The Levant Slumps and the Phoenician Structures: collapse features along the continental margin of the southeastern Mediterranean Sea

Two distinct series of slumps deform the upper part of the sedimentary sequence along the continental margin of the Levant. One series is found along the base of the continental slope, where it overlies the disrupted eastern edge of the Messinian evaporites. The second series of slumps transects the continental margin from the shelf break to the Levant Basin. It seemed that the two series were triggered by two unrelated, though contemporaneous, processes. The shore-parallel slumps were initiated by basinwards flow of the Messinian salt, that carried along the overlying Plio-Quaternary sediments. Seawater that percolated along the detachment faults dissolved the underlying salt to form distinctly disrupted structures. The slope-normal slumps are located on top of large canyons that cut into the pre-Messinian sedimentary rocks. A layer of salt is found in the canyons, and the Plio-Quaternary sediments were deposited on that layer. The slumps are bounded by large, NW-trending faults where post-Messinian faulted offset was measured. We presume that the flow of the salt in the canyons also drives the slope-normal slumps. Thus thin-skinned halokynetic processes generated the composite post-Tortonian structural patterns of the Levant margin. The Phoenician Structures are a prime example of the collapse of a distal continental margin due to the dissolution of a massive salt layer.     

Nonlinear seismic response analysis of arch dam-foundation systems- part II opening and closing contact joints

A time-domain method for the analysis of arch dam-foundation rock dynamic interaction during earthquake was proposed, and the dynamic relaxation technique was adopted to obtain the initial static response for dynamic analysis by [Du et al. (2005). The paper has been contributed to Bulletin of earthquake engineering]. In this paper, a nonlinear explicit method in time domain considering the opening and closing effect of contact joints on arch dam during earthquake is further proposed by introducing the dynamic contact force model into the method. The simulation accuracy of dynamic contact force model is verified by comparing its calculation result and test result of scale model on shaking table. Finally, the influence of joints on the seismic response of Xiaowan arch dam is studied by the proposed method and some conclusions are given.     

Lithofacies and cyclicity of Mohilla evaporite basins on the rifted margin of the Levant in the Late Triassic,Makhtesh Ramon,southern Israel

Marine‐connected basins with evaporites occur beneath most extensional continental margins that originated at low‐latitudes and often are of major economic significance. Cyclicity in the evaporite lithofacies reflects the degree of restriction of the basin, overprinted by sea‐level changes, and caused by structural movements in the barrier region, whether by fault‐block rotation, footwall uplift or hanging wall subsidence, in both extensional and compressional basins. The Upper Triassic evaporites of the Ramon section in southern Israel model cyclic sedimentation in such environments. The Mohilla Formation is a carbonate–evaporate–siliciclastic succession of Carnian age that fills a chain of basins extending along the Levant margin from southern Israel to Jordan and Syria. The basins developed in half‐grabens adjacent to normal faults that formed during a period of regional extension. Evaporites of this formation are well‐exposed in outcrops at Makhtesh Ramon, the southernmost of these basins. The M2 Member of the Mohilla Formation is composed of 42 sub‐metre cycles of alternating dolostone, gypsum and calcareous shales. Field and microfacies analysis showed these cycles to conform mostly to restricted shallow and marginal marine environments, spatially limited by the uplifted shoulders of the half‐graben systems. A total of 10 facies types belonging to six depositional environments have been identified. From stacking patterns and analysis of bed to bed change, cycles can be categorized into three groupings: (i) low frequency exposure to exposure cycles that developed under eustatic or climate control; (ii) high frequency deepening/shallowing‐upward cycles, characterized by gradual transitions due to short‐term sea‐level or runoff‐event oscillations possibly referable to orbital forcing; and (iii) high frequency shallowing‐upward cycles, characterized by abrupt transitions, attributable to sporadic tectonic events affecting accommodation space or barrier effectiveness. The way facies and cycling of the sedimentary environments was deciphered in the Mohilla evaporite basin can be used to unravel the genesis of many other evaporite basins with barriers of tectonic origin.     

拱坝系统三维非线性地震波动分析

本文将显式有限元结合外推人工边界的方法发展应用于三维非线性近场波动问题的研究。首次提出了拱坝－库水－地基系统三维非线性地震反应波动分析方法，并与传统的无质量地基分析方法进行了比较。     

有横缝拱坝的非线性动力模型试验和计算分析研究

本文通过在大型三向地震模拟振动台上进行的设置伸缩横缝的某拱坝非线性动力模型试验，应用非线性有限元动力分析程序同时进行计算分析，全面系统地研究了拱坝横缝对坝体动力特性和地震反应的影响，并对计算程序进行了改进。试验与计算结果相互印证，验证了试验成果的可靠性和计算分析模型、计算程序与计算结果的合理性。     

Volcaniclastic deposits from the North Arch volcanic field, Hawaii: explosive fragmentation of alkalic lava at abyssal depths

Submarine explosive eruptions are generally considered to become less likely with increasing depth due to the increasing hydrostatic pressure of the overlying water column. Volcaniclastic deposits from the North Arch volcanic field, north of Oahu, have textural characteristics of explosive fragmentation yet were erupted in water depths greater than 4,200 m. The most abundant volcaniclastic samples from North Arch are clast-supported with highly vesicular, angular pyroclasts. They are most likely near-vent pyroclastic fall deposits formed in eruption columns of limited height. Interbedded with highly vesicular pillow lava, they form low (50 to 200 m), steep-sided cones around the vents. Less common are stratified samples with graded bedding; one such sample includes a layer of roughly aligned, platy, bubble-wall glass fragments (resembling littoral limu o Pele) that may have been deposited by density currents. In addition to bubble-wall glass shards, numerous glass fragments with spherical, delicate spindle and ribbon shapes, and Pele's hair-like glass strands occur in the finer size fraction (<0.5 mm) of some samples. They are probably more distal fallout. Another sample, consisting of glass fragments dispersed in a marine clay matrix, was apparently reworked and deposited farther from the vents by bottom currents. Glass compositions include low-(∼0.4-0.6 wt%) and medium-K₂O (>0.6 wt%) alkalic basalt, basanite, and nephelinite. Sulfur and chlorine abundances are high, reaching a maximum of 1,800 and 1,300 ppm, respectively. The ubiquitous presence of limu o Pele fragments, regardless of glass composition, suggests that bursts of Strombolian-like activity accompanied most eruptions. Coalescing vesicles observed in larger pyroclasts and some pillow lava suggests accumulation of volatiles. Since the great hydrostatic pressure makes steam expansion impossible, a volatile-rich, supercritical magmatic fluid probably drove the eruptions. If these volatile-rich magmas had erupted in shallow water or subaerially, tall fountains would most likely have resulted. The great hydrostatic pressure (>40 MPa) limited fountain and eruption column heights.     

基于BOTDR的白泥井3号隧道拱圈变形监测

白泥井3号隧道是一条山岭隧道,隧道出口段位于滑坡等地质灾害多发的危险区域,为了确保隧道安全,应用国际上先进的BOTDR分布式应变测量技术,对隧道拱圈截面变形进行了分布式应变监测。本文着重介绍了BOTDR在隧道内安装布设以及监测数据的分析过程,监测成果显示,在将近1 a的监测时间里,隧道拱圈基本保持稳定,只是在个别区域,如K84+508.2处拱圈截面的衬砌表面发生张拉变形,变形量在雨季期间达到最大,据分析是由于雨水入渗山体造成围岩压力增大,致使拱圈截面受挤压变形。     

拱形与矩形断面地铁车站结构地震反应比较研究

采用动力时程法开展了拱形与矩形断面地铁车站结构地震反应的研究,分析了拱形断面和矩形断面地铁车站结构的关键截面在地震作用下的内力及变形的差异。结果表明:相比于矩形断面车站结构,拱形断面车站结构顶板边缘处和侧墙顶端的弯矩明显减小,车站侧墙顶端和顶板边缘处因承受弯矩过大而发生破坏的可能降低;内柱截面的轴压比明显减小,且与侧墙的轴压比差异显著减小,受力分配更为合理;拱形车站结构顶、底板的相对位移、内柱和侧墙的位移角相对较小。在已模拟的工况下拱形车站内力分布形式更为合理,水平变形相对较小,更有利于抗震。     

Integrated 3D forward stratigraphic and petroleum system modeling of the Levant Basin,Eastern Mediterranean

The Eastern Mediterranean Levant Basin is a proven hydrocarbon province with recent major gas discoveries. To date, no exploration wells targeted its northern part, in particular the Lebanese offshore. The present study assesses the tectono‐stratigraphic evolution and related petroleum systems of the northern Levant Basin via an integrated approach that combines stratigraphic forward modeling and petroleum systems/basin modeling based on the previous published work. Stratigraphic modeling results provide a best‐fit realisation of the basin‐scale sedimentary filling, from the post‐rift Upper Jurassic until the Pliocene. Simulation results suggest dominant eastern marginal and Arabian Plate sources for Cenozoic siliciclastic sediments and a significant contribution from the southern Nilotic source mostly from Lower Oligocene to Lower Miocene. Basin modeling results suggest the presence of a working thermogenic petroleum system with mature source rocks localised in the deeper offshore. The generated hydrocarbons migrated through the deep basin within Jurassic and Cretaceous permeable layers towards the Latakia Ridge in the north and the Levant margin and offshore topographic highs. Furthermore, the basin model indicates a possibly significant influence of salt deposition during Messinian salinity crisis on formation fluids. Ultimately, the proposed integrated workflow provides a powerful tool for the assessment of petroleum systems in underexplored areas.