The effects of pre-existing normal faults on thrust ramp development: An example from the northern Apennines,Italy

The Umbria-Marche foreland fold-and-thrust belt in the northern Apennines of Italy provides excellent evidence to test the hypothesis of synsedimentary-structural control on thrust ramp development. This orogenic belt consists of platform and pelagic carbonates, Late Triassic to Miocene in age, whose deposition was controlled by significant synsedimentary extension. Normal faulting, mainly active from Jurassic through Late Cretaceous-Paleogene time, resulted in significant lateral thickness variability within the related stratigraphic sequences. By Late Miocene time the sedimentary cover was detached from the underlying basement and was deformed by east-verging folds and west-dipping thrusts. Two restored balanced cross sections through the southernmost part of the belt show a coincidence between the early synsedimentary normal faults and the late thrust fault ramps. These evidences suggest that synsedimentary tectonic structures, such as faults and the related lithological lateral changes, can be regarded as mechanically important controlling factors in the process of thrust ramp development during positive tectonic inversion processes.     

A bivariate meta-Gaussian density for use in hydrology

Convenient bivariate densities found in the literature are often unsuitable for modeling hydrologic variates. They either constrain the range of association between variates, or fix the form of the marginal distributions. The bivariate meta-Gaussian density is constructed by embedding the normal quantile transform of each variate into the Gaussian law. The density can represent a full range of association between variates and admits arbitrarily specified marginal distributions. Modeling and estimation can be decomposed into i) independent analyses of the marginal distributions, and ii) investigation of the dependence structure. Both statistical and judgmental estimation procedures are possible. Some comparisons to recent applications of bivariate densities in the hydrologic literature motivate and illustrate the model.     

山西临汾中心地震台地倾斜震前异常变化特征

从原始记录和分量图两方面对山西临汾中心地震台1991年以来的倾斜资料进行了分析，研究了临汾中心地震台地倾斜与省内及周边地区发生的中强地震的关系。结果表明，对1996年至2002年内发生的几次中强地震，临汾中心地震台地倾斜资料都有较好的异常反映。     

Observations and simulations of an unsteady island wake in the Firth of Forth, Scotland

Beamer Rock, a 50-m-wide island in the Firth of Forth, produces a distinctive von Kármán vortex street wake, the characteristics of which depend on the speed and direction of the tidal flow. ADCP (acoustic Doppler current profiler), CTD (conductivity–temperature–depth) and aerial photograph data were collected from the region during flood and ebb tidal flow under neap and spring conditions. Good agreement was found between the observations and the results from a fixed-grid depth-averaged numerical tidal model. The island wake parameter correctly predicted the unsteady nature of the wake, and the Strouhal number (defined in terms of flow past a circular cylinder) was found to give excellent predictions of the wake wavelength when scaled on the island width. Contrary to published results, the study shows that it is possible to accurately simulate an unsteady island wake using a relatively coarse fixed-grid numerical model.Responsible Editor: Jens Kappenberg     

A model for grain-size sorting over tidal sand ridges

A model was developed and analyzed to quantify the effect of graded sediment on the formation of tidal sand ridges. Field data reveal coarse (fine) sediment at the crests (in the troughs), but often phase shifts between the mean grain-size distribution and the bottom topography occur. Following earlier work, this study is based on a linear stability analysis of a basic state with respect to small bottom perturbations. The basic state describes an alongshore tidal current on a coastal shelf. Sediment is transported as bed load and dynamic hiding effects are accounted for. A one-layer model for the bed evolution is used and two grain size classes (fine and coarse sand) are considered. Results indicate an increase in growth and migration rates of tidal sand ridges for a bimodal mixture, whilst the wavelength of the ridges remains unchanged. A symmetrical externally forced tidal current results in a grain-size distribution which is in phase with the ridges. Incorporation of an additional external M₄ tidal constituent or a steady current results in a phase shift between the grain-size distribution and ridge topography. These results show a general agreement with observations. The physical mechanism responsible for the observed grain-size distribution over the ridges is also discussed.Responsible Editor: Jens Kappenberg     

山西五台地区系舟山逆冲推覆构造地质特征

系舟山逆冲推覆构造带位于中生代燕山造山带的西南端，分布于系舟山掀斜向斜的北西翼，形成于晚侏罗世晚期，空间上由一系列近平行排列的逆冲断裂组成，剖面上表现为侧幕展布的犁式逆冲断裂所构成的前陡、后缓的单冲式叠瓦状构造。主体由北西向南东方向逆冲．逆冲扩展方式为前展式，运移距离大于5．8km。推覆构造中应力状态在横、纵向上呈现有规律的变化，根带以挤压为主的高角度逆冲断裂及复杂多级褶皱为主；中带以单剪为主，形成叠瓦状构造；锋带挤压作用增强，发育反冲断层和不对称褶皱。随着挤压应力的松弛减弱，山前形成规模较大的正断层。     

基于梯度塑性理论的岩样在压剪条件下变形及稳定性分析

考虑了正应力及剪应力联合作用在岩样的端部,而且,在正应力被视为变量,剪应力被视为常量这一特殊条件下,对剪切带的变形特征及剪切带-带外弹性体系统的失稳判据进行了分析.根据剪切虎克定律及梯度塑性理论,提出了剪切带内部弹性应变、塑性应变及总应变的解析式,对上述三种应变进行积分,提出了剪切带错动弹性位移、塑性位移及总位移的解析式.利用压缩虎克定律及几何关系建立了剪切带外弹性体的刚度的表达式.根据刚度理论,建立了剪切带-带外弹性体系统的失稳判据.考虑岩样端面的剪切应力后,在流动剪切应力相同时,剪切带内部的弹性剪切应变(均匀分布)将增加;剪切带内部的塑性剪切应变(不均匀分布)将减小;剪切带的弹性剪切位移(线性分布)将增加;剪切带的塑性剪切位移(非线性分布)将减小;剪切带错动位移要小一些.另外,剪切应力对剪切带-带外弹性体系统的失稳判据没有影响.失稳判据仅和岩石的本构参数、剪切带倾角及结构尺寸有关.     

The role of the 1999 Chamoli earthquake in the formation of ground cracks

The moderate magnitude Chamoli earthquake that occurred in the Garhwal Higher Himalaya, in the early hours of March 29, 1999, caused intense damage to the ground and mountain slopes of the Alaknanda–Mandakini river valley and adjoining region. A systematic survey of this induced damage was conducted immediately after the earthquake occurred. Prominent shallow cracks of significant length, negligible width and indeterminate vertical extent, conspicuously tensile in nature, with little or no slip across the crack planes, were observed in the ground at several places along the surveyed route. These cracks had formed in the dynamic phase of the Chamoli earthquake process that is in the period of time during which the earthquake-generated seismic waves were passing through the geographic region of interest. However, we use the theory of earthquake-induced static (or long time) stress changes to visualize such cracks at some selected sites where ground damage was relatively more intense and varied to suggest lower bound estimates of the dynamic stress contributions of the main shock for their formation.Based on the results of our analysis we conclude that, just prior to the earthquake occurrence, under the influence of the local ambient stress field, the ground at these sites was already near failure in tension. To this, in its dynamic phase, the Chamoli earthquake induced stress perturbations, having, across the planes of the cracks, (i) shear components which were nearly equal and opposite to similar components of the ambient stress field and (ii) normal (tensile) components, necessary for triggering tensile failure of the ground. The σ₃ (or minimum principal stress) component of the resultant perturbed failure stress field thus became sufficiently tensile while the transverse stresses became sufficiently insignificant. This facilitated formation of major tensile cracks in the ground there. Our static estimates of the tensile stress changes at the different sites are, in essence, estimates of the minimal triggering stress perturbations that was provided by the Chamoli earthquake in the dynamic state for the formation of the tensile cracks there.     

Transformation of Residuals to Avoid Artifacts in Geostatistical Modelling with a Trend

Trend modelling is an important part of natural resource characterization. A common approach to account for a variable with a trend is to decompose it into a relatively smoothly varying trend and a more variable residual component. Then, the residuals are stochastically modelled independent of the trend. This decomposition can result in values outside the plausible range of variability, such as grades below zero or ratios that exceed 1.0. We transform the residuals conditional to the trend component to explicitly remove these complex features prior to geostatistical modelling. Back transformation of the modelled residual values allows the complex relations to be reproduced. A petroleum-related application shows the robustness of the proposed transformation. Furthermore, a mining application shows that when this conditional transformation is applied to the original variable, instead of the residual, simulated values are assured to be nonnegative.