Preliminary results of the modelling of the Mexico City valley with a two-dimensional boundary element method for the scattering of SH waves

A numerical method is used for calculating the two-dimensional scattering of incident SH waves to try to explain some of the amplification patterns observed from recent data of the Mexico City's accelerometric array. The method is briefly presented and its efficiency is tested against analytical and other numerical solutions for canyons and alluvial valleys.

Spectral ratios computed for transition and lake-bed zones of the Mexico City valley with respect to the average motion at hill-zone sites are also presented. The one-dimensional model is used to explain the amplifications observed at a site where the valley is relatively shallow, while the two-dimensional approach is employed at another site at the centre of the valley where irregular amplification patterns have been observed. Results in the time domain are also shown.     

Cretaceous stratigraphy and palaeoenvironments of the Southern Petén Basin, Guatemala

The Cretaceous deposits of the Southern Petén Basin, an oil-producing province, are located to the south of the Yucatan Platform and to the east of the Chiapas Carbonate Platform of Mexico. The succession in the southern part of this basin has been studied both in wells and at outcrop by microfacies analysis. It is composed of 5000 m of shallow marine carbonates and evaporites with a few thin layers of pelagic limestones rich in organic carbon and planktic foraminifera deposited during peak transgressions or maximum flooding. The sedimentation of this thick succession was not continuous, and the section is punctuated by subaerial erosional bounding surfaces and a single hardground which marks the final drowning of the carbonate platform during the late Maastrichtian. New age determinations have been obtained on the basis of planktic and benthic foraminifera from the Aptian to Santonian Cobán Formation, D, C, B and A Members. Cobán C (Albian) and B (Cenomanian) Members are the present oil reservoirs. The rudist and alveolinid limestones of late Campanian and Maastrichtian age referred to the Campur Formation in the Southern Petén Basin are here reassigned to the Angostura Formation, as recognized in the Chiapas area. The Actela Formation is defined here to encompass the limestone breccia deposits that occur at the Cretaceous–Tertiary boundary and extend into the Parvularugoglobigerina eugubina Zone of early Danian age. The D, C, B and A Members of the Cobán Formation and the Angostura Formation represent second order transgressive and regressive trends in a passive margin area where the deposits indicate a succession of various environments, including fluviatile, salinas, shallow marine carbonate platform, outer shelf and intrashelf basin. High subsidence rates, sea-level changes and tectonic uplift controlled the sedimentation.

Abstract

Les formations crétacées du sud-est du Bassin du Petén, région pétrolière du nord du Guatemala, sont situées au Sud du Yucatan et à l'Est du Chiapas au Mexique. Ces sédiments ont été étudiés à la fois dans deux puits et à l'affleurement par l'analyse des microfaciès. Cet ensemble sédimentaire est composé de 5000 m de carbonates de plate-forme de faible profondeur et d'évaporites, dans lesquels s'intercalent de minces couches de calcaires pélagiques riches en matière organique et en foraminifères planctoniques. Ces calcaires pélagiques se sont déposés lors des maximums de transgressions. La sédimentation de cette épaisse série n'est pas continue et est ponctuée par quelques surfaces d'érosion sub-aérienne et une surface durcie qui souligne l'ennoyage définitif de la plate-forme carbonatée au Maastrichtien terminal. De nouvelles datations ont été obtenues sur la formation Cobán et ses membres D, C, B et A qui s'étagent de l'Aptien au Santonien. Les membres C (albien) et B (cénomanien) constituent les réservoirs productifs. Les calcaires à rudistes et à alveolinidés du Campanien supérieur–Maastrichtien ont été appelés à tort au Petén formation Campur. Ils doivent, selon nous, être attribués à la formation Angostura comme au Chiapas voisin, où affleurent des faciès comparables et de même âge. Une nouvelle formation est créée (formation Actela) pour les brèches calcaires de la limite Crétacé–Tertiaire et de la Zone à Eugubina du Danien inférieur. Les membres D, C, B, A de la formation Cobán et la formation Angostura représentent des cycles transgressifs–régressifs de deuxième ordre. Sur cette marge passive du Petén, les dépôts correspondent à des environnements variés comme des terres émergées soumises à une altération karstique et à des dépôts fluviatiles, des salinas, des plates-formes carbonatées marines, des shelf externes et des bassins intra plate-forme. La sédimentation a été, ici, contrôlée par une forte vitesse de subsidence, les variations du niveau marin et des soulèvements tectoniques.     

Modelling considerations in probabilistic performance‐based seismic evaluation: case study of the I‐880 viaduct

Limitations associated with deterministic methods to quantify demands and develop rational acceptance criteria have led to the emergence of probabilistic procedures in performance‐based seismic engineering. The Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research performance‐based methodology is one such approach. In this paper, the impact of certain modelling decisions made at different stages of the evaluation process on the performance assessment of a typical multi‐bent viaduct is examined. Modelling, in the context of this paper, covers hazard modelling, structural modelling and loss modelling. The specific application considered in this study is a section of an existing viaduct in California: the I‐880 interstate highway. Several simulation models of the viaduct are developed, a series of nonlinear time‐history analyses are carried out to predict demands, measures of damage are evaluated and the probability of closure of the viaduct is estimated using the specified hazard for the site. It is concluded that the methodology offers several advantages over existing deterministic performance‐based procedures. Results of the investigation indicate that the assessment methodology is particularly sensitive to the reliability of decisions made by bridge inspectors following a seismic event, and to the dispersion in the demand estimation, which in turn is influenced by several factors including soil–structure interaction effects and ground motion scaling procedures. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

AstroGrid: A place for your science

Nicholas A Walton, Silvia Dalla, Eduardo Gonzalez-Solarez, Anita Richards and Jonathan Tedds show off the fast-developing astronomical applications of the UK's virtual observatory service.     

Community and Population Responses of the Macroinfauna to Physical Factors over a Range of Exposed Sandy Beaches in South-central Chile

Ten exposed sandy sites covering a range from reflective to dissipative beaches were sampled in south-central Chile to evaluate: (1) spatial changes in species richness, abundance and biomass of the intertidal macroinfauna in response to changes in mean grain size, beach face slope and beach type, and (2) spatial changes in abundance, biomass and body sizes of the most abundant species in response to changes in the physical factors. The number of species, abundance and biomass per beach in general decreased with increasing particle size and beach face slope (steeper beaches) and increased from reflective to dissipative conditions. The best fit for number of species was with Dean's parameter, a measure of beach type, whereas for abundance and biomass the best fits were found with particle size. The isopod Excirolana braziliensis and the anomuran Emerita analoga increased in abundance and biomass towards dissipative conditions, whereas Excirolana hirsuticauda showed the opposite trend in biomass and was significantly larger in beaches with steeper profiles. It is concluded that responses to changes in beach type are more pronounced at community level than within species populations.     

Retrowedge-related Carboniferous units and coeval magmatism in the northwestern Neuquén province, Argentina

The studied Carboniferous units comprise metasedimentary (Guaraco Norte Formation), pyroclastic (Arroyo del Torreón Formation), and sedimentary (Huaraco Formation) rocks that crop out in the northwestern Neuquén province, Argentina. They form part of the basement of the Neuquén Basin and are mostly coeval with the Late Paleozoic accretionary prism complex of the Coastal Cordillera, south-central Chile. U–Pb SHRIMP dating of detrital zircon yielded a maximum depositional age of 374?Ma (Upper Devonian) for the Guaraco Norte Formation and 389?Ma for the Arroyo del Torreón Formation. Detrital magmatic zircon from the Guaraco Norte Formation are grouped into two main populations of Devonian and Ordovician (Famatinian) ages. In the Arroyo del Torreón Formation, zircon populations are also of Devonian and Ordovician (Famatinian), as well as of Late Neoproterozoic and Mesoproterozoic ages. In both units, there is a conspicuous population of Devonian magmatic zircon grains (from 406?±?4?Ma to 369?±?5?Ma), indicative of active magmatism at that time range. The ε_Hf values of this population range between ?2.84 and ?0.7, and the TDM-(Hf) are mostly Mesoproterozoic, suggesting that the primary sources of the Devonian magmatism contained small amounts of Mesoproterozoic recycled crustal components. The chemical composition of the Guaraco Norte Formation corresponds to recycled, mature polycyclic sediment of mature continental provenance, pointing to a passive margin with minor inputs from continental margin magmatic rocks. The chemical signature of the Huaraco Formation indicates that a magmatic arc was the main provenance for sediments of this unit, which is consistent with the occurrence of tuff—mostly in the Arroyo del Torreón Formation and very scarcely in the Huaraco Formation—with a volcanic-arc signature, jointly indicating the occurrence of a Carboniferous active arc magmatism during the deposition of the two units. The Guaraco Norte Formation is interpreted to represent passive margin deposits of mostly Lower Carboniferous age (younger than 374?Ma and older than 326?Ma) that precede the onset of the accretionary prism in Chile and extend into the earliest stage of the accretion, in a retrowedge position. The Arroyo del Torreón and Huaraco formations are considered to be retrowedge basin deposits to the early frontal accretionary prism (Eastern Series) of Chile. The presence of volcanism with arc signature in the units provides evidence of a Mississippian magmatic arc that can be correlated with limited exposures of the same age in the Frontal Cordillera (Argentina). The arc would have migrated to the West (Coastal Batholith) during Pennsylvanian–Permian times (coevally with the later basal accretionary prism/Western Series). The source of a conspicuous population of Devonian detrital zircon interpreted to be of magmatic origin in the studied units is discussed in various possible geotectonic scenarios, the preferred model being a magmatic arc developed in the Chilenia block, related to a west-dipping subduction beneath Chilenia before and shortly after its collision against Cuyania/Gondwana, at around 390?Ma and not linked to the independent, Devonian–Mississippian arc, developed to the south, in Patagonia.     

Tectono-sequence stratigraphy and U–Pb zircon ages of the Rincón Blanco Depocenter,northern Cuyo Rift,Argentina

Extensional processes that followed the Gondwanan Orogeny rise to the development of a series of rift basins along the continental margin over older accreted Eopaleozoic terranes. Stratigraphic, structural, paleontological, and isotopic studies are presented in this work in order to constrain the ages of the sedimentary infilling and to analyze the tectosedimentary evolution of one of the Cuyo basin depocenters, known as Rincón Blanco. This asymmetrical half-graben was filled by continental sediments under a strong tectonic control. The infilling was strongly controlled by tectonics which in term produced distinctive features along the whole sedimentary sequence. Using a combination of lithological and structural data the infilling was subdivided into packages of genetically linked units bounded by regional extended surfaces. Several tuffs and acid volcanic rocks have been collected across the whole section of the Rincon Blanco sub-basin for SHRIMP and LA-MC-ICPMS U–Pb zircon dating. The ages obtained range from 246.4 ± 1.1 Ma to 230.3 ± 1.5 Ma which is the time elapsed for the deposition of three tectono-sequence units separated by regional unconformities and mainly constrained to the Middle Triassic. They are interpreted as a result of a reactivation of the extensional system that has evolved along strike as segments of faults that linked together and/or as laterally propagating faults. Regional correlation with coeval rift basins permits to establish north-south propagation in the extensional regime along the western margin of SW Gondwana. This trending started in the lowermost Triassic and extended until the latest Triassic. Two of them were precisely correlated with Cerro Puntudo and Cacheuta half-graben systems. The new data indicate that the three sequences were mostly deposited during the Middle Triassic (246 to 230 Ma), with no evidence of sedimentation during Norian and Rhaetian, which is in conflict with some previous biostratigraphic studies.     

Sources and behavior of arsenic and trace elements in groundwater and surface water in the Poopó Lake Basin,Bolivian Altiplano

Water management in semiarid and arid catchments such as the Poopó Lake Basin requires improved understanding of the complex behavior of the various contaminants, which affect the drinking water quality and considered as crucial for sustainable development of the region. Mechanisms of arsenic (As) release in the surface and groundwater were studied. Hydrochemical data for surface water (4 samples) and groundwater (28 samples) were collected in a small watershed in the Poopó catchment at the highland of the Bolivian Andes (Altiplano). All of them show high electrical conductivity values and moderately oxidizing conditions. The surface water contains high concentration of sulfate and the trace elements As, Zn and Pb in the zone affected by acid mine drainage. There is a large variability of the concentration of As and of the trace elements in the groundwater in the five different regions within the Poopó catchment. The metal concentrations sensitive to changes of redox state and results of speciation modeling suggest that As (V) is a predominant aqueous species, which conforms to the prevailing oxidizing conditions in the shallow groundwater environment. Two generalized trends for As distribution were identified in groundwater: (a) high concentrations are found in the arid zone (100–250 μg/L) in the southern (region III) and in the northwestern (region V) regions, and (b) low concentrations (<50 μg/L) are found in the remaining part of the basin (region I, II and IV). However, the spatial distribution within these regions needs to be investigated further. A conclusion from the present study is that there are multiple sources of As as well as other trace elements (such as Cd, Mn and Zn) in the Poopó Lake Basin. Among the sources and the processes which led to the mobility of As and other trace metals in the region are: (a) weathering of sulfide minerals, (b) oxidation of pyrite and/or arsenopyrite in mineralized areas and (c) desorption from hydrous ferric oxide (HFO) surfaces. In non-mining areas, volcanic ash is suggested to be a significant source of As.