Lithological Unit Thickness Approach for Determining Intact Rock Strength (IRS) Of Slope Forming Rock Material of Crocker Formation

The Intact Rock Strength (IRS) of slope forming rock material of the heterogeneous Crocker Formation has been determined using “Lithological Unit Thickness” approach in order to evaluate the slope stability. Four slopes in CPSB Stone Quarry were selected in this study namely slope B1, B2, B3, and B4. The “Lithological Unit Thickness” approach in this paper consists of slope geological mapping, slope geometry, lithological thickness measurement, petrographic analysis, intact rock strength testing and modeling. The intact rock strength was measured using Unconfined Compressive Strength test and Point Load test. The results show that the estimation of intact rock strength of the slope forming rock material by 'lithological unit thickness' approach is more representative and the value for slopes B1, B2, B3 and B4 are 129 MPa, 108 MPa, 117 MPa and 148 MPa, respectively. The intact rock strength for the slopes forming rock material in the study area can also be classified as 'strong' rock masses

High-resolution regional gravity field recovery from Poisson wavelets using heterogeneous observational techniques

2016-2017 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journal201804_a bcmaVersion of RecordPublishe

Research Article. A new gravity laboratory in Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard

The Norwegian Mapping Authority (NMA) has recently established a new gravity laboratory in Ny-Ålesund at Svalbard, Norway. The laboratory consists of three independent pillars and is part of the geodetic core station that is presently under construction at Brandal, approximately 1.5 km north of NMA’s old station. In anticipation of future use of the new gravity laboratory, we present benchmark gravity values, gravity gradients, and final coordinates of all new pillars. Test measurements indicate a higher noise level at Brandal compared to the old station. The increased noise level is attributed to higher sensitivity to wind.We have also investigated possible consequences of moving to Brandal when it comes to the gravitational signal of present-day ice mass changes and ocean tide loading. Plausible models representing ice mass changes at the Svalbard archipelago indicate that the gravitational signal at Brandal may differ from that at the old site with a size detectable with modern gravimeters. Users of gravity data from Ny-Ålesund should, therefore, be cautious if future observations from the new observatory are used to extend the existing gravity record. Due to its lower elevation, Brandal is significantly less sensitive to gravitational ocean tide loading. In the future, Brandal will be the prime site for gravimetry in Ny-Ålesund. This ensures gravity measurements collocated with space geodetic techniques like VLBI, SLR, and GNSS