Antonio Estévez

Microtremors as a Geophysical Exploration Tool: Applications and Limitations

Abstract—The usefulness of microtremors as a geophysical exploration tool has been analyzed. This application is possible due to the relationship between the main resonance frequency of a given soil, obtained from the H/V spectral ratios of microtremors, its thickness and average shear velocity. We first measured the ambient noise at 33 sites and determined their main resonance frequency. Detailed geotechnical information was available for 23 of the sites, thereby allowing us to establish a quantitative relationship between the resonance frequency and the thickness of the soil, and indirectly between either of them and the shear velocity of the soil. The practical application of this relationship has revealed its usefulness in determining the surface structure of a valley with excellent accuracy, with an error of only 15% in the depths calculated. These errors are due to the simplification of the problem that this method implies: it requires that the shear velocity vary constantly with depth throughout the study region, which is evidently not always so, and that the input data themselves intrinsically have a certain degree of uncertainty. This method is therefore not valid when there is no mechanical contrast between the study soil and the underlying layer or when the shear velocity varies irregularly with depth in the study area.

Mapping soft soils in the Segura river valley (SE Spain): a case study of microtremors as an exploration tool

This study analyses the spatial distribution of soft soils in a valley with a significant amount of recently accumulated .Late Pleistocene-Holocene sediments, but where the available geotechnical information on the subsurface is inadequate to study the entire valley. To analyse this distribution, we have used a new geophysical prospecting technique, which consists of estimating the thickness of soft soils based on their resonance frequency. This frequency has been determined from the HrV ratios of microtremors measured at 180 sites in the valley. The results indicate the generalised presence of soft soils along almost the entire valley, with thicknesses of up to 67 m. Based on the interpolation of the results, we have drawn up a map showing the spatial distribution and thickness of the soft soils in the valley. This map is of great interest both for future plans regarding the use of the soil in the region as well as for seismic zoning and soil-response studies. q 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Triassic continental rifting of Pangaea: direct evidence from the Alpujarride carbonates, Betic Cordillera, SE Spain

Abstract: Evidence is presented for Triassic rift-related palaeo-structures from the Alpujarride Complex carbonates of the Betic Cordillera, SE Spain. Direct evidence of synsedimentary extensional tectonics is provided by macro- to meso-scale normal faults overstepped by younger strata. Most faults define domino-like horst and graben structures. The faults are associated with an expanded synrift sedimentary prism in which soft-sediment deformation, gravity-flow deposits and unconformities are widely developed. Syntectonic mafic igneous intrusions also occur. The age of this phase of extension is constrained as Ladinian–Carnian (c. 237–216 Ma). From a palaeogeographical standpoint, the thick Triassic carbonates of the Betic Internal Zone, together with comparable successions in Northern Calabria (Southern Apennines), occupied a belt with elevated subsidence connecting the Neo-Tethys to the east with the eastern North American intracontinental rift system to the west. Their carbonate facies, intermediate between classical Alpine- and Germanic-type Triassic facies, recorded the main episodes of rifting affecting Central Pangaea.

Engineering-geological model of the Segura River flood plain (SE Spain): a case study for engineering planning

This article presents a sedimentological and geotechnical study of the surficial sediments in the Segura River valley (SE Spain). We formulate an engineering-geological model consisting of four zones, each characterized by its geotechnical properties and by various geotechnical problems (namely low bearing capacity, significant ground settlement and liquefaction of sandy sediments). The model quantifies the geotechnical properties and potential problems in each zone. It serves as a useful tool for preliminary geotechnical investigations. The model also enables a better design of field surveys as well as optimal selection of geotechnical investigation techniques for future civil engineering works.

‘Verrucano’ and ‘Pseudoverrucano’ in the Central-Western Mediterranean Alpine Chains: palaeogeographical evolution and geodynamic significance

Abstract The Anisian-Carnian Verrucano Group of the Tuscan Metamorphic Units and the Triassic-Hettangian Pseudoverrucano Formation of the homonymous unit are mainly continental redbeds occurring in Tuscany at the base of the Alpine orogenic cycle. A study carried out throughout the Apennine, Maghrebian and Betic Chains emphasized the presence in all these orogenic belts of deposits more or less coeval and similar both to the metamorphic Verrucano and to the unmetamorphosed Pseudoverrucano. Thus, the distinction of Verrucano and Pseudoverrucano successions has a palaeogeographical and geodynamic importance at the scale of the Western Mediterranean. Both successions developed during the continental rift stage of Pangaea, which led to later break-up at the edges of a future microplate, interposed between the Europe, Africa and Adria-Apulia plates, but they are characterized by different tectonometamorphic evolution. Pseudoverrucano-like deposits, devoid of Alpine metamorphism, characterize the highest tectonic units of the nappe stack and they overthrust units bearing Verrucano-like deposits. These latter show an Alpine tectonometamorphic history marked during the Miocene by intense deformation and HP/LT metamorphism (at pressures in the range of 0.8–2 GPa), followed by a retrograde phase associated with decompression, suggesting subduction and subsequent exhumation of continental crust. Intriguing palaeogeographical problems arise from the analysis of Verrucanobearing units, because the same evolution seems to characterize both units considered to belong to a realm similar to that of the north-verging Austroalpine nappe system and some units referred to the south-verging fold-thrust belt derived from the Adria-Apulia palaeomargin.

Structures sédimentaires de déformation interprétées comme séismites clans le quaternaire du bassin du bas segura (cordillère bétique orientale)

The Quaternary alluvial and coastal sediments from the Low Segura Basin show sedimentary deformation structures produced by liquefaction and fluidization processes described in this study. From the morphological point of view, they are load structures (sagging load-casts and drop structures), developed in a sediment with a reverse density gradient. They have been interpreted as seismites after elimination of any other possible genetic process related to the sedimentary environment. These structures indicate the existence of seismic events of moderate to high magnitude in the area during the Quaternary.

Paleogene tectono-sedimentary evolution of the Alicante Trough (External Betic Zone, SE Spain) and its bearing on the timing of the deformation of the South-Iberian Margin

The Paleogene Alicante Trough of the South-Iberian Margin (External Betic Zone) consists of a narrow sedimentary basin that has active margins located to the north-northwest (active mainly during the Eocene) and to the south-southeast (active during the Oligocene). Both margins, consisting of shallow unstable platforms, were the source areas for the external-platform slope (in the opposite margins) and deepbasin (in the middle) depositional realms. The southern margin, lost under the Mediterranean Sea, is recognized only by the reconstructed Oligocene slope sediments. The eight successions studied, on opposites external-platform-slope margins and the deep within the central part of the basin, lead us to divide the basin into two depositional realms: the subsident Western Depositional Area (WDA) and the not subsident Eastern Depositional Area (EDA). This study has also enabled us to divide the infilling of the basin into two depositional sequences: Eocene p.p. (EDS) and Oligocene p.p. (ODS) in age, respectively, bound by two sequence boundaries (unconformities) at the Early Eocene (P6 zone) and Early Oligocene (P19 zone). The EDS and ODS are comprised of turbiditic and olisthostromic deposits and frequently slumps, evidencing an active tectonic in the margin-basin system. The correlation of the Paleogene sedimentary reconstructed in the Alicante Trough with other four synthetic successions throughout the External (three in the Subbetic Domain) and one in the Internal Betic Zone indicate a Paleogene generalised deformational framework. In addition, this evolution is contemporaneous to the Pyrenean, Iberian and the Nevado-Filabride Alpine deformation. The Paleogene tectonic recognised in the External Betic Zone is younger since the main orogenic deformation took place in the late Burdigalian to early Tortonian. The origin of these early tectonics is discussed in relation to the Nevado-Filabride Alpine deformation.

Liquefaction potential in the Lower Segura river basin (south-east Spain)

Financiado por el proyecto PETRI (PTR94-0046) y por una beca de la Conselleria de Educacion y Ciencia de la Generalitat Valenciana.

Sea cliffs resulting from late Miocene extensional tectonics: the Serra Gelada case study (Betic Cordillera, Spain)

The Serra Gelada sea cliffs are carved in Mesozoic carbonate rocks belonging to the External Zones of the eastern Betic Cordillera (Alicante, SE Spain). Several normal faults with vertical slips of more than a hundred metres have played an important role in the origin of this coastline. Some previous studies propose that the present cliff morphology was mainly originated by Quaternary fault activity. However, the integration of geomorphological features, stratigraphical and sedimentological data, together with the results of the tectonic analysis of fractures occurring in Serra Gelada, and a detailed study of seismic reflection profiles carried out in the adjacent continental shelf, indicate that these normal faults were active mainly during the late Miocene. Therefore, the Serra Gelada sea cliffs represent a tectonically controlled long-term landscape. Thus, normal faults have not significantly modified the Serra Gelada relief since then. Furthermore, the northern part of the Serra Gelada cliff may be considered as an inherited pre-Quaternary relict palaeocliff since it has only undergone very little erosive recession.

The Triassic platform of the Gador-Turon unit (Alpujarride complex, Betic Cordillera, southeast Spain): climate versus tectonic factors controlling platform architecture

A litho-biostratigraphic analysis has been carried out in the Gador-Turon unit of the Sierra de Gador (Alpujarride complex, Betic Cordillera, SE Spain). The Triassic succession of this unit is composed of a lower meta-detrital formation overlain by an upper meta-carbonate formation divided in six members. In the latter, a Ladinian–Carnian-rich fossil association has been found (foraminifers, algae, bivalves, microproblematica, trace fossils). Facies analysis has enabled the recognition of 22 facies of platform origin. This succession accumulated as a subsiding margin-type carbonate platform with homoclinal ramp geometry (Anisian?–Ladinian) evolving into a fault-block-type platform with a steeper-margined geometry (Ladinian–Carnian). Slope deposits of this latter platform show a prism-like geometry with progradational patterns and include syn-sedimentary structures associated with normal faults capped by younger beds. The results of the present research indicate that the architecture of the platform studied has been controlled mainly by climate and oceanic factors during the development of the ramp, and by syn-sedimentary extensional tectonics during the development of the steeper-margined platform. The Ladinian–Carnian tectonic activity was probably also responsible for the siliciclastic input and the shift to a mixed terrigenous-carbonate platform.