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The so-called site effects caused by superficial geological layers may be responsible for strong ground motion amplification in certain configurations. We focus here on the industrialized Tricastin area, in the French Rhône valley, where a nuclear site is located. This area lies above an ancient Rhône Canyon whose lithology and geometry make it prone to site effects. This study presents preliminary measurements to investigate the local seismic amplification. We deployed three seismic stations in the area for several months: two stations were located above the canyon, the third one was located on a nearby reference rock site. The recorded seismicity was analysed using the Standard Spectral Ratio technique (SSR). The estimated amplification from weak motions reaches a value of 6 for some frequencies. These first results confirm the possibility of estimating seismic amplification using earthquakes recorded for less than one year, in this highly anthropogenic and industrialized environment, despite the local low-to-moderate level of seismicity. Noise-based SSR, that presents an obvious interest in such seismic context, shows also promising results in the area. To complement this empirical approach, we estimated the amplification using 1D wave propagation modelling. This numerical estimate is based on shear wave velocity profiles resulting from geophysical characterization campaigns. Comparison of the two approaches at low frequency, where numerical estimate is considered as the most representative, tends to suggest that edge-generated surface waves may have a strong influence in the local seismic response. This interpretation will be further investigated in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Tournemire Underground Research Laboratory (Aveyron, France), developed by the French Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety, is composed of a tunnel excavated in an argillaceous geological layer belonging to a limestone–argillite–limestone sub-horizontal sedimentary sequence. Sub-vertical fault zones are intercepted by drifts and boreholes excavated from the tunnel in the argillaceous layer at a depth of about 250 m. These fault zones are characterized by velocities lower than those of the embedding rocks. In this study, we assess the capacity of first arrival traveltime tomography to detect and characterize such fault zones in a surface-to-depth transmission configuration with a limited angle aperture. The source at the surface is a sledgehammer and turns out to be very repetitive. The source trigger is transmitted to the acquisition bay via a VHF transmitter. Receivers are located at depth in underground works. First arrivals are clear and traveltime picking is straightforward. Before inverting real data, we conduct synthetic tests with the real acquisition geometry to assess limits and validity of first arrival traveltime tomography to detect a lower velocity fault zone using different initial configurations and inversion constraints during the inversion. We show that introducing a priori information on velocities in the shallow subsurface, limestones and argillaceous layers and constraints on maximum velocities greatly helps improving results and subsequent interpretation. Velocities obtained from the real data display a main lower velocity zone that extends from the galleries in the argillaceous layer right up to the surface in limestones. The location and extension of this lower velocity zone are consistent with fault and fracture zones mapped from geological observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Experimental Platform of Tournemire (Aveyron, France) developed by IRSN (French Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety) is composed of a tunnel excavated in an argillite formation belonging to a limestone-argillite-limestone subhorizontal sedimentary sequence. Subvertical secondary fault zones were intercepted in argillite using drifts and boreholes in the tunnel excavated at a depth of about 250 m located under the Larzac Plateau. A 2D 2.5 km baseline large-scale electrical resistivity survey conducted in 2007 allowed detecting in the upper limestones several significantly low electrical resistivity subvertical zones (G élis et al. Appl Geophys 167(11): 1405-1418, ). One of these discontinuities is consistent with the extension towards the surface of the secondary fault zones identified in the argillite formation from the tunnel. In an attempt to better characterize this zone, IRSN and MINES ParisTech conducted a high-resolution electrical resistivity survey located transversally to the fault and fracture zones. A 760-m-long profile was acquired using two array geometries and take-outs of 2, 4 and 8 m, requiring several roll-alongs. These data were first inverted independently for each take-out and then using all take-outs together for a given array geometry. Different inverted 2D electrical resistivity models display the same global features with high (higher than 5000 Ωm) to low (lower than 100 Ωm) electrical resistivity zones. These electrical resistivity models are finally compared with a geological cross-section based on independent data. The subvertical conductive zones are in agreement with the fault and fracture locations inferred from the geological cross-section. Moreover, the top of a more conductive zone, below a high electrical conductive zone and between two subvertical fault zones, is located in a more sandy and argillaceous layer. This conductive zone is interpreted as the presence of a more scattered fracture zone located at depth between two fault zones. This zone could be correlated with the fractured zones identified at 250-m depth in underground works. This study highlights the interest of multi-scale approaches to image complex heterogeneous near subsurface layers. Finally, this study shows that the electrical resistivity tomography is a useful and powerful tool to detect fault and fracture zones in upper limestones. Such a method is complementary to other geophysical and geological data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compressional and shear wave seismic measurements were performed in an old railway tunnel and in galleries excavated in a 250-m-thick Toarcian claystone formation in the Tournemire experimental station (France). Three component (3C) geophones and three orthogonal orientations of the vibroseismic force source were used. Additionally, vertical seismic profiling (VSP) measurements were recorded with a 3C borehole geophone, a hydrophone and a microphone in a 159 m deep borehole (ID180) in the tunnel. The seismic data show that Toarcian claystone has strong transverse isotropy (TI) with a vertical symmetry axis. The qP, SH and qSV wave propagation velocities in horizontal directions--the plane of isotropy of the TI medium--are measured as 3550, 1850 and 1290 m s-1, respectively. The zero-offset VSP reveals that only one shear wave propagates in the vertical (depth) direction and the P- and S-wave velocities are 3100 and 1375 m s-1, respectively. Four elastic moduli of the TI medium are determined from the seismic velocities and from the bulk density of 2.53 g cm-3: c11 = 31.9 GPa, c33 = 24.3 GPa, c44 = 4.5 GPa and c66 = 8.7 GPa. A walkaway VSP with the borehole geophone at 50 m depth in borehole ID180 and shot points in the galleries leads to oblique seismic ray paths which allow us to determine the fifth elastic modulus of the TI medium to c13 = 16 GPa. The tube wave recorded by a hydrophone in the water filled lower part of the borehole propagates with 1350 m s-1, which confirms the estimate of the elastic constant c66. The analysis of body wave and surface wave data from a seismic experiment in Galerie Est shows reflections from several fracture zones in the gallery floor. The thickness of the excavation damaged zone (EDZ) in the floor of Galerie Est is estimated to 0.7 m. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compressional and shear wave seismic measurements were performed in an old railway tunnel and in galleries excavated in a 250-m-thick Toarcian claystone formation in the Tournemire experimental station (France). Three component (3C) geophones and three orthogonal orientations of the vibroseismic force source were used. Additionally, vertical seismic profiling (VSP) measurements were recorded with a 3C borehole geophone, a hydrophone and a microphone in a 159 m deep borehole (ID180) in the tunnel. The seismic data show that Toarcian claystone has strong transverse isotropy (TI) with a vertical symmetry axis. The qP, SH and qSV wave propagation velocities in horizontal directions—the plane of isotropy of the TI medium—are measured as 3550, 1850 and 1290 m s−1, respectively. The zero-offset VSP reveals that only one shear wave propagates in the vertical (depth) direction and the P- and S-wave velocities are 3100 and 1375 m s−1, respectively. Four elastic moduli of the TI medium are determined from the seismic velocities and from the bulk density of 2.53 g cm−3: c11 = 31.9 GPa, c33 = 24.3 GPa, c44 = 4.5 GPa and c66 = 8.7 GPa. A walkaway VSP with the borehole geophone at 50 m depth in borehole ID180 and shot points in the galleries leads to oblique seismic ray paths which allow us to determine the fifth elastic modulus of the TI medium to c13 = 16 GPa. The tube wave recorded by a hydrophone in the water filled lower part of the borehole propagates with 1350 m s−1, which confirms the estimate of the elastic constant c66. The analysis of body wave and surface wave data from a seismic experiment in Galerie Est shows reflections from several fracture zones in the gallery floor. The thickness of the excavation damaged zone (EDZ) in the floor of Galerie Est is estimated to 0.7 m. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Experimental platform of Tournemire (Aveyron, France) developed by IRSN (French Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety) is located in a tunnel excavated in a clay-rock formation interbedded between two limestone formations. A well-identified regional fault crosscuts this subhorizontal sedimentary succession, and a subvertical secondary fault zone is intercepted in the clay-rock by drifts and boreholes in the tunnel at a depth of about 250 m. A 2D electrical resistivity survey was carried out along a 2.5 km baseline, and a takeout of 40 m was used to assess the potential of this method to detect faults from the ground surface. In the 300 m-thick zone investigated by the survey, electrical resistivity images reveal several subvertical low-resistivity discontinuities. One of these discontinuities corresponds to the position of the Cernon fault, a major regional fault. One of the subvertical conductive discontinuities crossing the upper limestone formation is consistent with the prolongation towards the ground surface of the secondary fault zone identified in the clay-rock formation from the tunnel. Moreover, this secondary fault zone corresponds to the upward prolongation of a subvertical fault identified in the lower limestone using a 3D high-resolution seismic reflection survey. This type of large-scale electrical resistivity survey is therefore a useful tool for identifying faults in superficial layers from the ground surface and is complementary to 3D seismic reflection surveys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A method is proposed for accurately describing arbitrary-shaped free boundaries in finite-difference schemes for elastodynamics, in a time-domain velocity–stress framework. The basic idea is as follows: fictitious values of the solution are built in vacuum, and injected into the numerical integration scheme near boundaries. The most original feature of this method is the way in which these fictitious values are calculated. They are based on boundary conditions and compatibility conditions satisfied by the successive spatial derivatives of the solution, up to a given order that depends on the spatial accuracy of the integration scheme adopted. Since the work is mostly done during the pre-processing step, the extra computational cost is negligible. Stress-free conditions can be designed at any arbitrary order without any numerical instability, as numerically checked. Using 10 grid nodes per minimal S-wavelength with a propagation distance of 50 wavelengths yields highly accurate results. With 5 grid nodes per minimal S-wavelength, the solution is less accurate but still acceptable. A subcell resolution of the boundary inside the Cartesian meshing is obtained, and the spurious diffractions induced by staircase descriptions of boundaries are avoided. Contrary to what occurs with the vacuum method, the quality of the numerical solution obtained with this method is almost independent of the angle between the free boundary and the Cartesian meshing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present here a detailed analysis of a seismic data set recorded by a dense seismological network installed over 6 months in the southeast of France. This experiment was set-up at the boundary between the Ligurian basin and the southern subalpine thrust belt (the Nice arc), which is a complex tectonic region that undergoes low to moderate seismicity. We recorded more than 500 microearthquakes, among which 348 occurred exactly in the centre of the network during a very active seismic sequence that lasted mainly over 2 months. We performed an absolute location of all of the events and calculated the magnitudes. Then we applied a cross-correlation technique to gather similar events and to relocate relatively few of them. This method revealed a very clear alignment of 19 events in a direction N120° oblique to the N20° general trend of seismicity. Focal mechanisms were determined for the four largest events and composite solutions for 32 smaller ones. Both the alignments of the earthquakes and the focal solutions revealed that two oblique segments of the fault were activated during the crisis. The main segment (8 km long) that was oriented NNE with a left-lateral strike slip movement is called the Blausasc fault. Taking into account the tectonic evolution and the relationships between surface structures and the distribution of earthquakes, and through a paleaoreconstruction of the tectonic evolution, we propose that the Blausasc fault is the hidden root of the Peille-Laghet fault, which has a mapped length of at least 15 km. The smaller segment (0.6 km long) that was activated during the crisis could be interpreted as an antithetic Riedel fracture. The active Blausasc fault is located in a densely populated zone, at only 10 km from the crowded cities of Monaco and Nice. It is thus particularly interesting to analyse it for hazard assessment. In the last section, we present a simulation that is aimed at predicting what the ground motion in the city of Nice would be like if an earthquake of magnitude 5.7 occurs on this fault. For this, we used the recordings of the largest event of the seismic sequence ( Ml= 3.2) and an empirical Green's function summation scheme to simulate the ground motion at two stations situated in urban environments. The values obtained show that especially on soft soil sites, the effects of such an earthquake would be considerable in the city of Nice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We perform the full elastic waveform inversion in the frequency domain in a 2-D geometry. This method allows imaging of two physical seismic parameters, using vertical and horizontal field components. The forward problem is discretized using finite difference, allowing to simulate the full elastic wavefield propagation. Moreover, it is solved in the frequency domain, a fast approach for multisource and multireceiver acquisition. The non-linear inversion is based on a pre-conditioned gradient method, where Born and Rytov formulations are used to compute Fréchet derivatives. Parameter perturbations linearly depend on fields perturbations in the Born kernel, and on the generalized complex phases of fields in the Rytov kernel, giving different Fréchet derivatives. The gradient is pre-conditioned with the diagonal part of the inverse Hessian matrix, allowing to better estimate the stepping in the optimization direction. Non-linearity is taken into account by updating parameters at each iteration and proceeding from low to high frequencies. The latter allows as well to progressively introduce smaller wavelengths in parameter images. On a very simple synthetic example, we examine the way the inversion determines the ( P-wave velocity) and V s ( S-wave velocity) images. We highlight that, with a transmission acquisition, final parameter images weakly depend on the chosen formulation to compute Fréchet derivatives and on the inverted parameters choice. Of course, convergence strongly depends on the medium wavenumber illumination which is related somehow to the acquisition geometry. With a reflection acquisition, the Born formulation allows to better recover scatterers. Moreover, the medium anomalies are not well reconstructed when surface waves propagate in the medium. This may be due to the evanescent nature of surface waves. By selecting first body waves and then surface waves, we improve the convergence and properly reconstruct anomalies. This shows us that preparation of the seismic data before the inversion is as critical as the initial model selection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solar or UVA (ultraviolet A) irradiation of the skin causes biological damage, including apoptosis, which is evident in the form of sunburn cells and the overexpression of p53. These two parameters, as well as the measurement of cellular viability, were used to evaluate the effects of UV irradiation on a reconstructed human epidermis (RHE) model, with and without the photoprotection of a broad spectrum sunblock. Reconstructed epidermis models were irradiated by solar spectrum (420 mJ cm–2) or UVA (20 J cm–2). In the absence of irradiation, and with irradiation doses of 420 mJ cm–2 and 20 J cm–2, viability was estimated at 95, 12 and 70% respectively. Sunburn cells per cm were evaluated at 0, 41 and 22, respectively under these same conditions. The apoptotic response was studied through the expression of p53, which increased at first and was then followed by a specific cleavage, 24 h after irradiation at 420 mJ cm–2. However, in the presence of a broad spectrum sunblock preparation (a combination of OMC, MBTBP, TiO2 and ZnO) and after irradiation at 420 mJ cm–2 and 20 J cm–2, viability increased to 40 and 85% respectively. The number of sunburn cells (SBC) per cm fell to 12 and nine respectively. The photoprotection provided by the sunblock limited the increase in the expression of p53 and resulted in the total disappearance of the cleavage. This study shows that human reconstructed epidermis is a valid skin model for use in the evaluation of the effects of solar and UVA irradiation, as well as in the testing of the efficacy of sunfilters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]