Modern mines require systems that quickly deliver backfill to support the rock mass surrounding underground openings. Cemented Paste Backfill (CPB) is one such backfilling method, but concerns have been raised about CPB’s liquefaction susceptibility especially when the material has just been placed, and if it is exposed to earthquakes or large mining induced seismic events. Conventional geotechnical earthquake engineering for surface structures is now relatively advanced and well accepted, and so the objective of this thesis is to consider how that framework might be extended to assess the liquefaction potential of CPB. Seismic records were analyzed for earthquakes and for large mining induced events. Important seismological trends were consistent for rockbursts and earthquakes when the signals were recorded at distances as proximate as one kilometre, suggesting that the conventional earthquake engineering approach might plausibly be adapted for such design situations. For production blasts and for more proximate locations to rockbursts, much higher frequencies dominate and therefore new design methods may be required. Monotonic triaxial tests conducted on normally consolidated uncemented mine tailings demonstrated that the material is initially contractive up to a phase transition point, beyond which dilation occurs. Most importantly the material never exhibits unstable strain softening behaviour in compression, and only temporary or limited liquefaction in extension. The addition of 3% binder results in initial sample void ratios that are even higher than their uncemented counterparts, and yet the material friction is slightly enhanced when tested at 4 hours cure. These results suggest that the flow liquefaction phenomenon commonly associate with undrained loose sand fills will not occur with paste backfill. Cyclic triaxial test results analyzed in terms of number of cycles to failure for a given cyclic stress ratio exhibited a trend consistent with previous tests on similar materials. However, the addition of 3% binder and testing at 4 hours cure resulted in an order of magnitude larger number of cycles to failure – a surprising and dramatic increase, suggesting good resistance of the material to cyclic mobility. Future research is recommended to build on these results and develop more robust methods for liquefaction assessment of CPB.

Modern mines require systems that quickly deliver backfill to support the rock mass surrounding underground openings. Cemented Paste Backfill (CPB) is one such backfilling method, but concerns have been raised about CPB’s liquefaction susceptibility especially when the material has just been placed, and if it is exposed to earthquakes or large mining induced seismic events. Conventional geotechnical earthquake engineering for surface structures is now relatively advanced and well accepted, and so the objective of this thesis is to consider how that framework might be extended to assess the liquefaction potential of CPB. Seismic records were analyzed for earthquakes and for large mining induced events. Important seismological trends were consistent for rockbursts and earthquakes when the signals were recorded at distances as proximate as one kilometre, suggesting that the conventional earthquake engineering approach might plausibly be adapted for such design situations. For production blasts and for more proximate locations to rockbursts, much higher frequencies dominate and therefore new design methods may be required. Monotonic triaxial tests conducted on normally consolidated uncemented mine tailings demonstrated that the material is initially contractive up to a phase transition point, beyond which dilation occurs. Most importantly the material never exhibits unstable strain softening behaviour in compression, and only temporary or limited liquefaction in extension. The addition of 3% binder results in initial sample void ratios that are even higher than their uncemented counterparts, and yet the material friction is slightly enhanced when tested at 4 hours cure. These results suggest that the flow liquefaction phenomenon commonly associate with undrained loose sand fills will not occur with paste backfill. Cyclic triaxial test results analyzed in terms of number of cycles to failure for a given cyclic stress ratio exhibited a trend consistent with previous tests on similar materials. However, the addition of 3% binder and testing at 4 hours cure resulted in an order of magnitude larger number of cycles to failure – a surprising and dramatic increase, suggesting good resistance of the material to cyclic mobility. Future research is recommended to build on these results and develop more robust methods for liquefaction assessment of CPB.

No description available.

Induced seismicity is a common phenomenon that occurs as soon as the stress state in the subsurface is externally altered in a way that faults are destabilized. It is especially problematic in stable tectonic regions where the area is not used to earthquakes; the infrastructure is not built to withstand ground movement and thus when the induced seismicity occurs damage can follow. In this thesis, mining-induced seismicity has been studied at the Dannemora mine, located in central Sweden, with the aim to locate the seismicity and gain understanding of its occurrence and behavior. The mining company, Dannemora Mineral AB, provided with blasting locations and times, as well as maps over the mine's orebodies and stopes. Seismic data acquired between 01 July 2014 - 25 March 2015 from 4 temporary seismic stations, deployed in the summer of 2014 surrounding the mine, along with 8 SNSN stations was analyzed. The project encompassed field work and processing of the data, which involved different methods to investigate the characteristics of the mine's seismicity: Statistics were kept to record the activity rate of the seismicity over time; spectral analysis was used to study the frequency content of the seismicity; particle motion plots were constructed to identify body-phases in the seismicity; Local Earthquake Tomography was used to upgrade the velocity model of the mine and to relocate the induced seismicity with more accuracy; cross-correlation was used to find events originating from similar sources; and finally, magnitude analysis was used to compare the different types of seismicity within the mine. Three main types of induced events were observed in the mine: low-frequency events with clear first arrivals, emergent events with long duration, and high-frequency events that could either have clear first arrivals or emergent-like with long durations. Through the analysis of their characteristics, they were linked to different types of rockbursts. The low-frequency events were linked to both reactivation of fault zones triggered by the mine activity, and rockbursts within the mine directly related to the mining. The emergent and high-frequency events were also linked to rockbursts directly related to the mine activity, e.g. ejection of rock from the tunnel walls or arch collapses in stopes.

Geomorphic, structural and chronological data are used to establish the late Quaternary paleoseismicity of the active dextral-oblique Northern Esk Fault in North Canterbury, New Zealand. Detailed field mapping of the preserved c. 35 km of surface traces between the Hurunui River and Ashley Head reveals variations in strike ranging from 005° to 057°. Along with kinematic data collected from fault plane striae and offset geomorphic markers along the length of the fault these variations are used to distinguish six structural subsections of the main trace, four dextral-reverse and two dextral-normal. Displacements of geomorphic markers such as minor streams and ridges are measured using differential GPS and rangefinder equipment to reveal lateral offsets ranging from 3.4 to 23.7 m and vertical offsets ranging from < 1 to 13.5 m. Characteristic single event displacements of c. 5 m and c. 2 m have been calculated for strike-slip and reverse sections respectively. The use of fault scaling relationships reveals an anomalously high displacement to surface rupture length ratio when compared to global data sets. Fault scaling relationships based on width limited ruptures and magnitude probabilities from point measurements of displacement imply earthquake magnitudes of Mw 7.0 to 7.5. Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) ages from displaced Holocene alluvial terraces at the northern extent of the active trace along with OSL and radiocarbon samples of the central sections constrain the timing of the last two surface rupturing events (11.15 ±1.65 and 3.5 ± 2.8 ka) and suggest a recurrence interval of c. 5612 ± 445 years and late Quaternary reverse and dextral slip rates of c. 0.31 mm/yr and 0.82 mm/yr respectively. The results of this study show that the Northern Esk Fault accommodates an important component of the c. 0.7 – 2 mm/yr of unresolved strain across the plate boundary within the North Canterbury region and affirm the Esk Fault as a source of potentially damaging ground shaking in the Canterbury region.

Study area, the Eskipazar Basin, is located in the western part of the North Anatolian Fault System. It is a 3-5 km wide, 10 km long and NWSE trending depression, bounded by a complex array of oblique-slip normal faults and strike-slip faults. The Eskipazar Basin is interpreted to be a superimposed basin. The basin fill is composed of two different units deposited under the control of different tectonic regimes, namely the paleotectonic and the neotectonic regimes. The latest paleotectonic fill of the basin is the fluvio-lacustrine deposits of the paleotectonic Eskipazar formation. This formation is unconformably overlain by a group of neotectonic units namely, the Budaklar, the Karkin and the imanlar formations. The unconformity in between these paleotectonic and neotectonic units represents the time interval during which the paleotectonic period comes to end and the neotectonic period started. Thus, onset age of the strike-slip neotectonic regime in the study area is Late Pliocene (&amp / #8764 / 2.6 My). Common basin margin-bounding faults of the Eskipazar Basin are the Kadilar fault set, the Beytarla Fault Zone, the Budaklar fault set, the Arslanlar fault set, the Dibek fault, the Karkin fault, the Boztepe fault and the Acisu fault. These faults display well preserved fault scarps, in places. Morphological expressions of these faults and their geometrical relationships to regional stress system indicate that these faults are mostlystrike-slip faults with normal component. However the Kadilar fault set displays a different characteristic, being the major fault controlling the basin to the west and it is indeed an oblique slip normal fault. Long term seismicity and their epicentral distribution in and very close to the study area suggest that the Eskipazar basin is located in an area of seismic quiescence, nevertheless the morphotectonic expressions of the faults exposing in the basin suggest that these faults are active. Since the most of settlements are located on different lithologies of poorly consolidated deposits of the Eskipazar formation susceptible to landslides, the area is open to future earthquake hazard. Therefore, structures and settlements have to be constructed on strong ground away from active faults.

This study aims to determine the chemical (anion-cation) and isotopic compositions (&amp / #948 / 18O-&amp / #948 / D-3H) of the geothermal waters along the North Anatolian Fault Zone (NAFZ) and highlight any possible seismicity-induced temporal variations during the course of two years (2002-2003) monitoring programme. The geothermal sites are alligned along a 800 km transect of the NAFZ and are, from west to east, Yalova, Efteni, Bolu, Mudurnu, Seben, KurSunlu, Hamam&ouml / z&uuml / , G&ouml / zlek and ReSadiye. The thermal waters of NAFZ are dominantly Na-HCO3, whereas the cold waters are dominantly Ca-HCO3 in character. The highest temperature (72.3&amp / #61616 / C) is recorded in Seben. The hot waters are slightly acidic to alkaline in character with pH values ranging between 5.92-7.97, while the cold waters are comparatively more alkaline with pH values between 6.50-8.83. Both hot and the cold waters are meteoric in origin. The hot waters have lower &amp / #948 / 18O-&amp / #948 / D and tritium values suggesting higher recharge altitudes for aquifers and longer residence times for waters, respectively, in the geothermal system (compared to the cold waters). Temporal variations are detected in both ionic and isotopic compositions of the cold and the hot waters, and these reflect seasonal variations for cold and seismicity-induced variations for hot waters. Although no major earthquakes (M&gt / 5) occurred along the NAFZ during the monitoring period, temporal variations recorded in Cl and 3H, and to a lesser extent in Ca and SO4 contents seem to correlate with seismicity along the NAFZ. In this respect, Yalova field deserves the particular attention since seismicity induced variations were better recorded in this field.

Thesis (Habilitationsschrift)--Ruhr-Universität Bochum, 2005. / "February 2006"--P. [2] of cover. Includes bibliographical references. Also available via the World Wide Web.

Η παρούσα διδακτορική διατριβή χωρίζεται σε έξι κεφάλαια: Στο πρώτο κεφάλαιο μελετάται η γεωλογία, τεκτονική και η σεισμική δραστηριότητα στην ευρύτερη περιοχή μελέτης. Συγκεντρώνονται όλα τα διαθέσιμα στοιχεία από προηγούμενες μελέτες και δίνεται ιδιαίτερη έμφαση στα γεωλογικά, τεκτονικά και γεωτεχνικά χαρακτηριστικά της υπό εξέτασης περιοχής. Στο δεύτερο κεφάλαιο διερευνώνται οι επιπτώσεις που θα έχει στους επιφανειακούς σχηματισμούς η δραστηριοποίηση ρηγμάτων με ή χωρίς σεισμούς στην περιοχή της διώρυγας της Κορίνθου. Οι προσομοιώσεις διάδοσης της σεισμικής διάρρηξης για κάθε μία περίπτωση πραγματοποιήθηκε με τη μέθοδο των πεπερασμένων στοιχείων, με στόχο να αποκτηθεί μία πιο σαφής εικόνα της κατανομής των παραμορφώσεων, που αναμένεται να αναπτυχθούν σαν αποτέλεσμα της διάρρηξης των συγκεκριμένων ρηγμάτων, και να προσδιοριστούν περιοχές με αναμενόμενες μέγιστες παραμορφώσεις. Στο τρίτο κεφάλαιο προσδιορίστηκαν οι πιο σημαντικές και καλά προσδιορισμένες γραμμικές σεισμικές πηγές (ενεργά ρήγματα) που είναι πιθανόν να επηρεάσουν την περιοχή της διώρυγας και υπολογίσθηκε η σεισμική επικινδυνότητα. Προσδιορίστηκαν οι μέγιστες αναμενόμενες τιμές της εδαφικής επιτάχυνσης, ταχύτητας και μετατόπισης καθώς και της έντασης Arias μια παραμέτρου που παρουσιάζει καλή συσχέτιση με σεισμικά προκαλούμενες κατολισθήσεις, για διάφορες χρονικές περιόδους. Στο τέταρτο κεφάλαιο, με τη μέθοδο των συνοριακών στοιχείων μελετάται η επίδραση που θα έχει στα πρανή της διώρυγας η πιθανή ενεργοποίηση τριών διαφορετικών σεισμικών πηγών οι οποίες εντοπίζονται στην ευρύτερη περιοχή, με βασικό στόχο τον προσδιορισμό πιθανών θέσεων εκδήλωσης αστοχιών και κατ' επέκταση τον προσδιορισμό της πιο δυνητικά επικίνδυνης σεισμικής πηγής. Στο πέμπτο κεφάλαιο περιγράφεται η κατασκευή μιας ράβδου ακουστικής εκπομπής που προτείνεται για την συνεχή παρακολούθηση τμημάτων των πρανών της διώρυγας με αυξημένο πρόβλημα πιθανών καταπτώσεων. Παρουσιάζονται τα αποτελέσματα της επεξεργασίας και ανάλυσης ακουστικών εκπομπών από τις εργαστηριακές δοκιμές της ράβδου και προτείνεται ένα πλήρες σύστημα παρακολούθησης όσον αφορά την παρακολούθηση κατολισθητικών φαινομένων στη Διώρυγα της Κορίνθου. Στο τελευταίο κεφάλαιο παρατίθενται τα συμπεράσματα της παρούσας διδακτορικής διατριβής, προσδιορίζονται συγκεκριμένες θέσεις στη Διώρυγα της Κορίνθου με αυξημένο πρόβλημα εμφάνισης κατολισθητικών φαινομένων, προτείνονται λύσεις αντιμετώπισης του προβλήματος. Τέλος γίνονται προτάσεις για το πως πρέπει να συνεχιστεί η έρευνα και η αξιοποίηση των αποτελεσμάτων. / -

Sur les volcans on enregistre fréquemment des accélérations du nombre cumulé de séismes et parfois du déplacement de la surface dans les heures, les jours ou les semaines précédant les éruptions. Expliquer une accélération du déplacement de surface par l'utilisation de modèles élastiques linéaires pour les édifices implique d'introduire une accélération de la pressurisation du réservoir et de la base du conduit magmatique avec des temps caractéristiques courts, ce qui est peu réaliste. Une autre voie de recherche consiste à considérer qu'une éruption est due à la rupture du réservoir magmatique, et que cette rupture n'est pas instantanée - elle peut être précédée par une phase d'endommagement progressif de l'édifice, pendant laquelle de petites ruptures ont lieu dans l'édifice. Ces ruptures provoquent l'affaiblissement des modules élastiques de l'édifice. Nous avons examiné l'effet que peut avoir l'affaiblissement des modules élastiques sur le déplacement de surface, ainsi que sur la pression dans le réservoir et le débit de magma entrant. Pour cela nous avons d'abord recherché une loi d'endommagement qui permette d'ajuster les déplacements de surface enregistrés en utilisant le nombre cumulé de séismes. La loi trouvée est une loi puissance d'un paramètre d'endommagement incrémental, qui est le rapport entre la longueur de rupture incrémentale caractéristique et la longueur à rompre pour obtenir une éruption. Cette loi fait intervenir, à l'exposant, le nombre cumulé de séismes.Ce modèle permet d'expliquer des vitesses et des accélérations du déplacement aussi bien faibles que fortes, selon la valeur prise par le paramètre d'endommagement, ainsi que la bifurcation entre un état stable de l'édifice, et un état instable qui mène à l'éruption. L'affaiblissement de l'édifice induit une diminution de la surpression et une accélération du déplacement de surface, la surpression diminuant plus lentement que les modules élastiques du fait de l'approvisionnement du réservoir en magma.Ce modèle peut expliquer une large gamme de comportements pré-éruptifs et éruptifs dans les volcans. Il permet d'ajuster simplement aussi bien les accélérations du déplacement de surface enregistré par les stations GPS sommitales du Piton de la Fournaise pour l'éruption du 30/03/2007, que les déplacements croissants de façon stationnaire du volcan Grimsvötn (Islande), entre 2005 et 2011. Il peut aussi être utilisé pour comprendre les comportements éruptifs plus complexes, comme dans le cas de l'éruption de 2010 du Mérapi (Indonésie). La valeur de la constante de temps du système d'approvisionnement contrôle le décalage temporel entre le maximum de l'endommagement (fin de la crise sismique volcano-tectonique) et le maximum de la déformation ou du flux de magma et donc la dynamique du processus. Une analyse préliminaire montre que le rapport entre les constantes de temps d'affaiblissement de la résistance et de la pression est un facteur de contrôle de la dynamique du processus pré-éruptif et éruptif.L'endommagement d'un édifice volcanique ne peut continuer indéfiniment, cela interdirait le stockage de magma dans l'édifice à long terme. L'édifice volcanique connait donc nécessairement des phases de consolidation. Une première approche d'étude de la consolidation reposant sur l'utilisation d'un critère basé sur les variations relatives de volume a été investiguée. Les résultats montrent cependant qu'une telle approche n'est pas suffisante pour expliquer la nécessaire augmentation des modules élastiques, et que les processus de consolidation chimique sans variation de volume doivent avoir une importance fondamentale dans l'existence de cycles éruptifs. Pour étudier ces processus, il faut disposer d'une observable géophysique indépendante du déplacement de surface - nous proposons d'utiliser l'anisotropie de propagation des ondes de cisaillement dans l'édifice volcanique. Ces variations de résistance de l'édifice peuvent contrôler la pression en profondeur. / On volcanoes accelerations of the cumulated number of earthquakes and sometimes of the surface displacement occur in the hours, days and weeks preceding the eruptions. Explaining an acceleration of surface displacement using an elastic model for the volcanic edifice implies an acceleration of the pressure increase in the magma reservoir and in the mantle, at the base of the magma conduit, at short timescales, that is not realistic. Another direction for research consists in considering that an eruption is due to the rupture of the magma reservoir, and that this rupture is not instantaneous - it can be preceded by progressive damage of the edifice, during which low-magnitude earthquakes occur. These ruptures provoke the progressive weakening of the edifice elastic moduli. In this work we have inverstigated the effect of this weakening on the surface displacements, on the reservoir pressure and on the magma flow. We have first searched for a damage law allowing fitting the measured surface displacements by using the cumulated number of recorded earthquakes. The law allowing this fit is a power-law of the incremental damage parameter, with the cumulated number of earthquakes at the exponent. This incremental damage parameter is the ratio between the characteristic incremental rupture length and the length to be ruptured for the eruption.This model allows us to explain weak and strong rates and accelerations of the surface displacement, with the value of the damage parameter. Bifurcation that occurs between a stable state of the edifice and an instable state leading to an eruption is also explained. The weakening of the edifice induces simultaneously a diminution of the reservoir overpressure and an acceleration of the surface displacement, overpressure decreasing more slowly than the elastic moduli, due to the magma feeding of the reservoir.This type of model can explain a wide range of pre-eruptive and eruptive behaviours on volcanoes. It allows the fitting of surface displacement accelerations recorded at the GPS summit stations of Piton de la Fournaise volcano for the March 30th, 2007 eruption, and explains the steady increase of the surface displacement recorded at the summit of Grimsvötn volcano (Iceland), between 2005 and 2011. It may be used for understanding the complex eruptive behaviours, comprising multiple episodes, as in the case of the October-November 2010 eruption of the Merapi volcano (Indonesia). The value of the characteristic time of the feeding system controls the time delay between the maximum of damage (end of the volcano-tectonic seismic crisis) and the maximum of the surface displacement or magma flow. A preliminary analysis shows that the ratio between the weakening characteristic times of the edifice strength and reservoir pressure participate to the control of the pre-eruptive and eruptive process dynamics.Damage of the volcanic edifice can not continue indefinitely, otherwise long-term magma storage would be impossible in the volcanic edifice. The volcanic edifice therefore necessarily experiments periods of strenghtening. A first approach for studying this strengthening relying on a criterion based on the volume relative variation of the edifice has been investigated. Results show that this approach is not sufficient to explain the necessary increase of the elastic moduli. Chemical strenghtening processes without volume changes should have a fundamental role in the existence of eruptive cycles. For improving our knowledge of these processes, we need a further geophysical observable, independent on the surface displacements - we propose to use shear-wave anisotropy in the volcanic edifice.We finally show that the surface dynamics imposed by strength changes of the edifice can influence the dynamics of the deep processes, and consider the possibility of a retroaction of the edifice strength changes on the deep source processes.