75th anniversary of strong motion observation—A historical review

This review describes the experience accumulated in the field of recording earthquake motions up to the early 1900s, and then it discusses the key players who contributed to the first successful strong motion observation program in earthquake engineering in the 1930s. It begins by summarizing the accomplishments of the preceding seismological observations, which provided the stepping-stone ideas on how to construct the first strong motion accelerograph. Next, it describes the lack of optimism among the engineers in the early 1900s, who doubted that structural response could ever be calculated for irregular earthquake ground motion—this was, of course, half a century before the appearance of fast digital computers—but also their realization that something needed to be done to reduce the hazards from earthquakes. The roles of the two pioneers Kyoji Suyehiro and John Freeman, whose vision, leadership, and perseverance launched the strong motion observation program in 1932, are then briefly discussed. Finally, the mechanical characteristics of the first strong motion accelerograph are outlined. The review is completed by illustrating the growth of the strong motion observation programs in selected seismic areas of the world and the fruits of these programs—the cumulative number of uniformly processed strong motion records in southern California.     

Widespread strombolian eruptions of mid-ocean ridge basalt

Glassy lava fragments were collected in pushcores or using a small suction-sampler from over 450 sites along the Juan de Fuca Ridge, Blanco Transform Fault, Gorda Ridge, northern East Pacific Rise, southern East Pacific Rise, Fiji back-arc basin, and near-ridge seamounts in the Vance, President Jackson, Taney, and a seamount off southern California. The samples consist of angular glass fragments, limu o Pele, Pele's hair, and other fluidal fragments formed during pyroclastic eruptions. Since many of the sites are deeper than the critical point of seawater, fragmentation cannot be hydrovolcanic and caused by expansion of seawater to steam. The glass fragments have a wide range of MORB compositions, ranging from fractionated to primitive and from depleted to enriched. Enriched magmas, which have higher volatile contents, may form more abundant pyroclasts than depleted magmas. Eruptions with high effusion rates produce sheet flows and abundant pyroclasts whereas those with low effusion rates produce pillow ridges and few pyroclasts. This relation suggests that high effusion and conduit rise rates are coupled to high magmatic gas contents. The eruptions are mainly effusive with a minor strombolian bubble burst component. We propose that the gas phase is an added component of variable amounts of magmatic foam from the top of the magma reservoir. As the mixture of resident magma and foam rises in the conduit, the larger bubbles in the foam rise more quickly and sweep up the smaller bubbles nucleating and growing from the resident magma. On eruption, the process of bubble coalescence is more complete for the slower rising, gas-poor lavas that erupt as pillow lavas whereas the limu o Pele associated with sheet flow eruptions commonly contain several percent vesicles that avoided coalescence during ascent. The spatter erupted at the vent is quench granulated in seawater above the vent, reducing the pyroclast grainsize. The granulated spatter and limu o Pele fragments are then entrained in a rising plume of seawater heated by the eruption, which disperses them to distances as great as 5 km from the vent.     

Tectonics of an Early Carboniferous forearc inferred from a high-P/T schist-bearing conglomerate in the Nedamo Terrane, Northeast Japan

The Nedamo Terrane, an Early Carboniferous accretionary complex, is the oldest biostratigraphically dated accretionary complex in Japan. The purpose of this study is to describe and interpret a conglomerate from the Nedamo Terrane that contains clasts of high-pressure/low-temperature (high- P/T ) schist (mainly garnet-bearing phengite schist) and ultramafic rock, and to infer the tectonics of an Early Carboniferous arc–trench system at the eastern margin of the paleo-Asian continent. Clasts of high- P/T schist and ultramafic rock within the conglomerate make up 8.4 and 6.7% of the total clasts, respectively, based on modal counts. These clasts are subangular to subrounded, whereas volcanic clasts are well rounded. The source of the schist clasts, which yield a radiometric age of 347–317 Ma, is considered to be the Renge Metamorphic Rocks of Southwest Japan or equivalent rocks. Based on the chemical composition of chromian spinel, the source of ultramafic clasts is inferred to be the island-arc-type Ordovician Miyamori and Hayachine ultramafic complexes in the Kitakami Massif. The conglomerate records multiple provenance regions, including an island arc (South Kitakami Terrane) and a forearc ridge; the high P/T schist and ultramafic rocks were exhumed in the forearc region. The duration of the interval from the early stages of exhumation of the schist to its deposition in the trench as clasts is estimated to have been less than 30 my.     

华北地幔亚热柱型地震机理探讨

中国是一个多地震的国家,以地震多、震级大、损失惨重为特征。介绍了西太平洋与欧亚大陆间的洋-陆俯冲带型地震;印度次大陆与喜马拉雅陆-陆碰撞型地震和华北地幔亚热柱拆离滑脱型地震等3种地震基本类型,并侧重探讨了华北地幔亚热柱外围拆离滑脱带型地震的发震构造、形成机制和地震模型。     

Does use of tropical beaches by tourists and island residents result in damage to fringing coral reefs? A case study in Moorea French Polynesia

Although coral reefs worldwide are subject to increasing global threats, humans also impact coral reefs directly through localized activities such as snorkeling, kayaking and fishing. We investigated five sites on the northern shore of Moorea, French Polynesia, and quantified the number of visitors on the beach and in shallow water. In field surveys, we measured total coral cover and colony sizes of two common genera, Porites and Acropora, a massive and branching morphology, respectively. One site, which hosted over an order of magnitude more people than the other four, had significantly less total coral cover and supported very little branching Acropora. In addition, size frequency distributions of both the branching and massive genera were skewed toward smaller colony sizes at the high use site. Our results demonstrated that the use of tropical beaches may result in less coral cover, with branching colonies rare and small.     

Is marine debris ingestion still a problem for the coastal marine biota of southern Brazil?

The accumulation of synthetic debris in marine and coastal environments is a consequence of the intensive and continuous release of these highly persistent materials. This study investigates the current status of marine debris ingestion by sea turtles and seabirds found along the southern Brazilian coast. All green turtles (n = 34) and 40% of the seabirds (14 of 35) were found to have ingested debris. No correlation was found between the number of ingested items and turtle’s size or weight. Most items were found in the intestine. Plastic was the main ingested material. Twelve Procellariiformes (66%), two Sphenisciformes (22%), but none of the eight Charadriiformes were found to be contaminated. Procellariiformes ingested the majority of items. Plastic was also the main ingested material. The ingestion of debris by turtles is probably an increasing problem on southern Brazilian coast. Seabirds feeding by diverse methods are contaminated, highlighting plastic hazard to these biota.     

Hydrodynamic Modeling with Grey-Box Method of A Foil-Like Underwater Vehicle

In this study, a dynamic modeling method for foil-like underwater vehicles is introduced and experimentally verified in different sea tests of the Hadal ARV. The dumping force of a foil-like underwater vehicle is sensitive to swing motion. Some foil-like underwater vehicles swing periodically when performing a free-fall dive task in experiments. Models using conventional modeling methods yield solutions with asymptotic stability, which cannot simulate the self-sustained swing motion. By improving the ridge regression optimization algorithm, a grey-box modeling method based on 378 viscous drag coefficients using the Taylor series expansion is proposed in this study. The method is optimized for over-fitting and convergence problems caused by large parameter matrices. Instead of the PMM test data, the unsteady computational fluid dynamics calculation results are used in modeling. The obtained model can better simulate the swing motion of the underwater vehicle. Simulation and experimental results show a good consistency in free-fall tests during sea trials, as well as a prediction of the dive speed in the swing state.     

Environmental impacts of Baltim and Ras El Bar shore-parallel breakwater systems on the Nile delta littoral zone,Egypt

This study evaluates the impacts resulting from the construction of two large-scale detached breakwater systems on the Nile delta coast of Egypt at Baltim and Ras El Bar beaches (~18.3 km shoreline length). The two protective systems were installed in a water depth of between 3 and 4 m and consist of 17 units in total (each ~250 m long). A comprehensive monitoring program spanning the years 1990 to 2002 was implemented and included beach-nearshore profiles, grain size distribution of seabed sand and information related to the background coastal processes. Evaluation of these systems concentrates on the physical impacts on coastal morphodynamics, mitigation and their design implications. The beach and nearshore sedimentation (erosion/accretion patterns) and grain texture of seabed sediment in the study areas have been substantially disrupted due to the interruption of longshore transport by the shore-parallel detached breakwaters. Rate of shoreline and seabed changes as well as alongshore sediment volume have been substantially affected, resulting in accretion in the breakwater landward sides (tombolo or salient) followed by downdrift erosion. The preconstruction beach erosion at Baltim (–5 m/year) and at Ras El Bar (–6 m/year) has been replaced, respectively, by the formation of sand tombolo (35 m/year) and salient (9 m/year). On the other hand, beach erosion has been substantially increased in the downdrift sides of these protective systems, being –20 m/year at Baltim and –9 m/year at Ras El Bar. Further seaward, the two protective systems at Baltim and Ras El Bar have accumulated seabed sand at maximum rates of 30 and 20 cm/year and associated with downdrift erosion of –45 and –20 cm/year, respectively. Strong gyres and eddies formed in the breakwater gabs have drastically affected swimmers and subsequently caused a significant number of drownings each summer, averaging 35 and 67 victims/year at Baltim and Ras El Bar beaches, respectively. This study provides baseline information needed to help implement mitigation measures for these breakwater systems.     

Quantifying rates of coastal progradation from sediment volume using GPR and OSL: the Holocene fill of Guichen Bay, south-east South Australia

Guichen Bay on the south‐east coast of South Australia faces west towards the prevailing westerly winds of the Southern Ocean. The bay is backed by a 4 km wide Holocene beach‐ridge plain with more than 100 beach ridges. The morphology of the Guichen Bay strandplain complex shows changes in the width, length, height and orientation of beach ridges. A combination of geomorphological interpretation, shallow geophysics and existing geochronology is used to interpret the Holocene fill of Guichen Bay. Six sets of beach ridges are identified from the interpretation of orthorectified aerial photographs. The ridge sets are distinguished on the basis of beach‐ridge orientation and continuity. A 2·25 km ground‐penetrating radar (GPR) profile across the beach ridges reveals the sedimentary structures and stratigraphic units. The beach ridges visible in the surface topography are a succession of stabilized foredunes that overlie progradational foreshore and upper shoreface sediments. The beach progrades show multiple truncation surfaces interpreted as storm events. The GPR profile shows that there are many more erosion surfaces in the subsurface than beach ridges on the surface. The width and dip of preserved beach progrades imaged by GPR shows that the shoreface has steepened from around 2·9° to around 7·5°. The changes in beach slope are attributed to increasing wave energy associated with beach progradation into deeper water as Guichen Bay was infilled. At the same time, the thickness of the preserved beach progrades increases slightly as the beach prograded into deeper water. Using the surface area of the ridge sets measured from the orthophotography, and the average thickness of upper shoreface, foreshore and coastal dune sands interpreted from the GPR profile, the volume of Holocene sediments within three of the six sets of beach‐ridge accretion has been calculated. Combining optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages and volume calculations, rates of sediment accumulation for Ridge Sets 3, 4 and 5 have been estimated. Linear rates of beach‐ridge progradation appear to decrease in the mid‐Holocene. However, the rates of sediment accumulation calculated from beach volumes have remained remarkably consistent through the mid‐ to late Holocene. This suggests that sediment supply to the beach has been constant and that the decrease in the rate of progradation is due to increasing accommodation space as the beach progrades into deeper water. Changes in beach‐ridge morphology and orientation reflect environmental factors such as changes in wave climate and wind regime.