The El Salvador earthquakes of January and February 2001: context, characteristics and implications for seismic risk

The small Central American republic of El Salvador has experienced, on average, one destructive earthquake per decade during the last hundred years. The latest events occurred on 13 January and 13 February 2001, with magnitudes M_w 7.7 and 6.6, respectively. The two events, which were of different tectonic origin, follow the patterns of the seismicity of the region although neither event has a known precedent in the earthquake catalogue in terms of size and location. The earthquakes caused damage to thousands of traditionally built houses and triggered hundreds of landslides, which were the main causes of fatalities. The earthquakes have clearly demonstrated trends of increasing seismic risk in El Salvador due to rapid population expansion in areas of high shaking and landslide hazard, exacerbated by deforestation and uncontrolled urbanisation. The institutional mechanisms required for the control of land use and building practice are very weak and present a major obstacle to risk mitigation.     

山西北部至晋冀蒙交界地区几次中强地震前4.0级地震活动的研究

对山西北部至晋冀蒙交界地区中强地震前的 4 .0级地震进行了研究 ,得出其特征为异常增强—异常平静—信号地震的结论 ,认为该区某些 4 .0级地震活动似可作为某些中强地震的前兆地震而进行进一步的研究。     

Alpujarride attribution of the supposed ‘Almagride Complex’ (Betic Internal Zone,Almerı́a Province,Spain)Appartenance Alpujarride du prétendu « Complexe almagride » (Zones internes bétiques,province d'Almeria,Espagne)

The differentiation of units in the Sierra de Almagro has been a source of controversy. There were defined the Almagride and Ballabona–Cucharón complexes, the former considered by several authors as part of a Subbetic metamorphosed and outcropping in a tectonic window. In this study, the units of Ballabona, Almagro and Cucharón are integrated into a single one, that of Tres Pacos, because they correspond to different parts of the same stratigraphic series. This unit is tectonically over the Nevado–Filabride Complex. The existence of the Almagride and Ballabona–Cucharón complexes is discarded and their units form part of the Alpujarride Complex. To cite this article: C. Sanz de Galdeano, F.J. Garc??a Tortosa, C. R. Geoscience 334 (2002) 355–362.     

Old inherited origin for the present near-bimodal topography of Africa

Africa’s landscape is dominated by a manifold of second-order epeirogenic structures superimposed on a first-order bimodal topography. Bivariate regression analysis of Africa’s surface topography shows that this is a complexly folded surface with regionally elevated areas in southern and eastern Africa, and a topographically low northern and western Africa. The apparent spatial relationships between these features are analysed using anomaly correlation between surface topography and free-air gravity anomalies. Occurrences of positively correlated features between gravity and topography in Africa are found to be limited to second-order epeirogenic features. Geophysical modelling and geologic evidence indicate that Africa’s bimodal topography is genetically distinct from these second-order features, and linked to sources as deep as the sublithospheric mantle. The age, measured and modelled elevation of the bimodal topography require that topographic uplift of south-central Africa be episodic. We infer from our findings together with relative sea-level changes, that the near-bimodality of Africa’s topography is an ancient feature inherited at least from upper Paleozoic times. Our reconstructed paleotopography suggests that Africa was largely a low-lying continent dominated by its cratons, and that basement distribution disregards the present-day uplift patterns of Africa.     

Modelling the short-term response of the Greenland ice-sheet to global warming

 A two-dimensional vertically integrated ice flow model has been developed to test the importance of various processes and concepts used for the prediction of the contribution of the Greenland ice-sheet to sea-level rise over the next 350 y (short-term response). The mass balance is modelled by the degree-day method and the energy-balance method. The lithosphere is considered to respond isostatically to a point load and the time evolution of the bedrock follows from a viscous asthenosphere. According to the IPCC-IS92a scenario (with constant aerosols after 1990) the Greenland ice-sheet is likely to cause a global sea level rise of 10.4 cm by 2100 AD. It is shown, however, that the result is sensitive to precise model formulations and that simplifications as used in the sea-level projection in the IPCC-96 report yield less accurate results. Our model results indicate that, on a time scale of a hundred years, including the dynamic response of the ice-sheet yields more mass loss than the fixed response in which changes in geometry are not incorporated. It appears to be important to consider sliding, as well as the fact that climate sensitivity increases for larger perturbations. Variations in predicted sea-level change on a time scale of hundred years depend mostly on the initial state of the ice-sheet. On a time scale of a few hundred years, however, the variability in the predicted melt is dominated by the variability in the climate scenarios. Received: 21 August 1996/Accepted: 12 May 1997     

Prediction in hydrogeology: two case histories

An inherent aspect of hydrogeology is the dynamic character of groundwater flow within the more passive lithospheric medium. Prediction therefore requires insight into the spatial pattern of aquifer properties as well as the dynamic character of groundwater flow systems. Both aspects together determine hydrogeological system behaviour in space and time. The spatial characteristics of an aquifer are mainly based on geological and geomorphological structure, whereas the dynamics of the system result predominantly from climate and topography; knowledge of paleoconditions are a prerequisite for sound understanding of present systems. The integration of exploration and forecast is illustrated by two case studies. The first study focuses on an assessment of groundwater resource and their sustainable development in semi-arid Botswana. The second study concerns the impact of land and water management in the Netherlands coastal area on the groundwater regime and its future development, including the redistribution of salt and fresh groundwater on a long time scale.     

Assessment of Lichen Vitality During a Transplantation Experiment to a Polluted Site

The present work evaluates the stress effects in two epiphytic lichen species with different thallus morphology, the foliose Parmelia caperata and the fruticose Evernia prunastri, as resulting from transplanting from an unpolluted to an air-polluted area. Lichen samples were collected in Portugal in a clean area, during the spring 2003, and transplanted (1) to the same zone nearby and (2) to a polluted area as affected by an industrial complex. Transplant samples were taken periodically during four months in both places. At the same time lichen samples from the clean-air site native (in-situ) populations were also collected. For each sample were measured the chlorophyll content, the chlorophyll degradation and the cell membrane damage, the latter represented by leacheate conductivity. During the experiment the meteorological conditions were registered. The results indicate the absence of stress effects of transplanting as such, and suggest that leachate conductivity may be the more sensitive indicator of general lichen vitality.