Full‐scale shaking table test of a base‐isolated medical facility subjected to vertical motions

Base isolation is a well known technology that has been proven to reduce structural response to horizontal ground accelerations. However, vertical response still remains a topic of concern for base‐isolated buildings, perhaps more so than in fixed‐base buildings as isolation is often used when high performance is required. To investigate the effects of vertical response on building contents and nonstructural components, a series of full‐scale shaking table tests were conducted at the E‐Defense facility in Japan. A four‐story base‐isolated reinforced concrete building was outfitted as a medical facility with a wide variety of contents, and the behavior of the contents was observed. The rubber base isolation system was found to significantly amplify vertical accelerations in some cases. However, the damage caused by the vertical ground motions was not detrimental when peak vertical floor accelerations remained below 2 g with three exceptions: (1) small items placed on shelves slid or toppled; (2) objects jumped when placed on nonrigid furniture, which tended to increase the response; and (3) equipment with vertical eccentricities rocked and jumped. In these tests, all equipment and nonstructural components remained functional after shaking. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Impact-induced phyllosilicate formation from olivine and water

Shock-recovery experiments on mixtures of olivine and water with gas (air) were performed in a previous study to demonstrate water-mineral interactions during impact events (Furukawa et al., 2007). The products of these former experiments were investigated in the present study using transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray powder diffraction with the aim of finding evidence of aqueous alteration. Serpentine formed on the surface of shocked olivine with well-developed mosaicism. The yield of serpentine depended on the water/olivine ratio in the starting material, indicating progressive serpentinization under water-rich conditions. Comminution and mosaicism were developed in shocked olivine grains. The temperature and pressure changes of the samples during the experiments were estimated by constructing Hugoniots for mixtures of olivine and water, combined with the results of an additional fracturing experiment on a shocked container. Pressures and temperatures reached 4.6-7.2 GPa and at least 230-390 °C, respectively, for 0.7 μs during in-shock compression. Post-shock temperatures reached a maximum of ∼1300 °C, when the shock wave reached the gas in the sample cavity. The serpentine formed after the post-shock temperature maximum, most likely when temperatures dropped to between 200 and 400 °C. This is the first experiment to demonstrate the formation of phyllosilicates using heat supplied by an impact. The present results and estimations suggest that phyllosilicates could form as a result of impacts into oceans as well as by impacts on terrestrial and Martian crustal rocks, and on some asteroidal surfaces, where liquid or solid H₂O is available. A significant amount of phyllosilicates would have formed during the late heavy bombardment of meteorites on the Hadean Earth, and such phyllosilicates might have affected the prebiotic carbon cycle.     

Seasonal and Interannual Variability in the Distribution of Surface Nutrients and Dissolved Inorganic Carbon in the Northern North Pacific: Influence of El Niño

The seasonal and interannual changes in surface nutrients, dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and total alkalinity (TA) were recorded in the North Pacific (30–54°N) from 1995 to 2001. This study focuses on the region north of the subarctic boundary (∼40°N) where there was extensive monthly coverage of surface properties. The nutrient cycles showed large interannual variations in the eastern and western subarctic gyres. In the Alaska Gyre the seasonal depletion of nitrate (ΔNO₃) increased from 8–14 μmol kg⁻¹ in 1995–1999 to 21.5 μmol kg⁻¹ in 2000. In the western subarctic the shifts were similar in amplitude but more frequent. The large ΔNO₃ levels were associated with high silicate depletions, indicating enhanced diatom production. The seasonal DIC:NO₃ drawdown ratios were elevated in the eastern and central subarctic due to calcification. In the western subarctic and the central Bering Sea calcification was significant only during 1997 and/or 1998, two El Ni?o years. Regional C/N stoichiometric molar ratios of 5.7 to 7.0 (>40°N) were determined based on the years with negligible or no calcification. The annual new production (NP_a) based on ΔNO₃ and these C/N ratios showed large interannual variations. NP_a was usually higher in the western than in the eastern subarctic. However, values of 84 gC m⁻²yr⁻¹ were found in the Alaska Gyre in 2000 which is similar to that in the most productive provinces of the northern North Pacific. There were also large increases in NP_a around the Alaska Peninsula in 1997 and 1998. Finally, the net removal of carbon by the biological pump was estimated as 0.72 Gt C yr⁻¹ in the North Pacific (>30°N). This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Effect of biogeochemical diagenesis on sediment fabric in shallow marine carbonate sediments near the Dry Tortugas, Florida

 Shallow marine carbonate sediments near the Dry Tortugas undergo extensive biogeochemical diagenesis upon deposition, resulting in postdepositional fabric comprised of micritic aggregates of clay-sized particles, a matrix of peloidal mud, and intraparticular cementation. Freshly deposited primary skeletons, mostly Halimeda fragments, yield micritic aggregates of clay-sized particles, which then form peloidal mud fabric upon compaction. The cryptocrystalline particles produced by micritization are later replaced by high magnesian calcite. Cementation is observed in the intra-particular microenvironment. However, no inter-particular, grain-binding cement was detected throughout the gravity core samples investigated.     

Heat capacity anomalies at incommensurate-normal transition of åkermanite solid solution (Ca,Sr)2(Mg,Co, Zn,Fe)Si2O7

The heat capacity of åkermanite solid solutions was measured by a small scale adiabatic calorimeter near the incommensurate-normal (I-N) transition. The heat capacity anomalies caused by the I-N transition show the type characteristic behavior implying the presence of dynamical fluctuations. The heat capacity anomalies were observed over the whole range of the åkermanite solid solutions Ca₂Mg_1-xCo_xSi₂O₇ and Ca₂Mg_1-x-Zn_xSi₂O₂. With increase of Co or Zn atoms, the transition temperature, T_i, rises linearly from ca. 83° C to 220° C and to 130° C, respectively. In the system Ca₂CoSi₂O₇-Ca₂FeSi₂O₇ and Ca₂MgSi₂O₇-Ca₂-FeSi₂O₇ electronic microscopy revealed that the temperature of the heat capacity anomaly decreases with increasing Fe content, whereas the T_i rises. This unusual behavior is ascribed to the microdomains observed in high resolution lattice images.     

40Ar/39Ar age of material returned from asteroid 25143 Itokawa

The Hayabusa mission to asteroid 25143, Itokawa, brought back 2000 small particles, which most closely resemble material found in LL4‐6 chondrites. We report an ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age of 1.3 ± 0.3 Ga for a sample of Itokawa consisting of three grains with a total mass of ~2 μg. This age is lower than the >4.0 Ga ages measured for 75% of LL chondrites but close to one for Y‐790964 and its pairs. The flat ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar release spectrum of the sample suggests complete degassing 1.3 Ga ago. Recent solar heating in Itokawa's current orbit does not appear likely to have reset that age. Solar or impact heating 1.3 Ga ago could have done so. If impact heating was responsible, then the 1.3 Ga age sets an upper bound on the time at which the Itokawa rubble pile was assembled and suggests that rubble pile creation was an ongoing process in the inner solar system for at least the first 3 billion years of solar system history.     

Atmospheric helium isotope ratio: Possible temporal and spatial variations

The atmospheric ³He/⁴He ratio has been considered to be constant on a global scale, because the residence time of helium is significantly longer than the mixing time in the atmosphere. However, this ratio may be decreasing with time owing to the anthropogenic release of crustal helium from oil and natural gas wells, although this observation has been disputed. Here, we present the ³He/⁴He ratios of old air trapped in historical slags in Japan and of modern surface air samples collected at various sites around the world, measured with a newly developed analytical system. In air helium extracted from metallurgical slag found at refineries in operation between AD 1603 and 1907 in Japan, we determined a mean ³He/⁴He ratio of (5106 ± 108) × 10^-5 R_HESJ (where R_HESJ is the ³He/⁴He ratio of the Helium Standard of Japan), which is consistent with the previously reported value of (5077 ± 59) × 10^-5 R_HESJ for historical slags in France and United Arab Emirates and about 4% higher than that of average modern air, (4901 ± 4) × 10^-5 R_HESJ. This result implies that the air ³He/⁴He ratio has decreased with time as expected by anthropogenic causes. Our modern surface air samples revealed that the ³He/⁴He ratio increases from north to south at a rate of (0.16 ± 0.08) × 10^-5 R_HESJ/degree of latitude, suggesting that the low ³He/⁴He ratio originates in high-latitude regions of the northern hemisphere, which is consistent with the fact that most fossil fuel is extracted and consumed in the northern hemisphere.     

Oxygen and strontium isotopic characteristics of calc-alkalic volcanic rocks from the central and western Japan arcs: Evaluation of contribution of crustal components to the magmas

¹⁸O/¹⁶O and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios were determined for Quaternary calc-alkalic volcanic rocks from six volcanic rock suites in the central and western Japan arcs. The δ¹⁸O values relative to SMOW and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios range from +6.3 to +9.9⁰/₀₀ and 0.70357 to 0.70684, respectively. Both the O- and Sr-isotopic compositions are higher than those for island-arc primitive magmas and their differentiates. The isotopic compositions of the calc-alkalic rocks cannot be derived by a simple fractional crystallization of the primitive magmas. On the other hand, the ¹⁸O- and ⁸⁷Sr-enrichment is confined to the rock suites located in well-developed island arcs having thick continental-type crust with low or negative Bouguer anomalies. Involvement of ¹⁸O- and ⁸⁷Sr-rich crustal material in the magma formation is suggested.The isotopic compositions vary remarkably within individual rock suites as well as from volcano to volcano. The data points in δ¹⁸O vs. ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr plot accord with a mixing model between primitive magmas and crustal material of dioritic composition on an average, assuming their comparative Sr contents. The primitive magmas involved could not be low-Sr tholeiites, but magmas more or less enriched in incompatible elements including Sr, which correspond to high-alkali tholeiites or alkali basalts and their evolved magmas. The nature of the primitive magmas seems to change from tholeiitic to more alkalic with progressing island-arc evolution.Mixing of crust-derived melts is more plausible than assimilation of solid-rocks for involving 20 to 30% crustal material in the magmas along simple mixing curves. Isotopic variations between the rock suites are ascribed to variable Sr concentration radio of the end-members, variable isotopic compositions of crustal material or variable mixing ratio of the end-members. Extremely high-δ ¹⁸O rocks with moderate increase in ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratio suggest another mixing process in shallower magma chambers between andesite magmas and metasedimentary rocks having high δ ¹⁸O and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr values but low Sr content. Subsequent fractional crystallization of once-derived magmas would be the prominent process for the rock suites showing gradual increase in ¹⁸O up to 1⁰/₀₀ with uniform ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios.