Abstract On October 30, 2020 14:51 (UTC), a moment magnitude (M w ) of 7.0 (USGS, EMSC) earthquake occurred in the Aegean Sea north of the island of Samos, Greece. Turkish and Hellenic geotechnical reconnaissance teams were deployed immediately after the event and their findings are documented herein. The predominantly observed failure mechanism was that of earthquake-induced liquefaction and its associated impacts. Such failures are presented and discussed together with a preliminary assessment of the performance of building foundations, slopes and deep excavations, retaining structures and quay walls. On the Anatolian side (Turkey), and with the exception of the Izmir-Bayrakli region where significant site effects were observed, no major geotechnical effects were observed in the form of foundation failures, surface manifestation of liquefaction and lateral soil spreading, rock falls/landslides, failures of deep excavations, retaining structures, quay walls, and subway tunnels. In Samos (Greece), evidence of liquefaction, lateral spreading and damage to quay walls in ports were observed on the northern side of the island. Despite the proximity to the fault (about 10 km), the amplitude and the duration of shaking, the associated liquefaction phenomena were not pervasive. It is further unclear whether the damage to quay walls was due to liquefaction of the underlying soil, or merely due to the inertia of those structures, in conjunction with the presence of soft (yet not necessarily liquefied) foundation soil. A number of rockfalls/landslides were observed but the relevant phenomena were not particularly severe. Similar to the Anatolian side, no failures of engineered retaining structures and major infrastructure such as dams, bridges, viaducts, tunnels were observed in the island of Samos which can be mostly attributed to the lack of such infrastructure.
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Geotechnical aspects of the 2016 Kaikoura Earthquake on the South Island of New Zealand
The magnitude Mw7.8 ‘Kaikōura’ earthquake occurred shortly after midnight on 14 November 2016. This paper presents an overview of the geotechnical impacts on the South Island of New Zealand recorded during the post-event reconnaissance.
Despite the large moment magnitude of this earthquake, relatively little liquefaction was observed across the South Island, with the only severe manifestation occurring in the young, loose alluvial deposits in the floodplains of the Wairau and Opaoa Rivers near Blenheim. The spatial extent and volume of liquefaction ejecta across South Island is significantly less than that observed in Christchurch during the 2010-2011 Canterbury Earthquake Sequence, and the impact of its occurrence to the built environment was largely negligible on account of the severe manifestations occurring away from the areas of major development.
Large localised lateral displacements occurred in Kaikōura around Lyell Creek. The soft fine-grained material in the upper portions of the soil profile and the free face at the creek channel were responsible for the accumulation of displacement during the ground shaking. These movements had severely impacted the houses which were built close (within the zone of large displacement) to Lyell Creek. The wastewater treatment facility located just north of Kaikōura also suffered tears in the liners of the oxidation ponds and distortions in the aeration system due to ground movements.
Ground failures on the Amuri and Emu Plains (within the Waiau Valley) were small considering the large peak accelerations (in excess of 1g) experienced in the area. Minor to moderate lateral spreading and ejecta was observed at some bridge crossings in the area. However, most of the structural damage sustained by the bridges was a result of the inertial loading, and the damage resulting from geotechnical issues were secondary.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1724575
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10051374
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Bulletin of the New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering
- Volume:
- 50
- Issue:
- 2
- ISSN:
- 1174-9857
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 117-141
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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