Condition Assessment of August A. Busch Bridge Deck Using Portable Seismic Property Analyzer and Ground Penetrating Radar

Ground penetrating radar (GPR) and the portable seismic property analyzer (PSPA) have been extensively used in the past two decades for monitoring, quantifying, and mapping the deterioration of bridge decks. Using PSPA and GPR ensures regular monitoring of bridge conditions, leads to the early detection of deterioration. This research is to address the condition of August A. Busch bridge deck owned by the Missouri Department of Conservation. Visual inspection, GPR, and PSPA data were acquired on the bridge deck. Over 90% of the bridge deck was in fair to good condition with an average compressive strength of over 2500 psi. GPR data showed no indication of significant deterioration. The overall bridge deck was determined to be in fair to good condition.

Elastic and Seismic Properties of Dabie-Sulu Ultrahigh Pressure Metamorphic Rocks

Lame modulus （λ） and shear modulus （μ） are among the most important, intrinsic, elastic constants of rocks. Using 7. and μ could be much more advantageous than using P- and S-wave velocities （Vp and Vs）. Here we quantified these equivalent isotropic elastic moduli for 115 representative rocks from the ultrahigh pressure （UHP） metamorphic terrane of the Dabie-Sulu orogenic belt （China） and their variations with pressure （P）, temperature （T）, density （p）, Vp, Vs and mineralogical composition. Both moduli increase nonlinearly and linearly with increasing pressure at low （〈200-300 MPa） and high （〉200-300 MPa） pressures, respectively. In the regime of high pressures, 7. and IX decrease quasi-linearly with increasing temperature with temperature derivatives dλ/dT and dμ/dT generally in the range of -10×10-3 to -1×10-3 GPa/℃. Dehydration of water-bearing minerals such as serpentine in peridotites and chlorite in retrograde eciogites results in an abrupt drop in 7. while μ remains almost unchanged. In Z-p, μ-p and 7.-IX plots, the main categories of UHP rocks can be characterized. Serpentinization leads to significant decreases in μ and 7. as serpentine has extremely low values of Z, μ and p. Eclogites, common mafic rocks （mafic gneiss, metagabbro and amphibolite）, and felsic rocks （orthogneiss and paragneiss） have high, moderate and low μ and λ values, respectively. For pyroxenes and olivines, λ increases but μ decreases with increasing Fe/Mg ratios. For plagioclase feldspars, both Z and μ exhibit a significant positive correlation with anorthite content. SiO2-rich felsic rocks and quartzites are deviated remarkably from the general trend lines of the acid-intermediate-mafic rocks in Vs-p, μ-p, λ-Vp,λ-Vs and μ-λ diagrams because quartz has extremely low λ （-8.1 GPa） and p （2.65 g/cm3） but moderate μ （44.4 GPa） values. Increasing the contents of garnet, rutile, ilmenite and magnetite results in a significant increase in the λ and μ values of the UHP metamorphic rocks. However, either λ or μ is insensitive to the compositional variations for pyralspite （pyrope-almandine-spessartine） solution series. The results provide potentially improved constraints on characterization of crustal composition based on the elastic properties of rocks and in situ seismic data from deep continental roots.

Fabrics and Seismic Properties of Ophiolites: Implications for Mantle Flow

Based on ophiolite sequences,seismic velocities of rocks and seismic profiles of ocean basins,the oceanic crust-mantle boundary can be defined as the contact between the solid,ductile deformed mantle and the

Microstructures, Fabrics, and Seismic Properties of Mylonitic Amphibolites: Implications for Strain Localization in a Thickening Anisotropic Middle Crust of the North China Craton

Strain localization processes in the continental crust generate faults and ductile shear zones over a broad range of scales affecting the long-term lithosphere deformation and the mechanical response of faults during the seismic cycle.Seismic anisotropy originated within the continental crust can be applied to deduce the kinematics and structures within orogens and is widely attributed to regionally aligned minerals,e.g.,hornblende.However,naturally deformed rocks commonly show various structural layers(e.g.,strain localization layers).It is necessary to reveal how both varying amphibole contents and fabrics in the structural layers of strain localization impact seismic property and its interpretations in terms of deformation.We present microstructures,petrofabrics,and calculate seismic properties of deformed amphibolite with the microstructures ranging from mylonite to ultramylonite.The transition from mylonite to ultramylonite is accompanied by a slight decrease of amphibole grain size,a disintegration of amphibole and plagioclase aggregates,and amphibole aspect ratio increase(from 1.68 to 2.23),concomitant with the precipitation of feldspar and/or quartz between amphibole grains.The intensities of amphibole crystallographic preferred orientations(CPOs)show a progressively increasing trend from mylonitic layers to homogeneous ultramylonitic layers,as indicated by the JAm index increasing from 1.9–4.0 for the mylonitic layers and 4.0–4.8 for the transition layer,to 5.1–6.9 for the ultramylonitic layers.The CPO patterns are nearly random for plagioclase and quartz.Polycrystalline amphibole aggregates in the amphibolitic mylonite deform by diffusion,mechanical rotation,and weak dislocation creep,and develop CPOs collectively.The polymineralic matrix(such as quartz and plagioclase)of the mylonite and the ultramylonite deform dominantly by dissolution-precipitation,combined with weak dislocation creep.The mean P and S wave velocities are estimated to be 6.3 and 3.5 km/s,respectively,for three layers of the mylonitic amphibolite.The respective maximum P and S anisotropies are 1.5%–6.4%and 1.8%–4.5%for the mylonite layers of the mylonitic amphibolite,and 6.0%–6.9%and 4.5%–5.0%for the transition layers;but for the ultramylonite layers,these values increase significantly to 8.0%–9.1%and 5.1%–6.0%,respectively.Furthermore,increasing strain(strain localization)generates significant variations in the geometry of the seismic anisotropy.This effect,coupled with the geographical orientations of structures in the Hengshan-Wutai-Fuping complex terrains,can generate substantial variations in the orientation and magnitude of seismic anisotropy for the continental crust as measured by the existing North China Geoscience Transect.Thickened amphibolitic layers by extensively folding or thrusting in the middle crust can explain the strong shear wave splitting and the tectonic boundary parallel fast shear wave polarization beneath the Hengshan-Wutai-Fuping complex terrains.Therefore,signals of seismic anisotropy varying with depth in the deforming continent crust need not deduce depth-varying kinematics or/and tectonic decoupling.

On the Disadvantages of the NEHRP Soil Classification

The study of the relationship of local ground conditions with the parameters of seismic vibrations carried out by the section of engineering seismology called seismic microzonation. In this branch of applied science radical changes have taken place at the end of the last century. The Commission on Seismic Safety of the National Institute of Building Sciences of the United States has developed new recommendations, which are significantly different from all that used in the world practice of anti-seismic construction. The main provisions of this NEHRP (National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program) classification adopted in many national building codes, including Eurocode 8. At the same time, a number of papers appeared in subsequent years criticizing the use of the NEHRP soil classification. This article examines in detail and, most importantly, comprehensively the shortcomings of the NEHRP classification.

Effects of Lattice Preferred Orientation and Retrogression on Seismic Properties of Eclogite

We report here lattice preferred orientations （LPOs） and seismic properties of eclogites from the Sulu （苏鲁） UHP terrane. Our results show strong fabrics in omphacite and amphibole, and approximately random fabrics in garnet with or without strong shape preferred orientations （SPOs）. Dislocation creep is likely to be responsible for the observed omphacite fabrics that vary with geometry and orientation of finite strain ellipsoid. Weak garnet LPOs suggest that garnet did not accommodate plastic strain or was not deformed by dislocation creep with a dominant slip system. The calculated seismic properties of eclogites and their component minerals show a strong correlation with their LPOs. Seismic anisotropies are mostly induced by omphacite component in fresh eclogites and by amphibole component in retrograded eclogites, respectively. Retrogression of omphaeite to amphibole and quartz will increase seismic anisotropies but decreases seismic velocities of eclogite. Garnet component increases the seismic velocities but decreases seismic anisotropies of eciogite. Comparison of the calculated and the measured seismic properties of eclogites suggests that both methods resolve comparable results with some discrepancies. Compositional layering can play a very important role in determining the seismic properties of eclogites in addition to LPO.