Stability analysis of the Vallcebre translational slide,Eastern Pyrenees (Spain) by means of a GIS

The stability of the landslide of Vallcebre has been evaluated by means of a GIS. The landslide mechanism is a translational failure which has been analysed as an infinite slope. Soil strength parameters and groundwater conditions are obtained from laboratory tests and monitoring devices. Geometric parameters necessary to compute the factor of safety at each individual cell are generated by interpolation from the boreholes present in the landslide. The results have been checked with the actual behaviour of the landslide and are consistent. The comparison between a conventional slope stability analysis and the GIS-based approach gives similar results, showing the feasibility of the latter.     

Predictive GIS-Based Model of Rockfall Activity in Mountain Cliffs

Rockfall susceptibility has been analysed in mountain cliffs of the Cantabrian Range, North Spain. The main aim of this analysis has been to build a predictive model of rockfall activity from a low number of environmental and geological variables. The rockfall activity has been quantified in a GIS. The cartographic information used shows the spatial distribution of all the recent talus screes as well as their associated source areas in the rock-slopes. The area relation At/Ar (recent talus scree polygon/source basins) in the rock slopes has been used as the rockfall activity indicator. This relation has been validated in 50 pilot rock-slopes and compared with the relation number of recent rock fragments/source basin, obtained from field work. The environmental factors causing rockfall depend on the rock slope situation, and these are: altitude and sun radiation on the rock cliff. The geological factors considered are: lithology, relative position of the main discontinuities with respect to the topographic surface and two morphologic parameters: the roughness and slope gradient. A logistic regression analysis has been applied to a population of 442 limestone and quartzite rock cliffs. The dependent variable is the rockfall activity indicator, which allows the definition of two classes of rock cliff units: low and high activity. The independent variables are altitude, sun radiation (equinox radiation, summer solstice radiation, winter solstice radiation), slope roughness, slope gradient,anisotropy and lithology. Results suggest that it is possible tobuild a valid cartographic predictive model for rockfall activity in mountain rock cliffs from a limited number of easily obtainable variables. The method is especially applicable in massive rock slopes or in regions with uniform rock mass characteristics.     

Provenance analysis and tectonic setting of the Ordovician clastic deposits in the southern Puna Basin, NW Argentina

Provenance studies on Early to Middle Ordovician clastic formations of the southern Puna basin in north-western Argentina indicate that the sedimentary detritus is generally composed of reworked crustal material. Tremadoc quartz-rich turbidites (Tolar Chico Formation, mean composition Q_t89 F7 L4) are followed by volcaniclastic rocks and greywackes (Tolillar Formation, mean Q_t33 F42 L25). These are in turn overlain by volcaniclastic deposits (mean Q_t24 F30 L46) of the Diablo Formation (late Arenig–early Llanvirn) that are intercalated by lava flows. All units were deformed in the Oclóyic Orogeny during the Middle and Late Ordovician. Sandstones of the Tolar Chico Formation are characterized by Th/Sc ratios > 1, La/Sc ratios ≈ 10, whereas associated fine-grained wackes show slightly lower values for both ratios. LREE (light rare earth elements) enrichment of the arenites is ≈ 50× chondrite, Eu/Eu* values are between 0·72 and 0·92, and flat HREE (heavy rare earth elements) patterns indicate a derivation from mostly felsic rocks of typical upper crustal composition. The ε_{Nd(t = sed)} values scatter around −11 to −9. The calculated Nd-T_DM residence ages vary between 1·8 and 2·0 Ga indicating contribution by a Palaeoproterozoic crustal component. The Th/Sc and La/Sc ratios of the Tolillar Formation are lower than those of the Tolar Chico Formation. Normalized REE (rare earth elements) patterns display a similar shape to PAAS (post-Archaean average Australian shale) but with higher abundances of HREEs. Eu/Eu* values range between 0·44 and 1·17, where the higher values reflect the abundance of plagioclase and feldspar-bearing volcanic lithoclasts. Average ε_{Nd(t = sed)} values are less negative at −5·1, and Nd-T_DM are lower at 1·6 Ga. This is consistent with characteristics of regional rocks of upper continental crust composition, which most probably represent the sources of the studied detritus. The rocks of the Diablo Formation have the lowest Th/Sc and La/Sc ratios, lower LREE abundances than the average continental crust and are slightly enriched in HREEs. Eu/Eu* values are between 0·63 and 1·17. The Nd isotopes (ε_{Nd(t = sed)} = −3 to −1; T_DM = 1·2 Ga) indicate that one source component was less fractionated than both the underlying Early Ordovician and the overlying Middle Ordovician units. Synsedimentary vulcanites in the Diablo Formation show the same isotopic composition. Our data indicate that the sedimentary detritus is generally composed of reworked crustal material, but that the Diablo Formation appears to contain ≈ 80% of a less fractionated component, derived from a contemporaneous continental volcanic arc. There are no data indicating an exotic detrital source or the accretion of an exotic block at this part of the Gondwana margin during the Ordovician.     

The red bed controversy revisited: shape analysis of Colorado Plateau units suggests long magnetization times

Several Triassic and earliest Jurassic sedimentary units from the Colorado Plateau region have distributions of virtual geomagnetic poles (VGPs) that are highly elongate along the path of apparent polar wander (APW). This suggests that the remanent magnetizations measured in these units were acquired over an extended period of time, possibly approaching 35 m.y., and are not precisely coeval with the stratigraphic age of the rock. Comparison with other paleomagnetic studies shows that the observed elongation is not a general attribute of the age of the rock, nor is it related to paleolatitude. The rocks that yield elongate VGP distributions are dominantly red to brown mudstones, and it is possible that their remanence is dominated by a slowly acquired chemical remanent magnetization, as suggested by Larson et al. [J. Geophys. Res. 87 (1982) 1081] and other authors. However, several superficially similar units from the Colorado Plateau have nearly circular VGP distributions. The process by which remanence is acquired in clastic sedimentary rocks merits further study.     

Estimation of causative fault parameters of the Rudbar earthquake of June 20, 1990 from near field SH-wave data

We analyze the strong motion accelerograms recorded for the large (M_S=7.7, M_W=7.3, m_b=6.4) Rudbar earthquake of June 20, 1990. The earthquake had a complex source process. We have identified the imprints of rupture of three localized asperities on the major causative fault on the accelerograms. These asperities are interpreted to correspond to (i) the main shock that initiated the rupture process and was located in the domino block between the Kabateh and Zard Goli faults, (ii) a foreshock that occurred about 10 s earlier in the Kabateh fault and (iii) a later shock, on the western end of the Baklor fault, which terminated the bilateral rupture process at the western end. We estimate the strike, dip and slip of these causative sub-event rupture planes using the SH spectral amplitudes, based on a point source representation of sub-events and a non-linear least square formulation for inversion of the amplitude data. The results of our inversion of the near field data are comparable to other studies based on teleseismic data.     

Flat mantle reflectors in Eastern China: possible evidence of lithospheric thinning

Recent 24 s deep seismic reflection records revealed five flat reflectors in the lithospheric mantle in Eastern China. With increasing depth, they are named M1 to M5 and can be seen on both field single-shot and stacked records. Reflector M1 corresponds to the Moho discontinuity, whereas M5 may be the reflection from the bottom of the current lithosphere, which is about 78 km deep according to geothermal measurements. The other three reflectors seem peculiar and might result from interactions between the lithosphere and deeper mantle. Based on lithological and geochemical data, it is suggested that the lithosphere has been thinned from about 150 km to about 60 km in the Late Mesozoic, and then has been thickened to about 78 km during the Cenozoic. The thinning process produced a granulite layer in the old lower crust caused by magmatic underplating, whereas an eclogite layer formed beneath owing to the subduction of the Paleo-Tethys and Yangtze Craton during the Permian and Early Mesozoic. Reflector M2 at about 12 s two-way traveltime (TWT) might result from the Paleozoic Moho, which represents the boundary between the previous granulite and eclogite facies. Reflector M3 at about 14 s might correspond to the bottom of the eclogite layer, beneath which the old lithospheric mantle remained. The old and the newly developed mantle may have different compositions, resulting in reflector M4. The multi-layered mantle reflectors demonstrate a mantle structure that possibly correlates with the lithospheric thinning process that occurred in Eastern China during the Late Mesozoic. The discovery of multi-layered mantle reflectors in the studied areas indicates a high heterogeneity of the upper mantle. Reflection seismology with improved technology, together with velocity and resistivity imaging and rock-physics measurements, can provide more details of the heterogeneity and related dynamic processes that occurred in the lithospheric mantle.     

A statistical approach to evaluating distance metrics and analog assignments for pollen records

The modern analog technique typically uses a distance metric to determine the dissimilarity between fossil and modern biological assemblages. Despite this quantitative approach, interpretation of distance metrics is usually qualitative and rules for selection of analogs tend to be ad hoc. We present a statistical tool, the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, which provides a framework for identifying analogs from distance metrics. If modern assemblages are placed into groups (e.g., biomes), this method can (1) evaluate the ability of different distance metrics to distinguish among groups, (2) objectively identify thresholds of the distance metric for determining analogs, and (3) compute a likelihood ratio and a Bayesian probability that a modern group is an analog for an unknown (fossil) assemblage. Applied to a set of 1689 modern pollen assemblages from eastern North America classified into eight biomes, ROC analysis confirmed that the squared-chord distance (SCD) outperforms most other distance metrics. The optimal threshold increased when more dissimilar biomes were compared. The probability of an analog vs no-analog result (a likelihood ratio) increased sharply when SCD decreased below the optimal threshold, indicating a nonlinear relationship between SCD and the probability of analog. Probabilities of analog computed for a postglacial pollen record at Tannersville Bog (Pennsylvania, USA) identified transitions between biomes and periods of no analog.     

清江水布垭水利枢纽地下厂房围岩变形特性研究

通过在水布垭水利枢纽地下厂房中进行变形试验,研究了厂房区岩体的变形特性,采用反分析法进行粘弹性反分析,反演出地应力、弹性模量及粘性参数,并与现场试验结果进行比较,对反算值进行评价。     

京珠高速公路东西湖段软基处理数值分析

采用等效地基固结系数法,对京珠高速公路东西湖段软土地基,进行了比奥固结平面有限元分析。计算值与实测值比较接近。计算结果为选择地基处理措施和确定道面施工时间提供了依据,保证了竣工后该路段的工后沉降满足设计要求。     

宜兴抽水蓄能电站试验洞的反分析研究

结合江苏宜兴抽水蓄能电站地下厂房试验洞量测资料的分析,研究了成层各向异性岩体中洞室工程问题的反分析方法。采用分层均质模型进行反分析计算。计算区域的各层岩层均被分别视为均质各向同性体,初始地应力假设呈线性分布。有限元分析中,对倾斜成层的岩层、软弱夹层及断层节理等分别划分了单元,据以模拟成层岩体的各向异性特征。为使计算过程简化,对离洞室较远的岩层拟按地质资料对材料特性参数赋值,反分析计算的目标未知数为初始地应力和试验洞相邻围岩的弹性模量。结果表明,与工程实践符合较好。