Field based analysis of sediment entrainment in two high gradient streams located in Alpine and Andine environments

This paper presents an analysis of critical thresholds for bedload transport based on field measurements conducted in two small, high gradient streams: the Rio Cordon (Italian Alps) and the Tres Arroyos (Chilean Andes). The threshold of incipient motion was identified by using marked particles displacement and both flood and flow competence approaches. The findings are expressed in terms of Shields parameter, dimensionless discharge, and specific stream power, and are used to identify the effects of relative grain size, relative depth, and bedform resistance. Overall, particle entrainment tends to be size selective, rather than exhibiting equal mobility, and the high values of dimensionless critical shear stress observed at both study sites confirm the additional roughness effects of step–pool morphologies that are very effective in reducing the bed shear stress and causing an apparent increase in critical shear stress.     

Geological controls on the geometry of incised‐valley fills: Insights from a global dataset of late‐Quaternary examples

Incised valleys that develop due to relative sea‐level change are common features of continental shelves and coastal plains. Assessment of the factors that control the geometry of incised‐valley fills has hitherto largely relied on conceptual, experimental or numerical models, else has been grounded on case studies of individual depositional systems. Here, a database‐driven statistical analysis of 151 late‐Quaternary incised‐valley fills has been performed, the aim being to investigate the geological controls on their geometry. Results of this analysis have been interpreted with consideration of the role of different processes in determining the geometry of incised‐valley fills through their effect on the degree and rate of river incision, and on river size and mobility. The studied incised‐valley fills developed along active margins are thicker and wider, on average, than those along passive margins, suggesting that tectonic setting exerts a control on the geometry of incised‐valley fills, probably through effects on relative sea‐level change and river behaviour, and in relation to distinct characteristics of basin physiography, water discharge and modes of sediment delivery. Valley‐fill geometry is positively correlated with the associated drainage‐basin size, confirming the dominant role of water discharge. Climate is also inferred to exert a potential control on valley‐fill dimensions, possibly through modulations of temperature, peak precipitation, vegetation and permafrost, which would in turn affect water discharge, rates of sediment supply and valley‐margin stability. Shelves with slope breaks that are currently deeper than 120 m contain incised‐valley fills that are thicker and wider, on average, than those hosted on shelves with breaks shallower than 120 m. No correlation exists between valley‐fill thickness and present‐day coastal‐prism convexity, which is measured as the difference in gradient between lower coastal plains and inner shelves. These findings challenge some concepts embedded in sequence stratigraphic thinking, and have significant implications for analysis and improved understanding of ‘source to sink’ sediment route‐ways, and for attempting predictions of the occurrence and characteristics of hydrocarbon reservoirs.     

Gradual Fault Weakening with Seismic Slip: Inferences from the Seismic Sequences of L’Aquila, 2009, and Northridge, 1994

We estimate seismological fracture energies from two subsets of events selected from the seismic sequences of L’Aquila (2009), and Northridge (1994): 57 and 16 selected events, respectively, including the main shocks. Following Abercrombie and Rice (Geophys J Int 162: 406–424, 2005), we postulate that fracture energy (G) represents the post-failure integral of the dynamic weakening curve, which is described by the evolution of shear traction as a function of slip. Following a direct-wave approach, we compute mainshock-/aftershock-source spectral ratios, and analyze them using the approach proposed by Malagnini et al. (Pure Appl. Geophys., this issue, 2014) to infer corner frequencies and seismic moment. Our estimates of source parameters (including fracture energies) are based on best-fit grid-searches performed over empirical source spectral ratios. We quantify the source scaling of spectra from small and large earthquakes by using the MDAC formulation of Walter and Taylor (A revised Magnitude and Distance Amplitude Correction (MDAC2) procedure for regional seismic discriminants, 2001). The source parameters presented in this paper must be considered as point-source estimates representing averages calculated over specific ruptured portions of the fault area. In order to constrain the scaling of fracture energy with coseismic slip, we investigate two different slip-weakening functions to model the shear traction as a function of slip: (i) a power law, as suggested by Abercrombie and Rice (Geophys J Int 162: 406–424, 2005), and (ii) an exponential decay. Our results show that the exponential decay of stress on the fault allows a good fit between measured and predicted fracture energies, both for the main events and for their aftershocks, regardless of the significant differences in the energy budgets between the large (main) and small earthquakes (aftershocks). Using the power-law slip-weakening function would lead us to a very different situation: in our two investigated sequences, if the aftershock scaling is extrapolated to events with large slips, a power law (a la Abercrombie and Rice) would predict unrealistically large stress drops for large, main earthquakes. We conclude that the exponential stress evolution law has the advantage of avoiding unrealistic stress drops and unbounded fracture energies at large slip values, while still describing the abrupt shear-stress degradation observed in high-velocity laboratory experiments (e.g., Di Toro et al., Fault lubrication during earthquakes, Nature 2011).     

How to Invert Multi-Band,Regional Phase Amplitudes for 2-D Attenuation and Source Parameters: Tests Using the USArray

We inverted for laterally varying attenuation, absolute site terms, moments and apparent stress using over 460,000 Lg amplitudes recorded by the USArray for frequencies between 0.5 and 16 Hz. Corner frequencies of Wells, Nevada, aftershocks, obtained by independent analysis of coda spectral ratios, controlled the tradeoff between attenuation and stress, while independently determined moments from St. Louis University and the University of California constrained absolute levels. The quality factor, Q, was low for coastal regions and interior volcanic and tectonic areas, and high for stable regions such as the Great Plains, and Colorado and Columbia Plateaus. Q increased with frequency, and the rate of increase correlated inversely with 1-Hz Q, with highest rates in low-Q tectonic regions, and lowest rates in high-Q stable areas. Moments matched independently determined moments with a scatter of 0.2 NM. Apparent stress ranged from below 0.01 to above 1 MPa, with means of 0.1 MPa for smaller events, and 0.3 MPa for larger events. Stress was observed to be spatially coherent in some areas; for example, stress was lower along the San Andreas fault through central and northern California, and higher in the Walker Lane, and for isolated sequences such as Wells. Variance reduction relative to 1-D models ranged from 50 to 90 % depending on band and inversion method. Parameterizing frequency dependent Q as a power law produced little misfit relative to a collection of independent, multi-band Q models, and performed better than the omega-square source parameterization in that sense. Amplitude residuals showed modest, but regionally coherent patterns that varied from event to event, even between those with similar source mechanisms, indicating a combination of focal mechanism, and near source propagation effects played a role. An exception was the Wells mainshock, which produced dramatic amplitude patterns due to its directivity, and was thus excluded from the inversions. The 2-D Q plus absolute site models can be used for high accuracy, broad area source spectra, magnitude and yield estimation, and, in combination with models for all regional phases, can be used to improve discrimination, in particular for intermediate bands that allow coverage to be extended beyond that available for high frequency P-to-S discriminants.     

A two‐step direct method for estimating the seismic response of nonlinear structures equipped with nonlinear viscous dampers

The insertion of fluid viscous dampers in building structures is an innovative technology that can improve significantly the seismic response. These devices could be very useful also in the retrofit of existing buildings. The effect of this typology of damping system is usually identified with an equivalent supplemental damping ratio, which depends on the maximum displacement of the structure, so that iterative procedures are required. In this paper, a simplified direct assessment method for nonlinear structures equipped with nonlinear fluid viscous dampers is proposed. The method proposed in this study is composed by two steps. The first one yields the direct estimate of the supplemental damping ratio provided by nonlinear viscous dampers in presence of a linear elastic structural response. The second step extends the procedure to structures with nonlinear behavior. Both graphical and analytical approaches have been developed. The proposed method has then been verified through several applications and comparisons with nonlinear dynamic analyses. Moreover, an investigation has been performed with regard to the influence of the relations that define the damping reduction factor and the hysteretic damping. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The ground-based InSAR monitoring system at Stromboli volcano: linking changes in displacement rate and intensity of persistent volcanic activity

Stromboli volcano (Aeolian Archipelago, Southern Italy) experienced an increase in its volcanic activity from late December 2012 to March 2013, when it produced several lava overflows, major Strombolian explosions, crater-wall collapses pyroclastic density currents and intense spatter activity. An analysis of the displacement of the NE portion of the summit crater terrace and the unstable NW flank of the volcano (Sciara del Fuoco depression) has been performed with a ground-based interferometric synthetic aperture radar (GBInSAR) by dividing the monitored part of the volcano into five sectors, three in the summit vents region and two in the Sciara del Fuoco. Changes in the displacement rate were observed in sectors 2 and 3. Field and thermal surveys revealed the presence of an alignment of fumaroles confirming the existence of an area of structural discontinuity between sectors 2 and 3. High displacement rates in sector 2 are interpreted to indicate the increase in the magmastatic pressure within the shallow plumbing systems, related to the rise of the magma level within the conduits, while increased displacement rates in sector 3 are connected to the lateral expansion of the shallow plumbing system. The increases and decreases in the displacement rate registered by the GBInSAR system in the upper part of the volcano have been used as a proxy for changes in the pressure conditions in the shallow plumbing system of Stromboli volcano and hence to forecast the occurrence of phases of higher-intensity volcanic activity.     

Use of terrestrial photogrammetry based on structure‐from‐motion for mass balance estimation of a small glacier in the Italian alps

Different high‐resolution techniques can be employed to obtain information about the three‐dimensional (3D) surface of glaciers. This is typically carried out using efficient, but also expensive and logistically demanding, light detection and ranging (LiDAR) technologies, such as airborne scanners and terrestrial laser scanners. Recent technological improvements in the field of image analysis and computer vision have prompted the development of a low‐cost photogrammetric approach, which is referred to as ‘structure‐from‐motion’ (SfM). Combined with dense image‐matching algorithms, this method has become competitive for the production of high‐quality 3D models. However, several issues typical of this approach should be considered for application in glacial environments. In particular, the surface morphology, the different substrata, the occurrence of sharp contrast from solar shadows and the variable distance from the camera positions can negatively affect the image texture, and reduce the possibility of obtaining a reliable point cloud from the images. The objective of this study is to test the structure‐from‐motion multi view stereo (SfM‐MVS) approach in a small debris‐covered glacier located in the eastern Italian Alps, using a consumer‐grade reflex camera and the computer vision‐based software PhotoScan. The quality of the 3D models produced by the SfM‐MVS process was assessed via the comparison with digital terrain models obtained from terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) surveys that were performed at the same epochs. The effect of different terrain gradients and different substrata (debris, snow and firn) was also evaluated in terms of the accuracy of the reconstruction by SfM‐MVS versus TLS. Our results show that the quality of this new photogrammetric approach is similar to the quality of TLS and that point cloud densities are comparable or even higher compared with TLS. However, special care should be taken while planning the SfM survey geometry, to optimize the 3D model quality and spatial coverage. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Improved Constraints on Models of Glacial Isostatic Adjustment: A Review of the Contribution of Ground-Based Geodetic Observations

The provision of accurate models of Glacial Isostatic Adjustment (GIA) is presently a priority need in climate studies, largely due to the potential of the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) data to be used to determine accurate and continent-wide assessments of ice mass change and hydrology. However, modelled GIA is uncertain due to insufficient constraints on our knowledge of past glacial changes and to large simplifications in the underlying Earth models. Consequently, we show differences between models that exceed several mm/year in terms of surface displacement for the two major ice sheets: Greenland and Antarctica. Geodetic measurements of surface displacement offer the potential for new constraints to be made on GIA models, especially when they are used to improve structural features of the Earth’s interior as to allow for a more realistic reconstruction of the glaciation history. We present the distribution of presently available campaign and continuous geodetic measurements in Greenland and Antarctica and summarise surface velocities published to date, showing substantial disagreement between techniques and GIA models alike. We review the current state-of-the-art in ground-based geodesy (GPS, VLBI, DORIS, SLR) in determining accurate and precise surface velocities. In particular, we focus on known areas of need in GPS observation level models and the terrestrial reference frame in order to advance geodetic observation precision/accuracy toward 0.1 mm/year and therefore further constrain models of GIA and subsequent present-day ice mass change estimates.