Interstadial coral reef terraces and relative sea-level changes during marine oxygen isotope stages 3–4, Kikai Island, central Ryukyus, Japan

Coral reef terraces are one of the best recorders of relative sea-level changes during the last glacial cycle. Thus far, knowledge of relative sea-level record based on coral reefs during the marine Oxygen Isotope Stage (OIS) 3 has been limited to studies of the Huon Peninsula, Papua New Guinea. High-precision a α-spectrometric ²³⁰Th/²³⁴U dating demonstrated an offlapping sequence of five coral reef complexes, ages of which are 66, 64, 62, 55 and 52 ka, in the northern part of Kikai Island, central Ryukyus of Japan. Interstadial reefs, characterized by deepening-upward sequences of coral assemblages, recorded three hemicycles from transgression to highstand at 52, 62, and 66 ka, during which these reefs were drowned. These highstands in the relative sea-level record can be correlated with the eustatic record reconstructed from the Huon reef terraces and with the interstadials 14, 18, and 19 of the GISP 2 oxygen isotope record. This consistency confirms the Huon sea-level record of OIS 3 and implies that the eustatic sea level responded to the millennial-scale climate changes even during the glacial period of OIS 4.     

Examining the aerosol indirect effect over China using an SO2 emission inventory

The relationship between SO₂ emissions and the effective particle radius of low-level water clouds (r_e) over China was investigated to determine anthropogenic effects on clouds. Sulfur dioxide emission values were obtained from a statistical inventory, and r_e origins were retrieved by satellite remote sensing on a 0.5° grid. Comparisons between annual mean SO₂ emissions and r_e showed generally decreasing r_e values, explained by the Twomey effect. The existence of the Twomey effect is supported by comparisons with simulated aerosol optical depths. Results further suggest that clouds over land show sensitivity to the Twomey effect as well as clouds over the ocean.     

230Th/234U and 14C dating of a lowstand coral reef beneath the insular shelf off Irabu Island, Ryukyus, southwestern Japan

Abstract   High-resolution seismic reflection profiles delineated the distribution of mound-shaped reflections, which were interpreted as reefs, beneath the insular shelf western off Irabu Island, Ryukyus, southwestern Japan. A sediment core through one of the mounded structures was recovered from the sea floor at a depth of −118.2 m by offshore drilling and was dated by radiometric methods. The lithology and coral fauna of the core indicate that the mounded structure was composed of coral–algal boundstone suggesting a small-scaled coral reef. High-precision α-spectrometric ²³⁰Th/²³⁴U dating coupled with calibrated accelerator mass spectrometric ¹⁴C ages of corals obtained reliable ages of this reef ranging from 22.18 ± 0.63 to 30.47 ± 0.98 ka. This proves that such a submerged reef was formed during the lowstand stage of marine oxygen isotope stages 3–2. The existence of low-Mg calcite in the aragonitic coral skeleton of 22.18 ± 0.63 ka provides evidence that the reef had once been exposed by lowering of the relative sealevel to at least −126 m during the last glacial maximum in the study area. There is no room for doubt that a coral reef grew during the last glacial period on the shelf off Irabu Island of Ryukyus in the subtropical region of western Pacific.     

Regional metamorphic belts of the Japanese Islands

Abstract An overview of the regional metamorphic belts of Japan is given in the context of the tectonic evolution of the Japanese Islands. The Japanese Islands were situated on an active margin of the Eurasian continent or its constituent landmass before their assembly during the Phanerozoic. The Japanese Islands are composed mainly of metamorphosed and unmetamorphosed accretionary complexes, granitoids and their effusive equivalents that were formed by the Cordilleran-type orogeny. The metamorphic belts are regarded essentially as a deep-seated portion of an accretionary complex. In spite of continuous subduction of oceanic plates beneath the continents, these orogenic rocks were formed quite episodically, as evidenced by discontinuous matrix ages of the accretionary complexes and a striking concentration of isotopic ages of the granitoids. A systematic along-arc age shift of Cretaceous large-scaled granitic magmatism and regional metamorphism suggests a tectonic control such as ridge subduction, which triggered the episodic orogeny. A tectonic model based on the paired metamorphic belts, combined with the non-steady tectonic control, works well to explain this magmatism and metamorphism in a single arc-trench system as a continental margin process. However, the juxtapositional process of the paired metamorphic belts is still a problem. Two possible cases, namely transcurrent displacement and back-arc overthrusting are discussed.     

Metamorphism of the Izu-Tanzawa collision zone

The difference in pressure condition of progressive metamorphism established by Schreinemakers' analysis of mineral assemblages in metabasalts makes it possible for the low grade metamorphism of the Izu-Tanzawa-Fujigawadani collision zone to be divided into three types. Type I is characterized by prehnite + epidote + hematite, suggesting the lowest pressure type; whereas type II is defined by prehnite + epidote + actinolite—the intermediate pressure type, and finally the distinctive assemblage of type III is pumpellyite + epidote + actinolite—the higher pressure type. The pressure conditions estimated are about 1 kbar for type I, 1–2 kbar for type II and 2–3 kbar for type III. The metamorphic rocks of type III occur in the southwestern part of the Tanzawa Mountains, and the metamorphic rocks of type I occur in the central Izu Peninsula and the northeast Tanzawa Mountains. Therefore, the upward displacement of the accretion mass due to collision deformation is most significant at the southwest Tanzawa Mountains. This suggests that the accretion of the Tanzawa and Izu blocks is accompanied with large-scale tilting of the mass.     

Wind fluctuations near a cold vortex-tropopause funnel system observed by the MU radar

Vertical and temporal variations of three-dimensional wind velocity associated with an upper-tropospheric cold vortex-tropopause funnel system were observed by an MST radar in Japan (the MU radar). Marked changes of vertical velocity and horizontal wind direction were found between the inside and outside of the cold vortex. The vertical velocity activity outside the vortex was asymmetric; it was most active in a sector before the vortex. Unsaturated internal gravity waves in their generation stage contribute predominantly to the vertical velocity activity, suggesting that tropospheric occluded cyclones may be a possible source of middle-atmospheric gravity waves through the geostrophic adjustment process.     

Internal gravity wave selection in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere observed by the MU radar: Preliminary results

Marked wavelike variations of the lower stratospheric wind observed on 7–10 May, 1985 by an MST radar in Japan (by the MU radar) are analyzed assuming that they are induced by monochromatic internal inertio-gravity waves. These variations are mainly composed of two modes (periods: 22 and 24 hours), both of which have zonal phase velocities (C _X ) slower than the mean westerly wind (). A statistical analysis of the zonal phase velocity shows thatC _X above andC _X below the tropopause jet stream, which is considered to be a vivid proof of wave selection due to the tropospheric mean flow and upward wave emission from the tropopause jet. A comparison between the MU radar results and routine meteorological observations leads to the conclusion that the marked waves appear when the jet stream takes a maximum wind speed.     

Energy release in solar flares

Team 2 of the Ottawa FLARES 22 Workshop dealt with observational and theoretical aspects of the characteristics and processes of energy release in flares. Main results summarized in this article stress the global character of the flaring phenomenon in active regions, the importance of discontinuities in magnetic connectivity, the role of field-aligned currents in free energy storage, and the fragmentation of energy release in time and space.Report of Team 2, Flares 22 Workshop, Ottawa, May 25–28, 1993.     

Shear Strength Behavior of Two Landfill Clay Liners

Direct shear tests were conducted to obtain both the shear strength of compacted clay liners (CCLs) specimens and the interface shear strength between compacted clay liner and base soil. These experiments were conducted under the conditions of five different water contents. The experimental results show that shear strength of both CCLs and CCLs/base interface decreases with the increase in the water content of CCLs and base soil. In addition, the considerate concentration of NaCl in leachate has no deteriorating effect on the shear strength of liners. Triaxial shear tests were also conducted on clay liner specimens to obtain total and effective shear strength under a fast compression. The shear strength c‘=100 kPa for sand-bentonite, respectively. These results indicate that the compacted clay-bentonite shows normal consolidation, but that the compacted sand-bentonite exhibits over-consolidation.     

Neural Network-Based Estimation of Principal Metal Contents in the Hokuroku District,Northern Japan,for Exploring Kuroko-Type Deposits

The Hokuroku district, extending over 40 × 40 km² in northern Japan, is known to be dominated by kuroko-type massive sulfide deposits that have a genetic relation to submarine volcanic activity. The deposits are hosted in a specific stratigraphic zone of Miocene volcanic rocks. Because kuroko-type deposits are under exploration in several countries, it is important to integrate the geologic and geochemical data that have been accumulated in the Hokuroku district to characterize the distribution of deposits and produce a map of mineral potential. Thus, we collected data on multiple chemical components from 1917 rock cores at 143 drillhole sites and concentrated on components with relatively large amounts of data, which are SiO₂, Al₂O₃, and Fe₂O₃ as major elements and Cu, Pb, and Zn as trace elements. Although frequencies of these data can be approximated by normal or lognormal distributions, spatial correlation structures cannot be extracted from the semivariograms of each component nor from the cross-semivariograms between two components of the major or minor elements. To handle such complexity, a spatial method of modeling content distribution, SLANS, is developed by applying a feedforward neural network. The principle of SLANS is to train a network repeatedly to recognize the relation between the data value and the location and lithology of a sample point. One-hundred outputs for each element are obtained by changing the numbers of neurons in a middle layer from 1 to 10 and sample data used for training from 3 to 12, and finally one output is selected based on the estimation precision of the network which is restricted near the target point. After constructing a geologic distribution model from the geological column classified into 25 rock codes, three-dimensional distributions of Cu, Pb, and Zn contents are estimated over the study area. The content models are considered to be valid because high-content zones are located on the known mine sites and the margins of ancient volcanoes or calderas. Some zones are distributed along strikes of major deep-seated fractures in the district.