The earthquake in the Swabian Jura of 16 November 1911 and present concepts of seismotectonics

Beginning with the Swabian Jura earthquake in 1911 the seismic activity in Central Europe is concentrated to this area. A comparison with other events of the same epicentral region shows that the largest earthquake in Germany has the character of a left-lateral horizontal strike slip striking N — NNE. The focal parameters can be assumed within the following intervalls: Seismic moment M_o = 1…8·10¹⁷ Nm; focal area F_o = 18…53 km²; average dislocation d_o = 20…53 cm and stress drop Δp_o = 13…19 bar.     

X-Ray investigations on the deformation of experimentally shock-loaded quartzes

Quartz single crystals submitted to dynamic pressures higher than 200 kbar show intensive anisotropic postshock cell expansions and lattice disordering which gradually increase along with the degree of shock compression. Maximum expansion and lattice distortion occur parallel to [10.0] followed by [21.0] and [20.1], whereas the lowest expansion rates and comparatively little lattice damage can be observed parallel to [10.2] and [00.1]. [10.0], [21.0], and [20.1] represent short Burgers vectors within the quartz lattice. They are probably preferred directions of a structure-controlled deformation.Annealing experiments carried out at 300, 605 and 900 ° C make the expanded cell parameters approach the values of unshocked quartz. Two different types of recrystallization can be observed:

Die wachsende Bedeutung der Ingenieurgeologie im Zeitalter der Umweltzerstörung

Zusammenfassung Die Entwicklung der Technik führt zu immer größeren Bauprojekten im Bereich des Talsperrenbaus, Verkehrswegebaus, Untertagebaus, Bergbaus und Grundbaus. Diese großen Bauprojekte stellen in vielfacher Hinsicht eine erhebliche Belastung der Natur sowie eine Beeinträchtigung ihres Gleichgewichts dar und rufen teilweise unvorhergesehene Wechselwirkungen von Bauwerk und Baugrund hervor. Die technische Entwicklung überrollte die Natur so stürmisch, daß ihre ökologischen Folgen weder von den Wissenschaftlern noch von den Praktikern erkannt und bedacht wurden. Die Aufgaben, die sich in diesem Rahmen dem Ingenieurgeologen stellen, bestehen nicht nur in der möglichst genauen Erfassung der geologischen Parameter zur Gewährleistung der Sicherheit des Bauwerks, wirtschaftlich vertretbarer Baukosten unter optimaler Berücksichtigung geologischer Gegebenheiten, sondern sie haben auch die Vorhersage der Wechselwirkungen von Bauwerk und Baugrund sowie von Störungen des oft erstaunlich labilen Gleichgewichts von Geo-, Bio- und Atmosphäre einzubeziehen. Dabei spielen oft rezente geologische Vorgänge eine bisher in der Ingenieurgeologie viel zu wenig gewürdigte Rolle. Die Notwendigkeit, die Ingenieurgeologie schon bei der allerersten Planung, beim Entwurf und der Bauwerksüberwachung mitbestimmen zu lassen, wird an einzelnen Projekten erläutert.

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Summary Technical development leads to dams, roads, tunnels, mines and foundations of always larger dimensions. Various aspects of these projects represent a serious encumbrance of nature and an impairment of her equilibrium and can cause unforeseen interactions between structure and the earth. Development has taken place so quickly, that the ecological consequences have not been recognised or considered in many cases — neither by the scientists nor by the practitioners. The tasks, confronting the engineering geologists in this regard, consist not only in an exact investigation of the geological parameters to guarantee the safety of the construction project and to achieve project costs by taking into consideration the geological conditions, but must encompass the recognition of the interactions of construction and the earth as well as the disturbance of the often astonishingly fragile equilibrium of the geo-, bio- and atmosphere. Specifically recent geological processes are often not accounted for, despite their possibly disadvantageous effects. The necessity, that the engineering geologist contributes in all project stages from the first planning, to the design upto the surveillance of the construction, is stressed by giving examples.

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Résumé Le développement technique a conduit à des projets de construction toujour plus grands dans le domain des barrages, des routes, des tunnels, des mines et des fondations. Ces grands projets représentent sous beaucoup d'aspects une immense contreinte pour l'environnement naturel, un préjudice pour son équilibre et conduisent parfois à une interaction imprévue entre la construction et le sol. Le développement fut si rapide que les conséquences écologiques ne furent pas reconnues et prises en compte, ni par la science ni par la pratique. Les taches, qui se présentent au géologue ingénieur sur le terrain, comprennent non seulement l'investigation exacte des paramètres géologiques dans le but d'assurer la securité de la construction pour des frais raisonnables tout en prenant en compte d'une façon optimale les conditions géologiques, mais aussi la prévision de ces interactions entre l'ouvrage et le sol, ainsi que les perturbations de l'équilibre de l'environnement géologique, biologique et atmosphérique, équilibre qui est souvent éxtrêmement fragile.Les phénomènes géologiques récents ne sont que très peu considérés dans ces études. La necessité de la participation du géologue ingénieur dès le début des études pendant la conception et la surveillance de l'ouvrage est illustrée à l'aide de projets particuliers.

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Shock-induced thermal transformations of ries-biotites

Thermal transformations in biotites depending on increasing postshock temperatures were studied.A decrease of the unit cell volume, caused by oxidation of octahedral Fe²⁺ to Fe³⁺ at temperature rangings of about 400–500° C was observed.In the same temperature range (500° C) the biotite lattice becomes thermodynamically unstable. Intersheet and octahedral layers are decomposed, whereas individual SiO₄-tetrahedra are more resistant to thermal vibrations. The decomposition of the biotite leads to the formation of new minerals and amorphous phases. By X-ray analysesmagnetite, hercynite, pyroxene, feldspar, and quartz were identified.Thermal transformations of biotite induced by shock waves are characterized by states of distinct disequilibrium.     

Footwall mineralization during Late Miocene extension along the West Cycladic Detachment System,Lavrion, Greece

The West Cycladic Detachment System (WCDS) has been mapped from the western Cycladic islands to Lavrion (mainland Greece), where several top‐to‐SSW low‐angle normal faults at different structural levels are observed. Near the detachment horizon, hydrothermal fluid flow originating from Miocene intrusions lead to high‐temperature carbonate strata‐bound Pb–Ag–Zn ore deposits. Zircon (U–Th)/He cooling ages from the mineralized footwall are 7.1 ± 0.6 to 7.9 ± 0.6 Ma. Carbon‐ and O‐isotope analyses of the carbonate host indicate high water‐to‐rock ratios during brittle deformation‐induced metasomatism, and that this interaction, unrelated to proximity of the intrusions, plays the dominant role in the mineralization. The Late Miocene geology of Lavrion is strikingly similar to Serifos island on the SE termination of the WCDS, both characterized by strong localization of detachment faulting and the interaction of brittle deformation with the injection of fluids related to granitoid intrusions.     

Glacier inventory of the Gran Campo Nevado Ice Cap in the Southern Andes and glacier changes observed during recent decades

The Gran Campo Nevado (GCN) forms an isolated ice cap on the Península Muñoz Gamero (PMG) located 200 km to the south of the Southern Patagonia Icefield (SPI). We present a glacier inventory of the GCN made up by 27 drainage basins (in total 199.5 km²) and other small cirque and valley glaciers of the southern part of PMG (in total 53 km²). The glacier inventory is based on a digital elevation model (DEM) and ortho-photos. Contour lines from maps, relief information derived from Landsat TM satellite imagery from 1986 and 2002 and stereoscopic data from aerial photos were combined in a knowledge-based scheme to obtain a DEM of the area. A digital ortho-photo map based on aerial photos from 1998 and several ortho-photos based on aerial photos from 1942 and 1984 could be produced from the initial DEM. A geographical information system (GIS) served to outline the extent of the present glaciation. All major glaciers of the GCN show a significant glacier retreat during the last 60 yr. Some of the outlet glaciers lost more than 20% of their total area during this period. Overall glacier retreat amounts to 2.8% of glacier length per decade and the glacier area loss is 2.4% per decade in the period from 1942 to 2002. We hypothesise that GCN glaciers may have reacted faster and more synchronously with the observed warming trend during recent decades when compared with the SPI.