The role of sediment specific gravity and availability on cluster evolution

The objective of this experimental study was to account for the role of sediment availability and specific gravity on cluster formation and cluster geometric characteristics (spacing and size). To isolate the effects of sediment availability and specific gravity on cluster evolution, mono‐sized spheres were used to simulate the cluster evolutionary cycle. Overall, twelve experimental runs were carried out in the laboratory flume. Six of these tests were performed by using glass spheres (specific gravity, SG = 2·58) and the other six by employing an equal combination of glass and Teflon spheres (SG = 2·12) of the same diameter to evaluate the role of specific gravity on cluster evolution. The three sediment availability conditions that were investigated here simulated isolated gravel elements, pool–riffle sequences and densely packed gravel‐bed. An advanced image analysis technique was employed to track the evolution of cluster microforms and provide quantitative information about the size and shape of clusters and the number of clusters per unit area. The results of this study showed that: (1) sediment availability affects the architecture and size of cluster microforms; and (2) clusters consisting of mono‐sized sediments start disintegrating at twice the incipient conditions. By performing complementary tests for the isolated gravel elements case, it was found that the evolutionary cycle of individual clusters could be described as follows, in order of increasing stress: no cluster→two particle cluster→comet→triangle→rhomboid→break up. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Curvature analysis of triangulated surfaces in structural geology

This paper addresses the problem of characterizing the shape of a geological surface on the basis of its principal curvatures. The surface is assumed to be modeled as a set of adjacent triangles defined by the location of their vertices and a method is proposed for estimating numerically the principal curvatures at the vertices of the triangles using a local C² interpolant. Also shown is how principal curvatures can be useful for studying the deformation of a geological surface (with application to 3D balanced unfolding), and analyzing the folding or faulting of the interface between two adjacent layers.     

Pall型摩擦阻尼支撑内力计算方法

从Pall摩擦阻尼器四连杆机构的几何非线性变形特征出发，分析框架位移、支撑刚度、阻尼器摩擦力、阻尼器大小、支撑倾角、支撑屈曲力等对一种改进的Pall摩擦阻尼器-T形芯板摩擦阻尼器支撑的受力特点，拟合出可供设计人员使用的实用计算公式。     

Imaging the ramp–décollement geometry of the Chelungpu fault using coseismic GPS displacements from the 1999 Chi-Chi, Taiwan earthquake

We use coseismic GPS data from the 1999 Chi-Chi, Taiwan earthquake to estimate the subsurface shape of the Chelungpu fault that ruptured during the earthquake. Studies prior to the earthquake suggest a ramp–décollement geometry for the Chelungpu fault, yet many finite source inversions using GPS and seismic data assume slip occurred on the down-dip extension of the Chelungpu ramp, rather than on a sub-horizontal décollement. We test whether slip occurred on the décollement or the down-dip extension of the ramp using well-established methods of inverting GPS data for geometry and slip on faults represented as elastic dislocations. We find that a significant portion of the coseismic slip did indeed occur on a sub-horizontal décollement located at 8 km depth. The slip on the décollement contributes 21% of the total modeled moment release. We estimate the fault geometry assuming several different models for the distribution of elastic properties in the earth: homogeneous, layered, and layered with lateral material contrast across the fault. It is shown, however, that heterogeneity has little influence on our estimated fault geometry. We also investigate several competing interpretations of deformation within the E/W trending rupture zone at the northern end of the 1999 ground ruptures. We demonstrate that the GPS data require a 22- to 35-km-long lateral ramp at the northern end, contradicting other investigations that propose deformation is concentrated within 10 km of the Chelungpu fault. Lastly, we propose a simple tectonic model for the development of the lateral ramp.     

Neotectonic deformation in the transition zone between the Dead Sea Transform and the East Anatolian Fault Zone, Southern Turkey: a palaeomagnetic study of the Karasu Rift Volcanism

In southern Turkey ongoing differential impingement of Arabia into the weak Anatolian collisional collage resulting from subduction of the Neotethyan Ocean has produced one of the most complex crustal interactions along the Alpine–Himalayan Orogen. Several major transforms with disputed motions, including the northward extension of the Dead Sea Fault Zone (DSFZ), meet in this region. To evaluate neotectonic motion on the Amanos and East Hatay fault zones considered to be northward extensions of the DSFZ, the palaeomagnetism of volcanic fields in the Karasu Rift between these faults has been studied. Remanence carriers are low-Ti magnetites and all except 5 of 51 basalt lavas have normal polarity. Morphological, polarity and K–Ar evidence show that rift formation occurred largely during the Brunhes chron with volcanism concentrated at 0.66–0.35 Ma and a subsidiary episode at 0.25–0.05. Forty-four units of normal polarity yield a mean of D/I=8.8°/54.7° with inclination identical to the present-day field and declination rotated clockwise by 8.8±4.0°. Within the 15-km-wide Hassa sector of the Karasu Rift, the volcanic activity is concentrated between the Amanos and East Hatay faults, both with left lateral motions, which have rotated blocks bounded by NW–SE cross faults in a clockwise sense as the Arabian Block has moved northwestwards. An average lava age of 0.5 Ma yields a minimum cumulative slip rate on the system bounding faults of 0.46 cm/year according with the rate deduced from the Africa–Arabia Euler vector and reduced rates of slip on the southern extension of the DSFZ during Plio-Quaternary times. Estimates deduced from offsets of dated lavas flows and morphological features on the Amanos Fault Zone [Tectonophysics 344 (2002) 207] are lower (0.09–0.18 cm/year) probably because they are limited to surface fault breaks and do not embrace the seismogenic crust.Results of this study suggest that most strike slip on the DSFZ is taken up by the Amanos–East Hatay–Afrin fault array in southern Turkey. Comparable estimates of Quaternary slip rate are identified on other faults meeting at an unstable FFF junction (DSFZ, East Anatolian Fault Zone, Karatas Fault Zone). A deceleration in slip rate across the DSFZ and its northward continuation during Plio-Quaternary times correlates with reorganization of the tectonic regime during the last 1–3 Ma including tectonic escape within Anatolia, establishment of the North and East Anatolian Fault Zones bounding the Anatolian collage in mid–late Pliocene times, a contemporaneous transition from transpression to transtension and concentration of all basaltic magmatism in this region within the last 1 Ma.     

Channel adjustments of the lower Trinity River,Texas, downstream of Livingston Dam

Channel cross‐sectional changes since construction of Livingston Dam and Lake Livingston in 1968 were studied in the lower Trinity River, Texas, to test theoretical models of channel adjustment, and to determine controls on the spatial extent of channel response. High and average flows were not significantly modified by the dam, but sediment transport is greatly reduced. The study is treated as an opportunistic experiment to examine the effects of a reduction in sediment supply when discharge regime is unchanged. Channel scour is evident for about 60 km downstream, and the general phenomena of incision, widening, coarsening of channel sediment and a decrease in channel slope are successfully predicted, in a qualitative sense, by standard models of channel response. However, there is no consistent channel response within this reach, as various qualitatively different combinations of increases, decreases or no change in width, depth, slope and roughness occur. These multiple modes of adjustment are predicted by the unstable hydraulic geometry model. Between about 60 km and the Trinity delta 175 km downstream of the dam, no morphological response to the dam is observed. Rather than a diminution of the dam's effects on fluvial processes, this is due to a fundamental change in controls of the fluvial system. The downstream end of the scour zone corresponds to the upstream extent of channel response to Holocene sea level rise. Beyond 60 km downstream, the Trinity River is characterized by extensive sediment storage and reduced conveyance capacity, so that even after dam construction sediment supply still exceeds transport capacity. The channel bed of much of this reach is near or below sea level, so that sea level rise and backwater effects from the estuary are more important controls on the fluvial system than upstream inputs. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A new view of Italian seismicity using 20 years of instrumental recordings

In this paper, we show the seismicity of the past 20 years that occurred in Italy and surrounding regions. Hypocentral locations have been obtained by using P- and S-wave arrival times from the INGV national and several regional permanent seismic networks. More than 48,000 events, selected from an original data set of about 99,780, are used to reconstruct the most complete seismic picture of the Italian region so far. The seismicity distribution allows inference on seismotectonics of this complex region of subduction versus continental collision. Our results clearly reveal the geometry of the Adria and the Ionian subduction and a continuous normal fault belt in the upper crust, following the Apennines mountain range. The depth of the seismogenic layer is computed from the cut-off of seismicity at depth and shows large variations along and across the seismic active regions. Earthquakes are generated by the different velocity of slab retreat and the subsequent asthenospheric upwelling.