Seven landslide dams of old seismic origin in southeastern Sicily (Italy)

This paper focuses on origin, morphology and evolution of seven landslide dams in southeastern Sicily. These landforms are part of a set of 146 landslides recently recognised in this area, which was hitherto considered to have little or no slope instability. Southeastern Sicily consists of a plateau (the Hyblaean Mountains) incised by canyons and surrounded by lower lands. It is underlain mostly by subhorizontal, moderately to well-lithified carbonate rocks. Relief is low.Several lines of evidence justify the assumption of a seismic trigger for the landslides in this area: (1) the geo-climatic environment is not favourable to landsliding, (2) low-angle basal shear surfaces are very frequent, (3) landslide distribution is consistent with the known magnitude–distance relationships for earthquake-induced landslides, (4) historical documents testify to earthquake-triggered slope instability and (5) a specific landslide can be exactly dated.The phenomena illustrated here include six rock slides (one with a debris-flow component) and one rock fall. Slip surfaces are mostly non-circular. Landslide volume ranges from about 50×10³ to 34×10⁶ m³.With reference to the Costa and Schuster [Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 100 (1988) 1054] classification of landslide dams, five cases belong to type II (spanning the entire valley), and two to type IV (failures from both valley sides, with frontal or side contact between failed masses). With reference to Crozier and Pillans [Catena 18 (1991) 471] classification of landslide lakes, all cases show a main valley lake while tributary valley, back and supra lakes are sporadically present. One damming is attributable to the 1693 earthquake with certainty; another damming, to the same earthquake with high probability. Three dams were reincised, one breached or reincised, one is slightly reincised and two more or less intact; correspondingly, five silting up deposits were reincised, one is being reincised at present and two are still under formation.     

隔震结构的抗震分析

将结构物简化为多质点体系，考虑隔震支座的水平刚度、垂直刚度和转动刚度，按反应谱方法进行了高层剪力墙结构和砖结构抗震计算，结果表明，隔震结构可以大幅度地降低地震作用。     

十年尺度地震危险性概率预测方法的初步研究

在十年尺度（５—１０年）地震危险性预测中，需要处理众多的不确定因素。受这些不确定因素的约束，地震预测的结果必然带有相当的不确定性，因此应该用概率分析的方法进行预测。考虑地震发生的时间、空间和强度的非均匀性及相关特征和地震危险性长期背景（地质、地球物理场等因素）与地震发生前兆的概率结合，提出了十年尺度地震危险性预测的概率模型。考虑资料的不均匀性和适宜不同地区的地震前兆方法的差异，本文还提出了概率预测模型简化形式，以满足全国不同地区的需要。本文以华北北部地区为例讨论了该模型的实际应用。文中提出的方法可以用于全国十年尺度地震危险性的概率预测。根据本项研究提供的结果和计算程序，可以满足地震对策和地震损失估计对地震中长期概率预测的需要。     

地图图书产品精品化战略的实施

论述了地图图书精品化的必要性以及精品地图、图书的策划和出版 ,提出了地图精品化战略的实施办法。     

Error in polygon overlay processing of geomorphic data

Predictive models for calculating sediment yield and discharge require accurate areal data. Such models may be unrealistic when using digitized data given the potential error involved in compiling and digitizing thematic polygon maps. The estimation of boundary variability for digitized polygon maps of a 0·34 km² area of badlands in Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta shows the effects of positional errors introduced during mapping and digitizing processes. Polygon overlay of maps of surface features and slopes produced high frequencies of very small polygons and some unlikely combinations of slopes and surface features, and decreased reliability in areal measurements in the composite map. At an epsilon band width of 0·7 m, a reasonable estimate of boundary variability, 31·7 per cent of the resultant overlaid map can be considered unreliable.     

World Patterns of Geographic Literacy Based on Sketch Map Quality

This paper discusses world patterns of geographic literacy and illiteracy based on the quality of sketch maps of the world drawn by university students in first-year geography classes. The study, sponsored by the International Geographical Union and funded by the National Geographic Society, contains 3,568 sketch maps of the world collected from 75 sites in 52 countries. For the purposes of this paper, geographic literacy is equated with the number of nations and continents included on the sketch maps. The individual map scores are aggregated to determine the average number of items per map for each site and nation. Our set of maps provides a baseline of world variations in geographic literacy just prior to the end of the Cold War. The sketch map techniques can be used to monitor changes in geographic literacy.     

Seismic hazard analysis for the Philippines

Two sample probabilistic hazard maps for the Philippine Region are compiled. In these are shown various levels of expected horizontal ground acceleration for some given annual probability of exceedence, namely, for 0.1% a.p.e. and for 0.01% a.p.e. Such hazard maps are needed by structural engineers for compiling seismic zoning maps. The hazard maps are derived from source-zone or seismogenic maps, which, in turn, are compiled from seismographic, geologic, and geotectonic data. Much weight is put on geotectonic data rather than on seismographic data. The former lends support to extrapolating to much longer periods of exposure time or longer periods of recurrence.     

Mapping subtidal estuarine habitats with a remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV)

Subtidal habitats have not yet been accounted for in habitat maps of South African estuaries. In this study, a novel method for mapping subtidal estuarine habitats, using a remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) piloted from a boat, was developed and tested in the Knysna Estuary. Video footage was recorded along 48 transects across the width of the estuary, and then reviewed to identify, classify and map habitats. Using the method developed in this study, 21 hours of footage was recorded over 15 days of sampling, and about 30 hours of post-processing was carried out to map an area exceeding 850 ha. This study has produced the first baseline dataset of subtidal habitats for a South African estuary. Additionally, the study revealed the previously unknown distribution of the invasive red seaweed Asparagopsis taxiformis, and the underestimation in previous studies of the estuary of area cover of eelgrass Zostera capensis by 130 ha.