N. Araújo, K. J. Schrenk, H. Herrmann, J. S. Andrade, F. Kun, A. Carbone, D. Torino
{"title":"Watersheds in disordered media","authors":"N. Araújo, K. J. Schrenk, H. Herrmann, J. S. Andrade, F. Kun, A. Carbone, D. Torino","doi":"10.3389/fphy.2015.00005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fphy.2015.00005","url":null,"abstract":"What is the best way to divide a rugged landscape? Since ancient times, watersheds separating adjacent water systems that flow, for example, toward different seas, have been used to delimit boundaries. Interestingly, serious and even tense border disputes between countries have relied on the subtle geometrical properties of these tortuous lines. For instance, slight and even anthropogenic modifications of landscapes can produce large changes in a watershed, and the effects can be highly nonlocal. Although the watershed concept arises naturally in geomorphology, where it plays a fundamental role in water management, landslide, and flood prevention, it also has important applications in seemingly unrelated fields such as image processing and medicine. Despite the far-reaching consequences of the scaling properties on watershed-related hydrological and political issues, it was only recently that a more profound and revealing connection has been disclosed between the concept of watershed and statistical physics of disordered systems. This review initially surveys the origin and definition of a watershed line in a geomorphological framework to subsequently introduce its basic geometrical and physical properties. Results on statistical properties of watersheds obtained from artificial model landscapes generated with long-range correlations are presented and shown to be in good qualitative and quantitative agreement with real landscapes.","PeriodicalId":390991,"journal":{"name":"arXiv: Geophysics","volume":"48 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128407778","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
arXiv: GeophysicsPub Date : 2014-11-18DOI: 10.1016/J.EGYPRO.2014.11.802
Z. Dai, H. Viswanathan, J. Fessenden-Rahn, R. Middleton, F. Pan, W. Jia, Si-Yong Lee, B. McPherson, W. Ampomah, R. Grigg
{"title":"Uncertainty quantification for CO2 sequestration and enhanced oil recovery","authors":"Z. Dai, H. Viswanathan, J. Fessenden-Rahn, R. Middleton, F. Pan, W. Jia, Si-Yong Lee, B. McPherson, W. Ampomah, R. Grigg","doi":"10.1016/J.EGYPRO.2014.11.802","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/J.EGYPRO.2014.11.802","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":390991,"journal":{"name":"arXiv: Geophysics","volume":"99 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-11-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122081518","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
arXiv: GeophysicsPub Date : 2014-07-09DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-21753-6_23
F. Vaccari
{"title":"A Web Application Prototype for the Multiscale Modelling of Seismic Input","authors":"F. Vaccari","doi":"10.1007/978-3-319-21753-6_23","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21753-6_23","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":390991,"journal":{"name":"arXiv: Geophysics","volume":"36 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-07-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123423391","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The contribution of pattern recognition of seismic and morphostructural data to seismic hazard assessment","authors":"A. Peresan, A. Gorshkov, A. Soloviev, G. Panza","doi":"10.4430/BGTA0141","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4430/BGTA0141","url":null,"abstract":"Experience from the destructive earthquakes worldwide, which occurred over the last decade, motivated an active debate discussing the practical and theoretical limits of the seismic hazard maps based on a classical probabilistic seismic hazard approach (PSHA). Systematic comparison of the observed ground shaking with the expected one, in fact, shows that such events keep occurring where PSHA predicted seismic hazard to be low. Amongst the most debated issues is the reliable statistical characterization of the spatial and temporal properties of large earthquakes occurrence, due to the unavoidably limited observations from past events. We show that pattern recognition techniques allow addressing these issues in a formal and testable way and thus, when combined with physically sound methods for ground shaking computation, like the neo-deterministic approach (NDSHA), may produce effectively preventive seismic hazard maps. Pattern recognition analysis of morphostructural data provide quantitative and systematic criteria for identifying the areas prone to the largest events, taking into account a wide set of possible geophysical and geological data, whilst the formal identification of precursory seismicity patterns (by means of CN and M8S algorithms), duly validated by prospective testing, provides useful constraints about impending strong earthquakes at the intermediate space-time scale. According to a multi-scale approach, the information about the areas where a strong earthquake is likely to occur can be effectively integrated with different observations (e.g., geodetic and satellite data), including regional scale modelling of the stress field variations and of the seismic ground shaking, so as to identify a set of priority areas for detailed investigations of short-term precursors at local scale and for microzonation studies. Results from the pattern recognition of earthquake prone areas (M≥5.0) in the Po Plain (northern Italy), as well as from prospective testing and validation of the time-dependent NDSHA scenarios are presented, including the case of the May 20, 2012 Emilia earthquake.","PeriodicalId":390991,"journal":{"name":"arXiv: Geophysics","volume":"18 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-06-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126116243","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
arXiv: GeophysicsPub Date : 2014-03-25DOI: 10.2174/1874378100802010007
V. Chertkov
{"title":"Estimating the aggregate/intraaggregate mass ratio of a shrinking soil","authors":"V. Chertkov","doi":"10.2174/1874378100802010007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2174/1874378100802010007","url":null,"abstract":"A recently introduced parameter, the ratio of an aggregate solid mass to a solid mass of an intraaggregate matrix (K ratio) is connected with the mean thickness of a deformable, but non-shrinking surface layer of aggregates and is a fundamental property of aggregated soils that essentially influences their shrinkage. The objective of this work is to suggest and validate an approach to estimating the K ratio at any soil clay content through characteristics of soil texture and structure. We derive an equation that reflects the interrelation between the K ratio and soil texture and structure. The K ratio can be estimated as the solution of the equation and is determined by the mean size of soil solids and the maximum size of soil aggregates in the oven-dried state, independently of a measured shrinkage curve. To validate the approach we use available data for eight soils.","PeriodicalId":390991,"journal":{"name":"arXiv: Geophysics","volume":"6 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114302290","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Three-dimensional phase-field study of crack-seal microstructures - Insights from innovative post-processing techniques","authors":"K. Ankit, M. Selzer, B. Nestler","doi":"10.5194/gmdd-7-631-2014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5194/gmdd-7-631-2014","url":null,"abstract":"Numerical simulations of vein evolution contribute to a better understanding of processes involved in their formation and possess the potential to provide invaluable insights into the rock deformation history and fluid flow pathways. The primary aim of the present article is to investigate the influence of a realistic boundary condition, i.e. an algorithmically generated fractal surface, on the vein evolution in 3-D using a thermodynamically consistent approach, while explaining the benefits of accounting for an extra dimensionality. The 3-D simulation results are supplemented by innovative numerical post-processing and advanced visualization techniques. The new methodologies to measure the tracking efficiency demonstrate the importance of accounting the temporal evolution; no such information is usually accessible in field studies and notoriously difficult to obtain from laboratory experiments as well. The grain growth statistics obtained by numerically post-processing the 3-D computational microstructures explain the pinning mechanism which leads to arrest of grain boundaries/multi-junctions by crack peaks, thereby, enhancing the tracking behavior.","PeriodicalId":390991,"journal":{"name":"arXiv: Geophysics","volume":"59 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127107757","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
arXiv: GeophysicsPub Date : 2013-10-03DOI: 10.36334/modsim.2013.a2.luo
X. Luo, C. Foss
{"title":"Inverse of magnetic dipole field using a reversible jump Markov chain Monte Carlo","authors":"X. Luo, C. Foss","doi":"10.36334/modsim.2013.a2.luo","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.36334/modsim.2013.a2.luo","url":null,"abstract":"We consider a three-dimensional magnetic field produced by an arbitrary collection of dipoles. Assuming the magnetic vector or its gradient tensor field is measured above the earth surface, the inverse problem is to use the measurement data to find the location, strength, orientation and distribution of the dipoles underneath the surface. We propose a reversible jump Markov chain Monte Carlo (RJ-MCMC) algorithm for both the magnetic vector and its gradient tensor to deal with this trans-dimensional inverse problem where the number of unknowns is one of the unknowns. A special birth-death move strategy is designed to obtain a reasonable rate of acceptance for the RJ-MCMC sampling. \u0000Some preliminary results show the strength and challenges of the algorithm in inverting the magnetic measurement data through dipoles. Starting with an arbitrary single dipole, the algorithm automatically produces a cloud of dipoles to reproduce the observed magnetic field, and the true dipole distribution for a bulky object is better predicted than for a thin object. Multi-objects located at different depths remain a very challenging inverse problem.","PeriodicalId":390991,"journal":{"name":"arXiv: Geophysics","volume":"69 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-10-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133870444","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Earthquake and Geothermal Energy","authors":"S. Kapoor, B. Chauhan","doi":"10.13189/ujg.2014.020501","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.13189/ujg.2014.020501","url":null,"abstract":"The origin of earthquake has long been recognized as resulting from strike-slip instability of plate tectonics along the fault lines. Several events of earthquake around the globe have happened which cannot be explained by this theory. In this work we investigated the earthquake data along with other observed facts like heat flow profiles etc... of the Indian subcontinent. In our studies we found a high-quality correlation between the earthquake events, seismic prone zones, heat flow regions and the geothermal hot springs. As a consequence, we proposed a hypothesis which can adequately explain all the earthquake events around the globe as well as the overall geo-dynamics. It is basically the geothermal power, which makes the plates to stand still, strike and slip over. The plates are merely a working solid while the driving force is the geothermal energy. The violent flow and enormous pressure of this power shake the earth along the plate boundaries and also triggers the intra-plate seismicity. In the light of the results reported by the California Energy Commission from the ongoing geothermal power project at the Big Geysers in California, we further propounded that by harnessing the surplus geothermal energy the intensity and risk of the impending earthquakes can be substantially reduced.","PeriodicalId":390991,"journal":{"name":"arXiv: Geophysics","volume":"2 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115116730","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
arXiv: GeophysicsPub Date : 2013-06-21DOI: 10.1061/9780784412992.049
L. Goren, R. Toussaint, E. Aharonov, D. Sparks, E. Flekkøy
{"title":"A General Criterion for Liquefaction in Granular Layers with Heterogeneous Pore Pressure","authors":"L. Goren, R. Toussaint, E. Aharonov, D. Sparks, E. Flekkøy","doi":"10.1061/9780784412992.049","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1061/9780784412992.049","url":null,"abstract":"Fluid-saturated granular and porous layers can undergo liquefaction and lose their shear resistance when subjected to shear forcing. In geosystems, such a process can lead to severe natural hazards of soil liquefaction, accelerating slope failure, and large earthquakes. Terzaghi's principle of effective stress predicts that liquefaction occurs when the pore pressure within the layer becomes equal to the applied normal stress on the layer. However, under dynamic loading and when the internal permeability is relatively small the pore pressure is spatially heterogeneous and it is not clear what measurement of pore pressure should be used in Terzaghi's principle. Here, we show theoretically and demonstrate using numerical simulations a general criterion for liquefaction that applies also for the cases in which the pore pressure is spatially heterogeneous. The general criterion demands that the average pore pressure along a continuous surface within the fluid-saturated granular or porous layer is equal to the applied normal stress.","PeriodicalId":390991,"journal":{"name":"arXiv: Geophysics","volume":"38 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-06-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133449147","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
arXiv: GeophysicsPub Date : 2013-06-18DOI: 10.1061/9780784412992.056
E. Aharonov, L. Goren, D. Sparks, R. Toussaint
{"title":"Localization of Shear in Saturated Granular Media: Insights from a Multi-Scaled Granular-Fluid Model","authors":"E. Aharonov, L. Goren, D. Sparks, R. Toussaint","doi":"10.1061/9780784412992.056","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1061/9780784412992.056","url":null,"abstract":"The coupled mechanics of fluid-filled granular media controls the behavior of many natural systems such as saturated soils, fault gouge, and landslides. The grain motion and the fluid pressure influence each other: It is well established that when the fluid pressure rises, the shear resistance of fluid-filled granular systems decreases, and as a result catastrophic events such as soil liquefaction, earthquakes, and accelerating landslides may be triggered. Alternatively, when the pore pressure drops, the shear resistance of these systems increases. Despite the great importance of the coupled mechanics of grains-fluid systems, the basic physics that controls this coupling is far from understood. We developed a new multi-scaled model based on the discrete element method, coupled with a continuum model of fluid pressure, to explore this dynamical system. The model was shown recently to capture essential feedbacks between porosity changes arising from rearrangement of grains, and local pressure variations due to changing pore configurations. We report here new results from numerical experiments of a continuously shearing layer of circular two-dimensional grains, trapped between two parallel rough boundaries. The experiments use a fixed confining stress on the boundary walls, and a constant velocity applied to one of the boundaries, as if this system was the interior of a sliding geological fault filled with 'fault gouge'. In addition, we control the layer permeability and the drainage boundary conditions. This paper presents modeling results showing that the localization of shear (into a narrow shear band within the shearing layer) is strongly affected by the presence of fluids. While in dry granular layers there is no preferred position for the onset of localization, drained systems tend to localize shear on their boundary. We propose a scaling argument to describe the pressure deviations in a shear band, and use that to predict the allowable positions of shear localizations as a function of the fault and gouge properties.","PeriodicalId":390991,"journal":{"name":"arXiv: Geophysics","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128991803","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}