Late Holocene great earthquakes and relative sea‐level change at Kenai,southern Alaska

Kenai, located on the west coast of the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, subsided during the great earthquake of AD 1964. Regional land subsidence is recorded within the estuarine stratigraphy as peat overlain by tidal silt and clay. Reconstructions using quantitative diatom transfer functions estimate co‐seismic subsidence (relative sea‐level rise) between 0.28±0.28 m and 0.70±0.28 m followed by rapid post‐seismic recovery. Stratigraphy records an earlier co‐seismic event as a second peat‐silt couplet, dated to ～1500–1400 cal. yr BP with 1.14±0.28 m subsidence. Two decimetre‐scale relative sea‐level rises are more likely the result of glacio‐isostatic responses to late Holocene and Little Ice Age glacier expansions rather than to co‐seismic subsidence during great earthquakes. Comparison with other sites around Cook Inlet, at Girdwood and Ocean View, helps in constructing regional patterns of land‐level change associated with three great earthquakes, AD 1964, ～950–850 cal. yr BP and ～1500–1400 cal. yr BP. Each earthquake has a different spatial pattern of co‐seismic subsidence which indicates that assessment of seismic hazard in southern Alaska requires an understanding of multiple great earthquakes, not only the most recent. All three earthquakes show a pre‐seismic phase of gradual land subsidence that marked the end of relative land uplift caused by inter‐seismic strain accumulation. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Numerical prediction of blast‐induced stress wave from large‐scale underground explosion

This paper presents a numerical model for predicting the dynamic response of rock mass subjected to large‐scale underground explosion. The model is calibrated against data obtained from large‐scale field tests. The Hugoniot equation of state for rock mass is adopted to calculate the pressure as a function of mass density. A piecewise linear Drucker–Prager strength criterion including the strain rate effect is employed to model the rock mass behaviour subjected to blast loading. A double scalar damage model accounting for both the compression and tension damage is introduced to simulate the damage zone around the charge chamber caused by blast loading. The model is incorporated into Autodyn3D through its user subroutines. The numerical model is then used to predict the dynamic response of rock mass, in terms of the peak particle velocity (PPV) and peak particle acceleration (PPA) attenuation laws, the damage zone, the particle velocity time histories and their frequency contents for large‐scale underground explosion tests. The computed results are found in good agreement with the field measured data; hence, the proposed model is proven to be adequate for simulating the dynamic response of rock mass subjected to large‐scale underground explosion. Extended numerical analyses indicate that, apart from the charge loading density, the stress wave intensity is also affected, but to a lesser extent, by the charge weight and the charge chamber geometry for large‐scale underground explosions. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Strong Tides in 1964 and 1982

1StrongtideandastronomicalconditionsPartial solar eclipse occurred 4 times in 1964, 1982 and 2000 respectively. Time interval is about 3 Saros periods (one Saros period is 18 years and 10.33～11.33 days). Total lunar eclipse occurred 2 times in 1964 and 2000 respectively and 3 times in 1982. However, there was no lunar eclipse in 1966, 1984 and 2002. It seems that they had similar astro-nomical conditions and the best was in 1982. The studies about the effect of tide on the global climate…     

One hundred years of mountain hydrology in Switzerland by the WSL

In 1903 the Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL started its first forest hydrology measurements with the aim to deliver a sound scientific basis for the implementation of new forest legislation introduced in Switzerland in 1876. This legislation was triggered by several large floods that occurred in Switzerland, for which a major cause was widely seen as the poor condition of forests at that time. Consequently, hydrologic research at WSL first focused on the influence of forests on floods. In the second half of the 20th century, other hydrological issues such as water quality, snow hydrology and sediment transport complemented the hydrologic research at WSL. Some recent results of this work are presented in three papers joining this introductory paper to mark the 100th anniversary of hydrologic research at WSL. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A micromechanical finite element model for linear and damage‐coupled viscoelastic behaviour of asphalt mixture

This study presents a finite element (FE) micromechanical modelling approach for the simulation of linear and damage‐coupled viscoelastic behaviour of asphalt mixture. Asphalt mixture is a composite material of graded aggregates bound with mastic (asphalt and fine aggregates). The microstructural model of asphalt mixture incorporates an equivalent lattice network structure whereby intergranular load transfer is simulated through an effective asphalt mastic zone. The finite element model integrates the ABAQUS user material subroutine with continuum elements for the effective asphalt mastic and rigid body elements for each aggregate. A unified approach is proposed using Schapery non‐linear viscoelastic model for the rate‐independent and rate‐dependent damage behaviour. A finite element incremental algorithm with a recursive relationship for three‐dimensional (3D) linear and damage‐coupled viscoelastic behaviour is developed. This algorithm is used in a 3D user‐defined material model for the asphalt mastic to predict global linear and damage‐coupled viscoelastic behaviour of asphalt mixture. For linear viscoelastic study, the creep stiffnesses of mastic and asphalt mixture at different temperatures are measured in laboratory. A regression‐fitting method is employed to calibrate generalized Maxwell models with Prony series and generate master stiffness curves for mastic and asphalt mixture. A computational model is developed with image analysis of sectioned surface of a test specimen. The viscoelastic prediction of mixture creep stiffness with the calibrated mastic material parameters is compared with mixture master stiffness curve over a reduced time period. In regard to damage‐coupled viscoelastic behaviour, cyclic loading responses of linear and rate‐independent damage‐coupled viscoelastic materials are compared. Effects of particular microstructure parameters on the rate‐independent damage‐coupled viscoelastic behaviour are also investigated with finite element simulations of asphalt numerical samples. Further study describes loading rate effects on the asphalt viscoelastic properties and rate‐dependent damage behaviour. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

临猗5.0级地震前后品质因子值变化特征研究

利用西安数字地震遥测台网记录的数字地震资料，采用P波初动半周期残差法求得1998年7月临猗5．0级地震前后不同路径的Q(品质因子)值变化，发现在地震发生前Q值为87～203，震后Q值为67～164，震前震中区附近出现明显的高Q值异常。结果表明，地震前的高Q值异常可以作为地震预测的一种手段。     

Application of stress release models to historical earthquakes from North China

Univariate and multivariate stress release models are fitted to historical earthquake data from North China. It is shown that a better fit is obtained by treating separately the Eastern part of the region, including the North China Plain and Bohai Sea, and the Western part of the region, including the Ordos Plateau and its Eastern boundary. Further improvement is obtained by fitting the large events (M7.6) and smaller events in the Western region by different stress release models. The comparisons are made by computing the likelihoods of the fitted models and discounting the number of parameters used by Akaike's AIC criterion. The models are used to develop long-term risk scenarios for the East and West regions.