffusion can lead to the degeneration (complete or partial) of tidal velocity shears, with all the ensuing consequences. The aforesaid is confirmed by simulation results obtained using the QUODDY-4 high-resolution three-dimensional finite-element hydrostatic model along the 66.25° E section, which passes in the Kara Sea across the critical latitude.     

A Nd and Sr isotopic study of the Ivrea zone,Southern Alps,N-Italy

The Ivrea zone represents a tilted cross section through deep continental crust. Sm-Nd isotopic data for peridotites from Baldissero and Balmuccia and for a suite of gabbros from the mafic formation adjacent to the Balmuccia peridotite provide evidence for an event of partial melting 607±19 Ma ago in an extended mantle source with ₆₀₇ ^Nd =+0.4±0.3. The peridotites are interpreted as the corresponding melt residue, the lower part of the mafic formation as the complementary melts which underwent further differentiation immediately after extraction. The Finero body represents a complex with layers of phlogopite peridotite, hornblende peridotite, and amphibole-rich gabbro. The isotopic signatures fall into two groups: (1) highly radiogenic Nd and low-radiogenic Sr characterize the phlogopite-free, amphibole-rich rocks, whereas (2) low-radiogenic Nd and highly radiogenic Sr is found in ultramafics affected by phlogopite metasomatism. Phlogopite metasomatism in the Ivrea zone is dated by a Rb-Sr whole rock isochron yielding 293±13 Ma. It was fed by K-rich fluids which were probably derived from metasediments. The high initial ₂₉₃ ^Nd value of about +7.5 for phlogopite-free samples indicates a high time-integrated Sm/Nd ratio in the Finero protolith 293 Ma ago. Sm-Nd analyses of metapelites from the paragneiss series yield Proterozoic crustal residence ages of 1.2 to 1.8 Ga. Internal Sm-Nd isochrons for three garnetiferous rocks show that closure of garnet at temperatures around 600° C or even lower occurred about 250 Ma ago.     

Pneumatic beneficiation of coal fines using the counter-current fluidized cascade

The counter-current gas-fluidized cascade (CFC) is a novel pneumatic device for separating mixed granular solids according to specific gravity. The possible utility of the CFC for beneficiation of coal in all size-ranges is presently under investigation, and in this paper some results are reported on pyrite beneficiation of synthetic pyrite-coal mixtures, and also on pyrite and ash beneficiation of as-received coal. The (geometric) mean particle size, by weight, of the coal used with added pyrite was 153 μm, and of the natural coal 233 μm. Preliminary results on the concentration of pyrite and ash in the reject streams indicate that CFC has some potential of being a simple and low-cost device for coal beneficiation.     

New data on hydrocarbons in auriferous conglomerates of the Witwatersrand ore region, Republic of South Africa

Genesis of deposits in the world’s largest Witwatersrand auriferous region (South Africa) remains a debatable issue over several decades. Based on geological and mineralogical-geochemical investigations, we previously proposed a sedimentary-exhalative hypothesis for its origin. In the present communication, we have attempted to develop and scrutinize this concept based on the study of organic matter in ore and nonore conglomerates, quartz in conglomerate pebbles, and fluid inclusions in quartz from pebbles and cement of ore and nonore conglomerates.     

Photoionization models of QSO's intervening absorption clouds

A new sufficiently compact code LINESPEC is described which is designed to determine the kinetic (collisional+photo) ionization equilibrium in a slab of a hot (T10⁴K) rarefied gas, and to simulate synthetic absorption-line spectra formed due to passing continuous radiation (from a quasar) through the slab. Eighty-six resonant absorption lines of ions and atoms of H, He, C, N, O, Ne, Mg, Al, Si, S, Ca, Fe are included with wavelengths in the range 9125000 Å. the behaviour and observability of various lines are analysed as a function of intensity of the ionizing radiation and kinetic plasma temperature (for a power-law spectrum of ionizing photons,N _ph (E) E ^– with =1.5;E is photon energy). For the purely collisional ionization (N _ph =0), the spectrum contains various combinations of absorption lines of hydrogen and/or of atoms and ions of other elements, the relative intensities of the lines being strongly temperaturedependent. If the ionizing radiation is intense enough, the L line dominates. In a wide parameter range L may be the only line visible in the UV spectral range.     

An explanation for USGS Station 6 record, 1979 Imperial Valley earthquake: a caustic induced by a sedimentary wedge

Summary. The largest earthquake-induced acceleration yet recorded occurred at the United States Geological Survey's (USGS) Strong Motion Array Station 6 during the 1979 October 15, Imperial Valley, California earthquake. This large acceleration (1.74 g, vertical component) is anomalously strong considering the low magnitude of the event ( M = 6.4), and the fact that receivers in the immediate neighbourhood of Station 6 recorded much lower accelerations. Previous studies of the records by other investigators have suggested a number of explanations for the anomaly, several of which implicate the near-receiver geological structure.
We present a detailed time and frequency domain analysis of the acceleration records at Stations 6, 5, 7, 8 and Diff Array to suggest that the anomalous acceleration is the consequence of the focusing of the incoming body waves by the lens-like effect of the sedimentary wedge between Imperial Valley and Brawley faults. The analyses include a detailed comparison of observed particle motions between neighbouring stations. Narrow band-pass filtered particle motions at Station 6 reveal the interaction of multipath arrivals as well as the frequency-dependent interference between them. Three-dimensional ray tracing experiments confirm the fact that the faulted sedimentary wedge is capable of focusing P -waves near Station 6. The interpretation that best combines theoretical and observed results is that amplification was due to the formation of an elliptic umbilic caustic with focus near the surface.     

Spatial rainfall estimation by linear and non-linear co-kriging of radar-rainfall and raingage data

The feasibility of linear and nonlinear geostatistical estimation techniques for optimal merging of rainfall data from raingage and radar observations is investigated in this study by use of controlled numerical experiments. Synthetic radar and raingage data are generated with their hypothetical error structures that explicitly account for sampling characteristics of the two sensors. Numerically simulated rainfall fields considered to be ground-truth fields on 4×4 km grids are used in the generation of radar and raingage observations. Ground-truth rainfall fields consist of generated rainfall fields with various climatic characteristics that preserve the space-time covariance function of rainfall events in extratropical cyclonic storms. Optimal mean areal precipitation estimates are obtained based on the minimum variance, unbiased property of kriging techniques under the second order homogeneity assumption of rainfall fields. The evaluation of estimated rainfall fields is done based on the refinement of spatial predictability over what would be provided from each sensor individually. Attention is mainly given to removal of measurement error and bias that are synthetically introduced to radar measurements. The influence of raingage network density on estimated rainfall fields is also examined.