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Modelling of speleothems failure in the Hotton cave (Belgium). Is the failure earthquake induced?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2016

J.F. Cadorin ,
D. Jongmans ,
A. Plumier ,
T. Camelbeeck ,
S. Delaby  and
Y. Quinif
J.F. Cadorin
Affiliation:
University of Liège, Chemin des chevreuils., 1-B-4000 Liège 1, Belgium; e-mail: jf.cadorin@ulg.ac.be, a.plumier@ulg.ac.be
D. Jongmans
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Geophysical Prospecting, Liège University, Bat. B 19, B-4000 Liège; e-mail:djongmans@ulg.ac.be
A. Plumier
Affiliation:
University of Liège, Chemin des chevreuils., 1-B-4000 Liège 1, Belgium; e-mail: jf.cadorin@ulg.ac.be, a.plumier@ulg.ac.be
T. Camelbeeck
Affiliation:
Royal Observatory of Belgium, avenue circulaire 3, B-l 180 Bruxelles; e-mail:thierry.camelbeeck@oma.be
S. Delaby
Affiliation:
Centre d’Etudes et de Recherches Appliquées au Karst (CERAK), Faculté Polytechnique de Mons, Rue de Houdain, 9, B-7000 Mons; e-mail:quinif@fpms.ac.be, serge.delaby@fpms.ac.be
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Abstract

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To provide quantitative information on the ground acceleration necessary to break speleothems, laboratory measurements on samples of stalagmite have been performed to study their failure in bending. Due to their high natural frequencies, speleothems can be considered as rigid bodies to seismic strong ground motion. Using this simple hypothesis and the determined mechanical properties (a minimum value of 0.4 MPa for the tensile failure stress has been considered), modelling indicates that horizontal acceleration ranging from 0.3 m/s2 to 100 m/s2 (0.03 to 10g) are necessary to break 35 broken speleothems of the Hotton cave for which the geometrical parameters have been determined. Thus, at the present time, a strong discrepancy exists between the peak accelerations observed during earthquakes and most of the calculated values necessary to break speleothems. One of the future research efforts will be to understand the reasons of the defined behaviour. It appears fundamental to perform measurements on in situ speleothems.

Keywords

DamagesEarthquakeMechanical propertiesSpeleothems
Type
Research Article
Information
Netherlands Journal of Geosciences , Volume 80 , Issue 3-4 , December 2001 , pp. 315 - 321
Copyright
Copyright © Stichting Netherlands Journal of Geosciences 2001

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