Modelling of ground motion in the vicinity of massive structures

A two-dimensional elastic Chebyshev spectral element method (SPEM) is used to model the seismic wavefield within a massive structure and in its vicinity. We consider 2-D models where a linear elastic structure, with quadrangular cross-section, resting on an elastic homogeneous half-space, is impinged upon by the waves generated by a surface impulse at some distance. The scattering of Rayleigh waves and the response of the structure are extensively analysed in a parametric way, varying size, mechanical parameters and shape of the load. Some of the models considered are representative of embankments and earth dams. The simulation shows that some models resonate, storing part of the incoming energy. With realistic parameters, the lowest resonance frequency is due to pure shear deformation and is controlled by the shear velocity and height of the load. Flexural modes are excited only at higher frequencies. The acceleration at the top of the structure may be five/seven times higher than at the base, depending on the mass of the structure. The gradual release of trapped energy produces a ground roll lasting several seconds after the wave front has passed. The ground-roll amplitude depends on the sturcture's mass and can be as large as 30% of the peak acceleration. Outside resonance conditions, the ground motion is almost unaffected by the presence of the artefact; the horizontal motion on top of it is nearly twice the motion at ground level. Similar results should be expected when the incident field is an upcoming shear wave. A qualitative discussion shows that the presence of anelastic attenuation in the embankment does not significantly alter the preceding conclusions, unless it is of very low values (e.g. Q < 15).The modelling results that we discuss indicate that the soil-structure interaction may substantially alter the ‘free-field’ ground motion. From a practical point of view, the main conclusions are: (1) careful analysis is necessary when interpreting seismic records collected in the vicinity of large artefacts; (2) seismic hazard at a site may depend on the presence of man-made structures such as embankments, dams, tall and massive buildings.     

The 3 June 1994 Java Tsunami: A Post-Event Survey of the Coastal Effects

The paper is a report of the field campaign undertaken by an international team (Italian, French and Indonesian) a few weeks after the occurrence of a tsunami invading the south-eastern coast of Java (Indonesia) and it complements the results of a concurrent field survey by Asian and USA researchers. The tsunamigenic earthquake occurred on 3 of June 1994 in the Indian Ocean about 200 km south of Java. The tsunami caused severe damage and claimed many victims in some coastal villages. The main purpose of the survey was to measure the inundation and the runup values as well as to ascertain the possible morphological changes caused by the wave attacks. Attention was particularly focussed on the most affected districts, that is Lumajang, Jember and Banyuwangi in Java, although also the districts of Negera, Tebanan and Denpasar in Bali were examined. The most severe damage was observed in the Banyuwangi district, where the villages of Rajekwesi, Pancer and Lampon were almost completely levelled by the violent waves. Most places were hit by three significant waves with documented wave height often exceeding 5 m. The maximum runup value (9.50 m) was measured at Rajekwesi, where also the most impressive erosion phenomena could be found. In contrast, only in one place of the neighbouring island of Bali was there a slight tsunami, the rest of the island being practically unaffected.     

The Calabrian Stage redefined

The name Calabrian was introduced in the geological literature by the French stratigrapher Maurice Gignoux in 1910, and later described in his important monograph （633 pages） ＂Les formations marines pliocknes et quaternaires de l＇ltalie du sud et de la Sicile ＂published in 1913. Detailed data were provided on several sections （Santa Maria di Catanzaro, Caraffa, Monasterace, Palermo） and on their fossil content. The Calabrian Stage has commonly been used for over fifty years as the oldest subdivision of the Qua- ternary, notably in the time scales of Berggren ＆ van Cou- vering （1974） and Haq ＆ Eysinga （1987）. However, after the GSSP for the Pliocene/Pleistocene boundary （P/P） was approved by INQUA in 1982 and ratified by lUGS in 1984 at the Vrica section of Calabria, there was a decline in the usage of the stage name, and an increasing tendency by many Quaternary workers to question the boundary stratotype. This was because there was increasing evidence that it did not correspond to the beginning of the ＂ice age＂. In doing so, they were not complying with the recommendations presented at the 18th International Geological Congress （IGC） in London, 1948 （Oakley, 1950）.     

The Messinian Sicilian stratigraphy revisited: new insights for the Messinian salinity crisis

Controversies around the Messinian salinity crisis (MSC) are because of the difficulties in establishing genetic and stratigraphic relationships between its deep and shallow‐water record. Actually, the Sicilian foreland basin shows both shallow and deep‐water Messinian records, thus offering the chance to reconstruct comprehensive MSC scenarios. The Lower Gypsum of Sicily comprises primary and resedimented evaporites separated in space and time by the intra‐Messinian unconformity. A composite unit including halite, resedimented gypsum and Calcare di Base accumulated between 5.6 and 5.55 Ma in the main depocentres; it records the acme of the Messinian Salinity Crisis during a tectonic phase coupled with sea‐level falls at glacials TG14‐TG12. These deposits fully post‐date primary gypsum, which precipitated in shallow‐water wedge‐top and foreland ramp basins between 5.96 and 5.6 Ma. This new stratigraphic framework results in a three‐stage MSC scenario characterized by different primary evaporite associations: selenite in the first and third stages, carbonate, halite and potash salt in the second one associated with hybrid resedimented evaporites.     

Analysis, synthesis and modelling of high-resolution observations of salt-marsh eco-geomorphological patterns in the Venice lagoon

The present paper describes observations, analyses and models of salt-marsh channel network and vegetation patterns with the aim of contributing to the development of predictive models of ecological and morphological co-evolution. Existing and new observations are described, with particular emphasis on remote sensing and ancillary field surveys, which are shown to allow reliable, accurate and repeatable quantitative characterizations of landform and vegetation properties over the spatial scales of interest. The observed channel network morphological characters are then used as the basis and validation of models describing the emergence of channel network and vegetation spatial patterns. In particular, with reference to observations performed in the Venice Lagoon, the note describes: (i) new, 2-cm resolution, characterizations of channel network geometry obtained from “proximal sensing” photographic observations; (ii) the reliable quantitative maps of salt-marsh vegetation which may be retrieved from hyperspectral remote sensing data and field ancillary observations; (iii) a synthesis of recent and new analyses of the statistical properties of vegetation and landform spatial organization, that may be inferred from the maps so derived; (iv) recent and new conceptual and quantitative ecological and geomorphic models developed and validated by remote-sensing and field observations. A coherent observational and theoretical eco-morphodynamic framework is then proposed.     

Modeling the effects of the variability of temperature-related dynamic viscosity on the thermal-affected zone of groundwater heat-pump systems

Thermal perturbation in the subsurface produced in an open-loop groundwater heat pump (GWHP) plant is a complex transport phenomenon affected by several factors, including the exploited aquifer’s hydrogeological and thermal characteristics, well construction features, and the temporal dynamics of the plant’s groundwater abstraction and reinjection system. Hydraulic conductivity has a major influence on heat transport because plume propagation, which occurs primarily through advection, tends to degrade following conductive heat transport and convection within moving water. Hydraulic conductivity is, in turn, influenced by water reinjection because the dynamic viscosity of groundwater varies with temperature. This paper reports on a computational analysis conducted using FEFLOW software to quantify how the thermal-affected zone (TAZ) is influenced by the variation in dynamic viscosity due to reinjected groundwater in a well-doublet scheme. The modeling results demonstrate non-negligible groundwater dynamic-viscosity variation that affects thermal plume propagation in the aquifer. This influence on TAZ calculation was enhanced for aquifers with high intrinsic permeability and/or substantial temperature differences between abstracted and post-heat-pump-reinjected groundwater.

     

A focal plane detector design for a wide-band Laue-lens telescope

The energy range above 60 keV is important for the study of many open problems in high energy astrophysics such as the role of Inverse Compton with respect to synchrotron or thermal processes in GRBs, non thermal mechanisms in SNR, the study of the high energy cut-offs in AGN spectra, and the detection of nuclear and annihilation lines. Recently the development of high energy Laue lenses with broad energy bandpasses from 60 to 600keV have been proposed for a Hard X ray focusing Telescope (HAXTEL) in order to study the X-ray continuum of celestial sources. The required focal plane detector should have high detection efficiency over the entire operative range, a spatial resolution of about 1mm, an energy resolution of a few keV at 500keV and a sensitivity to linear polarization. We describe a possible configuration of the focal plane detector based on several CdTe/CZT pixelated layers stacked together to achieve the required detection efficiency at high energy. Each layer can operate both as a separate position sensitive detector and polarimeter or work with other layers to increase the overall photopeak efficiency. Each layer has a hexagonal shape in order to minimize the detector surface required to cover the lens field of view. The pixels would have the same geometry so as to provide the best coupling with the lens point spread function and to increase the symmetry for polarimetric studies.     

Historical behaviour of Dome C and Talos Dome (East Antarctica) as investigated by snow accumulation and ice velocity measurements

Ice divide–dome behaviour is used for ice sheet mass balance studies and interpretation of ice core records. In order to characterize the historical behaviour (last 400 yr) of Dome C and Talos Dome (East Antarctica), ice velocities have been measured since 1996 using a GPS system, and the palaeo-spatial variability of snow accumulation has been surveyed using snow radar and firn cores. The snow accumulation distribution of both domes indicates distributions of accumulation that are non-symmetrical in relation to dome morphology. Changes in spatial distributions have been observed over the last few centuries, with a decrease in snow accumulation gradient along the wind direction at Talos Dome and a counter-clockwise rotation of accumulation distribution in the northern part of Dome C. Observations at Dome C reveal a significant increase in accumulation since the 1950s, which could correlate to altered snow accumulation patterns due to changes in snowfall trajectory. Snow accumulation mechanisms are different at the two domes: a wind-driven snow accumulation process operates at Talos Dome, whereas snowfall trajectory direction is the main factor at Dome C. Repeated GPS measurements made at Talos Dome have highlighted changes in ice velocity, with a deceleration in the NE portion, acceleration in the SW portion and migration of dome summit, which are apparently correlated with changes in accumulation distribution. The observed behaviour in accumulation and velocity indicates that even the most remote areas of East Antarctica have changed from a decadal to secular scale.     

The gravitational perturbation spectrum in linear satellite theory

A new method for calculating the perturbation spectrum in the framework of Kaula's linear satellite theory (LST) is introduced. The novelty of this approach consists in using recent results on the spectral decomposition of the perturbation frequencies in LST to provide a closed formulation for the amplitude and the phase of each line in the perturbation spectrum. The theory presented here can be applied to perturbations in the elements or in the radial and transverse directions due to the geopotential or to the tides. Separate algorithms are developed for application to orbits with circulating or frozen perigee.