Strain investigations on calcite marbles using neutron time-of-flight diffraction

In order to describe and explain the effect of bowing of marble facade panels, neutron time-of-flight diffraction was applied to determine residual macro- and microstrain on the calcite mineral phase. The measurements were combined with investigations of the crystallographic preferred orientation (texture) measurements by neutron diffraction, macroscopic measuring of the bowing on marble building stones, as well as microfabric analyses. Three samples were investigated to explain the bowing effect: a fresh broken sample, a good conditioned facade panel and a strongly deformed facade panel. Residual intracrystalline strain was detected in all investigated samples, which differed in the degree of bowing. For the first time, the preferred orientation and the residual strain were found to be related. The results show that different strain magnitudes are reflected by residual strains, which differ significantly in magnitude and direction. Furthermore, different Bragg peak widths have been detected as an indication of microscopic strain. The observed residual strain values in the samples are related with the grain shape and texture properties.     

Mean Free-Air Gravity Anomalies in the Mountains

Mean free-air gravity anomalies are often needed in geodesy for gravity field modelling. Two possible ways of compiling the mean free-air gravity anomalies are discussed. One way is via simple Bouguer gravity anomalies and the second and more time consuming way is via refined Bouguer gravity anomalies. In flat areas the differences between using any of the two ways should not be significant. In the mountains however, every effect introducing a high dependency, such as e.g. terrain effect, can negatively affect the interpolation process. In fact, a numerical experiment conducted in one part of Rocky Mountains revealed large and systematic differences. The effect of these differences on the geoid model is more then two meters in the test area. Our investigation shows that this bias is caused by the location of gravity measurement points, chosen mostly on hill-tops. At such points, the terrain correction to gravity is systematically larger than the mean value of the correction. Therefore, it is not possible to prevent the mean free-air gravity anomalies obtained from simple Bouguer gravity anomalies from having a systematic bias. One can see this bias as a result of the aliasing effect because the simple Bouguer gravity anomalies in the mountains contain a higher frequency signal (terrain effect) that is, according to sampling theorem, impossible to reconstruct by sparse measured gravity data, see e.g. (Goos et al., 2003). Therefore, the more rigorous way of computing the mean free-air gravity anomalies is via refined Bouguer gravity anomalies.     

Radium isotopes in river sediments of Czech Republic

In the Czech Republic, river bottom sediments have been systematically monitored since 1999. In the paper, their radioactive contamination due to uranium mining and milling is assessed. The sediments samples were analyzed by gamma spectrometry. Especially the radium-226 and radium-228 activities were further evaluated.The highest values of the radium-226 activities were found at river profiles where the uranium industry impact was obvious. It turned out that the radium-226 and radium-228 activities ratio is more convenient to assess the level of radium-226 contamination than only the radium-226 activity itself. Based on this hypothesis, the sediment classification scheme for uranium industry contamination was suggested. The natural background activities of radium-226 and radium-228 in the Czech Republic were also evaluated. The case of radium-226 contamination due to the uranium industry was studied in details at the Ploučnice River.     

The Rupture Process of the Manjil,Iran Earthquake of 20 June 1990 and Implications for Intraplate Strike-Slip Earthquakes

In terms of seismically radiated energy or moment release, the earthquake of 20 January 1990 in the Manjil Basin-Alborz Mountain region of Iran is the second largest strike-slip earthquake to have occurred in an intracontinental setting in the past decade. It caused enormous loss of life and the virtual destruction of several cities. Despite a very large meizoseismal area, the identification of the causative faults has been hampered by the lack of reliable earthquake locations and conflicting field reports of surface displacement. Using broadband data from global networks of digitally recording seismographs, we analyse broadband seismic waveforms to derive characteristics of the rupture process. Complexities in waveforms generated by the earthquake indicate that the main shock consisted of a tiny precursory subevent followed in the next 20 seconds by a series of four major subevents with depths ranging from 10 to 15 km. The focal mechanisms of the major subevents, which are predominantly strike-slip, have a common nodal plane striking about 285°–295°. Based on the coincidence of this strike with the dominant tectonic fabric of the region we presume that the EW striking planes are the fault planes. The first major subevent nucleated slightly south of the initial precursor. The second subevent occurred northwest of the initial precursor. The last two subevents moved progressively southeastward of the first subevent in a direction collinear with the predominant strike of the fault planes. The offsets in the relative locations and the temporal delays of the rupture subevents indicate heterogeneous distribution of fracture strength and the involvement of multiple faults. The spatial distribution of teleseismic aftershocks, which at first appears uncorrelated with meizoseismal contours, can be decomposed into stages. The initial activity, being within and on the periphery of the rupture zone, correlates in shape and length with meizoseismal lines. In the second stage of activity the aftershock zone expands and appears to cluster about the geomorphic and geologic features several tens of kilometres from the rupture zone. The activity is interpreted as a regional response to quasistatic stress migration along zones of tectonic weakness. The radiated energy of the main shock and the estimate of seismic moment yields an apparent stress of 20 bars. High apparent stress may be typical of strike slip earthquakes occurring in intracontinental environments undergoing continental collision.     

Book Review: Induced Seismicity. Edited by Harsh K. Gupta and Rajender K. Chadha. Pageoph Topical Volumes,Birkhäuser Verlag,Basel-Boston-Berlin 1995 (Reprinted from Pure and Applied Geophysics,Volume 145 (1995), No. 1)

Studia Geophysica et Geodaetica -     

Dual-satellite crossover latitude-lumped coefficients, their use in geodesy and oceanography

Latitude-lumped coefficients (LLC) are defined, representing geopotential-orbit variations for dual-satellite crossovers (DSC). Formulae are derived for their standard errors from the covariances of geopotential field models. Numerical examples are presented for pairs of the altimeter-bearing satellites TOPEX/Poseidon, ERS 1, and Geosat, using the error matrices of recent gravity models. The DSC, connecting separate missions, will play an increasingly important role in oceanography spanning decades only when its nonoceanographic signals are thoroughly understood. In general, the content of even the long-term averaged DSC is more complex then their single satellite crossover (SSC) counterpart. The LLC, as the spatial spectra for the geopotential-caused crossover effects, discriminate these source-differences sharply. Thus, the zero-order LLC in DSC data contains zonal gravity information not present in SSC data. In addition, zero- and first-order LLC of DSC data can reveal a geocenter discrepancy between the orbit tracking of the separate satellite missions. For example, DSC analysis from orbits computed with JGM 2 show that the y-axis of the geocenter for Geosat in 1986–1988 is shifted with respect to T/P by 6–9 cm towards the eastern Pacific. Also, where the time-gap is necessarily large (as between, say, Geosat and T/P missions) oceanographic (sea-level) differences in DSC may corrupt the geopotential interpretation of the data. Most importantly, as we illustrate, media delays for the altimeter (from the ionosphere, wet troposphere and sea-state bias) are more likely sources of contamination across two missions than in SSC analyses. Again, the LLC of zero order best shows this contrast. Using the higher-order LLC of DSC for both Geosat-T/P and ERS 1-T/P as likely representation of geopotential-only error, we show by comparison with the predicted standard errors of JGM 2 that the latter's previously calibrated covariance matrix is generally valid. Received: 14 February 1996 / Accepted: 27 March 1997     

Application of modern geomorphological methods in theory and practice: Case study of the Bohemian Highlands (Czech Republic)

There are a lot of methods used in geomorphological research (Goudie 1992). However, sometimes it is very hard to find their application in practice. This paper deals with an application of geomorphological methods such as morphostructural analysis, detailed geomorphological mapping and computer analysis in the Geographical Information System ARC/INFO, in the field and discusses their application at the building trade, ecology, etc. The author applied them to geomorphological research in the northeastern part of the Hercynian Bohemian Highlands.     

Skill of 6HR and 12HR thunderstorm forecasts based on assessment of larger-scale information

Summary The relationship between information, contained in aerological data from the European area, and a thunderstorm occurrence in the area of the Czech Republic was investigated with input data from the period of May–September 1989–1991. SYNOP reports from Czech ground stations were utilized to assess event occurrence. TEMP 00UTC and TEMP 12UTC reports from European stations were used to determine potential diagnostic predictors, and the TEMP00 data served as the input data set for the 12hr mesoscale model forecast to gain prognostic predictors. Each of the two diagnostic data sets from 00UTC and 12UTC and of the prognostic data set comprised about 400 predictors/predictand elements. The categorical forecast of thunderstorm occurrence, based on the application of linear regression and a simple version of pattern recognition, is discussed. The critical success index was determined for every type of forecast and used to assess forecast skill.     

Subsurface temperature measurements and terrestrial heat flow estimates in the Aswan region,Egypt

Summary The results of temperature measurements in six boreholes, drilled near the west shores of the Lake Nasser in the Aswan region in the Nubian Desert, are reported. Temperature-depth profiles, complemented by thermal conductivity determinations of surface rock samples, were used to calculate the existing range of heat flow density in the region as 40 ÷ 60 mWm⁻², which is consistent with the values from the adjacent areas, reported in the literature. The extrapolated mean annual ground surface temperatures amount, on the average, to 30°C, which is 3 K higher than the mean annual air temperature in the region.     

On invariants of generalized trochoidal wave motions

Summary Some invariants of three-dimensional trochoidal waves are examined to explain some properties of short inertial-shear-gravity waves on upper fronts. A general formula for inertial oscillations is derived.