Probabilistic seismic hazard analysis at a strategic site in the Bay of Bengal

Probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) along the route of an offshore pipeline for the transport of oil in the Bay of Bengal has been performed, in order to set up design parameters and identify possible geohazards. The complexity of geological and seismotectonic setting of the region where the pipeline is planned to be installed is the result of the interaction of the Indian, Eurasian and Burmese tectonic plates. In order to properly account for the intricate way by which these plates interact, a large area extending 450 km from the pipeline route has been considered for the compilation of a comprehensive earthquake catalogue, spanning the period 1663–2012 AD. Differently from earlier PSHA analyses conducted in the region based on assuming two-dimensional polygons as seismogenic provinces, this study adopted a seismotectonic source model which also includes for the first time a linear tectonic lineament representing the northward extension of the Sunda mega thrust, responsible for the large Sumatra–Andaman earthquake of 26 December 2004. Hazard computations have been performed over a grid of sites spaced 0.045° covering a rectangular area which contains the pipeline. Epistemic uncertainty in the hazard computations has been taken into account by a logic tree framework, incorporating different seismotectonic source models, maximum cut-off magnitude and ground-motion prediction equations. Horizontal median uniform hazard spectra and median uniform hazard spectra plus and minus one sigma on stiff ground have been calculated at the selected sites for different return periods. Peak ground acceleration with 10 % probability of exceedance in 50 years has been compared with values from previous hazard studies available for Bangladesh.     

Geochemistry of hydrothermally influenced sediments off Methana (western Hellenic volcanic arc)

Surface sediment samples from near-shore shallow water as well as deeper water locations N and NE of the island of Methana were investigated geochemically. Shallow water samples from Thiafi Bay reveal up to 38-fold enrichment of As, associated with elevated contents of Sb, Fe and Zn. Deeper water samples NE of Methana show moderate Mn enrichment accompanied with elevated trace metal concentrations of As and, in some samples, Cd and Cu. In an area, where small mounds of possible hydrothermal origin were observed on the sea floor, fine-grained Fe-rich sediment was sampled with enrichment of typical hydrothermal trace elements As, P and Sb. Element enrichment in the investigated areas off Methana corresponds in terms of absolute concentrations and element suite to comparable hydrothermally influenced sediments from other locations of the Hellenic volcanic arc. The region between Methana peninsula and Aegina Island is not marked by vigorous hydrothermal activity, but localised enrichments of Fe and/or Mn, As, Sb as well as associated trace elements typically found in hydrothermally influenced sediments were identified.