Mechanisms of shear failure in artificial fractures of sandstone and their implication for models of hydromechanical coupling

Summary Direct shear tests, in which the behaviour of the rock surfaces during shear could be continuously observed, were used to study the shear failure of a profiled and clean discontinuity artificially prepared from natural sandstone. Displacement transducers were used to measure the normal and shear displacements. A series of strain gauges glued on the sides of the upper block provided information on the change of the stress field occurring close to the discontinuities whilst shear displacement increased, and these changes were then compared with the behaviour of the profiled surface. The results of the laboratory tests, the sequence of photographs taken for most of them, and the results conducted with a sample of similar shape made from the same rock material and tested in a rotary shear machine, allowed several stages and mechanisms of failure to be defined: static friction and mobilization of initial shear stiffness; mobilization of sliding; mobilization of brittle fracture; post-peak failure of the teeth; descent of the teeth; gliding and ploughing; commencement of second cycle of shearing. In many respects these stages are similar to those occurring between sliding surfaces of metal and suggest that the analyses developed in tribology may be relevant to the development of constitutive models for predicting the hydromechanical coupled behaviour of a discontinuity with shear displacement. Such models will have to consider these different stages of shear, because the original discontinuity changes its geometry with displacement and is filled with gouge which changes its grain size with displacement.     

The Amazon river breeze and the local boundary layer: I. Observations

Observations of the diurnal evolution of the planetary boundary layer over the Amazon rain forest, made at sites close to the confluence of the Solimões and Negro rivers (approximately at 3°S, 60°W) near Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil, show the existence of a diurnal rotation of the wind near the surface and the frequent presence of low-level nocturnal wind maxima. These circulations are shown to be plausibly explained as elements of a river and land breeze circulation induced by the thermal contrast between the rivers and the adjacent forest.     

Enhancements of CO and O3 from burnings in sugar cane fields

The manual harvest of sugar cane requires the burning of its foliage. This burning has strongly increased in Brazil after the National Alcohol Program was started which substituted automobile gasoline engines for alcohol engines. Presently, the source strength per unit area of this rural pollution is comparable to the well-known biomass burning source in Amazonia. The observed concentrations of CO and O₃ in the rural area of the state of São Paulo during the 1988 burning season were twice as large as those reported from an aircraft experiment of 1985 for biomass burnings of the tropical rain forest. Results are reported from airplane measurements and from three fixed ground stations. Mixing ratios of ozone and carbon monoxide in the height range below 6 km are normally less than 40 and 100 ppbv, (parts per billion by volume), respectively, in the absence of burnings. A strong O₃ and CO layer was observed during the burning period with peak concentrations of 80 ppbv of ozone and 580 ppbv of CO at about 2 km. The concentrations of CH₄ and CO₂ were also large, 1756 ppbv and 409 ppmv, respectively, at 1500 m. During the dry season period of the experiment, the ground based O₃ average diurnal variations obtained at the rural sites were practically identical to the typical urban variation observed at São José dos Campos, with daytime ozone values between 45 and 60 ppbv. A second three-day airplane excursion to the surgar cane fields in the wet season of 1989 has produces results to be contrasted with the dry (burning) season of 1988 and 1989. Carbon monoxide concentrations were below 100 ppbv at all heights and ozone concentrations were around 30–40 ppbv. The maximum daytime concentrations at the ground station Bauru was 25 ppbv of O₃, and at Jaboticabal it was 35 ppbv of O₃, only one half of what was observed in the dry season.Universidade Estadual de São Paulo.     

Characterization of dissolved organic materials in surface waters within the blast zone of Mount St Helens,Washington

After the May 18, 1980, eruption of Mount St Helens, the concentration of dissolved organic material in surface waters near the volcano increased significantly as a result of the destruction of the surrounding conifer forest. Low molecular weight organic compounds identified in the blast zone surface waters were derived from pyrolysis of plant and soil organic materials incorporated into pyroclastic flow, mud flow and debris avalanche deposits. A major fraction of the dissolved organic material consisted of high molecular weight, colored, organic acids that are similar in their general properties to aquatic fulvic acids found in more typical surface waters except for greater sulfur contents. The other major fraction of the dissolved organic material consisted of hydrophilic acids, which may include compounds capable of supporting heterotrophic microorganisms, and precursors in the formation of aquatic fulvic acids. The organic chemistry of blast zone surface waters will probably be greatly influenced by the May 18, 1980, eruption for many years.     

Coseismic and post-seismic signatures of the Sumatra 2004 December and 2005 March earthquakes in GRACE satellite gravity

The GRACE satellite mission has been measuring the Earth's gravity field and its temporal variations since 2002 April. Although these variations are mainly due to mass transfer within the geofluid envelops, they also result from mass displacements associated with phenomena including glacial isostatic adjustment and earthquakes. However, these last contributions are difficult to isolate because of the presence of noise and of geofluid signals, and because of GRACE's coarse spatial resolution (>400 km half-wavelength). In this paper, we show that a wavelet analysis on the sphere helps to retrieve earthquake signatures from GRACE geoid products. Using a wavelet analysis of GRACE geoids products, we show that the geoid variations caused by the 2004 December ( M _w= 9.2) and 2005 March ( M _w= 8.7) Sumatra earthquakes can be detected. At GRACE resolution, the 2004 December earthquake produced a strong coseismic decrease of the gravity field in the Andaman Sea, followed by relaxation in the area affected by both the Andaman 2004 and the Nias 2005 earthquakes. We find two characteristic timescales for the relaxation, with a fast variation occurring in the vicinity of the Central Andaman ridge. We discuss our coseismic observations in terms of density changes of crustal and upper-mantle rocks, and of the vertical displacements in the Andaman Sea. We interpret the post-seismic signal in terms of the viscoelastic response of the Earth's mantle. The transient component of the relaxation may indicate the presence of hot, viscous material beneath the active Central Andaman Basin.     

Mapping and initial dilution estimation of an ocean outfall plume using an autonomous underwater vehicle

A monitoring mission to study the shape and estimate initial dilution of the S. Jacinto outfall plume using an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) was performed on July 30, 2002. In order to reduce the uncertainty about plume location and to concentrate the vehicle mission only in the hydrodynamic mixing zone, outputs of a near-field prediction model, based on effective real-time in situ measurements of current speed and direction and density stratification, were opportunistically used to specify in real time the mission transects. The surface characteristics of the outfall plume were found to be influenced strongly by the relatively weak stratification and low current velocities. Dilution was estimated using a temperature–salinity (TS-) diagram with initial mixing lines between wastewater and ambient waters. Effluent dilutions were at least 30:1 in this study. In order to efficiently map the plume dispersion we applied the least-squares collocation method technique. Our results demonstrate that AUVs can provide high-quality measurements of physical properties of effluent plumes in a quite effective manner and valuable considerations about the initial mixing processes under real oceanic conditions can be further investigated.     

Structural control of Au–Pd mineralization (Jacutinga): An example from the Cauê Mine, Quadrilátero Ferrífero, Brazil

Precambrian banded iron formations (BIFs) in the Quadrilátero Ferrífero host a special kind of Au–Pd mineralization known as Jacutinga. The main orebodies are hosted within the Cauê Syncline, a SW-verging fold that involves Paleoproterozoic metasedimentary rocks in the Itabira District, a regional synclinorium with BIFs in the core of synclinal folds in the northeastern part of Quadrilatéro Ferrífero, Minas Gerais. Structural analysis reveals two important features of the district: the polydeformed character of the rocks and the importance of brittle structures in the control of the orebodies. Two deformational events are recognized in this area. The first event developed the main foliation, S1, that is the enveloping surface of the Cauê Syncline. The second event is better defined in the northern boundary of the structure where it is represented by a right-lateral wrench fault zone that has developed a foliation, S2, that truncates S1. This wrench fault was also responsible for the development of a system of fractures (Frm) that host the Au–Pd mineralization. The auriferous bodies of Cauê Syncline (Y, X, Área Central, Aba Norte, Noroeste and Aba Leste/Aba Leste Inferior) were generated during this second event. Shear fractures (R, R′ and P) and tension fractures (T) developed in response to the wrench fault system under brittle conditions. The best-developed, and most commonly mineralized fractures are R and T in all auriferous bodies. Elsewhere, the best mineralization occurs in the contacts of hematite bodies (soft/hard) and intrusive rocks with fractured itabirites. Other mineralization (Aba Norte, Área Central and X) is hosted on the contacts of other units.A system of fractures, as well as their intersections, thus represents the structural control on Jacutinga bodies and is responsible for the geometry of the orebodies. Of importance, there is no control by mineral/stretching lineations, fold axes and other ductile structure on the geometry and plunge of the orebodies.     

Plate Tectonics and mineralization in the Tethyan region

The association between mineralization and plate movements is becoming evident in the American Cordillera and the Pacific Island Arcs. This paper attempts to show how these ideas apply to the zone along which the Eurasian and Afro-Arabia plates collided during the late Mesozoic, between the Alps and the Himalayas. The study highlights some of the outstanding problems concerned with plate collision and the important question of the origin of ophiolite complexes. Some of the major mineralized districts in Greece, Turkey and Iran can be related to active plate edges, to island arc development and to related tectonism around pre-Mesozoic crystalline massifs. The study reinforces the view that the younger tectonic zones traversing the Middle East will become major mineral-producing areas in the future.