Characteristics of the 2000 fissure eruption and lava flow fields at Mount Cameroon volcano,West Africa: a combined field mapping and remote sensing approach

This study focuses on the compound pahoehoe lava flow fields of the 2000 eruption on Mount Cameroon volcano, West Africa and it comprehensively documents their morphology. The 2000 eruption of Mount Cameroon took place at three different sites (sites 1, 2 and 3), on the southwest flank and near the summit that built three different lava flow fields. These lava flow fields were formed during a long‐duration (28th May–mid September) summit and flank eruption involving predominantly pahoehoe flows (sites 2 and 3) and aa flows (site 1). Field observations of flows from a total of four cross‐sections made at the proximal end, midway and at the flow front, have been supplemented with data from satellite imagery (SRTM DEM, Landsat TM and ETM+) and are used to offer some clues into their emplacement. Detailed mapping of these lava flows revealed that site 1 flows were typically channel‐fed simple aa flows that evolved as a single flow unit, while sites 2 and 3 lava flow fields were fed by master tubes within fissures producing principally tube‐fed compound pahoehoe flows. Sites 2 and 3 flows issued from ∼ 33 ephemeral vents along four NE–SW‐trending faults/fissures. Pahoehoe morphologies at sites 2 and 3 include smooth, folded and channelled lobes emplaced via a continuum of different mechanisms with the principal mechanism being inflation. The dominant structural features observed on these flow fields included: fissures/faults, vents, levees, channels, tubes and pressure ridges. Other structural features present were pahoehoe toes/lobes, breakouts and squeeze‐ups. Slabby pahoehoe resulting from slab‐crusted lava was the transitionary lava type from pahoehoe to aa observed at all the sites. Transition zones correspond to slopes of > 10°. Variations in flow morphology and textures across profiles and downstream were repetitive, suggesting a cyclical nature for the responsible processes. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

2008年5月12日汶川MS8.0地震动力学背景的数值模拟实验

2008年5月12日汶川M_S8.0地震发生在龙门山断裂带.本文基于龙门山断裂带的地质与地球物理研究结果,以及高精度的地形数据、大地热流测量数据,建立了以龙门山断裂带为主要研究对象的有限元模型;以GPS观测数据、构造应力场和震源破裂过程研究结果为约束,研究了此次强烈地震的动力学背景.模拟实验结果显示:在考虑青藏高原物质向东挤压流动的同时,青藏高原与四川盆地的地形差异和流变强度差异、断层摩擦强度差异和断层产状形式均对地震起始破裂的发生位置和断层错动形式有着重要影响.本文利用地球动力学的有限元软件模拟了汶川地震地表破裂在龙门山断裂带上传播的过程.     

Steerable Pyramid分解在储层断裂检测中的应用

在隐蔽油气藏勘探中,正确刻画储层断裂对于油气勘探和开发都有着至关重要的作用.储层断裂在地震数据中表现为边缘特征.但现今多尺度边缘检测的基本理论和方法都有其本身的局限性.本文详细阐述了Steerable Pyramid分解用于储层断裂检测的基本原理和方法.输入的三维地震切片经过Steerable Pyramid分解后,不仅可以分析不同尺度不同方向上断裂的特征及走向,还可以通过重构得到经S函数控制的断裂信息,该断裂信息不仅仅是断裂的边缘检测,而是增强的断裂本身.将该算法应用于实际地震切片的断裂检测,得到了清晰的断裂信息,完整细致地展现了这些地质类型的特征,为构造解释、地震相表征及储层预测提供了有用信息.     

CMT data inversion using a Bayesian information criterion to estimate seismogenic stress fields

We developed an inversion method to estimate the stress fields related to earthquake generation (seismogenic stress fields) from the centroid moment tensors (CMT) of seismic events by using Akaike's Bayesian information criterion (ABIC). On the idea that the occurrence of an earthquake releases some part of the seismogenic stress field around its hypocentre, we define the CMT of a seismic event by a weighted volume integral of the true but unknown seismogenic stress field. Representing each component of the seismogenic stress field by the superposition of a finite number of 3-D basis functions (tri-cubic B-splines), we obtain a set of linear observation equations to be solved for the expansion coefficients (model parameters). We introduce prior constraint on the roughness of the seismogenic stress field and combine it with observed data to construct a Bayesian model with hierarchic, highly flexible structure controlled by hyper-parameters. The optimum values of the hyper-parameters are objectively determined form observed data by using ABIC. Given the optimum values of the hyper-parameters, we can obtain the best estimates of model parameters by using a maximum likelihood algorithm. We tested the validity of the inversion method through numerical experiments on two synthetic CMT data sets, assuming the distribution of fault orientations to be aligned with the maximum shear stress plane in one case and to be random in the other case. Then we applied the inversion method to actual CMT data in northeast Japan, and obtained the pattern of the seismogenic stress field consistent with geophysical and geological observations.     

Quasi-static analysis of strike fault growth in layered media

We study the effects of structural inhomogeneity on the quasi-static growth of strike-slip faults. A layered medium is considered, made up of an upper layer bounded by a free surface and welded to a lower half-space with different elastic property. Mode III crack is employed as a mathematical model of strike-slip fault, which is nucleated in the lower half-space and then propagates towards the interface. We adopt FEM-β, newly proposed analysis method for failure, to simulate the quasi-statistic crack growth governed by the stress distribution in layered media. Our results show that along planar traces across interfaces a compliant upper layer has significant effects on promoting/suppressing crack growth before/after its extension into the layer and vice versa for a rigid one. This proposes a possibility that surface breaks due to strike-slip faulting could be arrested by deposit layers at the topmost part of the Earth's crust.     

Note on rain-triggered earthquakes and their dependence on karst geology

Recently reported rain-triggered seismicity from three separate storms occurred exclusively in karst geology. In this paper, I discuss how the hydrogeology of karst controls rain-triggered seismicity by channeling of the watershed after intense rainfall directly into the karst network. Such channeling results in very large increases in hydraulic head, and more importantly, substantially increases the vertical stress acting on the underlying pore-elastic media. Rapid loading upon a pore-elastic media induces seismicity by increasing pore pressure at depth in a manner similar to that observed from reservoir impounding. Using a simple 1-D model of a pore-elastic medium, it is shown that the instantaneous fluid pressure increase at depth is a substantial fraction of the pressure step applied at the boundary, followed by time-dependent pore pressure increases associated with the typical linear diffusion problem. These results have implications for the change in fluid pressure necessary to trigger earthquakes, and leads to the following hypothesis to be tested: Unambiguous rain-triggered seismicity will only occur in karst regions.     

Development of a new semi-analytical model for cross-borehole flow experiments in fractured media

Analysis of borehole flow logs is a valuable technique for identifying the presence of fractures in the subsurface and estimating properties such as fracture connectivity, transmissivity and storativity. However, such estimation requires the development of analytical and/or numerical modeling tools that are well adapted to the complexity of the problem. In this paper, we present a new semi-analytical formulation for cross-borehole flow in fractured media that links transient vertical-flow velocities measured in one or a series of observation wells during hydraulic forcing to the transmissivity and storativity of the fractures intersected by these wells. In comparison with existing models, our approach presents major improvements in terms of computational expense and potential adaptation to a variety of fracture and experimental configurations. After derivation of the formulation, we demonstrate its application in the context of sensitivity analysis for a relatively simple two-fracture synthetic problem, as well as for field-data analysis to investigate fracture connectivity and estimate fracture hydraulic properties. These applications provide important insights regarding (i) the strong sensitivity of fracture property estimates to the overall connectivity of the system; and (ii) the non-uniqueness of the corresponding inverse problem for realistic fracture configurations.     

济南白泉泉群形成机理研究

白泉泉群位于济南市历城区,有花泉、柳叶泉等20余处。20世纪五六十年代,因泉群四溢,形成一片开阔水域,泉群周围稻香四飘,荷塘遍地,因其独特的出露方式,在济南众多泉水中具有十分重要的地位。白泉泉域是一个相对独立的水文地质单元,南部以地表分水岭为界;北部以石炭、二叠系与岩浆岩接触带为界;东、西边界分别为相对阻水的文祖断裂和东坞断裂,总面积为783.48 km2。其南部山区大面积的寒武-奥陶纪石灰岩,大气降水在此入渗并向北径流,在王舍人、济钢附近遇到石炭、二叠系和岩浆岩体阻隔,在第四系薄弱处涌出地表。该文以前人所做的大量地质、水文地质工作为基础,从地貌、地层、构造、补给等条件入手深入分析研究了济南白泉泉群的形成机理,从而为白泉泉群的保护提供科学的地质依据。     

断裂带变形分析方法研究

结合地质、地球物理和小震精定位结果,对小江断裂带3条断层参数地质分段进行合理选取,并设定一定的差异范围,利用GPS区域网资料分析各断层段的变形状态。结果表明,断层参数的设定对反演结果影响很大(导致断层的位错量差异高达3 mm)。在断层参数难以确定的情况下,扫描线段法在一定程度上能反映断层的变形状态。     

汶川地震前后川滇块体应变与断裂变形特征研究

利用1999—2007和2007—2009年GPS资料,采用块体变形模型和GPS速度剖面研究了川滇地区的分阶段变形特征,结果显示川西北-滇中-滇西南块体主压应变率方向由北向南呈顺时针方向旋转;安宁河断裂、则木河断裂存在剪切应变积累,小江断裂南段以走滑为主、北段以应变积累为主;汶川地震对丽江-小金河断裂中南段、安宁河断裂和金沙江断裂有一定影响,对则木河断裂、小江断裂和红河断裂的影响较小。