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Geology topics

Robert Kayen

Publications and source records attributed to Robert Kayen.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS2022

The over-prediction of seismically induced soil liquefaction during the 2016 Kumamoto, Japan earthquake sequence

Following the M7.0 strike-slip earthquake near Kumamoto, Japan, in April of 2016, most geotechnical engineering experts believed that there would be significant soil liquefaction and liquefaction-induced infrastructure damage observed in the densely populated city of Kumamoto during the post-event engineering reconnaissance. This belief was driven by several factors including the young geologic environment, alluvially deposited soils, a predominance of loose sandy soils documented in publicly available boring logs throughout the region, and the high intensity ground motions observed from the earthquake. To the surprise of many of the researchers, soil liquefaction occurred both less frequently and less severely than expected. This paper summarizes findings from our field, laboratory, and simplified analytical studies common to engineering practice to assess the lower occurrence of liquefaction. Measured in situ SPT and CPT resistance values were evaluated with current liquefaction triggering procedures. Minimally disturbed samples were subjected to cyclic triaxial testing. Furthermore, an extensive literature review on Kumamoto volcanic soils was performed. Our findings suggest that current liquefaction triggering procedures over-predict liquefaction frequency and effects in alluvially deposited volcanic soils. Volcanic soils were found to possess properties of soil crushability, high fines content, moderate plasticity, and unanticipated organic constituents. Cyclic triaxial tests confirm the high liquefaction resistance of these soils. Moving forward, geotechnical engineers should holistically consider the soil’s mineralogy and geology before relying solely on simplified liquefaction triggering procedures when evaluating volcanic soils for liquefaction.

Mount Aso↗
USGS2022

Estimation of site terms in ground-motion models for California using horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratios from microtremor

The horizontal‐to‐vertical spectral ratios from microtremor (mHVSR) data obtained at 196 seismic stations in California are used to evaluate three alternative microtremor‐based proxies for site amplification for use in ground‐motion models (GMMs): the site fundamental period ( ⁠ f 0 "> f 0 ⁠ ), the period‐dependent amplitude of the mHVSR( T ), and the normalized amplitude of the mHVSR( T ). The alternative parameters are evaluated for the sites with and without measurements of V S 30 "> V S 30 ⁠ . If a V S 30 "> V S 30 measurement is not available for a site, then f 0 "> f 0 has the highest correlation with the site amplification for short periods ( T <1 s) and the normalized amplitude of the mHVSR( T ) has the highest correlation for long periods ( T ≥1 s). If a measurement of the V S 30 "> V S 30 is available for a site, then the normalized amplitude of the mHVSR( T ) has the highest correlation for the site amplification not explained by V S 30 "> V S 30 for all periods. For both cases, the correlations are strongest at the longer periods as mHVSR( T ) measurements excel at providing valuable information for sites with long‐period amplification due to the deeper velocity structure. In particular, for sites with a V S 30 "> V S 30 measurement, the normalized mHVSR( T ) amplitude provides more information about the long‐period site terms than the basin depth currently used in GMMs. Empirical models of the median and standard deviation of the site terms based on the normalized mHVSR( T ) curves are developed for the two cases. These models can be used directly in the ASK14 GMM to modify the median and aleatory standard deviation or they can be used to estimate the site‐specific site term in the context of a partially nonergodic GMM. Including the mHVSR( T ) measurement can have a significant effect on estimates of the ground motion at a site: the range 5%–95% on the observed HVSR( T ) values corresponds to factors of 0.6–1.6 for the median spectral acceleration for periods between 0.5 and 4 s.

California↗
USGS2021

Hydrological control shift from river level to rainfall in the reactivated Guobu slope besides the Laxiwa hydropower station in China

Landslides are common geohazards associated with natural drivers such as precipitation, land degradation, toe erosion by rivers and wave attack, and ground shaking. On the other hand, human alterations such as inundation by water impoundment or rapid drawdown may also destabilize the surrounding slopes. The Guobu slope is an ancient rockslide on the banks of the Laxiwa hydropower station reservoir (China), which reactivated during the reservoir impoundment in 2009. We extracted three-dimensional surface displacements with azimuth and range radar interferometry using European Space Agency's Copernicus Sentinel-1 and German Aerospace Center's TerraSAR-X data during 20152019. The upper part of the Guobu rockslide is characterized by toppling and is mostly subsiding with maximum rates over 0.4 m/yr and 0.7 m/yr in the vertical and horizontal directions, respectively. During filling of the reservoir prior to 2014, there was a long-wavelength in-phase response between rising reservoir level and GPS-observed increased slope movements. After the reservoir water level stabilized from 2015 to 2019, the slide movement became seasonal and we see a correlation between rainfall and landslide movement. These observations suggest that the slide motion is now primarily controlled by rainfall. The spatiotemporal landslide displacements allow us to estimate the hydraulic diffusivity of the rock mass, to be on the order (~1.05 × 10 ‐7 m 2 /s) and the thickness of the moving rock mass (~200 m). Our results demonstrate that InSAR is a useful tool for monitoring the rockslide movement as a function of seasonal precipitation.

Remote Sensing of Environment↗
USGS2019

Seismological, geological, and geotechnical engineering aspects of the 2018 MW 6.6 Hokkaido Eastern Iburi earthquake

The 2018 Hokkaido Eastern Iburi MW6.6 earthquake struck the southern coast of the north island of Japan in the early morning (3:08 AM JST) on September 6, 2018. The event had a hypocentral depth of 35 km, centered beneath the port city of Tomakomai. Extremely strong shaking with peak ground acceleration in excess of 0.5 g was felt in the communities directly north of Tomakomai, in the districts of Abira and Atsuma. There, a very high density of landslides occurred in pumices soil that affected the majority of slopes in the region above the floodplain. These landslides were typically a thin veneer of 1 to 3 m of recent (<9000 ybp) volcanic pumice mantling older Kawabata marine sedimentary rocks. The source of the pumice layers are recent eruptions from Mt. Tarumae, south of Shikotsu-ko Caldera lake. Several block megaslides were observed in the Kawabata marine unit. A flow failure resulting from soil collapse or liquefaction was observed in fill deposits placed in a residential community district of Kiyota ward in Sapporo. The community, Satozuka-1 is situated on a natural steep ravine that was filled with pumice soil to level construction area to a gently sloping landscape for housing construction. The flow failure consisted of lateral migration of soil from the upper slope regions of the community onto the surface of the lower community. The upper community topographically deflated as large quantities of fluidized soil flooded the lower streets.

Hokkaido↗
USGS2018

SPT-based probabilistic and deterministic assessment of seismic soil liquefaction triggering hazard

This study serves as an update to the Cetin et al. (2000, 2004) [1,2] databases and presents new liquefaction triggering curves. Compared with these studies from over a decade ago, the resulting new Standard Penetration Test (SPT)-based triggering curves have shifted to slightly higher CSR-levels for a given N1,60,CS for values of N1,60,CS greater than 15 blows/ft, but the correlation curves remain essentially unchanged at N1,60,CS values less than 15 blows/ft. This paper addresses the improved database and the methodologies used for the development of the updated triggering relationships. A companion paper addresses the principal issues that cause differences among three widely used SPT-based liquefaction triggering relationships.

Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering↗
USGS2012

LIDAR & SASW technologies for geotechnical earthquake engineering

Geotechnical engineering methods are validated through comparison of field‐data of surface deformations and sub‐surface state properties. Recent advances in non‐invasive surface imaging and sub‐surface stiffness characterization allow us to rapidly and inexpensively map these spatial and physical properties in two and three dimensions. In this paper, we discuss new technologies used at the United States Geological Survey (USGS), ground‐based LIDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) used to create ultra high‐resolution three‐dimensional digital terrain models, and surface wave methods used to characterize soil stiffness properties. The power of LIDAR technology in earthquake engineering is its ability to rapidly capture the extremely high detail of failure morphologies, to view them in orientations not previously possible, and to permanently archive them for the engineering research community. The power of surface wave methods, like Spectral Analysis of Surface Waves (SASW), is their ability to non‐invasively and rapidly characterize the stiffness of the ground, to be relatively lightweight and efficient in deployment; and to accurately profile difficult materials such as gravely deposits and stiff soils where conventional methods are not practical. Three active‐source SASW systems used by the USGS are described here, a single‐source harmonic wave vibration system; a large parallel‐array harmonic wave source system; and a seafloor harmonic wave source system. LIDAR and SASW methods allow researchers to directly relate detailed surface damage with the shear wave velocity properties of the ground. LIDAR imagery and movies, and SASW datasets can be viewed at http://walrus.wr.usgs.gov/geotech.

Conference Paper↗
USGS2012

Topographic change detection at select archeological sites in Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, 2007-2010

Human occupation in Grand Canyon, Arizona, dates from at least 11,000 years before present to the modern era. For most of this period, the only evidence of human occupation in this iconic landscape is provided by archeological sites. Because of the dynamic nature of this environment, many archeological sites are subject to relatively rapid topographic change. Quantifying the extent, magnitude, and cause of such change is important for monitoring and managing these archeological sites. Such quantification is necessary to help inform the continuing debate on whether and how controlled releases from Glen Canyon Dam, located immediately upstream of Grand Canyon National Park, are affecting site erosion rates, artifact transport, and archeological resource preservation along the Colorado River in Grand Canyon. Although long-term topographic change resulting from a variety of natural processes is inherent in the Grand Canyon region, continued erosion of archeological sites threatens both the archeological resources and our future ability to study evidence of past cultural habitation. Thus, this subject is of considerable interest to National Park Service managers and other stakeholders in the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program. Understanding the causes and effects of archeological site erosion requires a knowledge of several factors, including the location, timing, and magnitude of the changes occurring in relation to archeological resources, the rates of change, and the relative contribution of potential causes. These potential causes include sediment depletion associated with managed flows from Glen Canyon Dam, site-specific weather and overland flow patterns, visitor impacts, and long-term regional climate change. To obtain this information, highly accurate, spatially specific data are needed from sites undergoing change. Using terrestrial lidar techniques, and building upon three previous surveys of archeological sites performed in 2006 and 2007, we collected two new datasets in April and September 2010 and processed and improved upon existing methods to generate high-accuracy (3 to 5 cm vertical change threshold) topographic change-detection maps for 10 survey areas encompassing 9 archeological sites along the Colorado River corridor. We also used terrestrial lidar techniques to investigate several other metrics for studying archeological site stability, including monitoring cultural structures and artifacts and remotely measuring cryptobiotic soil crust areas. Our topographic change results indicate that 9 of 10 survey areas showed signs of either erosion, deposition, or both during the 2007&ndash;2010 time interval and that these changes can be linked to a variety of geomorphic processes, primarily overland flow gullying and aeolian sand transport. In several cases, large (>50 cm) vertical change occurred, and in one case, more than 100 m 3 of sediment was eroded. Further, for all sites monitored throughout the river corridor during this time period, the overall signal was related to erosion rather than deposition. These results highlight the potential for rapid archeological site change in Grand Canyon. Whereas the topographic change results presented herein provide the highest level of change detection yet performed on entire archeological sites in Grand Canyon, additional work in combining these results with site-specific weather, hydrology, and geomorphology data is needed to provide a more thorough understanding of the causes of the documented topographic changes. Linking lidar-derived measurements of topographic changes with these other data sources should provide land managers with a scientific basis for making management decisions regarding archeological resources in Grand Canyon National Park and assist in answering open questions regarding the influence that sediment-depleted flows from Glen Canyon Dam have on archeological site stability.

Arizona↗
USGS2009

Terrestrial lidar datasets of New Orleans, Louisiana, levee failures from Hurricane Katrina, August 29, 2005

Hurricane Katrina made landfall with the northern Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005, as one of the strongest hurricanes on record. The storm damage incurred in Louisiana included a number of levee failures that led to the inundation of approximately 85 percent of the metropolitan New Orleans area. Whereas extreme levels of storm damage were expected from such an event, the catastrophic failure of the New Orleans levees prompted a quick mobilization of engineering experts to assess why and how particular levees failed. As part of this mobilization, civil engineering members of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) performed terrestrial lidar topographic surveys at major levee failures in the New Orleans area. The focus of the terrestrial lidar effort was to obtain precise measurements of the ground surface to map soil displacements at each levee site, the nonuniformity of levee height freeboard, depth of erosion where scour occurred, and distress in structures at incipient failure. In total, we investigated eight sites in the New Orleans region, including both earth and concrete floodwall levee breaks. The datasets extend from the 17th Street Canal in the Orleans East Bank area to the intersection of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW) with the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO) in the New Orleans East area. The lidar scan data consists of electronic files containing millions of surveyed points. These points characterize the topography of each levee’s postfailure or incipient condition and are available for download through online hyperlinks. The data serve as a permanent archive of the catastrophic damage of Hurricane Katrina on the levee systems of New Orleans. Complete details of the data collection, processing, and georeferencing methodologies are provided in this report to assist in the visualization and analysis of the data by future users.

Louisiana↗
USGS2009

Topographic Change Detection at Select Archeological Sites in Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, 2006-2007

Topographic change of archeological sites within the Colorado River corridor of Grand Canyon National Park (GCNP) is a subject of interest to National Park Service managers and other stakeholders in the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program. Although long-term topographic change resulting from a variety of natural processes is typical in the Grand Canyon region, a continuing debate exists on whether and how controlled releases from Glen Canyon Dam, located immediately upstream of GCNP, are impacting rates of site erosion, artifact transport, and the preservation of archeological resources. Continued erosion of archeological sites threatens both the archeological resources and our future ability to study evidence of past cultural habitation. Understanding the causes and effects of archaeological site erosion requires a knowledge of several factors including the location and magnitude of the changes occurring in relation to archeological resources, the rate of the changes, and the relative contribution of several potential causes, including sediment depletion associated with managed flows from Glen Canyon Dam, site-specific weather patterns, visitor impacts, and long-term climate change. To obtain this information, highly accurate, spatially specific data are needed from sites undergoing change. Using terrestrial lidar data collection techniques and novel TIN- and GRID-based change-detection post-processing methods, we analyzed topographic data for nine archeological sites. The data were collected using three separate data collection efforts spanning 16 months (May 2006 to September 2007). Our results documented positive evidence of erosion, deposition, or both at six of the nine sites investigated during this time interval. In addition, we observed possible signs of change at two of the other sites. Erosion was concentrated in established gully drainages and averaged 12 cm to 17 cm in depth with maximum depths of 50 cm. Deposition was concentrated at specific locations outside of drainages but generally was spread over larger areas (tens to hundreds of square meters). Maximum depths of deposition averaged 12 cm to 15 cm and reached as much as 35 cm. Overall, we found that the spatial distribution and magnitudes of surface change are specific to each site and that a thorough understanding of the geomorphology, weather, and sand supply is requisite for a complete understanding of the data. Additional work in combining these results with site-specific weather, hydrology, and geomorphology data will assist in the development of working models for determining the causes of the documented topographic changes.

Scientific Investigations Report↗
USGS2008

Shear wave structure of Umbria and Marche, Italy, strong motion seismometer sites Affected by the 1997-98 Umbria-Marche, Italy, earthquake sequence

A long sequence of earthquakes, eight with magnitudes between 5 and 6, struck the Umbria and Marche regions of central Italy between September 26, 1997 and July 1998. The earthquake swarm caused severe structural damage, particularly to masonry buildings, and resulted in the loss of twelve lives and about 150 injuries. The source of the events was a single seismogenic structure that consists of several faults with a prevailing northwest-southeast strike and crosses the Umbria-Marche border. The focal mechanism of the largest shocks indicates that the events were the product of shallow extensional normal faulting along a NE-SW extension perpendicular to the trend of the Apennines. The network of analog seismometer stations in the Umbria and Marche regions recorded motions of the main September and October 1997 events and a dense array of mobile digital stations, installed since September 29, recorded most of the swarm. The permanent national network Rete Accelerometrica Nazionale (RAN) is administered and maintained by Dipartimento delle Protezione Civile (DPC: Civil Protection Department); the temporary array was managed by Servizio Sismico Nazionale (SSN) in cooperation with small agencies and Universities. ENEA, the operator of many seismometer stations in Umbria, is the public Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and the Environment. Many of the temporary and permanent stations in the Italian seismic network have little or no characterization of seismic velocities. In this study, we investigated 17 Italian sites using an active-source approach that employs low frequency harmonic waves to measure the dispersive nature of surface waves in the ground. We used the Spectral Analysis of Surface Wave (SASW) approach, coupled with an array of harmonic-wave electro-mechanical sources that are driven in-phase to excite the ground. An inversion algorithm using a non-linear least-squares best-fit method is used to compute shear wave velocities for up to 100 meters of the soil column. A draft report was published in the summer of 2008, followed by a comment period, lengthy discussions with Italian colleagues, and improved knowledge of the subsurface at the sites from soil logs. Four of the sites were reprocessed in order to correct issues with phase unwrapping of the field dispersion curves that complicated the velocity profile calculations at the lowest velocity sites. This report presents the final results from the reprocessing effort.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2007

Terrestrial LIDAR investigation of the December 2003 and January 2007 activations of the Northridge Bluff landslide, Daly City, California

On December 20, 2003 and again on January 1, 2007, landslides occurred along the coastal bluff that forms the west boundary of Daly City, California sending debris as far as 290 meters downhill and 90 meters into the ocean. This area is known for large landslide events where 150-meter tall coastal bluffs extend southward along the west boundary of San Francisco and San Mateo Counties (Fig. 1). The 2003 and 2007 landslide events occurred west of Northridge Drive in Daly City and just south of Avalon Canyon, which bisects the bluffs in this area (Fig. 2). Residential development, utility lines and roads occupy the land immediately east of this location. As part of a comprehensive project to investigate the failure mechanisms of coastal bluff landslides in weakly lithified sediments along the west coast of the United States, members of the U.S. Geologic Survey (USGS) Coastal and Marine Geology (CMG) Program performed reconnaissance mapping of these landslide events including collection of high-resolution topographic data using CMG's terrestrial LIDAR laser scanning system. This report provides a brief background on each landslide event and presents topographic datasets collected following each event. Downloadable contour data, images, and FGDC-compliant metadata of the surfaces generated from the LIDAR data are also provided. LIDAR data collection and processing techniques used to generate the datasets are outlined. Geometric and volumetric measurements are also presented along with high-resolution cross-sections through various areas of the slide masses and discussion concerning the slides present (2007) configuration is provided.

California↗
USGS2007

Investigation of the M6.6 Niigata-Chuetsu Oki, Japan, earthquake of July 16, 2007

The M6.6 mainshock of the Niigata Chuetsu Oki (offshore) earthquake occurred at 10:13 a.m. local time on July 16, 2007, and was followed by a sequence of aftershocks that were felt during the entire time of the reconnaissance effort. The mainshock had an estimated focal depth of 10 km and struck in the Japan Sea offshore Kariwa. Analysis of waveforms from source inversion studies indicates that the event occurred along a thrust fault with a NE trend. The fault plane is either a strike of 34 degrees with a dip of 51 degrees or a strike of 238 degrees with a dip of 41 degrees. Which of these two planes is associated with the mainshock rupture is unresolved, although attenuation relationship analysis indicates that the northwest-dipping fault is favored. The quake affected an approximately 100-km-wide area along the coastal areas of southwestern Niigata prefecture. The event triggered ground failures as far as the Unouma Hills, located in central Niigata approximately 50 km from the shore and the source area of the 2004 Niigata Chuetsu earthquake. The primary event produced tsunami run-ups that reached maximum runup heights of about 20 centimeters along the shoreline of southern Niigata Prrefecture.

Niigata↗
USGS2006

Land-based lidar mapping: a new surveying technique to shed light on rapid topographic change

The rate of natural change in such dynamic environments as rivers and coastlines can sometimes overwhelm the monitoring capacity of conventional surveying methods. In response to this limitation, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists are pioneering new applications of light detection and ranging (lidar), a laser-based scanning technology that promises to greatly increase our ability to track rapid topographic changes and manage their impact on affected communities.

Fact Sheet↗
USGS2006

Applicability of terrestrial LIDAR scanning for scientific studies in Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

In November 2004, an experimental high flow release of water from Glen Canyon Dam into the Colorado River through Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona was conducted. The goal of the experiment was to evaluate the use of high flow events as a management tool for the preservation and restoration of natural resources in the Colorado River below Glen Canyon Dam. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center (GCMRC) located in Flagstaff, Arizona performed oversight of all aspects of scientific data collection including suspended sediment transport studies, biological population variations, effects on archaeological resources, and morphological studies of river sand bars. As part of the experimental high flow studies, the USGS Coastal and Marine Geology (CMG) team was invited to participate to test the effectiveness of utilizing terrestrial LIDAR technology for gathering morphological data on sand bars, biological habitats, and archaeological sites. The CMG is equipped with a terrestrial LIDAR unit and has used the technique in a variety of terrains to gather high-resolution morphological data. A three-member team from CMG participated in the experiment, joining a GCMRC team on a river trip from November 18 to November 21, 2004. This report begins with a brief description of the LIDAR technique and then outlines the data collected, processing required, and results for three study areas located within the Grand Canyon. Specifically, studies were performed at the Mile 30 Sand Bar, at Vaseys Paradise (Mile 32), and at the Mile 66 Palisades Archaeological Site. Conclusions and recommendations for utilizing terrestrial LIDAR for future studies at each of these sites are also included.

Arizona↗
USGS2003

Slope basins, headless canyons, and submarine palaeoseismology of the Cascadia accretionary complex

A combination of geomorphological, seismic reflection and geotechnical data constrains this study of sediment erosion and deposition at the toe of the Cascadia accretionary prism. We conducted a series of ALVIN dives in a region south of Astoria Canyon to examine the interrelationship of fluid flow and slope failure in a series of headless submarine canyons. Elevated head gradients at the inflection point of canyons have been inferred to assist in localized failures that feed sediment into a closed slope basin. Measured head gradients are an order of magnitude too low to cause seepage-induced slope failure alone; we therefore propose transient slope failure mechanisms. Intercanyon slopes are uniformly unscarred and smooth, although consolidation tests indicate that up to several metres of material may have been removed. A sheet-like failure would remove sediment uniformly, preserving the observed smooth intercanyon slope. Earthquake-induced liquefaction is a likely trigger for this type of sheet failure as the slope is too steep and short for sediment flow to organize itself into channels. Bathymetric and seismic reflection data suggest sediment in a trench slope basin between the second and third ridges from the prism’s deformation is derived locally. A comparison of the amounts of material removed from the slopes and that in the basin shows that the amount of material removed from the slopes may slightly exceed the amount of material in the basin, implying that a small amount of sediment has escaped the basin, perhaps when the second ridge was too low to form a sufficient dam, or through a gap in the second ridge to the south. Regardless, almost 80% of the material shed off the slopes around the basin is deposited locally, whereas the remaining 20% is redeposited on the incoming section and will be re-accreted.

Oregon↗