Interactions of uranium with bacteria and kaolinite clay

We assessed the accumulation of uranium (VI) by a bacterium, Bacillus subtilis, suspended in a slurry of kaolinite clay, to elucidate the role of microbes on the mobility of U(VI). Various mixtures of bacteria and the koalinite were exposed to solutions of 8 × 10^− 6 M- and 4 × 10^− 4 M-U(VI) in 0.01 M NaCl at pH 4.7. After 48 h, the mixtures were separated from the solutions by centrifugation, and treated with a 1 M CH₃COOK for 24 h to determine the associations of U within the mixture. The mixture exposed to 4 × 10^− 4 M U was analyzed by transmission electron microscope (TEM) equipped with EDS. The accumulation of U by the mixture increased with an increase in the amount of B. subtilis cells present at both U concentrations. Treatment of kaolinite with CH₃COOK, removed approximately 80% of the associated uranium. However, in the presence of B. subtilis the amount of U removed was much less. TEM–EDS analysis confirmed that most of the U removed from solution was associated with B. subtilis. XANES analysis of the oxidation state of uranium associated with B. subtilis, kaolinite, and with the mixture containing both revealed that it was present as U(VI). These results suggest that the bacteria have a higher affinity for U than the kaolinite clay mineral under the experimental conditions tested, and that they can immobilize significant amount of uranium.     

Excess Ar-free phengite in ultrahigh-pressure metamorphic rocks from the Lago di Cignana area, Western Alps

Ar/Ar analyses of phengites and paragonites from the ultrahigh-pressure metamorphic rocks (zoisite–clinozoisite schist, garnet–phengite schist and piemontite schist) in the Lago di Cignana area, Western Alps were carried out with a laser probe step-heating method using single crystals and a spot dating method on thin sections. Eight phengite and two paragonite crystals give the plateau ages of 37–42 Ma with 96–100% of ³⁹Ar released. Each rock type also contains mica crystals showing discordant age spectra with age fractions (20–35 Ma) significantly younger than the plateau ages. Phengite inclusions in garnet give ages of 43.2 ± 1.1 Ma and 44.4 ± 1.5 Ma, which are significantly older than the spot age (36.4 ± 1.4 Ma) from the matrix phengites, and the plateau ages from the step-heating analyses. Inclusion ages (43 and 44 Ma) are consistent with a zircon SHRIMP age (44 ± 1 Ma) in this area. These results suggest that the oceanic materials that underwent a simple subduction related UHPM, form excess ⁴⁰Ar-free phengite and that the peak metamorphism is ca. 44 Ma or little older. We suggest that matrix phengites experienced a retrogression reaction changing their chemistry contemporaneously with deformation related to the exhumation of rocks releasing significant radiogenic ⁴⁰Ar from the crystals. This has lead to the apparent ages of the matrix phengites that are significantly younger than the inclusion age.     

New Indices for Characterizing Spatial Models of Ore Deposits by the Use of a Sensitivity Vector and an Influence Factor

Precise spatial estimation of ore grades and impurity contents from sample data limited in amount and location is indispensable to metallic and nonmetallic resource exploration. One of the advantages of using geostatistics for this purpose is that it can incorporate multivariate data into spatial estimation of one variable. However, there are two weak points concerning technical and post-processing problems. First is the difficulty in application to geologic data in which spatial correlations are not clear because of intrinsic nonlinear behavior. Second is the absence of indices to interpret the mechanisms and factors which govern the spatial distribution. To address these problems, a spatial method of modeling based on a feedforward neural network, SLANS, which recognizes the relationship between the data value and location by considering supplementary attributes such as lithology and biostratigraphy, and a sensitivity analysis using this network were developed. These methods were applied to two case studies, genetic mechanisms of kuroko deposits and quality assessment of a limestone mine. The first case study is a spatial analysis of principal metals of kuroko deposits (volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits) in the Hokuroku district, northern Japan. It was clarified that upward and downward sensitivity vectors were distinguished near the deposits inside and outside the tectonic basin, respectively. Sensitivity analysis for the second case study showed a strong effect of crystalline limestone on the important impurity, P₂O₅ contents. Hydrothermal alteration, which could cause leaching and secondary concentration of phosphorus, is considered to have produced this effect.     

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.     

The Holocene development of Kushu Lake on Rebun Island in Hokkaido, Japan

Diatom assemblages and sulfur content in sediments were analyzed to clarify changes in the sedimentary environment of Kushu Lake, a coastal lake on Rebun Island in Hokkaido, Japan. Salinity variations were assessed by means of a diatom-based index of paleosalinity and the sedimentary sulfur content. This paper discusses the Holocene development of the lake, in relation to Holocene relative sea-level change. For paleoenvironmental interpretation of the lake development, the rationale of the threshold method (Anundsen et al., 1994) was applied.At ca. 8000 yr BP, a coastal embayment (paleo-Kushu Bay) resulted from marine ingression. The threshold elevation at the mouth of the paleo-Kushu Bay kept pace with the rising sea-level, resulting in its enclosure at the culmination of Holocene marine transgression (ca. 6500–5000 yr BP). From predicted relative sea-level at ca. 6000 yr BP for Rebun Island (Nakada et al., 1991), the threshold may have been at least above –3 to –5 m altitude. A freshwater lake environment with strongly anoxic bottom conditions may have occurred from ca. 5500 to 5100 yr BP. After an important episode of marine ingression, the lake was isolated completely from the open sea at ca. 4900 yr BP. The diatom record suggests that the maximum lacustrine extent occurred at ca. 4900–3100 yr BP. Thereafter, water depth decreased at the lake margins.In Kushu Lake, the threshold elevation, due to a build-up of a coastal barrier, prevents us from determining the amplitude of sea-level changes, even though the age of isolation contacts corresponds to periods of regression and climatic deterioration. In spite of isostatic subsidence, the effective protection provided by the well-developed barrier did not allow registration of any relative sea-level fluctuations since its isolation.     

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.     

Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars as Tracers of Star Formation Histories: the GAIA Context

We discuss a possible use of the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars for tracing star formation histories on the Galactic and extragalactic distance scales with the ESA's astrometric space mission GAIA. Extensive numerical simulations demonstrate that metallicities (Δ [M/H] ≲ 0.3) can be obtained for the AGB stars with GAIA up to the distances of ∼ 200 kpc, if no interstellar extinction is present. Reliable population ages can be also obtained from the AGB stars if their T _eff are constrained precisely. We show that precise effective temperatures can be obtained by fitting observed spectral energy distributions of the AGB stars with theoretical fluxes calculated from the synthetic spectra. A combination of the derived effective temperatures with the bolometric luminosities allows to derive precise population ages for a wide range of ages and metallicities over the large distance scales. This demonstrates that AGB stars can be employed very effectively for tracing star formation histories with GAIA, allowing to refine the global evolutionary scenarios of stellar populations in the Milky Way and the galaxies beyond. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Numerical Simulation of Accretion Discs in Close Binary Systems andDiscovery of Spiral Shocks

The history of hydrodynamic numerical simulations for accretion disks in close binary systems is reviewed, in which emphasis is placed, in particular, on the facts that spiral shock waves were numerically found in 1986 by researchers including one of the present authors and that spiral structure was discovered in IP Pegasi in 1997 by Steeghs et al. The results of our two and three-dimensional numerical simulations in recent years are then summarized, with comparison being made with observations. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.