Performance of buildings with masonry infill walls during the 2011 Lorca earthquake

On Wednesday 11th May 2011 at 6:47 pm (local time) a magnitude 5.1 Mw earthquake occurred 6 km northeast of Lorca with a depth of around 5 km. As a consequence of the shallow depth and the small epicentral distance, important damage was produced in several masonry constructions and even led to the collapse of one of them. Pieces of the facades of several buildings fell down onto the sidewalk, being one of the reasons for the killing of a total of 9 people. The objective of this paper is to describe and analyze the failure patterns observed in reinforced concrete frame buildings with masonry infill walls ranging from 3 to 8 floors in height. Structural as well as non-structural masonry walls suffered important damage that led to redistributions of forces causing in some cases the failure of columns. The importance of the interaction between the structural frames and the infill panels is analyzed by means of non-linear Finite Element Models. The resulting load levels are compared with the member capacities and the changes of the mechanical properties during the seismic event are described and discussed. In the light of the results obtained the observed failure patterns are explained. Some comments are stated concerning the adequacy of the numerical models that are usually used during the design phase for the seismic analysis.     

Palaeobotanical evidence of wildfires in the Late Palaeozoic of South America – Early Permian, Rio Bonito Formation, Paraná Basin, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Fossil charcoal, as direct evidence of palaeowildfires, has repeatedly been reported from several plant-bearing deposits from the Late Palaeozoic of the Northern Hemisphere. In contrast charcoal reports from the Late Palaeozoic deposits of the Southern Hemisphere are relatively rare in comparison to the Northern Hemisphere. Although the presence of pyrogenic coal macerals has repeatedly been reported from Late Palaeozoic coals from South America, no detailed anatomical investigations of such material have been published so far. Here is presented an anatomical analysis of charcoal originating from Early Permian sediments of the Quitéria Outcrop, Rio Bonito Formation, Paraná Basin, located in the central-eastern portion of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. This charcoal comes from two different coaly facies, and it was possible to scrutinize between three types, based on anatomical characters of the charcoal. Two of these charcoal types can be correlated to gymnosperm woods, and the other type corresponds to strongly permineralized bark with characteristic features of lycopsids. The presence of charcoal in different facies, ranging from parautochtonous to allochtonous origin, indicates that different vegetation types, i.e. plants which grew under wet conditions in the lowland as well as in the more dry hinterland, have experienced wildfires. Taking into account previous petrographic and lithological analyses from the facies in which the charcoal occurs and from the conditions of the wood and bark fragments, it was possible to speculate that the intensity of such wildfires most probably corresponds to forest-crown fires. Moreover, it is possible to state that wildfires have been a more or less common element in distinct Late Palaeozoic terrestrial ecosystems in the South American part of Gondwana. The data support previous assumptions on the occurrence of wildfires in the Early Permian of the Paraná Basin which were based solely on coal-petrographic data.     

Phytoreduction and volatilization of mercury by ascorbate in Arabidopsis thaliana, European beech and Norway spruce

Mercury vapor (Hg⁰) emission from plants contributes to the atmospheric Hg cycle. Young barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) plants grown on a hydroponic cultivation medium containing Hg(II) have previously been shown to increase their Hg⁰ emission significantly by reduction of Hg(II) with endogenous ascorbic acid. Regarding the potential contribution to the Hg cycle from the vast forest-covered areas, it was important to investigate this mechanism in trees. The increase in Hg⁰ emission from young European beech plants cultivated on a HgCl₂ medium exceeded that from controls by ca. tenfold and was proportional to the Hg(II) concentration. From these experiments, a flux of 12.8 μg Hg⁰/h/m² was estimated at an exposure of the roots to 20 μM Hg(II). Mercury vapor release from homogenates of Norway spruce needles exceeded that from European beech leaves by a factor of 2.3–4, i.e. in proportion to the reported AA concentrations; the reduction was maximal at alkaline pH which is typical for AA. The 8.4-fold difference in Hg⁰ release between homogenates from wild-type Arabidopsis thaliana and from its AA-deficient mutant vtc 1-1 also paralleled the reported difference in AA levels of both species. It is concluded that the phytoreduction and vaporization of Hg by AA is an important mechanism as much for Hg detoxification in trees as for Hg emission to the atmosphere. The efficiency of this process seems to result from the optimal coordination of transfer and biochemical transformation of mercuric ions and Hg vapor. There is no evidence for a relevant difference in the mechanisms of biogenic Hg(II) reduction between grass plants and trees.     

Size distribution of the Late Devonian ammonoid Prolobites: indication for possible mass spawning events

Worldwide, the ammonoid genus Prolobites is only known from a few localities, and from these fossil beds almost all of the specimens are adults as shown by the presence of a terminal growth stage. This is in marked contrast to the co-occurring ammonoid genera such as Sporadoceras, Prionoceras, and Platyclymenia. Size distribution of specimens of Prolobites from three studied localities show that, unlike in the co-occurring ammonoid species, most of the material belongs to adult individuals. The morphometric analysis of Prolobites delphinus (Sandberger & Sandberger 1851) demonstrates the intraspecific variability including variants with elliptical coiling and that dimorphism is not detectable. The Prolobites material shows close resemblance to spawning populations of Recent coleoids such as the squid Todarodes filippovae Adam 1975. Possible mass spawning events are discussed in the context of the size distribution and limited geographic range of Prolobites. Finally, the potential fecundity and brooding behaviour of Prolobites is hypothesized using the examples of post spawning egg care in Recent coleoids.     

Isoseismals of the strongest Friuli aftershocks of September 1976

Summary Isoseismal maps of the three strongest Friuli aftershocks of September 1976 were compiled using the contributions from European countries within the shaken area. The characteristic features of the macroseismic fields are discussed.     

A method to determine crystallization temperatures of hydrated crystals by intracrystalline oxygen isotope effects

The fractionation of the oxygen isotopes between water molecules from different sites in CuSO₄ · 5H₂O has been measured for crystallization temperatures of 25, 40 and 50°C. The temperature dependence found provides a basis for the determination of crystallization temperatures from such intracrystalline oxygen isotope effects; also for hydrated crystals of mineralogical and geological interest. Necessary suppositions for the application of this method are discussed.     

Heavy metal inflow into the floodplains at the mouth of the river Weiße Elster (Central Germany)

From 1998 to 2002 investigations were carried out to estimate both the quantity and quality (heavy metal contents) of suspended matter loads discharged into a floodplain area measuring approx. 5 km² of the Central German river Weiße Elster, a tributary of the river Saale in the Elbe river basin. Flood sediments, suspended particulate matter, and floodplain soils were investigated especially for the main pollutants Cd, Zn, Cu, Pb, Cr, and Hg. Supplementary gamma spectroscopy examinations were performed to help to identify the age of deposits in order to estimate sedimentation rates for last decades. The recent flood sediments are contaminated by up to 33 times the geogenic background (Cd). Up to 55% of the total annual SPM load of the river Weiße Elster is relocated into the investigated retention area in the flood‐stricken year 2002. The sedimentation rates for the last 50 years vary between 0.5 mm/a and 1 mm/a in far away and rarely flooded parts and between 1 mm/a and 2 mm/a in the frequently flooded parts of the inflow of the retention area.     

Compositional zoning of garnet porphyroblasts from the polymetamorphic Wölz Complex, Eastern Alps

We employ garnet isopleth thermobarometry to derive the P–T conditions of Permian and Cretaceous metamorphism in the Wölz crystalline Complex of the Eastern Alps. The successive growth increments of two distinct growth zones of the garnet porphyroblasts from the Wölz Complex indicate garnet growth in the temperature interval of 540°C to 560°C at pressures of 400 to 500 MPa during the Permian and temperatures ranging from 550°C to 570°C at pressures in the range of 700 to 800 MPa during the Cretaceous Eo-Alpine event. Based on diffusion modelling of secondary compositional zoning within the outermost portion of the first garnet growth zone constraints on the timing of the Permian and the Eo-Alpine metamorphic events are derived. We infer that the rocks remained in a temperature interval between 570°C and 610°C over about 10 to 20 Ma during the Permian, whereas the high temperature stage of the Eo-Alpine event only lasted for about 0.2 Ma. Although peak metamorphic temperatures never exceeded 620°C, the prolonged thermal annealing during the Permian produced several 100 µm wide alteration halos in the garnet porphyroblasts and partially erased their thermobarometric memory. Short diffusion profiles which evolved around late stage cracks within the first garnet growth zone constrain the crack formation to have occurred during cooling below about 450°C after the Eo-Alpine event.     

On the breakdown of zircon upon “dry” thermal annealing

Zircon samples without and with secondary chemical alteration from diverse sources were subjected to heat treatment at 1400 °C for 96 h. Resulting new phases and textures suggest that decomposition of zircon into component oxides occurred in all experiments to various degrees. The crucible material was found to have a strong influence on the extent of breakdown, especially in the case of altered starting materials. In this study the progressive stages of the breakdown of zircon grains are described. The factors that may govern the decomposition are discussed, including radiation damage, secondary alteration and external reaction conditions (sample container, atmosphere). Alumina crucibles should generally be avoided in dry annealing of zircon, to minimise uncontrolled breakdown into oxides.