Element partitioning between olivine and silicate melt under high pressure

Element partitioning between olivine and silicate melt has been investigated at pressures 1–14 GPa, by using a 6–8 type multi-anvil high pressure apparatus. In order to observe systematics in the partitioning of trivalent ions, Li was added to the starting materials in order to increase the concentration of trivalent ions in olivine. With increasing pressure, it was found that partition coefficients of most of the elements gradually decreased. Trivalent ions generally showed parabolic pattern on partition coefficient — ionic radius diagram. When pyrolite-like material was used as the starting material, partition coefficient of Al, D_Al, gradually increased with increase in pressure while the partition coefficients of the other elements decreased, and the D_Al deviated from the parabolic pattern of other trivalent ions. The deviation of D_Al from the D pattern of the other trivalent ions was also found when olivine was employed as main component of the starting material. This result may be ascribed to the compositional change of coexisting silicate melt with increase in pressure.     

Calorimetric study of high-pressure polymorphs of MnSiO3

With increasing pressure, MnSiO₃ rhodonite stable at atmospheric pressure transforms to pyroxmangite, then to clinopyroxene and further to tetragonal garnet, which finally decomposes into MnO (rocksalt) plus SiO₂ (stishovite). High temperature solution calorimetry of synthetic rhodonite, clinopyroxene and garnet forms of MnSiO₃ was used to measure the enthalpies of these transitions. ΔH ₉₇₄ ⁰ for the rhodonite-clinopyroxene and ΔH ₂₉₈ ⁰ for the clinopyroxene-garnet transition are 520±490 and 8,270±590 cal/mol, respectively. The published data on the enthalpy of the rhodonite-pyroxmangite transition, phase equilibrium boundaries, compressibility and thermal expansion data are used to calculate entropy changes for the transitions. The enthalpy, entropy and volume changes are very small for all the transitions among rhodonite, pyroxmangite and clinopyroxene. The calculated boundary for the clinopyroxene-garnet transition is consistent with the published experimental results. The pyroxene-garnet transition in several materials, including MnSiO₃, is characterized by a relatively small negative entropy change and large volume decrease, resulting in a small positiveP – T slope. The disproportionation of MnSiO₃ garnet to MnO plus stishovite and of Mn₂SiO₄ olivine to garnet plus MnO are calculated to occur at about 17–18 and 14–15 GPa, respectively, at 1,000–1,500 K.     

Prograde pressure-temperature path of jadeite-bearing eclogites and associated high-pressure/low-temperature rocks from western Tianshan, northwest China

Abstract Jadeite‐bearing eclogites and associated blueschists locally crop out in a greenschist facies area at Kuldkourla, near the Akeyazhi River in the western Chinese Tianshan region, northwestern China. Garnet in these metamorphic rocks shows prograde zoning with increasing Mg and decreasing Mn from the crystal center towards the rim, and is divided into Ca‐poor/Fe‐rich core and Ca‐rich/Fe‐poor mantle parts. The garnet cores include the assemblages of (i) jadeite/omphacite (X_jd = 0.34–0.96) + barroisite/taramite; and (ii) omphacite + barroisite/pargasite, with paragonite, epidote, rutile and quartz as major phases with rare albite. The garnet mantles rarely contain inclusions of omphacite, glaucophane, epidote, rutile and quartz. Major matrix phases of the pre‐exhumation stage are omphacite, glaucophane, paragonite, rutile and quartz. These mineral parageneses give pressure (P)‐temperature (T) conditions of 0.9 GPa/390°C?1.4 GPa/560°C for the stage of the garnet core formation, 1.8 GPa/520°C for the stage of the garnet mantle formation, and 2.2 GPa/495°C‐2.4 GPa/535°C for the peak eclogite facies assemblage in the matrix. The estimated P‐T conditions and continuous changes of mineral parageneses imply a counterclockwise P‐T path which is a combination of (i) an early prograde stage of high‐pressure/low‐temperature (HP/LT) blueschist facies and/or LP/LT eclogite facies; (ii) a later prograde stage involving compression with minimal heating; and (iii) a climax‐of‐subduction stage characterized by a slight decrease of temperature with increasing pressure. The negative dP/dT of the latest subduction stage is possibly a record of the following events after a continuous subduction and ridge approach: (i) material migration within the upper part of the subducting slab, which has an inverse thermal gradient caused by ductile flow and/or slab break during subduction; and/or (ii) temporary cooling of the wedge mantle–slab interface by continuous subduction of a relatively cold slab following subduction of a hotter ridge.     

新疆阿尔泰冲乎尔地区蓝晶石-夕线石型变质带独居石CHIME二叠纪年龄及其地质意义

新疆冲乎尔地区的蓝晶石-夕线石型递增变质带由绿泥石-黑云母带、黑云母-石榴石带、石榴石-十字石带、十字石-蓝晶石带和夕线石带组成;递增变质作用峰期温度、压力分别为T=520～640℃,p=(4.5～5.8)×108Pa;十字石-蓝晶石带和夕线石带变质岩中含有丰富的独居石,而且Th-U-Pb含量比较高,适合电子探针独居石CHIME法定年,独居石CHIME法确定的变质时代为268±10～261±20Ma,与阿勒泰地区发育的红柱石-夕线石型(低压型)变质带形成时代(262±10～264±22Ma)一致,说明阿尔泰造山带蓝晶石-夕线石型和红柱石-夕线石型递增变质带是同一次大规模的构造热事件的产物,时代为二叠纪中期。     

CHIME monazite ages of metasediments from the Altai orogen in northwestern China: Devonian and Permian ages of metamorphism and their significance

Abstract   The chemical Th-U-total Pb isochron method (CHIME) has been applied to determine the ages of monazite grains from metasediments of greenscshist-amphibolite facies in the Altai orogen, northwest China. The area of distribution of these metamorphic rocks is divided into the Permian (261–268 Ma) central-western and Devonian (377–382 Ma) eastern units on the basis of their metamorphic ages. The Devonian CHIME ages are consistent with the Pb–Pb ages of granitoid in the eastern unit, and support the idea that emplacement of the granitoids was synchronous with regional metamorphism at deep levels. The Permian metamorphic ages (the present study) and igneous ages previously reported from the central-western unit can be interpreted in terms of subduction of crustal material and oceanic plate, and rapid exhumation.     

Integrated colors of globular clusters

Integrated colors of M3, M5, M13, and M92 are calculated from the luminosity function, the color-magnitude diagram, and the two-color diagram to compare them with observed ones. The results show good agreements for M3, M13, and M92 and the discrepancy for M5. Possible causes for this discrepancy are discussed.To study the way in which integrated colors are affected by changes in the distribution of stars in the color-magnitude diagram, we calculate the integrated colors by taking into account changes in the distribution of horizontal branch stars and in the ratio of the number of horizontal branch stars to that of red giant branch stars. The result shows that (B-V) color varies within the range of about 0.1 mag with changes in the distribution of horizontal branch stars, implying that the cluster with a well-developed blue horizontal branch has bluer intrinsic integrated (B-V) color than that with yellow one. This tendency is compared with observation.     

Dynamic Structure of the Kuroshio South of Kyushu in Relation to the Kuroshio Path Variations

The variation of velocity and potential vorticity (PV) of the Kuroshio at the PN line in the East China Sea and the TK line across the Tokara Strait were examined in relation to the path variations of the Kuroshio in the southern region of Japan, using quarterly data from a conductivity-temperature-depth profiler and a shipboard acoustic Doppler current profiler during 1987–97. At the PN line the Kuroshio has a single stable current core located over the continental slope and a significant maximum of PV located just onshore of the current axis in the middle part of the main pycnocline. On the other hand, the Kuroshio at the TK line has double current cores over the two gaps in the Tokara Strait; the northern core has a much larger velocity than the southern core on average during periods of the large meander of the Kuroshio, while the difference in strength between the double cores is small during the non-large-meander (NLM) period. At the TK line, PV in the middle pycnocline is variable; it is small and nearly uniform throughout the section for 40% of the total observations, while it has a significant maximum near the northern core for 30% and two maxima corresponding to the double current cores for 23%. The small, nearly uniform PV occurs predominantly during the NLM period, and is closely related to the generation of the small meander of the Kuroshio southeast of Kyushu. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Study on the Kuroshio and the Tsushima Current

I summarize the variations of the path of the Kuroshio and of the Tsushima Current mainly based on the results of my studies. The Tsushima Current forms three branches just after it enters the Japan Sea through the Tsushima Strait. The first and third branch currents flow along the Japanese and Korean coasts, respectively, and the second branch current flows from the western channel of the Tsushima Strait to the west of the Oki Islands only in summer from June to August. Properties of the topographic waves which are thought to work on the formation of the second branch are described mainly in terms of the dispersion relations. The Kuroshio has three typical paths,i.e., the nearshore and offshore non-large-meander paths and the typical large-meander path. The Kuroshio alternately takes the nearshore and offshore paths in the non-large-meander period, occasionally changes from the nearshore nonlarge-meander path to the large-meander path and, after having taken the large-meander path for several years, changes to the offshore non-large-meander path. Sea levels south of Japan are clearly different between the non-large-meander and large-meander periods, while they are not different between the periods of the nearshore and offshore non-large-meander paths. But, sea level and water properties in the coastal region show remarkable features during short periods of transitions between the typical non-large-meander paths. Future problems and subjects of studies on these currents are indicated. Especially, importance of velocity monitoring of the Kuroshio is emphasized, and a design of the observation across the Tokara Strait is proposed.     

Southward intrusion of the intermediate Oyashio water along the east coast of the Boso Peninsula,Japan II. Intrusion events into Sagami Bay

In the previous paper (Yanget al., 1993), it was shown that there always exists the coastal salinity-minimum-layer (SML) water just off the Boso Peninsula. The coastal SML water is bounded by the current zone of the Kuroshio, and a relatively high salinity domain separates it from the offshore SML water which would be a continum of the North Pacific Intermediate Water. We suggested that the coastal SML water region indicates the pathway along which the Intermediate Oyashio Water intrudes into Sagami Bay. In this paper, by selecting seven cases where we found the coastal SML water having abnormally high oxygen content and low salinity, we try to follow the intrusion manner of the Intermediate Oyashio Water into Sagami Bay by using available hydrographic data taken routinely by various organizations in the period from 1973 to 1986. Some of these water can be traced from the observation line near the cape of Inubo to the central part of Sagami Bay, and its propagation speed along the coast is shown to be of order of 1 cm/s. The intruding intermediate Oyashio water usually has a complicated layered structure in it, and its time scale of persistence is shown to be only a few months.