The efforts of Taiwan to achieve NDC target: an integrated assessment on the carbon emission trading system

Natural Hazards - In this paper, we adopt a computable general equilibrium model to investigate the impacts of achieving Taiwan’s target of nationally determined contributions (NDC). We...     

Internal structures and high-velocity frictional properties of a bedding-parallel carbonate fault at Xiaojiaqiao outcrop activated by the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake

This paper reports internal structures of a bedding-parallel fault in Permian limestone at Xiaojiaqiao outcrop that was moved by about 0.5 m during the 2008 M_W7.9 Wenchuan earthquake. The fault is located about 3 km to the south from the middle part of Yingxiu-Beichuan fault, a major fault in the Longmenshan fault system that was moved during the earthquake. The outcrop is also located at Anxian transfer zone between the northern and central segments of Yingxiu-Beichuan fault where fault system is complex. Thus the fault is an example of subsidiary faults activated by Wenchuan earthquake. The fault has a strike of 243° or N63°E and a dip of 38°NW and is nearly optimally oriented for thrust motion, in contrast to high-angle coseismic faults at most places. Surface outcrop and two shallow drilling studies reveal that the fault zone is several centimeters wide at most and that the coseismic slip zone during Wenchuan earthquake is about 1 mm thick. Fault zone contains foliated cataclasite, fault breccia, black gouge and yellowish gouge. Many clasts of foliated cataclasite and black gouge contained in fault breccia indicate multiple slip events along this fault. But fossils on both sides of fault do not indicate clear age difference and overall displacement along this fault should not be large. We also report results from high-velocity friction experiments conducted on yellowish gouge from the fault zone using a rotary shear low to high-velocity frictional testing apparatus. Dry experiments at normal stresses of 0.4 to 1.8 MPa and at slip rates of 0.08 to 1.35 m/s reveal dramatic slip weakening from the peak friction coefficient of around 0.6 to very low steady-state friction coefficient of 0.1-0.2. Slip weakening parameters of this carbonate fault zone are similar to those of clayey fault gouge from Yingxiu-Beichuan fault at Hongkou outcrop and from Pingxi fault zone. Our experimental result will provide a condition for triggering movement of subsidiary faults or off-fault damage during a large earthquake.     

Stick–slip behavior of Indian gabbro as studied using a NIED large-scale biaxial friction apparatus

This paper reports stick–slip behaviors of Indian gabbro as studied using a new large-scale biaxial friction apparatus, built in the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention(NIED), Tsukuba, Japan. The apparatus consists of the existing shaking table as the shear-loading device up to 3,600 k N, the main frame for holding two large rectangular prismatic specimens with a sliding area of 0.75 m2 and for applying normal stresses rnup to 1.33 MPa, and a reaction force unit holding the stationary specimen to the ground. The shaking table can produce loading rates v up to 1.0 m/s,accelerations up to 9.4 m/s2, and displacements d up to0.44 m, using four servocontrolled actuators. We report results from eight preliminary experiments conducted with room humidity on the same gabbro specimens at v = 0.1–100 mm/s and rn= 0.66–1.33 MPa, and with d of about 0.39 m. The peak and steady-state friction coefficients were about 0.8 and 0.6, respectively, consistent with the Byerlee friction. The axial force drop or shearstress drop during an abrupt slip is linearly proportional to the amount of displacement, and the slope of this relationship determines the stiffness of the apparatus as1.15 9 108N/m or 153 MPa/m for the specimens we used.This low stiffness makes fault motion very unstable and the overshooting of shear stress to a negative value was recognized in some violent stick–slip events. An abrupt slip occurred in a constant rise time of 16–18 ms despite wide variation of the stress drop, and an average velocity during an abrupt slip is linearly proportional to the stress drop.The use of a large-scale shaking table has a great potential in increasing the slip rate and total displacement in biaxial friction experiments with large specimens.     

岩石高速摩擦实验的进展

文中简述了地震动力学国家重点实验室近年来在岩石高速摩擦实验方面的进展。为了深化断层与地震力学研究,实验室建设了一套旋转剪切低速-高速摩擦实验装置,可开展滑动速率介于板块运动速率(cm/a量级)至地震滑动速率(m/s量级)的岩石摩擦实验,其中高速摩擦性能填补了实验室的技术空白。以此为依托,围绕汶川地震断层带力学性质研究,开展了一系列高速摩擦实验。结果表明,龙门山断裂带断层泥的高速摩擦性质具有一致性,其高速滑动下显著的滑动弱化必定在汶川地震中极大地促进了破裂的扩展;断层弱化的主导机制是与摩擦生热相关的过程,包括凹凸体急速加热弱化和热压作用;断层泥在经历高速滑动弱化之后摩擦系数可在5~10s内恢复0.4,断层强度的快速恢复是同震主破裂带余震减少的原因之一。基于对实验装置现状和现有成果的分析,展望了近期实验室岩石高速摩擦的发展方向。     

Internal structures and high-velocity frictional properties of Longmenshan fault zone at Shenxigou activated during the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake

This paper reports internal structures of a wide fault zone at Shenxigou, Dujiangyan, Sichuan province, China, and high-velocity frictional properties of the fault gouge collected near the coseismic slip zone during the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. Vertical offset and horizontal displacement at the trench site were 2.8 m (NW side up) and 4.8 m (right-lateral), respectively. The fault zone formed in Triassic sandstone, siltstone, and shale about 500 m away from the Yingxiu-Beichuan fault, a major fault in the Longmenshan fault system. A trench survey across the coseismic fault, and observations of outcrops and drill cores down to a depth of 57 m revealed that the fault zone consists of fault gouge and fault breccia of about 0.5 and 250–300 m in widths, respectively, and that the fault strikes N62°E and dips 68° to NW. Quaternary conglomerates were recovered beneath the fault in the drilling, so that the fault moved at least 55 m along the coseismic slip zone, experiencing about 18 events of similar sizes. The fault core is composed of grayish gouge (GG) and blackish gouge (BG) with very complex slip-zone structures. BG contains low-crystalline graphite of about 30 %. High-velocity friction experiments were conducted at normal stresses of 0.6–2.1 MPa and slip rates of 0.1–2.1 m/s. Both GG and BG exhibit dramatic slip weakening at constant high slip rates that can be described as an exponential decay from peak friction coefficient μ _p to steady-state friction coefficient μ _ss over a slip-weakening distance D _c. Deformation of GG and BG is characterized by overlapped slip-zone structures and development of sharp slickenside surfaces, respectively. Comparison of our data with those reported for other outcrops indicates that the high-velocity frictional properties of the Longmenshan fault zones are quite uniform and the high-velocity weakening must have promoted dynamic rupture propagation during the Wenchuan earthquake.     

Velocity distributions of high-velocity ejecta from regolith targets

We measured the velocity distributions of impact ejecta with velocities higher than ∼100 m s⁻¹ (high-velocity ejecta) for impacts at variable impact angle α into unconsolidated targets of small soda-lime glass spheres. Polycarbonate projectiles with mass of 0.49 g were accelerated to ∼250 m s⁻¹ by a single-stage light-gas gun. The impact ejecta are detected by thin aluminum foils placed around the targets. We analyzed the holes on the aluminum foils to derive the total number and volume of ejecta that penetrated the aluminum foils. Using the minimum velocity of the ejecta for penetration, determined experimentally, the velocity distributions of the high-velocity ejecta were obtained at α=15°, 30°, 45°, 60°, and 90°. The velocity distribution of the high-velocity ejecta is shown to depend on impact angle. The quantity of the high-velocity ejecta for vertical impact (α=90°) is considerably lower than derived from a power-law relation for the velocity distribution on the low-velocity ejecta (less than 10 m s⁻¹). On the other hand, in oblique impacts, the quantity of the high-velocity ejecta increases with decreasing impact angle, and becomes comparable to those derived from the power-law relation. We attempt to scale the high-velocity ejecta for oblique impacts to a new scaling law, in which the velocity distribution is scaled by the cube of projectile radius (scaled volume) and a horizontal component of impactor velocity (scaled ejection velocity), respectively. The high-velocity ejecta data shows a good correlation between the scaled volume and the scaled ejection velocity.     

Simulating the carbon balance of a temperate larch forest under various meteorological conditions

Background  

Changes in the timing of phenological events may cause the annual carbon budget of deciduous forests to change. Therefore, one should take such events into account when evaluating the effects of global warming on deciduous forests. In this article, we report on the results of numerical experiments done with a model that includes a phenological module simulating the timing of bud burst and other phenological events and estimating maximum leaf area index.     

A lower trophic ecosystem model including iron effects in the Okhotsk Sea

We applied a three-dimensional ecosystem-physical coupled model including iron the effect to the Okhotsk Sea. In order to clarify the sources of iron, four dissolved iron compartments, based on the sources of supply, were added to Kawamiya et al.'s [1995, An ecological-physical coupled model applied to Station Papa. Journal of Oceanography, 51, 635-664] model (KKYS) to create our ecosystem model (KKYS-Fe). We hypothesized that four processes supply iron to sea water: atmospheric loadings from Northeastern Asia, input from the Amur River, dissolution from sediments and regeneration by zooplankton and bacteria. We simulated one year, from 1 January 2001 to 31 December 2001, using both KKYS-Fe and KKYS. KKYS could not reproduce the surface nitrate distribution after the spring bloom, whereas KKYS-Fe agreed well with observations in the northwestern Pacific because it includes iron limitation of phytoplankton growth. During the spring bloom, the main source of iron at the sea surface is from the atmosphere. The contribution of riverine iron to the total iron utilized for primary production is small in the Okhotsk Sea. Atmospheric deposition, the iron flux from sediment and regeneration of iron in the water column play important roles in maintaining high primary production in the Okhotsk Sea.     

Deep-sea submersible survey in the Suruga, Sagami and Japan Trenches: preliminary results of the 1985 Kaiko cruise, Leg 2

Nine submersible dives were made in three trenches off central Japan, between 2990 and 5900 m of water depth. Our observations confirm the interpretation that Daiichi-Kashima Seamount is a Cretaceous guyot formed on the Pacific plate that has traveled into the Japan Trench. We also confirmed the previous interpretation of a large normal fault that splits the seamount in two halves, the lower one being now subducting beneath the Japan margin. Compressional deformation was identified within the lower part of the inner slope in front of the seamount. The pattern of deformation that affects Quaternary sediments is in agreement with the present kinematics of the convergence between the Pacific plate and Japan. Deep-water (5700 m) clam colonies are associated with advection of fluids, driven by the subduction-related overpressures. In the northern slope of the Boso Canyon, along the Sagami Trough system (Philippine Sea plate-Japan boundary), the deformation affecting a thick upper Miocene to lower Pliocene sequence indicates two directions of shortening: a N175°E direction which is consistent with the present relative motion along the Sagami Trough (N285–N300°E) and a N30°E direction which could be related to a more northerly direction of convergence that occured during the early Quaternary and earlier.     

Earthquake design considerations in reinforced concrete columns

Damages resulting from the Tokachi-Oki earthquake of 1968 demonstrated that many code-designed reinforced concrete columns do not have adequate earthquake resistance. A review of Japanese research revealed that the axial force ratio, the moment arm ratio, and the type and ratio of transverse reinforcement control the resistance and ductility of concrete columns. A recent experimental study at the Kajima Institute of Construction Technology evaluated the resistance of columns with three types of transverse reinforcement and three reinforcement ratios subjected to repeated alternating loads. Tied and spiral columns proved to be superior to hooped columns.