Tectonic implications of the earthquake swarm of 1997 in the Michoacan Triangle, Mexico

An earthquake swarm occurred during February and March 1997 in the vicinity of the Tancitaro Volcano, in the southern part of the tectonically complex Michoacan Triangle. A study of these events provides an opportunity to map the active faults in the area and to learn if the orientation and the sense of motion on these faults are consistent with the mapped faults and the alignment of cinder cones in the region. The foci of 230 earthquakes, which could be located, are distributed between 10 and 18 km depth, and show an alignment in, roughly, a NE direction. The focal mechanisms and seismic moments of the 27 best-recorded events were determined by waveform modeling of P and S waves. These mechanisms show two distinct patterns. More than 50% of the solutions are left-lateral strike–slip mechanisms with a normal component. The preferred fault plane strikes NE. Another group of events, probably caused by triggered seismicity on the Chapala–Oaxaca fault zone, shows left-lateral strike–slip mechanisms with a large-thrust component on NW-trending faults. S wave splitting shows 1–2.5% crustal-anisotropy. The direction of the anisotropy coincides with the NE alignment of events, and the preferred nodal plane. This is also the alignment of cinder cones, suggesting that preexisting fractures and cracks are responsible for the seismicity and anisotropic behavior of the crust. The resulting stress orientation, NE compression, is the one expected for the fore-arc region. We conclude that although Michoacan Triangle lies in the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, it does not form part of this stress province where the stress orientation is NS extension.     

Assessment of the development of aquifer management councils (COTAS) for sustainable groundwater management in Guanajuato, Mexico

Collective groundwater management by water users—self-regulation—is increasingly advocated as a complement to state regulation. This article analyzes the attempts by the Guanajuato State Water Commission (CEAG) in central Mexico to promote user self-regulation through the establishment and development of 14 Consejos Técnicos de Aguas (COTAS; Technical Water Councils). Based on a joint assessment by a former senior CEAG policy-maker and two researchers, Guanajuato’s groundwater-management policy is reviewed to understand why user self-regulation was less successful than expected. It concludes that increasing awareness and improving the knowledge base on groundwater is not enough to trigger self-regulation by groundwater users. A wider delegation of responsibilities to the COTAS is necessary, combined with: (1) functioning mechanisms for enforcing groundwater legislation, especially concerning well permits and pumped volumes, and (2) mechanisms that ensure the legitimacy and accountability of users??representatives to both users and state agencies.     

Spatial and temporal changes in dry-snow line altitude on the Antarctic Peninsula

Drastic changes were detected in glacial systems of the Antarctic Peninsula in the last decades. The observed phenomena comprise the disintegration of ice shelves, acceleration and thinning of glaciers, and retreat of glacier fronts. However, due to the lack of consistent systematic observations in particular of the higher parts of the glacial systems, it is difficult to predict further responses of the Antarctic Peninsula glaciers to climatic change. The present paper analyses spatial and temporal variations of changes in the dry-snow line altitude on the Antarctic Peninsula as extracted from a time series (1992–2005) of ERS-1/2 SAR and Envisat ASAR data. Upward changes in dry-snow line altitude were observed in general, and are attributed to extreme high-temperature events impacting the central plateaus of the Antarctic Peninsula and the increasing duration of warming periods. A mean decrease in dry-snow line altitude was detected on the west side of the peninsula and is identified as a response to recorded increase in precipitation and accumulation. These results validate the capability of SAR data for deriving superficial parameters of glaciers to be used as indicators of climatic changes in high-latitude regions where operational restrictions limit conventional meteorological observations.     

The P-y Response of Laterally Loaded Flexible Piles in Residual Soil

This paper describes the main features related to lateral displacements with depth after successive lateral loading–unloading cycles applied to the top of reinforced-concrete flexible bored piles embedded in naturally bonded residual soil. The bored piles under study have a cylindrical shape, with 0.40-m in diameter and 8.0-m in length. Both bored piles types (P1 and P2) include an embedded steel pipe section in their center as longitudinal steel reinforcements: pile type P1 has another 16 steel rods as steel reinforcement to concrete while pile type P2 has no further steel reinforcement. Pile type P1 has three times as much stiffness (EI) and four and a half times the plastic moment (M_y) than pile type P2. A similar load–displacement performance was observed at initial loads as for small displacements of both piles. At this initial loading stage, the response of the reinforced concrete piles is a function of the soil characteristics and of a linear elastic pile deformation. During this stage, piles can even be understood as probes for evaluating soil reactions. For larger horizontal displacements, after the concrete section starts undergoing large deformations, approaching the ultimate bending moment, pile behavior and consequently the load–displacement relation starts to diverge for both piles. For pile P1 the values of relevant lateral displacements are extended to about 2.5-m in depth, while for pile P2 lateral displacements are mostly constrained to about 2.0-m in depth. Measurements of horizontal displacements of pile P1 against depth recorded with a slope indicator show that, after unloading, lateral loads at distinct stages (small and near failure loads), exhibits a much higher elastic phase of the system response. An analytical fitting model of soil reaction is proposed based on the measured displacements from slope indicator. The integration of a continuous model proposed for the soil reaction agrees fairly well with the measured displacements up to moments close to plastic limit. Results of load–displacement show that the stiffer pile (P1) was able to mobilize twice as much lateral load compared to pile P2 for a service limit displacement of about 20 mm. The paper shows results that enable the isolation of the structural variable through real scale pile load tests, thus granting understanding of its importance and enabling its quantitative visualization in examples of piles embedded in residual soil sites.

     

Study of Metal Distribution in Raw and Screened Swine Manure

The growth of industrial swine production over the last few years has led to a growth in concern over effluents generated by the activity. Several elements, mainly toxic metals, can be present in swine wastewater and can have a serious environmental impact. It is important, therefore, to know the metal concentration before the discharge of wastewater. In this work the temporal metal distribution in swine manure and its potential reduction using coarse (2 mm) and fine (<0.45 μm) liquid‐solid separation techniques were investigated. In order to do this, different swine manure sample preparation methods for Al, Ba, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Ni, Pb, Sr and Zn determination by Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP OES) were tested. The acid mixtures used to digest the manure sample significantly affected the metal recovery. Good analyte recoveries were observed with nitric acid/hydrogen peroxide mixtures or nitric acid/perchloric acid mixtures. Sulfuric acid/hydrogen peroxide mixtures produced inconsistent results and poor recoveries, mainly for Ba and Pb. It was observed that metal concentrations in swine manure varied greatly with time, up to one order of magnitude, due to changes in swine production such as feed and animal numbers. Metals concentrations observed in the raw wastewater exceeded Brazilian limits for discharge into water bodies and recommendations for agricultural use. Results obtained from the liquid‐solid separation study showed that metals in the raw swine manure were not removed with coarse screening. However, the major fraction of metals were removed by filtration (0.45 μm), with the exception of Na, K and Sr. Thus, the use of liquid‐solid separation techniques that capture the fine solid fractions (and associated metals) from raw manure can have a favorable impact on the environment and contribute to swine production wastewater treatment.     

Upper Ocean Temperatures Hit Record High in 2020

The long-term warming of the ocean is a critical indicator of both the past and present state of the climate system. It also provides insights about the changes to come, owing to the persistence of both decadal variations and secular trends,which the ocean records extremely well(Hansen et al., 2011;IPCC, 2013;Rhein et al., 2013;Trenberth et al., 2016;Abram et al., 2019).     

Direct dating of the Sete Lagoas cap carbonate (Bambuí Group,Brazil) and implications for the Neoproterozoic glacial events

The end of the Neoproterozoic is punctuated by glacial deposition, but the chronology of these deposits is hindered presently by the paucity of geochronological data. Here, we present new radiometric dating for the basal Sete Lagoas cap carbonate deposits that overlie glacial units in the São Francisco craton. Six samples from aragonite‐pseudomorph crystal‐rich facies, showing pristine textures and constant ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios around 0.7075, yielded a Pb–Pb isochron age of 740 ± 22 Ma, which is interpreted as the depositional age for these remarkably preserved rocks. This age can be used to infer a low‐to‐moderate palaeolatitude of 20–30° for carbonate (and glacial) deposition. In addition, as it overlaps the ages obtained for the oldest Neoproterozoic glacial successions, our result reinforces the idea of a long‐standing ‘Sturtian’ interval, suggesting that this event represents either different discrete glaciations or a protracted event encompassing almost 80 Ma.     

Using SHRIMP zircon dating to unravel tectonothermal events in arc environments. The early Palaeozoic arc of NW Iberia revisited

Abstract Dating of zircon cores and rims from granulites developed in a shear zone provides insights into the complex relationship between magmatism and metamorphism in the deep roots of arc environments. The granulites belong to the uppermost allochthonous terrane of the NW Iberian Massif, which forms part of a Cambro‐Ordovician magmatic arc developed in the peri‐Gondwanan realm. The obtained zircon ages confirm that voluminous calc‐alkaline magmatism peaked around 500 Ma and was shortly followed by granulite facies metamorphism accompanied by deformation at c. 480 Ma, giving a time framework for crustal heating, regional metamorphism, deformation and partial melting, the main processes that control the tectonothermal evolution of arc systems. Traces of this arc can be discontinuously followed in different massifs throughout the European Variscan Belt, and we propose that the uppermost allochthonous units of the NW Iberian Massif, together with the related terranes in Europe, constitute an independent and coherent terrane that drifted away from northern Gondwana prior to the Variscan collisional orogenesis.     

Evaluation of pile foundation response to lateral spreading

The effects of liquefaction on deep foundations are very damaging and costly, and they keep recurring in many earthquakes. The first part of the paper reviews the field experience of deep foundations affected by liquefaction during earthquakes in the last few decades, as well as the main lessons learned. The second part of the paper presents results of physical modeling of deep foundations in the presence of liquefaction conducted by the authors and others at the 100g-ton RPI centrifuge. In the last decade centrifuge modeling has been identified as a key tool to identify and quantify mechanisms, calibrate analyses and evaluate retrofitting strategies for pile foundations. Results are presented of centrifuge models of instrumented pile foundations subjected to lateral spreading, including single pile and pile groups, 2- and 3-layer soil profiles, mass and stiffening elements above ground to incorporate the effect of the superstructure, and evaluation of proposed retrofitting strategies. Interpretations of these centrifuge experiments and their relation to field observations and soil properties.