The El Salvador earthquakes of January and February 2001: context, characteristics and implications for seismic risk

The small Central American republic of El Salvador has experienced, on average, one destructive earthquake per decade during the last hundred years. The latest events occurred on 13 January and 13 February 2001, with magnitudes M_w 7.7 and 6.6, respectively. The two events, which were of different tectonic origin, follow the patterns of the seismicity of the region although neither event has a known precedent in the earthquake catalogue in terms of size and location. The earthquakes caused damage to thousands of traditionally built houses and triggered hundreds of landslides, which were the main causes of fatalities. The earthquakes have clearly demonstrated trends of increasing seismic risk in El Salvador due to rapid population expansion in areas of high shaking and landslide hazard, exacerbated by deforestation and uncontrolled urbanisation. The institutional mechanisms required for the control of land use and building practice are very weak and present a major obstacle to risk mitigation.     

Modes of raising northeastern Tibet probed by explosion seismology

New wide-angle reflection and refraction seismic data provide constraints on the structure of the upper lithosphere, and test models of its evolution to raise the northeastern part of the Tibetan Plateau. Amplitudes observed for reflections from the crust-mantle boundary are sufficiently large to suggest that there is no significant partial melt in the deep crust. The data show an increase of the crustal thickness between terranes from north of the Kun Lun Fault into the Qang Tang of central Tibet, and a contrast among their intracrustal images and compositions. In the north, P and S velocities are consistent with a dominantly felsic composition and show that only the upper crust thickened. South of the Kun Lun Fault a thicker crust made of two layers could result from the superposition of the originally thin crust of the Bayan Har terrane on the lower part of the crust of the domain to the north, which upper crust it shoved and thickened. Different modes of crustal thickening, either by thickening of individual layers or superpositions and imbrication among them appear to work jointly to raise the topography.     

Use of Chemotaxonomy To Study the Influence of Benzalkonium Chloride on Bacterial Populations in Biodegradation Testing

Contradictory results are reported for the behaviour of quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs) in sewage treatment plants (STPs). QACs may sorb onto activated sludge. Only little information is available with respect to effects of QACs against bacteria in STPs. Only 5 to 15 % of bacteria present in sewage sludge can be detected by means of culture dependent microbiological methods. The shift of the bacterial populations due to effects of test compounds have not been studied up to now with culture independent methods. The microbial populations shift was studied in situ using culture independent chemotaxonomy profiling ubiquinones and polyamines. Additionally, toxic effects of QACs against bacteria present in the test vessels of the Zahn‐Wellens test (OECD 302 B) were assessed with a toxicity control in the test. The ubiquinone profiles representing changes in Gram‐negative populations mainly showed that the activated sludge was affected only in test vessels containing benzalkonium chloride. According to chemotaxonomy Acinetobacter or/and some members of Pseudomonas spp. have been selected by benzalkonium chloride after some adaptation period (8 to 12 days).     

Sediment yield and storage variations in the Négron River catchment (south western Parisian Basin,France) during the Holocene period

In the Négron River catchment area (162 km²), surface‐sediment stores are composed of periglacial calcareous ‘grèze’ (5 × 10⁶ t) and loess (21 × 10⁶ t), and Holocene alluvium (12·6 × 10⁶ t), peat (0·6 × 10⁶ t) and colluvium (18·5 × 10⁶ t). Seventy‐five per cent of the Holocene sediments is stored along the thalwegs. Present net sediment yield, calculated from solid discharge at the Négron outlet, is low (0·6 t km^?2 a^?1) due to the dominance of carbonate rocks in the catchment. Mean sediment yield during the Holocene period is 7·0 t km^?2 a^?1 from alluvium stores and 7·6 t km^?2 a^?1 from colluvium stores. Thus, the gross sediment yield during the Holocene period is about 18·7 t km^?2 a^?1 and the sediment delivery ratio 3 per cent. The yield considerably varies from one sub‐basin to another (3·9 to 24·5 t km^?2 a^?1) according to lithology: about 25 per cent and 50 per cent of initial stores of periglacial grèze and loess respectively were reworked during the Holocene period. Sediment yield has increased by a factor of 6 in the last 1000 years, due to the development of agriculture. The very high rate of sediment storage on the slope during that period (88 per cent of the yield) can be accounted for by the formation of cultivation steps (‘rideaux’). It is predicted that the current destruction of these steps will result in a sediment wave reaching the valley floors in the coming decades. Subboreal and Subatlantic sediments and pollen assemblages in the Taligny marsh, where one‐third of the alluvium is stored, show the predominant influence of human activity during these periods in the Négron catchment. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

山西北部至晋冀蒙交界地区几次中强地震前4.0级地震活动的研究

对山西北部至晋冀蒙交界地区中强地震前的 4 .0级地震进行了研究 ,得出其特征为异常增强—异常平静—信号地震的结论 ,认为该区某些 4 .0级地震活动似可作为某些中强地震的前兆地震而进行进一步的研究。     

Establishment of a Non-Permanent GPS Network to Monitor the Recent NE-SW Deformation in the Granada Basin (Betic Cordillera,Southern Spain)

The Granada Basin (Central Betic Cordillera), one of the most seismically active areas of the Iberian Peninsula, is currently subjected to NW-SE compression and NE-SW extension. The present day extension is accommodated by normal faults with various orientations but particularly with a NW-SE strike. At the surface, these active NW-SE normal faults are mainly concentrated on the NE part of the Basin. In this part we have selected a 15-km long segment where several active normal faults crop out. Using the marine Tortonian rocks as a reference, we have calculated a minimum extensional rate of 0.15-0.30 mm/year. The observed block rotation, the listric geometry of faults at depth and the distribution of seismicity over the whole Basin, indicate that this rate is a minimum value. In the framework of an interdisciplinary research project a non-permanent GPS-network has been established in the central sector of Betic Cordillera to monitor the crustal deformations. The first two observation campaigns were done in 1999 and 2000.     

路南石林形态计量分析

从流域地貌结构的角度，分析了路南石林形态的相似性和差异性，并根据对石林形态测量的数据，借助于SPSS软件，运用多元统计学的方法，对石林形态进行计量分析，从而揭示了石林形态大小的内在本质规律-石林的高度与宽度的比值符合P-Ⅲ型曲线分布模型。     

Alpujarride attribution of the supposed ‘Almagride Complex’ (Betic Internal Zone,Almerı́a Province,Spain)Appartenance Alpujarride du prétendu « Complexe almagride » (Zones internes bétiques,province d'Almeria,Espagne)

The differentiation of units in the Sierra de Almagro has been a source of controversy. There were defined the Almagride and Ballabona–Cucharón complexes, the former considered by several authors as part of a Subbetic metamorphosed and outcropping in a tectonic window. In this study, the units of Ballabona, Almagro and Cucharón are integrated into a single one, that of Tres Pacos, because they correspond to different parts of the same stratigraphic series. This unit is tectonically over the Nevado–Filabride Complex. The existence of the Almagride and Ballabona–Cucharón complexes is discarded and their units form part of the Alpujarride Complex. To cite this article: C. Sanz de Galdeano, F.J. Garc??a Tortosa, C. R. Geoscience 334 (2002) 355–362.     

Le Bassin lusitanien (Portugal) à l'Aptien supérieur–Albien : organisation séquentielle,proposition de corrélations, évolutionThe Lusitanian Basin (Portugal) during the late Aptian–Albian: sequential arrangement,proposal of correlations,evolution

. Three transgressive–regressive 2nd-order cycles were identified in the Upper Aptian–Albian fluvial and marine deposits of the Lusitanian Basin. Its widespread nature, probably including eustatic origin, allows correlation between the southern package, with precise stratigraphic positioning, and the northern series with a poorly constrained age. The main unconformities can be related to the onset of an oceanic crust, in the western margin of Galicia during the Late Aptian, in the bay of Biscay during the Early Albian, and, to the northwest of the Galicia triple point, during the Middle to Late Albian transition, and, at the Albian–Cenomanian boundary, to a probable compressive event with Africa due to the rotation of Iberia. To cite this article: J. Dinis et al., C. R. Geoscience 334 (2002) 757–764.