Cut Slopes in Clayey Soils: Consolidation and Overall Stability by Finite Element Method

When a cut slope in a saturated clay is undertaken, a transient water flow occurs and stress transferences from the water to the soil skeleton take place in time (consolidation). Mainly in strongly overconsolidated clays, these stress transferences may determine swelling of soil and therefore reduction of its shear strength in time. However, the lowering of the water level associated to the cut increases effective mean stress, which may therefore counterbalance the above-mentioned effect. In the paper, the behaviour of a cut slope in an overconsolidated clay is analysed by a finite element program that incorporates the Biot consolidation theory (coupled analysis), with constitutive relations simulated by the p–q–θ critical state model. In addition, the variation in time of the overall stability is assessed with a computer program that uses the finite element results and formulations of the critical state soil mechanics. In order to achieve a more complex geotechnical interpretation of the problem, the analysis in time of the excess pore pressures, effective stresses, displacements and stress levels is also presented. Finally, comparisons of stability results are analysed by changing some parameters, namely the problem geometry (weight of excavated soil) and the over-consolidation ratio of the clay.     

Foreland and Hinterland basins: what controls their evolution?

Compressional systems are usually characterized by a positive topography above the sea level, which is continuously modified by the conjugate effects of tectonic contraction or post-orogenic collapse, thermo-mechanical processes in the deep lithosphere and asthenosphere, but also by climate and other surface processes influencing erosion rates.Different types of sedimentary basins can develop in close association with orogens, either in the foreland or in the hinterland. Being progressively filled by erosional products of adjacent uplifted domains, these basins provide a continuous sedimentary record of surficial, crustal and lithospheric deformation at and near plate boundaries.Selected integrated basin-scale studies in the Circum-Mediterranean thrust belts and basins, in Pakistan and the Americas, are used here to document the effects of structures inherited from former orogens, rifts and passive margins, active tectonics and mantle dynamics on the development and long term evolution of synorogenic basins.     

Debris flow affecting the Cubatão Oil Refinery,Brazil

On February 6, 1994, a large debris flow developed because of intense rains in a 800-m-high mountain range called Serra do Cubatão, the local name for the Serra do Mar, located along the coast of the state of São Paulo, Brazil. It affected the Presidente Bernardes Refinery, owned by Petrobrás, in Cubatão. The damages amounted to about US $40 million because of the muck cleaning, repairs, and 3-week interruption of the operations. This prompted Petrobrás to conduct studies, carried out by the authors, to develop protection works, which were done at a cost of approximately US $12 million. The paper describes the studies conducted on debris flow mechanics. A new criteria to define rainfall intensities that trigger debris flows is presented, as well as a correlation of slipped area with soil porosity and rain intensity. Also presented are (a) an actual grain size distribution of a deposited material, determined by laboratory and a large-scale field test, and (b) the size distribution of large boulders along the river bed. Based on theory, empirical experience and back-analysis of the events, the main parameters as the front velocity, the peak discharge and the volume of the transported sediments were determined in a rational basis for the design of the protection works. Finally, the paper describes the set of the protection works built, emphasizing their concept and function. They also included some low-cost innovative works.     

First insights into the demography of the rare gorgonian Spinimuricea klavereni in the Mediterranean Sea

We present the results of the first study to highlight the demography, morphometry and growth rates of Spinimuricea klavereni, a rare Mediterranean endemic gorgonian exceptionally common in shallow depths of the Northeast Marmara Sea. In the study area, this species forms vast populations on rocks, boulders and attached to pebbles/stones/shells on soft substrates between 20 and 45 m depth, with a total average density of 0.3 colonies·m^?2 but comprising patches up to 3 colonies·m^?2. Colonies, which are on average 42.9 (±20.1) cm in height, can reach up to 110 cm. Unlike other Mediterranean gorgonians, the colonies studied here showed fast growth rates that decreased with increasing colony height, between 1.5–11.1 and 4.96 ± 3.01 cm·year^?1 on average. The low necrosis and high growth rates displayed by this species in the Northeast Marmara Sea confirm the previously hypothesized opportunistic behaviour of the species. The unique community consisting of S. klavereni and other rare gorgonian/soft corals has limited distribution in this area and should be considered to be a vulnerable marine ecosystem. Therefore we recommend that some conservation measures are taken, including the prohibition of all fisheries and anchoring over these assemblages.     

Postglacial floodings of the Marmara Sea: molluscs and sediments tell the story

The early Holocene marine flooding of the Black Sea has been the subject of intense scientific debate since the “Noah’s Flood” hypothesis was proposed in the late 1990s. The chronology of the flooding is not straightforward because the connection between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea involves the intermediate Marmara Sea Basin via two sills (Dardanelles and Bosphorus). This study explores the chronology of late Pleistocene–Holocene flooding by examining sedimentary facies and molluscs from 24 gravity cores spanning shelf to slope settings in the southern Marmara Sea Basin. A late Pleistocene Ponto-Caspian (Neoeuxinian) mollusc association is found in 12 of the cores, comprising 14 mollusc species and dominated by brackish (oligohaline–lower mesohaline) endemic taxa (dreissenids, hydrobiids). The Neoeuxinian association is replaced by a Turritella–Corbula association at the onset of the Holocene. The latter is dominated by marine species, several of which are known to thrive under dysoxic conditions in muddy bottoms. This association is common in early Holocene intervals as well as sapropel intervals in younger Holocene strata. It is an indicator of low-salinity outflows from the Black Sea into the Marmara Sea that drive stratification. A marine Mediterranean association (87 species) represents both soft bottom and hard substrate faunas that lived in well-ventilated conditions and upper mesohaline–polyhaline salinities (ca. 25 psu). Shallower areas were occupied by hard substrate taxa and phytopdetritic communities, whereas deeper areas had soft bottom faunas. The middle shelf part of the northern Gemlik Gulf has intervals with irregular and discontinuous sedimentary structures admixed with worn Neoeuxinian and euryhaline Mediterranean faunas. These intervals represent reworking events (slumping) likely related to seismic activity rooted in the North Anatolian Fault system. The core data and faunas indicate an oscillating postglacial sea-level rise and phases of increased/decreased ventilation in the Marmara Sea during the Holocene, as well as palaeobiogeographic reorganisations of Ponto-Caspian and Mediterranean water bodies since the latest Pleistocene (<30 ka). The findings contribute to arguments against a single catastrophic flooding of the Black Sea at about 7.5 ka (Noah’s Flood).     

Late Eocene-early Miocene palaeogeographic evolution of central eastern Anatolian basins,the closure of the Neo-Tethys ocean and continental collision

In central eastern Anatolia which is located between Eurasia and Africa, the study of basin developments between late Eocene and early Miocene is of great importance for understanding the process of the closure of the Neo-Tethys Ocean and the formation of strike-slip faults and regional uplift. To study these, three basins were selected: the Sivas-Erzincan, Gürün-Akkisla-Divrigi (GAD), and Malatya basins. The study proposes that the opening of the GAD basin played a key role in the formation of the Ecemis fault, which started developing at the end of early Miocene, and in mountain uplift. All these basins are situated on continental blocks and oceanic crust, arranged from north to south as the Sakarya continent, the Izmir-Ankara-Erzincan ocean (Northern Neo-Tethys), the Kirsehir continent, the inner Tauride ocean, the Munzur-Binboga block, the Maden (=Berit) ocean, the Bitlis-Pütürge block, the Çüngüs ocean and the Arabian continent.The findings indicate that late Eocene-early Miocene successions in these basins were not deposited in foreland basins formed in front of the thrust faults associated with the closure of the ocean, as stated in previous studies. Rather, they were deposited in forearc and backarc basins related to the subduction which was effective until the end of early Miocene. The Sivas-Erzincan and Malatya basins, located on the inner Tauride and Maden (=Berit) oceans, were forearc basins, while the GAD basin situated on the Munzur-Binboga block was a backarc basin. These basins have parallel developments up to the end of early Miocene. While marine sediments were deposited in the Malatya and Sivas-Erzincan basins between late Eocene and early Miocene, terrestrial units began to settle in the GAD basin from the late Eocene and the deposition there is continuous until the end of the early Miocene.Collision of the Arabian and the Anatolian plates at the end of early Miocene (16-18 Ma) produced the left-strike slip Ecemis fault zone, which caused the lateral slip of sedimentary units in the Sivas-Erzincan and GAD basins over hundreds of kilometers. This event produced the first westward tectonic escape of the Anatolian plate prior to the north Anatolian fault (NAF) and the east Anatolian fault (EAF). The Gürün region located in the GAD basin was exhumed in late Miocene and this basin was broken. The Gürün region, which remains on the rising part of the Munzur-Binboga block, is not a different basin as stated earlier, but it is a part of the GAD basin, representing the central part of the GAD basin lake, as indicated by the fine grained deposits (limestones and clay) that occur in the Gürün area.