A transversely isotropic thermo-poroelastic model for claystone: parameter identification and application to a 3D underground structure

A transversely isotropic thermo-poroelastic constitutive law is developed and implemented in the finite element code Code_Aster (EDF, France). It is then validated using an analytic solution for an inclined borehole in a transversely isotropic medium. A strategy for identifying the parameters of the transversely isotropic thermo-poroelastic model based on an inverse method is proposed on the basis of different laboratory tests. To demonstrate the efficiency and applicability of the model, it is then applied in a three-dimensional numerical model of an underground structure in a parameter sensitivity study. The results of the modelling highlight the importance of accounting for anisotropic phenomena when determining the dimensions of underground facilities. The whole approach is presented in the paper, from model development to application to 3D numerical modelling to an engineering case study.     

Investigation of topographic site effects using 3D waveform modelling: amplification,polarization and torsional motions in the case study of Arquata del Tronto (Italy)

Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering - The combined effect of topography and near-surface heterogeneities on the seismic response is hardly predictable and may lead to an aggravation of the ground...     

Electron Microprobe/SIMS Determinations of Al in Olivine: Applications to Solar Wind,Pallasites and Trace Element Measurements

Electron probe microanalyser measurements of trace elements with high accuracy are challenging. Accurate Al measurements in olivine are required to calibrate SIMS implant reference materials for measurement of Al in the solar wind. We adopt a combined EPMA/SIMS approach that is useful for producing SIMS reference materials as well as for EPMA at the ~ 100 µg g^?1 level. Even for mounts not polished with alumina photoelectron spectroscopy shows high levels of Al surface contamination. In order to minimise electron beam current density, a rastered 50 × 100 µm electron beam was adequate and minimised sensitivity to small Al‐rich contaminants. Reproducible analyses of eleven SIMS‐cleaned spots on San Carlos olivine agreed at 69.3 ± 1.0 µg g^?1. The known Al mass fraction was used to calibrate an Al implant into San Carlos. Accurate measurements of Al were made for olivines in the pallasites: Imilac, Eagle Station and Springwater. Our focus was on Al in olivine, but our technique could be refined to give accurate electron probe measurements for other contamination‐sensitive trace elements. For solar wind, it is projected that the Al/Mg abundance ratio can be determined to 6%, a factor of 2 more precise than the solar spectroscopic ratio.     

Re-analysis of late Quaternary dust mass accumulation rates in Serbia using new luminescence chronology for loess–palaeosol sequence at Surduk

Despite numerous palaeoenvironmental investigations of loess–palaeosol sequences across the Carpathian Basin, well-dated high-resolution records are scarce. This paper presents a new high-resolution chronology for the loess-palaeosol sequence at Surduk (Serbia), based on optically stimulated luminescence (quartz) and post-infrared infrared stimulated luminescence (polymineral) dating. The presented record spans 53–19 ka, with primary loess deposition occurring after 52±2 ka, and differs from previously published chronologies that relied on less precise and now superseded dating protocols. Based on the new chronology, mass accumulation rates (MARs) for Surduk were constructed and compared with sites in the Carpathian Basin. The results demonstrate that accumulation periods across this area are not consistent in timing or rates. The high-resolution dating strategy identifies a disturbance in sediment deposition that occurred after 45±2 ka and implies that site contains a hiatus. Finally, we show samples that failed routine dose recovery and preheat plateau tests, and had low fast ratios. Supported by bulk sample geochemical analysis it is proposed that a potential abrupt source shift, during the Last Glacial Maximum, may be the cause of the anomalous luminescence behaviour.     

Diagnostic study and modeling of the annual positive water temperature onset

A data-driven model is designed using artificial neural networks (ANN) to predict the average onset for the annual water temperature cycle of North-American streams. The data base is composed of daily water temperature time series recorded at 48 hydrometric stations in Québec (Canada) and northern US, as well as the geographic and physiographic variables extracted from the 48 associated drainage basins. The impact of individual and combined drainage area characteristics on the stream annual temperature cycle starting date is investigated by testing different combinations of input variables. The best model allows to predict the average temperature onset for a site, given its geographical coordinates and vegetation and lake coverage characteristics, with a root mean square error (RMSE) of 5.6 days. The best ANN model was compared favourably with parametric approaches.     

Multi-instrument remote and in situ observations of the Erebus Volcano (Antarctica) lava lake in 2005: A comparison with the Pele lava lake on the jovian moon Io

The stable, persistent, active lava lake at Erebus volcano (Ross Island, Antarctica) provides an excellent thermal target for analysis of spacecraft observations, and for testing new technology. In the austral summer of 2005 visible and infrared observations of the Erebus lava lake were obtained with sensors on three space vehicles Terra (ASTER, MODIS), Aqua (MODIS) and EO-1 (Hyperion, ALI). Contemporaneous ground-based observations were obtained with hand-held infrared cameras. This allowed a quantitative comparison of the thermal data obtained from different instruments, and of the analytical techniques used to analyze the data, both with and without the constraints imposed by ground-truth. From the thermal camera data, in December 2005 the main Erebus lava lake (Ray Lake) had an area of ≈ 820 m². Surface colour temperatures ranged from 575 K to 1090 K, with a broad peak in the distribution from 730 K to 850 K. Total heat loss was estimated at 23.5 MW. The flux density was ≈ 29 kW m^− 2. Mass flux was estimated at 64 to 93 kg s^− 1. The best correlation between thermal emission and emitting area was obtained with ASTER, which has the best combination of spatial resolution and wavelength coverage, especially in the thermal infrared. The high surface temperature of the lava lake means that Hyperion data are for the most part saturated. Uncertainties, introduced by the need to remove incident sunlight cause the thermal emission from the Hyperion data to be a factor of about two greater than that measured by hand-held thermal camera. MODIS also over-estimated thermal output from the lava lake by the same factor of two because it was detecting reflected sunlight from the rest of the pixel area. The measurement of the detailed temperature distribution on the surface of an active terrestrial lava lake will allow testing of thermal emission models used to interpret remote-sensing data of volcanism on Io, where no such ground-truth exists. Although the Erebus lava lake is four orders of magnitude smaller than the lava lake at Pele on Io, the shape of the integrated thermal emission spectra are similar. Thermal emission from this style of effusive volcanism appears to be invariant. Excess thermal emission in most Pele spectra (compared to Erebus) at short wavelengths (< 3 μm) is most likely due to disruption of the surface on the lava lake by escaping volatiles.     

Eruptive history and tectonic setting of Medicine Lake Volcano,a large rear-arc volcano in the southern Cascades

Medicine Lake Volcano (MLV), located in the southern Cascades ∼ 55 km east-northeast of contemporaneous Mount Shasta, has been found by exploratory geothermal drilling to have a surprisingly silicic core mantled by mafic lavas. This unexpected result is very different from the long-held view derived from previous mapping of exposed geology that MLV is a dominantly basaltic shield volcano. Detailed mapping shows that < 6% of the ∼ 2000 km² of mapped MLV lavas on this southern Cascade Range shield-shaped edifice are rhyolitic and dacitic, but drill holes on the edifice penetrated more than 30% silicic lava. Argon dating yields ages in the range ∼ 475 to 300 ka for early rhyolites. Dates on the stratigraphically lowest mafic lavas at MLV fall into this time frame as well, indicating that volcanism at MLV began about half a million years ago. Mafic compositions apparently did not dominate until ∼ 300 ka. Rhyolite eruptions were scarce post-300 ka until late Holocene time. However, a dacite episode at ∼ 200 to ∼ 180 ka included the volcano's only ash-flow tuff, which was erupted from within the summit caldera. At ∼ 100 ka, compositionally distinctive high-Na andesite and minor dacite built most of the present caldera rim. Eruption of these lavas was followed soon after by several large basalt flows, such that the combined area covered by eruptions between 100 ka and postglacial time amounts to nearly two-thirds of the volcano's area. Postglacial eruptive activity was strongly episodic and also covered a disproportionate amount of area. The volcano has erupted 9 times in the past 5200 years, one of the highest rates of late Holocene eruptive activity in the Cascades. Estimated volume of MLV is ∼ 600 km³, giving an overall effusion rate of ∼ 1.2 km³ per thousand years, although the rate for the past 100 kyr may be only half that. During much of the volcano's history, both dry HAOT (high-alumina olivine tholeiite) and hydrous calcalkaline basalts erupted together in close temporal and spatial proximity. Petrologic studies indicate that the HAOT magmas were derived by dry melting of spinel peridotite mantle near the crust mantle boundary. Subduction-derived H₂O-rich fluids played an important role in the generation of calcalkaline magmas. Petrology, geochemistry and proximity indicate that MLV is part of the Cascades magmatic arc and not a Basin and Range volcano, although Basin and Range extension impinges on the volcano and strongly influences its eruptive style. MLV may be analogous to Mount Adams in southern Washington, but not, as sometimes proposed, to the older distributed back-arc Simcoe Mountains volcanic field.     

Can sand dunes be used to study historic storm events?

Knowing the long‐term frequency of high magnitude storm events that cause coastal inundation is critical for present coastal management, especially in the context of rising sea levels and potentially increasing frequency and severity of storm events. Coastal sand dunes may provide a sedimentary archive of past storm events from which long‐term frequencies of large storms can be reconstructed. This study uses novel portable optically stimulated luminescence (POSL) profiles from coastal dunes to reconstruct the sedimentary archive of storm and surge activity for Norfolk, UK. Application of POSL profiling with supporting luminescence ages and particle size analysis to coastal dunes provides not only information of dunefield evolution but also on past coastal storms. In this study, seven storm events, two major, were identified from the dune archive spanning the last 140 years. These appear to correspond to historical reports of major storm surges. Dunes appear to be only recording (at least at the sampling resolution used here) the highest storm levels that were associated with significant flooding. As such the approach seems to hold promise to obtain a better understanding of the frequency of large storms by extending the dune archive records further back to times when documentation of storm surges was sparse. © 2017 The Authors. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.