The 11 March 2011 East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami: Tsunami Effects on Coastal Infrastructure and Buildings

The 11 March 2011 East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami caused unprecedented damage to well-engineered buildings and coastal structures. This report presents some notable field observations of structural damage based on our surveys conducted along the Sanriku coast in April and June 2011. Engineered reinforced concrete buildings failed by rotation due to the high-velocity and deep tsunami inundation: entrapped air in the buildings and soil liquefaction by ground shaking could have contributed to the failure. The spatial distribution pattern of destroyed and survived buildings indicates that the strength of tsunami was affected significantly by the locations of well-engineered sturdy buildings: weaker buildings in the shadow zone tended to survive while jet and wake formations behind the sturdy buildings enhanced the tsunami forces. We also found that buildings with breakaway walls or breakaway windows/doors remained standing even if the surrounding buildings were washed away or destroyed. Several failure patterns of coastal structures (seawalls) were observed. Flow-induced suction pressure near the seawall crown could have caused the failure of concrete panels that covered the infill. Remarkable destruction of upright solid-concrete type seawalls was closely related with the tsunami induced scour and soil instability. The rapid decrease in inundation depth during the return-flow phase caused soil fluidization down to a substantial depth. This mechanism explains severely undermined roads and foundations observed in the area of low flow velocities.     

Experimental evidence on formation of imminent and short-term hydrochemical precursors for earthquakes

The formation of imminent hydrochemical precursors of earthquakes is investigated by the simulation for water–rock reaction in a brittle aquifer. Sixty-one soaking experiments were carried out with granodiorite and trachyandesite grains of different sizes and three chemically-distinct waters for 6 to 168 h. The experimental data demonstrate that water–rock reaction can result in both measurable increases and decreases of ion concentrations in short times and that the extents of hydrochemical variations are controlled by the grain size, dissolution and secondary mineral precipitation, as well as the chemistry of the rock and groundwater. The results indicate that water–rock reactions in brittle aquifers and aquitards may be an important genetic mechanism of hydrochemical seismic precursors when the aquifers and aquitards are fractured in response to tectonic stress.     

Expected changes in future agro-climatological conditions in Northeast Thailand and their differences between general circulation models

We have studied future changes in the atmospheric and hydrological environments in Northeast Thailand from the viewpoint of risk assessment of future cultural environments in crop fields. To obtain robust and reliable estimation for future climate, ten general circulation models under three warming scenarios, B1, A1B, and A2, were used in this study. The obtained change trends show that daily maximum air temperature and precipitation will increase by 2.6°C and 4.0%, respectively, whereas soil moisture will decrease by c.a. 1% point in volumetric water content at the end of this century under the A1B scenario. Seasonal contrasts in precipitation will intensify: precipitation increases in the rainy season and precipitation decreases in the dry season. Soil moisture will slightly decrease almost throughout the year. Despite a homogeneous increase in the air temperature over Northeast Thailand, a future decrease in soil water content will show a geographically inhomogeneous distribution: Soil will experience a relative larger decrease in wetness at a shallow depth on the Khorat plateau than in the surrounding mountainous area, reflecting vegetation cover and soil texture. The predicted increase in air temperature is relatively consistent between general circulation models. In contrast, relatively large intermodel differences in precipitation, especially in long-term trends, produce unwanted bias errors in the estimation of other hydrological elements, such as soil moisture and evaporation, and cause uncertainties in projection of the agro-climatological environment. Offline hydrological simulation with a wide precipitation range is one strategy to compensate for such uncertainties and to obtain reliable risk assessment of future cultural conditions in rainfed paddy fields in Northeast Thailand.     

敦煌地区沙尘气溶胶质量浓度的观测研究

在沙尘源区进行长期监测是获取区域代表性沙尘气溶胶质量浓度特征的重要研究方法。敦煌位于甘肃省河西走廊的西端,是中国北方主要沙尘源区之一,利用大流量采样器和安德森采样器进行了长达30个月的试验观测研究,获得了该地区沙尘气溶胶的基本特征。其年变化特征与气象资料的年变化关系密切;针对典型天气过程的观测结果表明,不同天气条件（背景大气、浮尘、扬沙和沙尘暴）下TSP浓度存在倍数关系和量级的差异,其质量浓度随粒径的分布特征也明显不同;并与2001年9月-2004年3月在腾格里沙漠东南缘沙坡头地区的一些观测结果进行了比较分析。     

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987112001065

It has been thought that granitic crust,having been formed on the surface,must have survived through the Earth’s evolution because of its buoyancy.At subduction zones continental crust is predominantly created by arc magmatism and is returned to the mantle via sediment subduction,subduction erosion, and continental subduction.Granitic rocks,the major constituent of the continental crust,are lighter than the mantle at depths shallower than 270 km,but we show here,based on first principles calculations, that beneath 270 km they have negative buoyancy compared to the surrounding material in the upper mantle and transition zone,and thus can be subducted in the depth range of 270-660 km.This suggests that there can be two reservoirs of granitic material in the Earth,one on the surface and the other at the base of the mantle transition zone(MTZ).The accumulated volume of subducted granitic material at the base of the MTZ might amount to about six times the present volume of the continental crust.Our calculations also show that the seismic velocities of granitic material in the depth range from 270 to 660 km are faster than those of the surrounding mantle.This could explain the anomalous seismic-wave velocities observed around 660 km depth.The observed seismic scatterers and reported splitting of the 660 km discontinuity could be due to jadeite dissociation,chemical discontinuities between granitic material and the surrounding mantle,or a combination thereof.