Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by POWER, D. V. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

A survey of complaints of seismic-related damage to surface structures following the Salmon underground nuclear detonation^*

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LAWRENCE RADIATION LABORATORY, LIVERMORE, CALIFORNIA 94551

Abstract

Following Salmon, the undergound nuclear experiment in Mississippi, numerous unexpected complaints of damage were received from residents living 15 to 40 km away. The claimed damage is mostly cracks in plaster, stucco, and masonry. Ground motion at these ranges was within the predicted safe limits, with peak surface-particle velocities roughly an order of magnitude below the 5 to 10 cm/sec previously accepted as the threshold for damage. It is shown that a 5 cm/sec damage threshold is not descriptive of this area, and revised damage criteria need to be formulated that take into consideration geology, frequency spectrum, and other factors in addition to surface particle velocity. The claimed damage is similar to that normally found in Mississippi homes where it is attributed to poor foundation soils. The triggering by Salmon of naturally occurring settlement cracks is suspected, but the physics of the process is not yet fully understood. Further complications in the survey are introduced by local sociology and psychology and public relations factors.

Footnotes

^* Work done under the auspices of the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				R. E. SCHOLL Statistical analysis of low-rise building damage caused by the San Fernando earthquake Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, February 1, 1974; 64(1): 1 - 23. [Abstract] [PDF]

				R. E. SCHOLL and I. FARHOOMAND Statistical correlation of observed ground motion with low-rise building damage Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, October 1, 1973; 63(5): 1515 - 1537. [Abstract] [PDF]

				S. HAMMON and N. HAMMON Remarks on the paper "A survey of complaints of seismic related damage to surface structures following the salmon underground nuclear detonation", by Dean V. Power Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, June 1, 1968; 58(3): 1169 - 1172. [PDF]