Average recurrence intervals of strong earthquakes and potential risky segments along the Taiyuan-Linfen portion of the Shanxi graben system

Introduction In AD 1303, the great Hongtong, Shanxi, earthquake of magnitude 8 caused a very serious disaster, which killed over one hundred thousands people at least (Department of Earthquake Dis- *aster Prevention, State Seismological Bureau, 1995). On the occasion of commemorating this ca-tastrophe having occurred for 700 years, we have important problems that need to be answered: How long the average recurrence interval of the grea…     

中国新疆博斯腾湖全新世沉积环境年代学特征

通过对博斯腾湖沉积物湖芯样品进行137Cs,14C-AMS测年分析,湖芯剖面上有明显的1986年的切尔诺贝利核事故蓄积峰,以及1975年和1963年次蓄积峰,这些137Cs蓄积峰对博斯腾湖现代沉积有明显的时标意义。通过质量深度与年代分析,博斯腾湖的沉积速率相对稳定,平均沉积速率为0.13±0.01g/cm2.a。与14C年代获得的中全新世以来的平均沉积速率0.13±0.03cm/a和0.12±0.05cm/a相似,表明博斯腾湖中全新世以来的沉积环境较稳定,并且也说明14C-AMS测年分析所得的结果较为可靠,可以利用博斯腾湖沉积物样品测定的14C年代进行线性回归作年代校正,由于湖泊沉积物中老碳效应的影响,博斯腾湖沉积物有机质14C测年偏老约650a左右。     

The geomorphic dynamics and environmental history of an upper deltaic floodplain tract in the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta,California, USA

A multi‐proxy approach was used to examine the geomorphic dynamics and environmental history of an upper deltaic ?oodplain tract in the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta, California. Three long cores were collected from the McCormack–Williamson Tract (MWT) and these cores were analyzed for bulk density, loss‐on‐ignition, ?ne (clay and silt) content, Al concentration, magnetic susceptibility, pollen, and charcoal. Radiocarbon dates obtained for the cores were converted into calendar years and an age–depth model was constructed. Long‐term vertical accretion and sedimentation rates were estimated from the age–depth model. Cross‐core relations show that coarse sediment generally accumulates more rapidly and has greater magnetic susceptibility compared to ?ne sediment. Percentage ?ne and LOI data show a strong linear relationship that indicates ?ooding is the primary mechanism for the deposition of particular organic matter on the ?oodplain and that landscape wash load has contributed a highly consistent fraction of persistent organic matter averaging 5·5 per cent to the site. Down‐core grain size pro?les show two hydrological domains in the cores, namely millennial ?ne–coarse ?uctuations superimposed on general up‐core ?ning. Coarse sediment is viewed as channel or near‐channel overbank deposits, whereas ?ne deposits are considered to be distal overbank ?ood deposits. The coarse–?ne ?uctuations are indicative of changing depositional settings as channels migrated laterally across MWT, whereas the upward ?ning trend re?ects a combination of self‐limiting overbank deposition as ?oodplain elevation increased and decreasing competence as sea‐level rise reduced ?ood‐pulse energy slopes. MWT has been cross‐cut and incised numerous times in the past, only to have the channels abandoned and subsequently ?lled by ?ne sediment. The channels around MWT attained their modern con?guration about 4000 years ago. MWT likely came under tidal in?uence at about 2500 cal BP. Wetlands have recently developed on MWT, but they are inorganic sediment dominated. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Seismic tests on reinforced concrete and steel frames retrofitted with dissipative braces

Seismic tests have been conducted on two 3‐storey structures protected with pressurized fluid‐viscous spring damper devices. One of the structures was a reinforced concrete frame with clay elements in the slabs, while the other one was a steel frame with steel/concrete composite slabs. The spring dampers were installed through K bracing in between the floors. The tests were performed by means of the pseudodynamic method, which allowed the use of large and full‐size specimens, and by implementing a specific compensation strategy for the strain‐rate effect at the devices. The test results allowed the verification of the adequacy of the attachment system as well as the comparison of the behaviour of the unprotected buildings with several protected configurations, showing the benefits of the application of the devices and the characteristics of their performance. The response of the protected structures was always safer than that of the unprotected ones mainly due to a significant increase of equivalent damping. The increase in the damping ratio depends on the level of deformation. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

红砂岩高陡岩质边坡稳定性分析及治理

充分利用边坡失稳前自身抗滑能力进行高陡边坡治理，结合工程实例，提出了主动性公路边坡治理的思路。分别利用极限平衡法和有限元数值法，综合考虑了两种方法的优缺点，对红砂岩高陡边坡进行了全面的稳定性分析，并针对性地提出了经济合理的治理方案。     

河流调整中的熵、熵产生和能耗率的变化

河流是一个真正的开放系统,而不是孤立系统或封闭系统。运用经典热力学和非平衡态热力学基本原理,分析研究了河流调整中的熵、熵产生和能耗率的变化。指出:熵和熵产生是两个不同的概念;最小熵产生原理等价于最小能耗率原理;冲积河流在调整过程中遵循最小熵产生原理或最小能耗率原理,而不是最大熵原理。     

Bio-climatic imprints on a Holocene loess palaeosol from China

Micromorphology, heavy minerals, pollen and soil properties were examined in a typical Holocene loess profile in the north of the Loess Plateau, consisting of a palaeosol (locally known as the Ansai palaeosol) underlain by the Malan loess and overlain by modern loess. The palaeosol consists of an upper humus-rich (AB) horizon over a clay-rich (Bt) horizon. The humus-rich horizon is intensely weathered, contains precipitated calcitic material derived from the overlying modern loess, and has both high pollen content and diversity. Clay coatings in the clay-rich horizon indicate formation by eluviation–illuviation of clay. Pedogenetic characteristics and pollen analysis imply that the vegetation during the time of most intensive soil development is likely to have been a warm-temperate forest. A complex interpretation of the loess–palaeosol sequence recognizes several development stages. The phase of soil development, maximum and minimum limiting ages for which are ca. 8800 and 4400 ¹⁴C years BP, involved continuing but reduced loess deposition, and successive Holocene bio-climatic environment overprinted new features on the palaeosol.     

Imaging the ramp–décollement geometry of the Chelungpu fault using coseismic GPS displacements from the 1999 Chi-Chi, Taiwan earthquake

We use coseismic GPS data from the 1999 Chi-Chi, Taiwan earthquake to estimate the subsurface shape of the Chelungpu fault that ruptured during the earthquake. Studies prior to the earthquake suggest a ramp–décollement geometry for the Chelungpu fault, yet many finite source inversions using GPS and seismic data assume slip occurred on the down-dip extension of the Chelungpu ramp, rather than on a sub-horizontal décollement. We test whether slip occurred on the décollement or the down-dip extension of the ramp using well-established methods of inverting GPS data for geometry and slip on faults represented as elastic dislocations. We find that a significant portion of the coseismic slip did indeed occur on a sub-horizontal décollement located at 8 km depth. The slip on the décollement contributes 21% of the total modeled moment release. We estimate the fault geometry assuming several different models for the distribution of elastic properties in the earth: homogeneous, layered, and layered with lateral material contrast across the fault. It is shown, however, that heterogeneity has little influence on our estimated fault geometry. We also investigate several competing interpretations of deformation within the E/W trending rupture zone at the northern end of the 1999 ground ruptures. We demonstrate that the GPS data require a 22- to 35-km-long lateral ramp at the northern end, contradicting other investigations that propose deformation is concentrated within 10 km of the Chelungpu fault. Lastly, we propose a simple tectonic model for the development of the lateral ramp.     

Neotectonic deformation in the transition zone between the Dead Sea Transform and the East Anatolian Fault Zone, Southern Turkey: a palaeomagnetic study of the Karasu Rift Volcanism

In southern Turkey ongoing differential impingement of Arabia into the weak Anatolian collisional collage resulting from subduction of the Neotethyan Ocean has produced one of the most complex crustal interactions along the Alpine–Himalayan Orogen. Several major transforms with disputed motions, including the northward extension of the Dead Sea Fault Zone (DSFZ), meet in this region. To evaluate neotectonic motion on the Amanos and East Hatay fault zones considered to be northward extensions of the DSFZ, the palaeomagnetism of volcanic fields in the Karasu Rift between these faults has been studied. Remanence carriers are low-Ti magnetites and all except 5 of 51 basalt lavas have normal polarity. Morphological, polarity and K–Ar evidence show that rift formation occurred largely during the Brunhes chron with volcanism concentrated at 0.66–0.35 Ma and a subsidiary episode at 0.25–0.05. Forty-four units of normal polarity yield a mean of D/I=8.8°/54.7° with inclination identical to the present-day field and declination rotated clockwise by 8.8±4.0°. Within the 15-km-wide Hassa sector of the Karasu Rift, the volcanic activity is concentrated between the Amanos and East Hatay faults, both with left lateral motions, which have rotated blocks bounded by NW–SE cross faults in a clockwise sense as the Arabian Block has moved northwestwards. An average lava age of 0.5 Ma yields a minimum cumulative slip rate on the system bounding faults of 0.46 cm/year according with the rate deduced from the Africa–Arabia Euler vector and reduced rates of slip on the southern extension of the DSFZ during Plio-Quaternary times. Estimates deduced from offsets of dated lavas flows and morphological features on the Amanos Fault Zone [Tectonophysics 344 (2002) 207] are lower (0.09–0.18 cm/year) probably because they are limited to surface fault breaks and do not embrace the seismogenic crust.Results of this study suggest that most strike slip on the DSFZ is taken up by the Amanos–East Hatay–Afrin fault array in southern Turkey. Comparable estimates of Quaternary slip rate are identified on other faults meeting at an unstable FFF junction (DSFZ, East Anatolian Fault Zone, Karatas Fault Zone). A deceleration in slip rate across the DSFZ and its northward continuation during Plio-Quaternary times correlates with reorganization of the tectonic regime during the last 1–3 Ma including tectonic escape within Anatolia, establishment of the North and East Anatolian Fault Zones bounding the Anatolian collage in mid–late Pliocene times, a contemporaneous transition from transpression to transtension and concentration of all basaltic magmatism in this region within the last 1 Ma.