onset of scour below pipelines and self burial abstract this paper summarizes the results of an experimental study on the onset of scour below and self burial of pipelines in currents waves pressure was measured on the surface of a slightly buried pipe at two points one at the upstream side and the other at the downstream side of the pipe both in the sand bed the latter enabled the pressure gradient which drives a seepage flow underneath the pipe to be calculated the results indicated that the excessive seepage flow and the resulting piping are the major factor to cause the onset of scour below the pipeline the onset of scour occurred always locally but not along the length of the pipeline as a two dimensional process the critical condition corresponding to the onset of scour was determined both in the case of currents and in the case of waves once the scour breaks out it will propagate along the length of the pipeline scour holes being interrupted with stretches of soil span shoulders supporting the pipeline as the span shoulder gets shorter and shorter more and more weight of the pipeline is exerted on the soil in this process a critical point is reached where the bearing capacity of the soil is exceeded general shear failure at this point the pipe begins to sink at the span shoulder self burial it was found that the self burial depth is governed mainly by the keulegan carpenter number the time scale of the self burial process on the other hand is governed by the keulegan carpenter number and the shields parameter diagrams are given for the self burial depth and the time scale of the self burial process

release fault a variety of cross fault in linked extensional fault systems in the sergipe alagoas basin ne brazil abstract two types of cross faults are herein recognized transfer faults and the newly termed release faults transfer faults form where cross faults connect distinct normal faults and horizontal displacements predominate over vertical ones in contrast release faults form where cross faults associated with individual normal faults die out within the hangingwall before connecting to other normal faults and have predominantly vertical displacements release faults are geometrically required to accommodate variable displacements along the strike of a normal fault thus they form to release the bending stresses in the hangingwall and do not cut normal fault planes nor detachment surfaces at depth release faults have maximum throws adjacent to normal faults and may be nearly perpendicular or obliquely oriented to the strike of the latter such geometry appears not to depend upon pre existing weaknesses but such variable orientation to normal faults is an inherent property of release faults release faults commonly appear as simple normal faults in seismic sections without implying extension along the strike of rift and basins three dimensional strain deformation occurs in the hangingwall only between the terminations of an individual normal fault but regionally release faulting is associated with plane strain deformation in linked extensional fault systems

some considerations concerning seismic geomorphology and paleoseismology abstract seismic geomorphology studies landforms which developed in connection with earthquakes among them two different end members may be distinguished 1 seismo tectonic landforms including surface faults and fractures land uplift and subsidence at different scales surface bulges elongate ridges and any other permanent ground deformations directly related to tectonic stress and 2 seismo gravitational landforms such as landslides deep seated gravitational slope deformations sinkholes and fissures due to sediment compaction or liquefaction and sand blows connected with both seismic shaking and gravitational stress a clear cut distinction between the two categories of landforms is not always easy to make and in many instances not really useful while there are in many cases ground effects that might be and should be considered as simultaneous combinations of seismo tectonic and seismo gravitational processes this applies especially to surface fracturing and faulting which could be the combined result of tectonic stress stress produced by seismic shaking and gravitational stress the objective of this paper is to review selected case histories mainly from italy and the mediterranean region in order to show the importance of a comprehensive study of earthquake generated landforms for understanding the seismicity level of the area under investigation we argue that in earthquake prone areas seismic landforms often constitute typical patterns seismic landscapes whose recognition mapping and paleoseismological analysis may help in the evaluation of seismic hazards

seismicity normal faulting and the geomorphological development of the gulf of corinth greece the corinth earthquakes of february and march 1981 three major destructive earthquakes of m s 6 7 6 4 6 4 occurred in the eastern part of the gulf of corinth in february and march 1981 associated normal faulting was observed on both the north and the south sides of the gulf examination of teleseismic local seismic surface faulting and geomorpbological data suggests that the first and second of these shocks activated major north dipping normal faults these faults control the topography and bathymetry and are related to the recent uplift and subsidence of the coastline it is probable that the first earthquake occurred on a faultwhich outcrops underwater and the second on a fault which is visible on land it appears that the third shock activated an antithetic normal fault dipping southwards on the north side of the gulf and that the overall structure of the gulf of corinth graben is asymmetric the northern antithetic fault clearly demonstrates the geomorphological changes associated with developing young normal faulting in addition we suggest that observations of recent coastline movement provide a powerful tool for identifying major active fault systems and predicting their historical role in the paleogeography of an area

fault generated mountain fronts in the central apennines central italy geomorphological features and seismotectonic implications the morphotectonic framework of the central apennines is given by faulted blocks bounded by normal faults mostly trending nw se nnw sse and ne sw which cut previous compressive structures such a structural setting is consistent with the lbcal mechanisms of the earthquakes which often occur in this area in this paper three lithologically different normal fault generated mountain fronts are analysed in order to assess the relations between their geomorphic features and active tectonics they border the norcia depression sibillini mts umbria the amatrice ampotosto plateau laga mts lazio and the fucino basin marsica mts abruzzi the norcia depression is bounded by a n20 w trending normal fault to the east and by a parallel antithetic fault to the west the main fault has a 1000 m throw and gives rise to a wide fault escarpment characterized by l sharp slope breaks due to low angle gravity faults 2 important paleolandslides and 3 several fault scarplets on the piedmont belt affecting quaternary deposits the amatrice ampotosto plateau is delimited by the western slope of mt gorzano which runs along a n20 w trending normal fault having a 1500m throw minor parallel faults dislocate quaternary landforms large scale massmovements also occur here e the fucino basin was struck by th e 1915 avezzano earthquake 0 xi mcs which produced extensive surface faulting along two parallel nw trending normal fault escarpments on the eastern border of the basin there is paleoseismrc evidence including buried gravity graben in late glacial gravels and tectonic dip slip striations on holocene calcitic crusts covering bedrock normal fault planes these data suggest that active extensional tectonics plays a major role in the slope morphogenesis of the central apennines and they indicate the importance of geomorphic analysis in seismic zonation of this area

fault scarps and deformation rates in lazio abruzzo central italy comparison between geological fault slip rate and gps data abstract we compare new and literature data concerning the integrated deformation rate since 18 ka for the central apennines with deformation rate data derived from a 6 year gps campaign we constructed topographic profiles across the majority of the active faults in the area we derived deformation rate data from displaced post glacial sediments and slopes associated with the last major glacial retreat that occurred in the region about 18 kyr ago paleoseismic investigations in this region clearly show that offset of these features is the cumulative effect of repeated surface faulting earthquakes with magnitudes in the range 5 5 ms 7 0 a cumulative throw rate diagram incorporating both our values and the values extracted from the literature i e previously published trenching studies scarp profiles and offset terraces is presented providing a regional picture of the spatial deformation rate distribution in the central apennines during the latest pleistocene and holocene by converting cumulative throw rates into heave rates we calculate maximum extension rates of ca 2 mm year at the location of the same transect where 6 2 mm year has been measured with gps over 6 years this discrepancy between geodetic and geological fault slip rate data implies that we have to be cautious whenever we use gps data for seismic hazard assessment purposes or when attempting to reconstruct the tectonic processes in an area because geodetic data may be unrepresentative of the longer term deformation rates on the other hand this discrepancy may provide insights into the mechanics of the seismic cycle we discuss various scenarios that may explain the mis match between long term and short term measurements

fault slip rate variations during crustal scale strain localisation central italy rates of plate motion are generally uniform over 10 102 myrs timescales faults between tectonic plates might therefore be expected to show temporally uniform slip rates if the same number of faults remain active for an extending region of the eurasia africa plate boundary italy finite throw values vertical component of the slip for seismogenic normal faults are less than that predicted when recent throw rates are extrapolated over the fault lifetimes the effect correlates with distance from the fault system tips and demonstrates that the slip rates on centrally located faults have increased with time neighbouring normal faults were active in the quaternary but show no signs of surface faulting during the latest pleistocene to holocene death of these faults has provided the extra strain per unit time to drive the increased slip rates measured on other faults thus fault interaction and death modify slip rates and seismic hazards associated with plate tectonics

analysis of scarp profiles evaluation of errors in morphologic dating morphologic analysis of scarp degradation can be used quantitatively to determine relative ages of different scarps formed in cohesionless materials under the same climatic conditions scarps of tectonic origin as well as wavecut or rivercut terraces can be treated as topographic impulses that are attenuated by surface erosional processes this morphological evolution can be modelled as the convolution of the initial shape with erosion or degradation function whose width increases with time such modeling applies well to scarps less than 10m high formed in unconsolidated fanglomerates to a good approximation the degradation function is gaussian with a variance measuring the degree of rounding of the initial shape this geometric parameter can be called the degradation coefficient a synthetic experiment shows that the degradation coefficient can be obtained by least squares fitting of profiles levelled perpendicular to the scarp gravitational collapse of the free face is accounted for by assuming initial scarp slopes at the angle of repose of the cohesionless materials 30 35 uncertainties in the measured profiles result in an uncertainty in degradation coefficient that can be evaluated graphically because the degradation coefficient is sensitive to the regional slope and to three dimensional processes gullying loess accumulation stream incision etc a reliable and accurate determination of degradation coefficient requires several long profiles across the same scarp the linear diffusion model of scarp degradation is a gaussian model in which the degradation coefficient is proportional to numerical age in that case absolute dating requires only determination of the propotionality constant called the mass diffusivity constant for holocene scarps a few meters high in loose alluvium under arid climatic conditions mass diffusivity constants generally range between 1 and 6 m 2 kyr morphologic analysis is a reliable method to compare ages of different scarps in a given area and it can provide approximate absolute ages of holocene scarplike landforms

late pleistocene glacial events in the central apennines italy the study of glacial evidence in the gran sasso massif of the central apennines italy has allowed the last maximum advance and the subsequent stadial phases to be dated and the mean annual temperature and quantity of precipitation in the form of snow to be assessed for a number of periods the glaciers probably reached their maximum extension campo imperatore stade ca 22 60014c yr b p and started to retreat ca 21 000 yr b p leaving behind three recessional moraines after a first interstade fornaca interstade the fontari stade appears to have taken place shortly after 16 000 yr ago ca 15 000 yr ago the glacier started retreating leaving behind four more recessional moraines an interstade venacquaro interstade preceded the mount aquila stade datable at ca 11 000 yr b p a strong correlation is evident between the glacial phases on land and the isotopic variations in cores from the tyrrhenian sea

climatic reconstruction in europe for 18 000 yr b p from pollen data an improved concept of the best analogs method is used to reconstruct the climate of the last glacial maximum from pollen data in europe in order to deal with the lack of perfect analogs of fossil assemblages and therefore to obtain a more accurate climate reconstruction we used a combination of pollen types grouped according to plant phenology and present climate constraints rather than pollen percentages for each individual taxon the distribution of pollen taxa into plant functional types pfts is aimed to reflect the vegetation in terms of biomes which have a wider distribution than a species the climatic variables are then calibrated on these pfts using an artificial neural network technique the use of pfts allowed us to deal with situations where pollen assemblages have only partial modern analogs the method is applied to the glacial steppic vegetation in europe using 15 pollen records north of the pyrenees alps line the reconstructed temperatures were lower than today 30 10 degrees c for the temperature of the coldest month t c and 12 3 degrees c far the annual mean t ann south of that line t c and t ann anomalies were respectively 15 5 degrees c and 10 5 degrees c the available moisture index and annual precipitation were also lower than present 60 20 north of mediterranean sea 800 100 mm for precipitation in italy and greece the available moisture was 20 lower with a precipitation anomaly of ca 600 200 mm southward the moisture index was close to that at present 20 and precipitation was lower 300 300 mm c 1998 university of washington

suction removal of sediment from between armor blocks iii breaking waves abstractwhen a sediment beach covered by stones or an armor layer is exposed to breaking waves the turbulence generated by the breaking waves can cause mobilization and removal of the sediment underneath the stones in two earlier studies by the technical university of denmark dtu group the suction removal of sediments from between armor blocks has dealt with the case of steady current and nonbreaking waves the present study is an extension of these studies and the results will be presented in a similar way the critical conditions for removal of sediment are determined it is found that the onset of removal of sediment is governed by three parameters 1 the sediment mobility based on the sediment size wave height and wave period 2 the ratio between the sediment size and the stone size d d and 3 surf similarity parameter tan h0 l0 0 5 the variation of the critical mobility number for removal of sediment as function of d d and is determined for the range 0 001 d d 1 0 and 0 15

sensitivity of interfacial hydraulics to the microtopographic roughness of water lain gravels flow within the interfacial layer of gravel bed rivers is poorly understood but this zone is important because the hydraulics here transport sediment generate flow structures and interact with benthic organisms we hypothesized that different gravel bed microtopographies generate measurable differences in hydraulic characteristics within the interfacial layer this was tested using a high density of spatially and vertically distributed velocity time series measured in the interfacial layers above three surfaces of contrasting microtopography these surfaces had natural water worked textures captured in the field using a casting procedure analysis was repeated for three discharges with reynolds numbers between 165000 and 287000 to evaluate whether discharge affected the impact of microtopography on interfacial flows relative submergence varied over a small range 3 5 to 8 1 characteristic of upland gravel bed rivers between surface differences in the median and variance of several time averaged and turbulent flow parameters were tested using non parametric statistics across all discharges microtopographic differences did not affect spatially averaged median values of streamwise velocity but were associated with significant differences in its spatial variance and did affect spatially averaged median turbulent kinetic energy sweep and ejection events dominated the interfacial region above all surfaces at all flows but there was a microtopographic effect with q2 and q4 events less dominant and structures less persistent above the surface with the widest relief distribution especially at the highest reynolds number flow results are broadly consistent with earlier work although this analysis is unique because of the focus on interfacial hydraulics spatially averaged patch scale metrics and a statistical approach to data analysis an important implication is that observable differences in microtopography do not necessarily produce differences in interfacial hydraulics an important observation is that appropriate roughness parameterizations for gravel bed rivers remain elusive partly because the relative contributions to flow resistance of different aspects of bed microtopography are poorly constrained 2014 the authors earth surface processes and landforms published by john wiley sons ltd

considerations on the significance of some post glacial fault scarps in the abruzzo apennines central italy abstract in this paper the tectonic and palaeoseismological significance of the fault scarps present in the massifs of the velino and of mount greco and in the plains adjacent to these massifs forming part of the abruzzo apennines is discussed the basic features of post glacial fault scarps already mentioned in the literature are illustrated found in the fucino plain in the ovindoli piani di pezza area on the mount magnola in the valle majelama alluvial fan and in the piano di aremogna others not previously mentioned surveyed by the author in the mount ocre cefalone area in the piana di corvaro and on the mount greco toppe del tesoro are also discussed on the basis of the characteristics of these scarps and of the chronological framework of the last phases of activity of the faults which gave rise to the scarps described the reliability of the assumptions made for palaeoseismological studies in other places is discussed for the abruzzo area the studies performed in the area of the velino and greco massifs suggest that to establish the possible co seismical activity of the faults the use of morphological indices and also of the results obtained with the excavation of trenches has to be very cautiously applied it is considered that the following can be stated it is probable that the majority of the mentioned fault scarps are co seismic in view of the height of some fault scarps it cannot be excluded that they were formed during the course of earthquake sequences lasting not more that 2 3000 years it is possible that some of the above mentioned scarps were produced during seismic events of great magnitude it does not seem possible at present to calculate a precise slip rate the amount of the offset often changes along the same fault even over short distances moreover there are many horst and graben type structures produced by local effects which contribute towards making an assessment of the fault offsets complicated it is also clear that erosion can change the aspect of the scarps an evaluation of the displacements caused by the faults producing them must therefore be made extremely cautiously caution is needed in assessing the magnitude of past earthquakes and in assuming recurrence intervals the dating of the phases of fault activity is approximate and there is great difficulty in recognizing with any certainty the duration the sort of activity and the length of the fault segment concerned in the activity moreover the existence in the past of aseismic creep and of movements linked to post glacial isostatic rebound cannot be excluded with any certainty these considerations must be regarded for the two massifs examined since there have been the epicentres of rare earthquakes of low intensity the only large earthquake known in history which caused surface ruptures occurred in the fucino area in 1915 the fault scarps reported in this paper seem however interpretable in general as indications of post glacial tectonic activity the intensity of which was unsuspected until a few years ago

post glacial slip history of the sparta fault greece determined by 36cl cosmogenic dating evidence for non periodic earthquakes 1 using 36cl cosmic ray exposure dating we obtained continuous exposure histories for 7 12 m high limestone surfaces at two sites 10 km apart on the sparta normal fault scarp as each major earthquake adds new surface to the cumulative scarp exposing new material to cosmic ray bombardment these exposure histories allow the slip history to be constrained the results show that an earthquake occurred on this fault 2800 300 yr ago we infer that this is the seismic event that destroyed ancient sparta in 464 b c four earlier earthquakes ruptured the sparta fault in the last 13 ka with similar slip amplitudes of about 2 m and with time intervals ranging from 500 yr to 4500 yr the observations also confirm that the sparta scarp is post glacial supporting the hypothesis that similar scarps elsewhere in the mediterranean region have a comparable age the absence of any event since 464 b c could suggest a future event is imminent however the irregularity of earthquake time intervals could also be due to changes of loading with important consequences for the mechanics of continental deformation

effects of storm duration and oblique wave attack on open filters underneath rock armoured slopes abstract underneath rock slopes of rubble mound structures often one or more granular filter layers are present these filter layers prevent base material washout in contrast to traditional filters geometrically open filters allow for some movement of base material in order to design such open filters the amount of erosion and accretion of base material needs to be predicted based on 2d physical model tests van gent and wolters 2015 presented a method to estimate the erosion and accretion of sand underneath rock slopes since the developed method was only valid for perpendicular wave attack a new study has been performed to assess effects of oblique wave attack on the amount of erosion and accretion of sand underneath a rock slope for that purpose 3d physical model tests were performed in a wave basin with 5 different wave angle between 0 perpendicular wave attack and 75 based on the test results it was shown how the effects of wave obliquity can be taken into account in the design of open filters in addition the effect of the storm duration on open filters has been studied this led to an extended design method to predict the amount of erosion and accretion of sand underneath rock slopes under wave loading

surface faulting accompanying the borah peak earthquake central idaho the ms 7 3 borah peak earthquake that struck central idaho on october 28 1983 was one of the strongest historic earthquakes in the intermountain seismic belt much of the 34 km long northwest trending zone of fault scarps and surface ruptures that formed during the earthquake follows holocene and upper pleistocene scarps of the lost river fault throw along the new fault scarps averages 0 8 m exceeds 1 0 m along 43 of their length and attains a maximum of 2 7 m along the broad and complex zone of deformation in the southern section the net slip was normal sinistral averaging 17 cm lateral slip for 100 cm of dip slip the preferred nodal plane from the focal mechanism strikes n22 w dips 59 sw and suggests a much larger component of strike slip than do the geologic data

physical model of scour at the toe of rock armoured structures abstract toe structures are a common feature in coastal rock armoured structures both safeguarding the structure against scour at the toe and providing support to the armour layer the toe structure itself is often comprised of rocks as well hence generally some form of scour protection such as a filter layer or a geotextile is applied underneath the toe structure currently there is a lack of available methods to judge the necessity of these kinds of costly scour protection measures underneath the toe structure in this paper a unique data set from physical model tests of scour at the toe of rock armoured structures is presented the bed level change is measured by a laser scanner across the entirety of the sand bed including underneath the structure additionally the temporal development of the scour at the glass wall of the flume is measured using an innovative combination of video imagery and a deep learning algorithm the sand diameter is not varied in the physical model tests in all tests scour was observed both in front of the structure and underneath the structure two expressions have been derived that give estimates for both kinds of scour and thus can give insight into the necessity of scour protection underneath the toe structure

hydrological relationship between the north atlantic ocean and the mediterranean sea during the past 15 75 kyr the mediterranean sea hydrology at the time of the heinrich formation in the north atlantic ocean was analyzed by comparing sea surface temperatures ssts and oxygen isotope composition of seawater w changes during the past 75 kyr in two marine cores these were compared to the palynological variations derived in the mediterranean sea core during the last glacial the two oceanic sst records show similar and synchronous patterns with several long term cooling periods ending by abrupt sst increases at the time of the heinrich events cold ssts and low salinity prevailed in the mediterranean sea the freshwater budget was similar to the modern one permitting the presence of a mixed forest on the mediterranean borderlands the post heinrich periods are marked by a freshwater budget decrease limiting oak and fir tree growth in the mediterranean region increase of precipitation or reduction of evaporation is observed before the heinrich episode and is associated with a well developed mixed mediterranean forest

nonlinear characteristics of paleoseismicity in china detailed studies of historical seismicity and paleoseismological data for major late quaternary faults in china reveal spatial and temporal patterns in paleoseismic activity associated with these faults analysis of space time distributions of late quaternary faults and consideration of new models for deformation of the asian continent provide a basis for proposing a division of china and surrounding areas into five active tectonic provinces slip rates for active faults are highest in the himalayan collision zone between the indian and eurasian plates and gradually decrease away from the collision zone into the adjacent active tectonic provinces paleoearthquake recurrence intervals in the active tectonic provinces of china reflect seismogenic properties that are closely related to the position of these provinces relative to the converging indian and eurasian plates average recurrence intervals are 2000 years to as little as 310 900 years for active faults in the qinghai tibetan active tectonic province whereas recurrence intervals are 2000 4500 years in the xinjiang active tectonic province and longer than 2000 years to as much as 7250 years in the north china active tectonic province although average recurrence intervals are closely related to the slip rates of late quaternary faults no simple linear relationship exists between recurrence interval and slip rate further analysis of paleoseismicity on major active faults shows that there are temporal variations in recurrence intervals the case studies also indicate that for some provinces faults or fault segments there are three paleoseismic patterns linear logarithmic and stepped in the logarithmic and stepped patterns the earthquake temporal sequence is characterized by active periods earthquake clusters with relatively short recurrence intervals and quiet periods lack of clustering and relatively long recurrence intervals

mechanics of the scouring and sinking of submerged structures in a mobile bed a physical model study abstract wave induced flow velocity and turbulence may cause scouring in the seabed around coastal structures depending on the wave climate and tidal water depth a 3 d physical modelling study was conducted to investigate the possible causes of the sinking of two submerged coastal structures on the santa maria del mar smm beach spain the experimental investigation was conducted by employing a froude similarity law with a geometric scale of 1 20 and the submerged modular structure was subjected to different wave climates and tidal water levels the combinations of the significant wave height and peak period were chosen from in situ real wave conditions that were monitored during the sinking of the prototype structures linking and unlinking conditions for the modules in the structure were investigated in this study the results show that the modules sank to approximately 48 of their height at the end of the tests with storm waves and semi linking conditions of low water depth most of the experimental results were compatible with the prototype monitoring results tests with proper linking among the modules and tests with an appropriate gravel foundation resulted in a sustainable solution because they presented much less or almost no scouring and sinking

rapid environmental changes in southern europe during the last glacial period oxygen isotope records from greenland ice cores1 2 indicate numerous rapid climate fluctuations during the last glacial period north atlantic marine sediment cores show comparable variability in sea surface temperature and the deposition of ice rafted debris3 4 5 in contrast very few continental records of this time period provide the temporal resolution and environmental sensitivity necessary to reveal the extent and effects of these environmental fluctuations on the continents here we present high resolution geochemical physical and pollen data from lake sediments in italy and from a mediterranean sediment core linked by a common tephrochronology our lacustrine sequence extends to the past 102 000 years many of its features correlate well with the greenland ice core records demonstrating that the closely coupled ocean atmosphere system of the northern hemisphere during the last glacial4 extended its influence at least as far as the central mediterranean region numerous vegetation changes were rapid frequently occurring in less than 200 years showing that the terrestrial biosphere participated fully in last glacial climate variability earlier than 65 000 years ago our record shows more climate fluctuations than are apparent in the greenland ice cores together the multi proxy data from the continental and marine records reveal differences in the seasonal character of climate during successive interstadials and provide a step towards determining the underlying mechanisms of the centennial millennial scale variability

fault scaling relationships deformation rates and seismic hazards an example from the lazio abruzzo apennines central italy abstract spatial variations in the number of seismic shaking events in a given time period frequency implied by measured throw rates associated with active normal faults in central italy are investigated through comparison with models of fault growth and the historical record of earthquake shaking for the region measured offsets of 18 ka glacial features provide a throw rate database averaged over a time period much longer than the reliable portion of the historical earthquake record for the region

an upper bound on the rate of strain in the central apennines italy from triangulation measurements between 1869 and 1963 italy is covered by a first order triangulation network that was established between 1869 and 1908 and re measured in patches between 1936 and 1963 we analyse the measurements made in the central part of italy to form an estimate of the rate of strain in the central apennines we conclude that the rate of strain in this region is too small to detect from the repeated triangulation measurements this result places an upper bound of about 10 7 yr on the strain rate of the central apennines and implies that the maximum rate of extension across the region is no higher than about 3 mm yr

the holocene paleoearthquakes on the 1915 avezzano earthquake faults central italy implications for active tectonics in the central apennines abstract extensive paleoseismological research was conducted in the fucino plain central italy in order to better understand the seismogenic characteristics of the fault responsible for the 1915 avezzano earthquake ms 7 0 and improve the general knowledge regarding active tectonics in the central apennines evidence for late pleistocene holocene surface faulting events was obtained through the study of thirteen sites across four different fault branches the paleoseismological analysis outlined the occurrence of ten surface faulting events in the past 33 000 years seven of which occurred during the holocene radiocarbon thermoluminescence and archaeological dating permitted the definition of an event chronology and the estimation of a recurrence interval for surface faulting events ranging between 1400 and 2600 years on the basis of the observed offsets it was possible to calculate vertical slip rates for the individual fault branches ranging between 0 24 mm yr 1 and 0 5 mm yr 1 and an extension rate across the fucino plain ranging between 0 6 and 1 mm yr 1 the chronology of surface faulting events appears linearly distributed in time and the observed recurrence times are similar to those inferred by other paleoseismological studies along different active apennine faults the general consequence of the large time span between strong earthquakes is that even a 2000 year long historical record such as the italian earthquake catalogue does not cover the entire seismic cycle of all the active apennine faults a comparison of the extension rate across the fucino plain with that across the entire central apennines as inferred from the sum of seismic moments of earthquakes which occurred in the interval 1000 1992 shows a seismicity deficit in the period indicated this confirms that a number of seismogenic faults were not active during the past 1000 years

introduction to special section paleoseismology a proverb of confucius states study the past if you would divine the future if we could learn about the past history of earthquakes on a specific fault then we could serve society well by better forecasting the future earthquake behavior of that fault for most of the world the period of historical records is short about 200 years in california and less than that in new zealand oregon and other parts of the world and even where the historical record is thousands of years long such as in north central china or the eastern mediterranean region it is commonly difficult to correlate a major historical earthquake with a specific active fault even if this correlation could be made without ambiguity the recurrence intervals for many faults are longer than even a historical record of several thousand years for these reasons the history of large earthquakes on faults must for the most part be learned from the geological record

numerical modelling of the erosion and deposition of sand inside a filter layer abstract this paper treats the numerical modelling of the behaviour of a sand core covered by rocks and exposed to waves the associated displacement of the rock is also studied a design that allows for erosion and deposition of the sand core beneath a rock layer in a coastal structure requires an accurate prediction method to assure that the amount of erosion remains within acceptable limits this work presents a numerical model that is capable of describing the erosion and deposition patterns inside of an open filter of rock on top of sand the hydraulic loading is that of incident irregular waves and the open filters are surface piercing due to the few experimental data sets on sediment transport inside of rock layers a sediment transport formulation has been proposed based on a matching between the numerical model and experimental data on the profile deformation inside an open filter the rock layer on top of a sand core introduces a correction term in the exner equation the continuity equation for sediment and change in bed level the correction term originates from the fact that the sand can only be deposited in the pores of the filter material the numerical model is validated against additional data sets on the erosion and deposition patterns inside of an open filter a few cases are defined to study the effect of the sinking of the filter into the erosion hole the numerical model is also applied to several application cases the response of the core material sand to changes in the wave period and wave height is considered the effect of different layouts of the filter is studied in order to investigate the effect of different filter profiles on the resulting erosion finally it is studied how much the design of a hydraulically closed filter can be relaxed to obtain a reduction in the design requirements of the filter thickness while the deformation to the sand core remains acceptably small

incipient motion during static armoring critical bed shear stresses for grains in a mixed size bed are known to depend on the ratio between the size of dislocated grains and an average grain size for the bed however laboratory experiments with sediments consisting solely of two fractions show that changes in armor area concentration have a marked additional impact on critical stresses for the fines if the bed area is covered up to 30 by static armor grains critical stress for the mobile fraction is about the same as for unisize sediments while as the specific armor area approaches unity critical stress increases by a factor of five to a minor extent critical stress also depends on a grain reynolds number and the grain size ratio between the two fractions

surface rupture of the 1857 southern italian earthquake in october 1862 robert mallet published an extensive study of a large earthquake that occurred on 16 december 1857 150 km south east of naples this event is one of the most destructive ever recorded in italy although continental earthquakes of similar size are almost invariably associated with surface faulting mallet did not identify any surface rupture and subsequent workers have also failed to find surface traces using satellite images and aerial photographs as a guide we examined two prominent quaternary normal fault systems in the field flanking the val d agri and the val di diano both trend nw se and dip to the sw the distribution of damage suggests that one or both moved in 1857 on one fault segment in val d agri we found a 2 5 m high scarp whose youthfulness and height suggest it is due to the 1857 earthquake comparison of the observed slip with rates derived from geomorphic evidence suggests a recurrence time for 1857 type events of about 3000 years while the new data we provide are consistent with the event having a magnitude of ms 7 0 there are also grounds for supposing it might have been bigger

granular slopes with open filters under wave loading abstract permeable hydraulic structures that consist of rock material typically contain granular filters in one or more layers these filters are normally geometrically tight to prevent material washout geometrically tight filters are often difficult to realize in the field and expensive an alternative is a geometrically open filter a geometrically open filter has a large ratio of the size of toplayer material rock and underlayer material e g sand and is designed in such a way that only minimal base material loss or settlement occurs potential applications of open filters include bed protections toe structures and slope protections proper guidelines on the design of open filters under wave loading could lead to significant cost and material savings and to more practical applications of filters in the field physical model tests were conducted in a wave flume of deltares the analysis of the tests with 1 4 and 1 7 slopes and fixed test durations of 3 h

ages of prehistoric earthquakes revealed by cosmogenic chlorine 36 in a bedrock fault scarp at hebgen lake cosmogenic chlorine 36 reveals dates of the multiple prehistoric earthquakes that have produced a scarp on the hebgen lake fault apparent chlorine 36 ages are stratigraphically correct follow a predicted theoretical pattern and produce geologically reasonable model ages of 24 20 7 0 2 6 1 7 and 0 4 thousand years ago this result demonstrates the feasibility of using cosmogenic chlorine 36 to extract paleoearthquake records from bedrock fault scarps

active tectonics in the central apennines and possible implications for seismic hazard analysis in peninsular italy abstract the central apennines fault system cafs of peninsular italy overprints earlier structures of a neogene fold and thrust belt and includes segments characterized by diffuse seismicity distributed within a nnw sse trending zone 50 60 km wide the system has been analysed by means of morphotectonic and structural analysis of exposed active fault segments the resulting fault structure consists of an interconnecting network of roughly n s trending left lateral strike slip segments and mostly nw se oriented transtensional to normal faults evidence for recent activity of cafs structures is provided by faulted middle pleistocene holocene deposits including 30 40 ka old pyroclastites and 40 ka old palustrine sediments fresh scarps in both bedrock and late quaternary continental deposits and decametric lateral offsets locally affecting the post wurmian drainage pattern of the area the regional stress field responsible for the development and evolution of the cafs as inferred from fault slip data is characterized by a nw se compression and by a ne sw extension the cafs pattern and its present day kinematics have been related to left lateral strike slip motion on north south trending crustal faults the existence of deep seated strike slip faults in the central apennines has implications for seismic hazard analysis motion along these structures suggests in fact that coseismic surface faulting is distributed and that cumulative displacements include normal transtensional and strike slip components the seismogenic potential of cafs structures can therefore be best described by multiple rupture models and be better analysed in terms of partial contributions of lower rank features constituting congruent structural associations within the system

scour at cylindrical bridge piers in armored beds results of laboratory experiments concerning the development of scour around a cylindrical pier placed in a bed of cohesionless sediment overlain by an armoring layer of coarser sediment are presen

suction removal of sediment from between armor blocks ii waves when a stone armor layer on a sand bed is exposed to flow the sand underneath will be agitated by the flow turbulence when the flow velocity reaches a critical value the sand will be sucked winnowed out from between the armor blocks in a previous investigation we studied suction removal of sediment in steady currents the present study is an extension of our previous investigation to waves the critical condition for the onset of suction is determined it is found that the onset of suction is governed by three parameters 1 the sediment mobility number based on the sediment size 2 the ratio of sediment size to stone size d d and 3 the keulegan carpenter kc number based on the armor block stone size the variation of the critical mobility number for suction as a function of d d and kc is determined for the ranges of the parameters 0 001 d d 1 and 1 kc 50 the case of steady current is included as a reference case the effect of waves superimposed on current the effect of a multilaye

hillslope development in areas of active tectonics tectonic and geomorphic displacements of the earth s surface control topographic profile development therefore their analysis should be combined in the model presented here transient finite difference solutions to the continuity equation for material transport determine geomorphic displacements the material transport rate is a function of distance from the divide to the power m local slope to the power n and a rate constant values of m and n may be adjusted to simulate processes varying from rainsplash and soil creep i e diffusive m 0 n 1 to slope wash and river flow m 0 n 0 the actual geomorphic displacements may be transport or weathering limited depending on soil profile development superimposed edge dislocations in an elastic half plane are used to model tectonic displacements slip along a normal or reverse fault of any dip depth and down dip length may be incremental earthquake or continuous aseismic creep considering climate and material properties constant the ratio of the transport capacity rate constant to the fault slip rate roughly determines form this model extends existing morphologic diffusion erosion analyses to include other geomorphic conditions and processes transport or weathering limited conditions material flux boundary conditions and the development of gullies and knickpoints and more heterogeneous spatial and temporal distributions of tectonic displacement such as those due to slip along buried thrust faults we advocate calibration of these parameters and processes to provide a quantitative approach to modeling landform development determining deformation rates and inferring earthquake hazards

experiments on particle turbulence interactions in the near wall region of an open channel flow implications for sediment transport a high speed video system was used to study the interaction between sediment particles and turbulence in the wall region of an open channel flow with both smooth and transitionally rough beds in smooth flows particles immersed within the viscous sublayer were seen to accumulate along low speed wall streaks apparently due to the presence of quasi streamwise vortices in the wall region larger particles did not tend to group along streaks however their velocity was observed to respond to the streaky structure of the flow velocity in the wall region in transitionally rough flows particle sorting was not observed coherent flow structures in the form of shear layers typically observed in the near wall region interacted with sediment particles lying on the channel bottom resulting in the particles being entrained into suspension although there has been some speculation that this process would not be effective in entraining particles totally immersed in the viscous sublayer the results obtained demonstrate the opposite the entrainment mechanism appears to be the same independent of the roughness condition of the bottom wall smooth or transitionally rough in the latter case however hiding effects tend to preclude the entrainment of particles with sizes finer than that of the roughness elements the analysis of particle velocity during entrainment shows that the streamwise component tends to be much smaller than the local mean flow velocity while the vertical component tends to be much larger than the local standard deviation of the vertical flow velocity fluctuations which would indicate that such particles are responding to rather extreme flow ejection events

active crustal extension in the central apennines italy inferred from gps measurements in the interval 1994 1999 we present the first gps estimate of crustal extension in the central apennines italy through the analysis of the deformation of a sub network of the national gps geodetic network igm95 in the interval 1994 1999 the selected sub network spans the entire active deformation belt perpendicularly to its axis and allows the evaluation of 1 the total extension rate absorbed in this sector of the apennines and 2 the seismogenic potential of the normal faults active in the late pleistocene holocene interval within the network results of this reoccupation are consistent with an extensional strain rate of 0 18 10 6 yr 1 concentrated in an area of about 35 km width giving an average extension rate of 6 2 mm yr across the central apennines the pattern of active deformation suggests active elastic strain accumulation on the westernmost of the two fault systems active in the late pleistocene holocene interval and may also suggest the presence of another active fault system not recognized so far

tyrrhenian sea tephrochronology of the oxygen isotope record for the past 60 000 years abstract a chronology of the marine oxygen isotope record of the past 60 ka is proposed by correlating eight marine ash layers with terrestrial volcanic deposits dated by the 14c and or k ar methods detailed oxygen isotope analyses were made on the planktonic foraminifera of three cores collected in the central tyrrhenian sea the origin of the ash layers was determined by major and trace elements analyses then the major pyroclastic terrestrial deposits were sampled and analysed in order to provide land sea correlations two ash layers occurred during the warm event that followed the first step of the deglaciation and which was dated at 12 6 0 5 ka b p another ash layer is present near the last glacial maximum that we have dated at 17 5 0 3 ka b p during isotopic stage 3 five ash layers were recognized and dated which allowed us to assign ages to the isotopically light oxygen peaks warmer interstadials at 31 1 5 ka and 33 4 1 6 ka denekamp at 37 5 2 ka hengelo and successively at 49 2 ka 52 4 2 2 ka 57 2 2 ka and 60 5 2 2 ka moershoofd complex

irregular recurrence of large earthquakes an analysis of historic and paleoseismic catalogs assessment of a region s seismic hazard requires knowledge of the repeat times and the regularity of earthquake recurrence for most areas the earthquake catalog is too short to determine recurrence parameters reliably using a large set of events for many regions however it should be possible to constrain the average characteristics of earthquake recurrence behavior this study compiles a set of the most complete historic and paleoseismic series of m 7 earthquakes from the middle american trench alaska chile japan and the san andreas fault the 52 recurrence series show a large average aperiodicity that is variations in recurrence time are larger than 40 of the average recurrence interval aperiodicity may decrease with increasing magnitude neither the use of different magnitude thresholds the exclusion of foreshocks and aftershocks the type of statistics normal or lognormal used nor the choice of segmentation results in a significantly smaller aperiodicity the irregular recurrence behavior exhibited by the data implies that earthquakes are more unpredictable than often assumed in hazard analyses

oscillation of fluid filled cracks triggered by degassing of co2 due to leakage along wellbores 1 we present evidence for a seismic source associated with degassing co2 during leakage along two wellbores instrumented with arrays of downhole seismometers more than 200 microseismic events were detected in direct vicinity of the monitoring wells the observed seismic waves are dominantly p waves and tube waves with no or extremely weak s shear waves the waveforms of these events indicate extremely rapid amplitude decays with distance across the arrays consistent with the seismometers being in the near field of the seismic source the frequency characteristics first motion polarities and s to p amplitude ratios suggest a single force source mechanism because the seismic arrays were located at the depth where the density of ascending co2 changes most rapidly it appears that the transition of co2 from supercritical fluid to gas triggers an oscillation of fluid filled cavities and fractures very close to the wellbores in which the monitoring arrays were deployed in many aspects the observed waveforms show a striking similarity to those modeled for degassing processes below volcanoes we suggest that the single force represents bubble growth and resulting oscillations in cement cavities between the steel casing of the well and the rock adjacent to the wellbores and or within fractures in the rock just outside the wellbores

interactions between mantle upwelling drainage evolution and active normal faulting an example from the central apennines italy summary in this paper we show that the processes that have shaped the quaternary surface development of the apennines in central italy are all consequences of a single subcrustal process the upwelling of the mantle the relationship between gravity and topography shows that mantle convection is responsible for a long wavelength 150 200 km topographic bulge over the central apennines and stratigraphic evidence suggests this bulge developed in the quaternary active normal faulting is localized at the crest of this bulge and produces internally draining fault bounded basins these basins have been progressively captured by the aggressive headward erosion of major streams that cut down to the sea on the flanks of the regional bulge the only surviving closed basins are those on the apennine watershed most distant from the marine base level where continued normal faulting is still able to provide local subsidence that defeats their capture by the regional drainage network understanding the competition between regional capture and local fault related subsidence of intermontane basins is crucial for recognizing potentially hazardous active faults in the landscape and also for interpreting the sediment supply to adjacent offshore regions central italy provides a good modern analogue for processes that are probably common in the geological record particularly on rifted margins and intracontinental rifts but may not have been fully appreciated

palaeoseismicity in the gran sasso massif abruzzo central italy abstract the upper maone and venacquaro valleys on the northern side of the gran sasso massif apennines central italy have been studied in detail from the geological and geomorphological standpoints to date the activity of the faults that produced spectacular fault scarps in the late glacial and holocene sediments and morphological features the faults that produced the studied scarps have been active at least four times during the last 18 000 years and each time on the basis of the indications emerging from the study of the scarp heights displacements of similar size were probably produced the first faulting seems datable to a period slightly more recent than 18 000 years ago the second faulting occurred after the moraines of the second apennine stage these preceding a lacustrine deposit dated 11 760 160 bp could be put in the older portion of the period between 16 000 and 13 000 years ago the third faulting must be more recent than 6000 7000 years ago and slightly older than 5450 170 and 6110 180 bp a fourth phase is appreciably later than 3490 160 bp and older than the year 1000 a d for the venacquaro valley the size of the displacements more recent than 18 000 years ago indicated by the height of the fault scarps and by geophysical data is about 16 18 m for the val maone the size of the displacements more recent than the moraines of the second apennine stage is 10 11 m the respective slip rates are 0 88 1 mm year for the venacquaro valley and approximately 0 67 0 78 mm year for the maone valley it is very probable that the fault activity occurred during a seismic event or events that took place during a short time the intervals between the seismic events or seismic periods although these cannot be defined with precision appear longer than 2500 3000 years and shorter than 6000 7000 years it is possible that also in the gran sasso as in other parts of the abruzzo apennines seismic activity is characterized by events of great magnitude with long return periods

suction removal of sediment from between armor blocks this paper presents the results of an experimental investigation on suction removal of sediment from between armor blocks stones placed on a loose bed the process of suction has been investigated it was found that the vortices that form in the holes between the armor blocks are key to the process the sediment swept into these vortices is entrained into the main body of the flow by these same vortices the suction removal of sediment from between the armor blocks the critical condition for the onset of suction was determined it was found that the onset of suction is governed by two parameters 1 the shields parameter based on the sediment size and 2 the ratio of sediment size to stone size d d the variation of the critical shields parameter for suction as a function of d d was determined for a broad range of the parameter d d namely 0 001 d d 1 the timescale of the suction process and the downward displacement of stones the general lowering of the armor layer have also been investigated

cover stones on liquefiable soil bed under waves abstract the paper describes the results of an experimental study on the behavior of cover stones on a liquefiable soil bed exposed to a progressive wave the soil was silt with d50 0 098 mm stones the size of 4 cm were used as cover material the effect of packing density of stones and that of number of stone layers including the effect of an intermediate filter layer were investigated pore pressure was measured across the soil depth the experiments show that the soil liquefaction depended mainly on two parameters the packing density of stones and the number of stone layers when the liquefaction occurs stones sink in the soil mechanisms of liquefaction and sinking are described and practical guidelines are recommended

scales of structural heterogeneity within neotectonic normal fault zones in the aegean region abstract structural heterogeneities within neotectonic normal fault zones in the aegean region are important controls on the geomorphic expression of their uplifted footwall blocks contrasting fault rocks and slip plane phenomena corrugations comb fractures slip parallel fractures and pluck holes are responsible for mesoscopic inhomogeneities within fault scarps along strike disruptions in the continuity of fault scarps step over zones step up zones step down zones footwall cross faults and hangingwall cross faults are products of perturbations in slip plane geometry or intersections with transverse faults large scale variations in range front morphology reflect contrasting patterns of deformation within fault zones some major fault zones and many minor fault zones are characterized by a migration of the active slip plane towards the hangingwall resulting in a distributed network of high angle faults and a range front which is stepped in profile the presence of a localized mass of uneroded bedrock hangingwall salients protruding from the hangingwall of some major fault zones results in intense deformation along a principal slip plane and a range front which is ramp like in profile as a consequence of structural heterogeneities within neotectonic normal fault zones fault scarps and range fronts in the aegean region are subject to a temporally and spatially variable pattern of degradation

the geometry kinematics and rates of deformation within an en echelon normal fault segment boundary central italy abstract the geometry kinematics and rates of deformation have been investigated within an en echelon fault segment boundary between two left stepping major normal faults in the central apennines italy examination of faulted post glacial sediments and geomorphic features attributed to glacial retreat 18 ka reveals that the two major faults dominate the recent slip with rates that are 5 10 times greater than the other faults at the centres of the major faults slip is parallel to the regional extension direction ne sw defined by focal mechanisms and borehole breakouts slip vector azimuths defined by striations on faults in the stepover zone indicate ne sw extension on nw se faults sub parallel to the regional extension direction together with significant and contemporaneous nw se extension along the strike of the apennines on ese wnw and ene wsw faults thus distributed three dimensional strain occurs in the stepover between the two major bounding faults extension rates summed across the stepover are 0 68 mm y parallel to the regional extension compared to 2 mm y at the centre of one of the major faults extension rates along strike of the fault zone are 0 14 mm y within the stepover and zero at the centres of the two major bounding faults the above information is used to discuss how extension is partitioned between different structures during the growth and linkage of normal faults

displacement history of a limestone normal fault scarp northern israel from cosmogenic 36cl the abundance of cosmogenic 36 cl measured in 41 limestone samples from a 9 m high bedrock fault scarp allows us to construct the 14 kyr fault displacement history of the nahef east normal fault northern israel 300 m above sea level n33 latitude the nahef east fault is one of a series of fault scarps located along the 700 m high zurim escarpment a major geomorphic feature samples at the top of the scarp have the highest nuclide concentrations 79 x 10 4 atoms g rock 1 samples at the base have the lowest 11 x 10 4 atoms g rock 1 using chemical data from the samples nahef east fault scarp geometry and surface and subsurface production rates for the 36 cl producing reactions we have constructed a numerical model that calculates 36 cl accumulation on a scarp through time given a series of unique displacement scenarios the resulting model 36 cl concentrations are compared to those measured in the scarp samples faulting histories that result in a good match between measured and modeled 36 cl abundances show three distinct periods of fault activity during the past 14 kyr with over 6 vertical meters of motion occurring during a 3 kyr time period in the middle holocene smaller amounts of displacement occurred before and after the period of most rapid motion the episodic behavior of the nahef east fault indicates that the average displacement rate of this fault system has varied through time

early earthquakes in the kozani area northern greece abstract a cursory examination of the as yet incomplete crudely known and not easily quantifiable seismic history of northern greece suggests an episodic seismic activity of medium magnitude events similar to that of other parts in the balkans and a lack of any evidence in the historical records of large earthquakes in the region this is consistent with the lack of continuity of faults in central greece with few segments being demonstrably continuous for longer than about 20 to 25 km my examination of primary sources also shows that for the period investigated it is not possible to assign reliably location and magnitude to historical earthquakes in this region

a more precise chronology of earthquakes produced by the san andreas fault in southern california improved methods of radiocarbon analysis have enabled us to date more precisely the earthquake ruptures of the san andreas fault that are recorded in the sediments at pallett creek previous dates of these events had 95 confidence errors of 50 100 calendar years new error limits are less than 23 calendar years for all but two of the dated events this greater precision is due to larger sample size longer counting time lower background noise levels more precise conversion of radiocarbon ages to calendric dates and better stratigraphic constraints and statistical techniques the new date ranges with one exception fall within the broader ranges estimated previously but our estimate of the average interval between the latest 10 episodes of faulting is now about 132 years variability about the mean interval is much greater than was suspected previously five of the nine intervals are shorter than a century three of the remaining four intervals are about two to three centuries long despite the wide range of these intervals a pattern in the occurrence of large earthquakes at pallett creek is apparent in the new data the past 10 earthquakes occur in four clusters each of which consists of two or three events earthquakes within the clusters are separated by periods of several decades but the clusters are separated by dormant periods of two to three centuries this pattern may reflect important mechanical aspects of the fault s behavior if this pattern continues into the future the current period of dormancy will probably be greater than two centuries this would mean that the section of the fault represented by the pallett creek site is currently in the middle of one of its longer periods of repose between clusters and sections of the fault farther to the southeast are much more likely to produce the next great earthquake in california the greater precision of dates now available for large earthquakes recorded at the pallett creek site enables speculative correlation of events between paleoseismic sites along the southern half of the san andreas fault a history of great earthquakes with overlapping rupture zones along the mojave section of the fault remains one of the more attractive possibilities

new paleoseismological data from the gran sasso d italia area central apennines 1 paleoseismological analyses along the campo imperatore normal fault cif in the gran sasso massif which is an area characterized by the absence of significant historical earthquakes highlight the occurrence of surface faulting after the 5th 3rd cent bc and around the 6th 5th millenium bc these ages agree with those reported by giraudi and frezzotti 1995 on the western tip of the cif thus suggesting the possible entire rupture of the 30 km long cif during m7 events these data contribute to the re evaluation of the seismic hazard of a large surrounding area including the city of l aquila 100 000 inhabitants which is located 20 km from the cif in the hangingwall side index terms 7221 seismology paleoseismology 7223 seismology seismic hazard assessment and prediction 7230 seismology seismicity and seismotectonics 8107 tectonophysics continental neotectonics

seismic moment summation for historical earthquakes in italy tectonic implications tectonic deformation rates in and around the apennine mountains of italy are studied using seismic moments estimated from macroseismic effects of historical earthquakes northeastward extension in the northern apennines north of 42 5 n accompanies shortening along their northeast flank since the seventeenth century the sparse seismicity in these two zones has included no earthquake with magnitude 6 5 or seismic moment above 6 1018 n m their spatially averaged deformation rates are only 0 3 mm yr 1 but are equal such that the extension and shortening balance with no relative motion between their external surroundings in contrast the numerous historical earthquakes in the central and southern apennines with magnitude 7 and seismic moment 20 1018 n m require northeastward relative velocity across the deforming zone up to 5 mm yr 1 matching the expected relative motion of their surroundings this relative velocity is taken up in part by extension and in part by strike slip depending on the trend of the deforming zone and is not accompanied by en echelon shortening elsewhere in italy the northern apennines thus show different senses and rates of deformation from localities farther south and are thus technically distinct at present in contrast with previous interpretations

long term earthquake clustering a 50 000 year paleoseismic record in the dead sea graben the temporal distribution of earthquakes in the dead sea graben is studied through a 50 000 year paleoseismic record recovered in laminated sediments of the late pleistocene lake lisan paleo dead sea the lisan represents more than 10 times the 4000 years of historical earthquake records it is the longest and most complete paleoseismic record along the dead sea transform and possibly the longest continuous record on earth it includes unique exposures of seismite beds earthquake induced structures associated with slip events on syndepositional faults the seismites are layers consisting of mixtures of fragmented and pulverized laminae the places where the seismites abut syndepositional faults are interpreted as evidence for their formation at the sediment water interface during slip events on these faults thicker sediment accumulation above the seismites in the downthrown blocks indicates that a seismite formed at the water sediment interface on both sides of the fault scarps modern analogs and the association with surface ruptures suggest that each seismite formed during a m l 5 5 earthquake the 230 th 234 u ages of a columnar section obtained by thermal ionization mass spectrometry give a mean recurrence time of 1600 years of m l 5 5 earthquakes in the dead sea graben the earthquakes cluster in 10 000 year periods separated by quiet periods of similar length this distribution implies that a long term behavior of the dead sea transform should be represented by a mean recurrence of at least 20 000 year record this observation has ramifications for seismic hazard assessment based on shorter records

trench investigations of the 1915 fucino earthquake fault scarps abruzzo central italy geological evidence of large historical events earthquake hazard analyses in italy are mainly based on historical seismic catalogs however the completeness of the italian catalog which spans more than 2000 years progressivcly decreases going back in time in the fucino basin historical research has not produced evidence of large earthquakes before the january 13 1915 event m s 7 0 33 000 people killed this event generated surface faulting along at least two parallel quaternary normal faults bounding the eastern side of the basin the celano gioia and parasano cerchio faults over an end to end length of about 23 km with a downthrow of 30 90 cm toward southwest to improve geological aspects of the seismic history of this area we trenched onc of the coseismic scarps along the celano gioia fault at a trench site near the village of san benedetto de marsi the fault traverses the area formerly covered by the fucino lake drained for farming in 1875 a d the evidence collected in the trenchcs suggests at least two large events in historical times before 1915 radiocarbon dates constrain the age of event b between the 6th and the 9th centuries a d possibly coinciding with the cvent felt in rome in 801 a d molin arid guidoboni 1989 event a probably occurred after the 10th ccntury a d and almost certainly before the 1349 a d earthquake because historical studies show 1 that event a was not produced during the earthquake sequence that occurred in central italy in 1349 a d molin and guidoboni 1989 and 2 that the post 1349 seismic catalog can be regarded as complete for surface faulting earthquakes surface displacements determined for events a and b compared to the 1915 surface faulting indicate that m 6 5 earthquakes were associated with each rupturc these obscrvations suggest that the return period for large earthquakes in the fucino basin is shorter than that indicated by the historical record alone the fucino example clearly shows that thc cxceptionally long historical record in italy is still inadequate for a comprehcnsive seismic hazard characterization

hydro and morpho dynamic modeling of breaking solitary waves over a fine sand beach part i experimental study abstract the objectives of this work are 1 to examine the mechanisms that influence tsunami erosion and deposition mechanisms in the littoral zone via physical simulations of breaking solitary waves over a fine sand beach and 2 to provide experimental data for validation of numerical models to predict tsunami erosion and deposition processes the experiments were carried out in a 48 8 m 2 16 m 2 1 m wave flume the flume was instrumented to observe free surface elevations cross shore velocities suspended sediment concentrations vertical and cross shore pore pressure gradients near the shoreline and morphological changes in addition wave sediment interactions were observed via underwater video cameras the results are systematically analyzed to investigate the roles of wave breaking bore runup wave drawdown and wave induced pore pressure variations on tsunami erosion and deposition processes the studies showed that the wave plunging on a thin layer of water prior to reaching the shoreline did not cause much sediment suspension while the waterjet impinging directly on the beach entrained substantial amounts of sand the suspended sediments were subsequently pushed up the slope by fluid momentum as the broken wave transformed to a turbulent bore a small net deposition region was observed near the maximum runup point where both the flow velocity and the water depth were near zero a significant amount of the sediment transport occurred during the wave drawdown in the form of thick sheet flow which resulted in net erosion of the shore face and the beach a hydraulic jump formed near the wave breaking region toward the end of the drawdown which caused most of the suspended sand to deposit in the wave breaking region consequently breaking solitary waves over a sloping fine sand beach led to net erosion of the shore face and the beach net deposition in a small region immediately seaward of the max excursion point and net deposition in the wave breaking zone

velocity distribution in the roughness layer of rough bed flows several models for the vertical distribution of the double averaged in time and in the plane parallel to the mean bed longitudinal velocity in the flow region between roughness troughs and roughness tops are suggested we found that the same model for velocity distribution may be applicable to a range of flow conditions and roughness types which share some common features the suggested models for velocity distribution in the near bed region are 1 constant velocity 2 exponential velocity distribution and 3 linear velocity distribution the measured velocity distributions may be approximated by a single model or by a combination of models depending on roughness geometry and flow conditions the validity of these models for velocity distribution is supported by laboratory data

influence of turbulence on bed load sediment transport this paper summarizes the results of an experimental study on the influence of an external turbulence field on the bed load sediment transport in an open channel the external turbulence was generated by 1 a horizontal pipe placed halfway through the depth ih 2 a series of grids with a clearance of about one third of the depth from the bed and extending over a finite length of the flume and 3 a series of grids with a clearance in the range 0 1 1 0 ih from the bed but extending over the entire length of the flume two kinds of experiments were conducted plane bed experiments and ripple covered bed experiments in the former case the flow in the presence of the turbulence generator was adjusted so that the mean bed shear stress was the same as in the case without the turbulence generator in order to single out the effect of the external turbulence on the sediment transport in the ripple covered bed case the mean and turbulence quantities of the streamwise component of the velocity were measured and the shields parameter due to skin friction was determined the shields parameter together with the rms value of the streamwise velocity fluctuations was correlated with the sediment transport rate the sediment transport increases markedly with increasing turbulence level

stability of armour layers in rivers the importance of both the overpassing and the embedding of river bed particles is demonstrated by experiments when a single layer thick armouring layer of uniform d d1 size particles on a bed of uniform finer d d2 size particles is broken at one location the stability of the remainder of the armour layer depends on the tendency of the d d1 particles to embed into the surface of d d2 particles if a d d1 size particle is seated in the exposed position on the surface of the d d2 sized bed sediment it may by virtue of its exposure to the flow be preferentially entrained and it may then overpass the finer bed sediment alternatively the d d1 particle may be too large for overpassing and it will become embedded armour layers composed of particles which embed tend to be more stable

paleoseismicity of the ovindoli pezza fault central apennines italy a history including a large previously unrecorded earthquake in the middle ages 860 1300 a d geomorphic and trenching investigations along the ovindoli pezza fault show that this normal fault is one of the major seismogenic faults in the central apennines we found clear geological evidence for three holocene surface faulting earthquakes on this fault the most recent earthquake occurred in the middle ages between 860 and 1300 a d the penultimate occurred about 1900 b c or shortly after and the oldest probably occurred between 3300 and 5000 b c although the most recent surface faulting earthquake occurred during historical time no evidence for it have been found in the historical record slip per event ranges between 2 and 3 m and the length of the rupture is at least 12 20 km suggesting m 6 5 7 0 for the paleoearthquakes the dip slip rate determined from trenching is 0 7 1 2 mm yr and is consistent with the long term slip rate of 0 9 2 5 mm yr lower values preferred obtained from displaced geomorphic features trench data combined with long term slip rate estimates suggest the recurrence interval is longer than a millennium and possibly as long as 3300 years the time elapsed since the most recent earthquake is 700 1130 years the seismic behavior of the ovindoli pezza fault is consistent with other well known seismogenic faults of the central and southern apennines the lack of mention or mislocation of the most recent event on the ovindoli pezza fault in the historical record of the past two millennia should be attributed mainly to the unsettled cultural and social conditions and poor economic state that characterized the middle ages especially in thinly populated regions such as the central apennines this example highlights an intrinsic limit of the historical data and raises the possibility that other regions considered seismically quiet on the basis of a long historical record may in reality have had large earthquakes that were not recorded

a healing reloading feedback control on the growth rate of seismogenic faults spatial and temporal variations in the growth rates of faults are explained in terms of a stress feedback mechanism operating in the seismogenic upper crust it is based on the idea that seismic rupture of a fault perturbs the surrounding stress field advancing the occurrence of future earthquakes on some faults that are optimally oriented while relaxing stress levels on others if post slip healing is geologically rapid then the earthquakes that are thus induced will contribute to reloading along the earlier rupture zone because of the symmetry of the optimal geometry a positive feedback is set up so that even in areas that are undergoing uniform tectonic straining some faults develop higher displacement rates and grow more rapidly while others experience reduced rates or become inactive using a thin plate elastic model for lithospheric scale faulting it is shown that this healing reloading feedback mechanism drives rapid localisation and the formation of major through going faults moving at plate boundary velocities enhanced displacement rates compared to an isolated fault develop shortly after the onset of deformation along those faults which are optimally positioned in the overall fault population thus the formation of a new plate boundary fault zone is predetermined and is a consequence of rather than the precursor of preferentially high displacement rates also fault segments located at points of rupture symmetry e g the central portion of a fault zone are reloaded more frequently and develop higher displacement rates and consequently have longer segment lengths and or larger displacement to length ratios episodic fault movement through time is a general feature of the model these predictions are consistent with available field observations over a wide range of scales thus elastic brittle failure and healing appear to be important rheological components of the lithosphere on long time scales 104 106 y as well as on the time scale of earthquake recurrence

scour around coastal structures a summary of recent research abstract this paper summarizes the results of the european union marine science and technology eu mast iii project scour around coastal structures scarcost the summary is presented under three headings 1 introduction 2 flow and scour processes with the subheadings flow and scour processes around vertical cylinders flow and scour processes at detached breakwaters flow and scour processes at submerged breakwaters and the effect of turbulence on sediment transport and 3 sediment behaviour close to the structure with the subheadings field measurement and analysis of wave induced pore pressures and effective stresses around a bottom seated cylinder non linear soil modelling with respect to wave induced pore pressures and gradients wave induced pressures on the bottom for non linear coastal waves including also wave kinematics development of a numerical model linear soil modelling to calculate wave induced pore pressures the effect of liquefaction on sediment transport penetration of blocks in non consolidated fine soil and cyclic stiffness of loose sand the paper also includes a discussion of the role of scale effects in laboratory testing and the applicability of the results obtained in supporting engineering design

palaeoseismicity of the oquirrh fault utah from shallow seismic tomography the magnitude and frequency of normal fault palaeoearthquakes are usually determined by trenching studies that ascertain the size and number of colluvial wedges along the fault such information can be invaluable in predicting the seismic hazard and potential for a future earthquake in that region digging trenches across normal faults however is environmentally intrusive expensive and limited in the penetration depth to overcome these problems we propose the use of 3 d seismic tomography as a means to identify the shapes and sizes of colluvial wedges along normal faults as an example 2 d and 3 d seismic surveys were conducted across the oquirrh fault utah with the purpose of imaging the normal fault structure to a depth of about 10 m results show that the 3 d tomogram clearly delineates the fault zone and a colluvial wedge both of which correlate extremely well with the geological cross section interpreted from an adjacent trench the thickness of the colluvial wedge image is used in conjunction with a seismic section to compute an estimate of a 6 8 moment magnitude earthquake for the most recent event on this fault which is in close agreement with the 7 0 estimate based on a nearby trenching study these tomographic results demonstrate for the first time that seismic imaging methods can be used in some cases to estimate unambiguously the shapes of colluvial wedges and the sizes of prehistoric earthquakes thus seismic tomography has the possibility of providing cheaper deeper and wider but less resolved images of fault systems than the intrusive excavation of trenches across faults

inversion of source parameters from near and far field observations an application to the 1915 fucino earthquake central apennines italy we use a nonlinear inversion approach for determining source parameters of the fucino m s 6 9 earthquake that occurred along central apennines italy in 1915 taking into account both near field surface deformations and far field first motion polarities this event was one of the most destructive in italy this century causing over 30 000 casualties altitude and leveling measurements were performed before 1862 and after 1917 the event along a circular route consisting of 18 benchmarks polarities of first arrivals do not constrain a unique fault plane solution while the one obtained by inverting geodetic data with relevant constraints provided by neotectonic data disagrees with p wave polarities our joint inversion based on a robust fitting technique has resulted in only one well defined solution satisfying geophysical data as well as surface faulting distribution and paleoseismological information

morphologic dating of the pre 1983 fault scarp on the lost river fault at doublespring pass road custer county idaho abstract the focus of this study is the age of the earthquake antecedent to the 1983 borah peak earthquake in the vicinity of doublespring pass road where the faulting signature of both events has been studied in detail through trenching operations in 1976 and again in 1984 we sample the morphologic expression of the pre 1983 event with six profiles along a 100 m segment of the fault scarps adjacent to and just north of the trench site where both the 1983 and pre 1983 scarps are remarkably linear and regular diffusion equation modeling of the profiles suggest that the age of the pre 1983 event is 6000 to 8000 yr before present exclusive of the uncertainties in applying the lakes bonneville and lahontan mass diffusivity to this central idaho setting

surface faulting in the southern italian campania basilicata earthquake of 23 november 1980 the campania basilicata earthquake of 23 november 1980 was the largest ms 6 9 and most destructive earthquake that has occurred in this region of southern italy for over 100 years killing more than 3 000 people the consensus among seismologists geologists and earthquake engineers who have studied1 10 this event is in keeping with previous italian earthquakes that it did not produce faulting at the surface this has led to the establishment of a number of models2 3 11 13 requiring an unusual tectonic setting for the southern apennines however on a recent visit to the epicentral region of the earthquake may 1984 we discovered more than 10 km of surface faulting that is consistent with focal mechanisms for this event based on first motion polarities2 4 5 12 and long period waveform studies14 16 which show that it involved normal faulting with one nodal plane dipping at 60 towards the north east our observations of this the first well documented earthquake fault break to be reported in italy suggest that the deformation associated with earthquakes in the southern apennines takes place in the upper 10 15 km of the earth s crust on steep planar normal faults which break the surface as is widely observed in other areas of active extension outside italy

some remarks on the origin of foredeeps abstract geological observations show that there are two main types of foredeep basins on the base of their subsidence rate and their relationship with the associated orogen or accretionary wedge high rates of subsidence up to 1600 m myr and a ratio lower than 1 between the area of the elevated belt and the area of the basin characterize the foredeeps associated with w dipping subduction low rates of subsidence up to 300 m myr and a ratio higher than 1 between the area of the orogen and the area of the basin characterize the foredeeps associated with e or ne dipping subductions this observation enables us to interpret the slow filling of foredeeps of the first type and the much faster filling of foredeeps of the second type moreover w dipping subductions have a steeper and faster monocline bounding the base of the deep foredeep in contrast to e or ne dipping subductions which have a shallower monocline this differentiation supports the notion of the eastward mantle flow with respect to the lithosphere detected in the hot spot reference frame in this view the foredeep depth in w dipping subductions is mainly controlled by the roll back of the subduction hinge pushed by the relative eastward mantle flow while foredeep depth in e or ne dipping subductions is instead mainly generated by the load of the thrust sheets and by the roll back of the subduction hinge due to the advancing upper plate contrasting the upward push of the mantle the shape of the foredeeps is regularly arcuate in case of w dipping subduction while is linear or following the shape of the inherited continental margin in case of e or ne dipping subduction fold development in the two opposite foredeeps is significantly different in w dipping subduction the folds are transported down in subduction while they are forming and consequently they are poorly eroded syntectonic sediments drape a preserved fold in the e ne dipping subduction folds and thrust sheets are instead uplifted and deeply eroded this is also predicted by the envelope of the crests in the two distinct accretionary wedges in the w dipping case the envelope may dip toward the subduction while it is rising toward the hinterland in the other cases this approach may explain the differences in terms of geometries amount and rates of subsidence between the foredeeps around the adriatic plate for instance the foredeep of the southern alps back thrust belt foredeep is deformed in the western part by the later apenninic foredeep development associated with the sinistral oblique ramp of the w dipping adriatic plate subduction the relationship in the frontal parts of a thrust belt between accretion and eustacy has to be analyzed in terms of when where and how fast thrusts propagation took place with respect to the randomly distributed sea level third order fluctuations and by the type of subduction which is connected to the foredeep and thrust belt or accretionary wedge therefore the stratigraphic patterns in foredeep basins are peculiar and casual successions that record the combination of regional tectonic evolution with independent wider scale sea level changes

active oblique extension in the central apennines italy evidence from the fucino region the fucino basin is a flat quaternary depression within the central apennines it is surrounded by active normal faults with small oblique slip components surface faulting was observed along the east side of the basin during the ms 7 0 avezzano earthquake of 1915 in order to understand the kinematics of recent strain better and to assess the seismic hazard of this region we carried out a detailed geomorphic and structural study of the faults around the basin fault scarp heights were accurately measured with total station profiles and vertical slip rates were estimated assuming slope offsets to post date the end of periglacial abrasion 14 4 kyr bp to the north the most prominent fault the magnola fault appears to have an average postglacial throw rate of 0 7 0 3 mm yr 1 and together with the velino fault to be capable of generating earthquakes of maximum magnitudes of 6 9 7 3 with recurrence intervals of 1000 3000 yr east of the basin the serrone parasano and ventrino faults form a right stepping horsetail of the giovenco fault current vertical slip rates on the three former faults appear to be between 0 5 and 1 4 0 5 and 1 0 and 0 3 and 1 1 mm yr 1 respectively infrequent maximum magnitude earthquakes on them may also exceed 7 particularly in the case of coupled rupture with loosely constrained recurrence intervals up to several thousand years the right lateral slip components implied by the most recent slickensides and by geomorphic offsets on the nw se trending normal faults of the area suggest that the blocks they bound rotate counterclockwise consistent with oblique left slip on the nnw sse trending giovenco and ovindoli faults to the east sinistral shear parallel to the latter faults the maximum relief across the magnola fault and the postglacial slope offsets measured suggest that the extension rate across the central apennines might be of the order of 6 3 mm yr 1 in a n20 10 e direction more northerly than hitherto inferred

experimental study of fine sand particle settling in turbulent open channel flows over rough porous beds results are presented from laboratory studies investigating the behavior of fine sand particles within turbulent open channel flow conditions flowing over rough porous beds a particle tracking technique was employed to record and analyze sand particle motion within the flow while mean and fluctuating flow velocities were measured by an acoustic doppler velocimeter probe measured particle settling rates show a strong influence from flow turbulence being generally enhanced in the near bed and intermediate flow regions and retarded in the outer flow region compared to their fall velocity in still water conditions experiments also reveal the relative degree of settling enhancement to increase with decreasing particle size correlation between particle and small scale fluid motions is demonstrated through a quadrant analysis technique with higher order events for the two phases found to be dominated by ejections and sweeps associated with the bursting process particle interactions with large scale turbulent flow structures revealed through flow visualization with a moving frame of reference are found to result in particle accumulation in peripheral trajectories on the downflow side of local eddy structures analytical and theoretical considerations suggest that both these turbulence scales provide preferential transportation mechanisms that will account for the enhanced sand particle settling rates observed

a major seismogenic fault in a silent area the castrovillari fault southern apennines italy summary large historical earthquakes in italy define a prominent gap in the pollino region of the southern apennines geomorphic and palaeoseismological investigations in this region show that the castrovillari fault cf is a major seismogenic source that could potentially fill the southern part of this gap the surface expression of the cf is a complex 10 13 km long set of prominent scarps trenches across one scarp indicate that at least four surface faulting earthquakes have occurred along the cf since late pleistocene time each producing at least 1 m of vertical displacement the length of the fault and the slip per event suggest m 6 5 7 0 for the palaeoearthquakes preliminary radiocarbon dating coupled with historical considerations imply that the most recent of these earthquakes occurred between 380 bc and 1200 ad and probably soon after 760 ad no evidence for this event has been found in the historical record we estimate a minimum recurrence interval of 1170 years and a vertical slip rate of 0 2 0 5 mm yr for the cf which indicates that the seismic behaviour of this fault is comparable to other major seismogenic faults of the central southern apennines the lack of mention or the mislocation of the most recent event in the historical seismic memory of the pollino region clearly shows that even in italy which has one of the longest historical records of seismicity a seismic hazard assessment based solely on the historical record may not be completely reliable and shows that geological investigations are critical for filling possible information gaps

flow and bed shear stresses in scour protections around a pile in a current abstract transport of bed sediment inside and beneath the scour protection may cause deformation and sinking of the scour protection for pile foundations this may reduce the stability of the mono pile and change the natural frequency of the dynamic response of an offshore wind turbine installed on it in an unfavourable manner using physical models and 3d computational fluid dynamic cfd numerical simulations the velocity and bed shear stresses are investigated in complex scour protections around mono piles in steady current in the physical model the scour protections consisted of an upper cover layer with uniformly distributed coarse stones and a lower filter layer with finer stones for the numerical simulations the flow 3d software was used the scour protection layers were simulated with different numerical approaches namely regularly arranged spheres porous media or their combinations hybrid models numerical simulations with one or four layers of cover stones without filter layer were first computed three additional simulations were then made for a scour protection with a cover layer and a single filter layer finally a simulation of a full scale foundation and scour protection was made with porous media approach based on the physical and numerical results a method to determine the critical stones size to prevent motion of the base sediment is established and compared to a full scale case with sinking of scour protection horns rev i offshore wind farm denmark it is also found that the cfd simulations are capable of calculating the flow velocities when the scour protection is represented by regular arranged spheres while the turbulence in general is underestimated the velocity can also be calculated using porous media flow approach but the accuracy is not as good as for spheres the deviation is more severe for more complex scour protections in general computational models provide valuable information for the prediction and design of scour protections for offshore wind farms

pleistocene changes in the central apennine fault kinematics a key to decipher active tectonics in central italy integrated structural geomorphological and stratigraphic data have permitted the definition of the quaternary structural evolution of some tectonically generated basins in the central apennines available data indicate that some n130 140 trending quaternary normal faults have not been active since the middle pleistocene while along some other faults with the same trend left lateral strike slip or oblique slip movements are superimposed on normal movements pure normal movements were found to affect only n125 to e w trending faults this structural evolution indicates that fault kinematics in the central apennines changed markedly between the early and middle pleistocene current models infer that this change may have been a response to the bending which caused the arcuate shape of the apennine orogen the deformation related to the bending added to the effects of the regional stress field as a result post early pleistocene fault kinematics were due to an extension that locally was not perfectly perpendicular to the inherited normal faults and that is consistent with models of oblique slip tectonics processes of arc formation and related incompatibility between inherited quaternary faults and post early pleistocene extension have significant implications regarding research on active tectonics in fact some nonactive faults show misleading features typical of recent activity while some active faults are poorly visible owing to the recent age of the present regime this kinematic evolution therefore represents one of the major factors others being the low slip rates and the fragmented structural setting which hinders the definition of reliable active faulting schemes for the apennine chain

spatial and temporal variations in growth rates along active normal fault systems an example from the lazio abruzzo apennines central italy abstract the geometry kinematics and rates of active extension in lazio abruzzo italian apennines have been measured in order to gain a better understanding of the spatial and temporal variations in fault growth rates and seismic hazards associated with active normal fault systems we present fault map traces throws throw rates and slip directions for 17 parallel en echelon or end on active normal faults whose 20 40 km lengths combine to form a soft linked fault array ca 155 km in length and ca 55 km across strike throw rates derived from observations of faulted late glacial features and holocene soils show that both maximum throw rates and throw rate gradients are greater on centrally located faults along the strike of the array total throws and throw gradients show similar spatial variations but with weaker relationships with distance along strike when summed across strike throw rates are increasingly high towards the centre of the array relative to summed throws we interpret the above to suggest that throw rates have changed in the recent past ca 0 7 ma from spatially random fault growth rates initiating at 2 5 3 3 ma to growth rates that are greater on centrally located faults we interpret this as evidence for fault interaction producing throw rate variations that drive throw profile readjustment on these crustal scale soft linked faults the results are used to discuss seismic hazards in the region which are quantified in a second paper in this issue

links between climate and sea levels for the past three million years the oscillations between glacial and interglacial climate conditions over the past three million years have been characterized by a transfer of immense amounts of water between two of its largest reservoirs on earth the ice sheets and the oceans since the latest of these oscillations the last glacial maximum between about 30 000 and 19 000 years ago approximately 50 million cubic kilometres of ice has melted from the land based ice sheets raising global sea level by approximately 130 metres such rapid changes in sea level are part of a complex pattern of interactions between the atmosphere oceans ice sheets and solid earth all of which have different response timescales the trigger for the sea level fluctuations most probably lies with changes in insolation caused by astronomical forcing but internal feedback cycles complicate the simple model of causes and effects