The study area lies in the central Okavango Delta, Botswana, and was proclaimed a game reserve extension on 2nd July 1976. Peoples of Khoisanoid origin first colonized the area. Bantu speaking baYei followed in about 1750 and baTawana in about 1795. The area is still completely undeveloped and pristine. The solid geology is largely overlain by Kalahari sands, but is seismically very active. Resultant faulting has given rise to the Delta. Further seismic activity, vegetation blockage formation, termitaria establishment and low density of large aquatic moving animals give rise to continual change in water distribution and output at the Delta’s base. These natural factors continually cause dynamic change of flooding regimes. The climate is of summer rainfall and local Delta rainfall is considered a major factor in determining extent and duration of flooding. Five vegetation types divided into 20 plant communities occur. Five communities are dependent on a high water table and 10 on surface flooding for maintenance of specific mammalian habitat types. Floodplain vegetation types are considered most sensitive and ‘normal’ flooding is required to maintain the wetland flora and fauna. Sixty-three mammalian species are recorded from the study area. Twenty-two species are almost wholly dependent on flooding. Lechwe and sitatunga are completely dependent on aquatic and floodplain vegetation types and adequate flooding to conserve their habitat. Water flow in most major channels from ancient to present times has changed radically in distribution. Schemes to extract a more reliable flow out of the Delta for industry and human/stock consumption are laid out and evaluated, and a water demand made for conserved areas. Tourism should be in the form of foot and mekoro or botat safaris. Control of undesirable aquatic vegetation must be monitored. Burning as a management tool is required to enhance flow and control vegetation in some areas. It is premature and unsound to eliminate tsetse fly at this stage. Limited cropping will have to be initiated shortly. Larger tracts of Delta area are required under the direct supervision of the Department of Wildlife and National Parks to maintain the pristine conditions and ensure the conservation of fauna and flora, thereby maintaining the only reason for international tourism to the area. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 1979. / Centre for Wildlife Management / unrestricted

The objective of my research is to provide a better understanding of the relationship between the micro-seismicity, tectonics and crustal structure in southwest Yukon in order to improve seismic hazard assessments in this region. I used a combination of single event and multiple event location techniques to determine earthquake locations and depths. As well, frequency-magnitude statistics were calculated to analyze rates of seismicity and possible changes in the rates of seismicity. The addition of the YUK array in August 2010 has enabled location of smaller events and detection of a systematic northeast trend of earthquakes. Seismicity is concentrated in four main areas: 1) Yaktutat Block-Fairweather Fault, 2) Duke River Fault, 3) Denali Fault, and 4) a NE-trend. There was relatively little seismic activity during this period along the northern Denali Fault segment and only a small amount of activity along the southern portion of the Denali Fault. There is significantly more seismic activity along the Duke River Fault and NE-trend and a clear region of seismicity just west and parallel to the Alaska-Yukon border between the Duke River Fault and northern Denali Fault. Frequency-magnitude statistics and seismic hazard analyses for southwest Yukon were improved by decreasing the minimum magnitude of completeness from M3.0 to M1.0. Between September 2010 and November 2011, event magnitudes ranged from 0.2 to 4.7 and depths from 0 to 35 km. To address how the YUK array has improved single event locations and depths, we use a single-event location technique to monitor seismic activity. Only 37 of the 106 events detected for the Duke River Fault and NE-trend could potentially be located without the YUK array. When the Alaska Earthquake Information Center (AEIC) network was combined with the Canadian National Seismograph Network (CNSN), events within the NE-trend shift on average 6.6 km to the northeast and the depth increased on average 2.6 km. Within the Duke River and NE-trending clusters, there is an average maximum horizontal error of ±0.9 km and an average error in depth of ±3.2 km. Free depths in the Duke River and NE-trending clusters range from 0 to 20 km. These depths are not well-constrained as the closest station is more than 20 km away. Two events within the southern Denali Fault cluster have well-constrained depths of 4.8 km and 8.2 km at distance less than ~8 km from station YUK6, consistent with upper crust (2-10 km) focal depths. A Progressive Multiple Event Location technique (PMEL) was used to identify and better constrain spatial patterns along the Duke River Fault and NE-trend. Results clearly shows that events fall along the Duke River Fault and that the NE-trend events are located on a previously unidentified active fault. To determine rates of seismicity and possible changes in the rates of seismicity, I examine b-values from frequency-magnitude statistics for each cluster of earthquakes before and after the 2002 M7.9 Denali Fault earthquake. b-values increased from 0.81 ± 0.14 to 1.05 ± 0.22 , suggesting higher Coulomb stress and more frequent smaller earthquakes. / Graduate

In seismic field operations complex problems often arise which cannot be solved mathematically. In recent years investigators in both the commercial and academic fields have begun to approach the problems of elastic wave propagation by the use of seismic scale models. This thesis discusses the results measured from simulated seismic activity on a scale model built by the researcher.

Mining induced seismic activity and rockbursting are critical concerns for many underground operations. Seismic activity may arise from the crushing of highly stressed volumes of rock around mine openings or from shear motion on planes of weakness. Shear-slip on major planes of weakness such as faults, shear zones and weak contacts has long been recognized as a dominant mode of failure in underground mines. In certain circumstances, it can generate large seismic events and induce substantial damage to mine openings. The Big Bell Gold mine began experiencing major seismic activity and resultant damage in 1999. Several seismic events were recorded around the second graphitic shear between April 2000 and February 2002. It is likely that the seismic activity occurred as a result of the low strength of the shear structure combined with the high level of mining induced stresses. The stability of the second graphitic shear was examined in order to gain a better understanding of the causes and mechanisms of the seismic activity recorded in the vicinity of the shear structure as mining advanced. The data were derived from the observation of the structure exposures, numerical modelling and seismic monitoring. The numerical modelling predictions and the interpreted seismic monitoring data were subsequently compared in order to identify potential relationships between the two. This thesis proposes the Incremental Work Density (IWD) as a measure to evaluate the relative likelihood of shear-slip induced seismic activity upon major planes of weakness. IWD is readily evaluated using numerical modelling and is calculated as the product of the average driving shear stress and change in inelastic shear deformation during a given mining increment or step. IWD is expected to correlate with shear-slip induced seismic activity in both space and time. In this thesis, IWD was applied to the case study of the second graphitic shear at the Big Bell mine. Exposures of the second graphitic shear yielded information about the physical characteristics of the structure and location within the mine. Numerical modelling was used to examine the influence of mining induced stresses on the overall behaviour of the shear structure. A multi-step model of the mine was created using the three- dimensional boundary element code of Map3D. The shear structure was physically incorporated into the model in order to simulate inelastic shear deformation. An elasto-plastic Mohr-Coulomb material model was used to describe the structure behaviour. The structure plane was divided into several elements in order to allow for the comparison of the numerical modelling predictions and the interpreted seismic data. Stress components, deformation components and IWD values were calculated for each element of the shear structure and each mining step. The seismic activity recorded in the vicinity of the second graphitic shear was back analysed. The seismic data were also gridded and smoothed. Gridding and smoothing of individual seismic moment and seismic energy values resulted in the definition of indicators of seismic activity for each element and mining step. The numerical model predicted inelastic shear deformation upon the second graphitic shear as mining advanced. The distribution of modelled IWD suggested that shear deformation was most likely seismic upon a zone below the stopes and most likely aseismic upon the upper zone of the shear structure. The distribution of seismic activity recorded in the vicinity of the shear structure verified the above predictions. The seismic events predominantly clustered upon the zone below the stopes. The results indicated that the seismic activity recorded in the vicinity of the second graphitic shear was most likely related to both the change in inelastic shear deformation and the level of driving shear stress during mechanical shearing. Time distribution of the seismic events also indicated that shear deformation and accompanying seismic activity were strongly influenced by mining and were time-dependant. Seismic activity in the vicinity of the second graphitic shear occurred as a result of the overall inelastic shear deformation of the shear structure under mining induced stresses. A satisfactory relationship was found between the spatial distribution of modelled IWD upon the shear structure and the spatial distribution of interpreted seismic activity (measured as either smoothed seismic moment or smoothed seismic energy). Seismic activity predominantly clustered around a zone of higher IWD upon the second graphitic shear as mining advanced. However, no significant statistical relationship was found between the modelled IWD and the interpreted seismic activity. The lack of statistical relationship between the modelled and seismic data may be attributed to several factors including the limitations of the techniques employed (e.g. Map3D modelling, seismic monitoring) and the complexity of the process involved.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-13T17:08:29Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 PauloHSO_DISSERT.pdf: 5075082 bytes, checksum: 87acfa3f71ca9cabf5ba6b9a46a86972 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-08-03 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior / The town of Sobral is located at the northwest part of the Cear? State, 250 km away from its capital, Fortaleza. In January 2008, an intense seismic activity began near Sobral with one event with magnitude 4,2mb on May 21. Since the start of its seismic activity, all events were recorded by the SBBR station (located on EMBRAPA Caprinos Farm), which operates in the region since August 2007. After this event, monitoring the seismic activity was carried out with the deployment of a local three component digital seismographic network, from June 5, 2008 until September 24. Initially, this network was composed of six seismographic stations. Later additional five stations were deployed until August 26 2008. This local network detected approximately 2,800 earthquakes. In this study we analyzed 581 earthquakes recorded by at least three stations for hypocentral and focal mechanism determination, and to contribute to a better explanation of the seismicity which in this region. To determine the hypocenters, we used a half-space model, with vP = 6,00 km/s and vP/vS = 1,71. From the hypocentral determination, it was revealed an active seismic zone with depth ranging between 1 and 8 km, 6 km long in E - W direction. The determination of fault planes and focal mechanism was obtained using the programs FPFIT and PLAN, which allowed comparison between their respective results in order to obtain more accurate results. A set of 24 earthquakes were selected to determine fault using PLAN planes and focal mechanisms using FPFIT. With the aid of detailed map of hypocenters this set, it was possible to identify three structures. Therefore, the set of 24 earthquakes were divided into three subsets. The type of mechanism was predominantly strike-slip with a dextral direction. Although the region has two tectonic structures near the site of the study area: the Caf?- Ipueiras Fault (normal fault) and the Sobral-Pedro II Lineament (dextral strike-slip fault) it was not possible to correlate the seismicity founded with those structures / A cidade de Sobral est? localizada na por??o Noroeste do estado do Cear?, a 250 km de sua capital, Fortaleza. No in?cio de 2008, uma intensa atividade s?smica iniciou-se nas proximidades de Sobral, ocorrendo no dia 21 de maio, o evento com a maior magnitude registrada na regi?o (4,2 mb). Todos os eventos, desde o in?cio, foram registrados pela esta??o SBBR, localizada na fazenda da EMBRAPA Caprinos, que opera na regi?o desde agosto de 2007. Ap?s o evento de maio de 2008, o monitoramento da sismicidade foi realizado com uma rede sismogr?fica local, com in?cio de opera??o no dia 5 de junho de 2008. Inicialmente, esta rede foi constitu?da de 6 esta??es sismogr?ficas digitais, sendo depois preenchida com mais 5, totalizando 11 esta??es digitais, cada uma com 3 componentes. A rede com at? 11 esta??es sismogr?ficas operou entre o dia 6 de junho e 24 de setembro de 2008, detectando cerca de 2820 sismos, em pelo menos uma esta??o. No presente trabalho foram analisados os 581 sismos registrados, no m?nimo, em tr?s esta??es, objetivando a determina??o de hipocentros, mecanismos focais e contribuir para uma melhor compreens?o da sismicidade ocorrida na regi?o Noroeste do Cear?. Para a determina??o hipocentral, a partir da an?lise dos 581 eventos registrados pela rede, foram obtidos como par?metros do modelo de velocidades, 1,71 para VP/VS e 6.00 km/s para VP, possibilitando encontrar uma zona s?smica ativa com profundidade variando de 1,1 km a 7,8 km e com 6 km de extens?o horizontal na dire??o aproximada E-W. A determina??o dos planos de falha e mecanismos focais foi obtida com o aux?lio dos programas PLAN e FPFIT, possibilitando a utiliza??o dos resultados do primeiro para ajudar a melhor definir o mecanismo focal, obtido com o programa FPFIT. Para obter os par?metros dos planos de falha e mecanismos focais, foi selecionado um conjunto de 24 sismos com melhor precis?o hipocentral. Com estes sismos, foi poss?vel construir um mapa detalhado dos seus hipocentros, visando obter aux?lio na identifica??o do tipo de mecanismo focal. Os mecanismos obtidos foram do tipo transcorrente, com movimento dextral. Apesar de a regi?o possuir duas importantes estruturas tect?nicas pr?ximas ao local da ?rea estudada: a falha Caf?-Ipueiras e o Lineamento Sobral-Pedro II, n?o foi poss?vel obter correla??o entre a sismicidade encontrada e qualquer uma dessas fei??es geol?gicas

La marge Ligure est une marge passive soumise à une déformation tectonique compressive associée à la tectonique salifère messinienne. La reprise en compression de la marge s’accompagne d’une sismicité modérée récurrente ponctuée d’évènements plus forts. La marge Ligure est le siège d’une sédimentation importante au Plio-Quaternaire. Elle constitue un environnement propice à l’étude des déstabilisations gravitaires. L’objectif principal de ce travail était de décrire et caractériser les principaux mouvements en masse ayant affecté la marge continentale Ligure au cours du Plio-Quaternaire, de localiser les principales zones sujettes aux déstabilisations et d’identifier les facteurs pré-conditionnant et déclenchant les ruptures dans le but de mieux évaluer l’aléa gravitaire. Une large couverture de données bathymétriques, géophysiques et des carottages acquis sur l’ensemble de la marge a permis de réaliser une étude multi-échelles des processus de ruptures gravitaires et des facteurs déclenchant associés. Près de 1500 glissements ont été identifiés. L’étude de leur répartition spatio-temporelle illustre que l’ensemble de la marge a toujours été affectée par des déstabilisations de pente mais que les principales zones de ruptures auraient migré vers l’ouest au cours du Plio-Quaternaire. Les grandes ruptures sous-marines sont préférentiellement associées aux zones de déformation maximale, cette dernière étant contrôlée par la tectonique crustale et/ou la tectonique salifère. Il apparaît que les ruptures résultent plus généralement d’une association de facteurs distincts qui ont participé à fragiliser la stabilité des dépôts de la pente et qui ont pu provoquer leur rupture. / The Ligurian margin is a passive margin characterized by high sedimentation rates during the Plio-Quaternary. It is affected by a compressive tectonic deformation leading to the inversion of the margin, together with a salt tectonic. The present-day moderate seismic activity is punctuated by stronger seismic events. Thus, this margin offers a good natural laboratory to study submarine landslides and their triggering factors. Although the Var Turbidite System has been well investigated over the last 20 years, the morphology and tectonics/sedimentary processes affecting the whole margin remained poorly known. This study aims to describe and to characterize the main types of mass movements, their preferential locations along the Ligurian margin during the Plio-Quaternary and their triggering factors to improve geohazards assessment related to landslides. A dataset including bathymetric and geophysical data and cores allowed to realize a multi-scale study of submarine failures and their associated triggering factors. About 1500 landslides were identified on the margin and in the basin. The study of their spatio-temporal distribution revealed that the margin has always been affected by mass-wasting processes and that the main zones of landsliding migrated westward during the Plio-Quaternary. The largest submarine landslides are preferentially associated with the highest deformation rates and their location is controlled by crustal tectonics and/or salt tectonics. The initiation of failures results from the combination of several factors including the margin deformation, earthquakes, salt tectonics and sediment under-consolidation.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:35:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 JOSE CARLOS TACZA ANAYA.pdf: 7682166 bytes, checksum: f3eebed2cf5cb0f5ecda9415f8754978 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-01-19 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / In this dissertation, we present the capability of a new network of sensors to monitor the atmospheric electric field at various locations in South America. The main goal is to obtain the characteristic Universal Time daily curve of the atmospheric electric field in fair-weather. That curve is known as the Carnegie curve, which is related to the currents flowing in the Global Atmospheric Electric Circuit. This has been accomplished using monthly, seasonal and annual averages. After obtaining our standard curve of variation of the electric field in fair-weather, the deviations related to phenomena such as solar flares, solar protons events, geomagnetic storms, total solar eclipse and seismic activity are analyzed and commented. / Neste trabalho de dissertação apresenta-se a capabilidade de uma nova rede de sensores para monitorar o campo elétrico atmosférico em vários locais na América do Sul. O objetivo principal é obter a curva diária do campo elétrico atmosférico de tempo bom. Para isto foram realizadas médias mensais, sazonais e anuais. Essa curva é comparada com a curva característica em Tempo Universal conhecida como a Curva de Carnegie, a qual é relacionada com as correntes fluindo no Circuito Elétrico Atmosférico Global. Depois de obter a curva padrão de variação do campo elétrico atmosférico de tempo bom, foram analisados e comentados os desvios relacionados a explosões solares, eventos de prótons solares, tempestades geomagnéticas, eclipse solar e atividade sísmica.