Mechanisms of hydrothermal crystallization of quartz at 250°C and 15 kbar

Oxygen isotopic exchange between quartz and water, using a novel technique in which both ¹⁸O/¹⁶O and ¹⁷O/¹⁶O fractionations were measured, yielded an equilibrium fractionation Δ¹⁸ = 9.0 at 250°C and 15 kbar. The reaction proceeds predominantly by solution of fine grains and growth of larger grains. Exchange by solid-state diffusion is immeasurably slow at this temperature. Under the same experimental conditions, cristobalite behaves quite differently, becoming transformed to sub-micron quartz crystals in a few minutes. The phase transformation is accompanied by a kinetic isotope effect yielding quartz in isotopic disequilibrium with water. It is possible that such disequilibrium products are also formed in other experiments involving phase transitions or mineral syntheses.     

Financial risk management for energy service project under the Tokyo emission trading system

Recently, energy service providers (ESP) have increased due to deregulation in the power market. They install energy supply equipment at their own cost and supply the necessary energy to the client. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government started Asia’s first cap-and-trade program in April 2010. This program caps energy-related carbon dioxide emissions from some 1,330 offices and factories in Tokyo. Then, ESPs have to manage the many risks of energy service project directly linked to the profits. In this paper, we describes the risk analysis and investment optimization for energy service projects using financial engineering.     

Flocculation and particle size analysis of expansive clay sediments affected by biological, chemical, and hydrodynamic factors

Expansive clay sediments are abundant in riverine and estuarine waters and bottom beds, and their particle size distributions (PSD) are important for the analysis of sediment transport. This paper presents an experimental study to evaluate, using a laser particle size analyzer under varying flow conditions, the intrinsic PSD of two expansive clays, a Ca- and a Na-montmorillonite and the influence of biological, chemical, and hydrodynamic factors on their flocculation and PSD. The considered biological factor consists of three extracellular polymeric substances of varying polarity, including xanthan gum, guar gum, and chitosan; the chemical factor is the salinity; and the hydrodynamic factor is the types of flow indicated by the Reynolds number and shear rate. The intrinsic PSD of both clays show a multimodal lognormal distribution with sizes ranging from 0.2 to 50 μm. All three biopolymers, xanthan gum, guar gum, and chitosan, can facilitate flocculation through long-range polymer bridging and short-range ion-dipole interaction, hydrogen bonding, and Coulomb force. The influence of salinity is different for the two clays: the particle size of the Na-montmorillonite increases with salinity, which is caused by flocculation resulting from the suppressed electrical double layer, while that of the Ca-montmorillonite is slightly reduced owing to the decreased basal spacing and cation exchange. For different hydrodynamic conditions, higher shear rate promotes the flocculation of Ca-montmorillonite, but breaks the Na-montmorillonite flocs. The significance of understanding the flocculation and PSD of expansive clays is also discussed in terms of sediment transport under different aquatic environments.     

Effects of acidified seawater on calcification,photosynthetic efficiencies and the recovery processes from strong light exposure in the coral Stylophora pistillata

The aim of this study was to investigate whether coral photosynthetic efficiencies and recovery processes are affected by CO₂‐driven ocean acidification in symbiont photosynthesis and coral calcification. We investigated the effects of five CO₂ partial pressure (pCO₂) levels in adjusted seawater ranging from 300 μatm (pre‐industrial) to 800 μatm (near‐future) and strong and weak light intensity on maximum photosynthetic efficiency and calcification of a branching coral, Stylophora pistillata, as this species has often been used in rearing experiments to investigate the effects of acidified seawater on calcification and photosynthetic algae of corals. We found that, the photosynthetic efficiencies and recovery patterns under different light conditions did not differ among pCO₂ treatments. Furthermore, calcification of S. pistillata was not affected by acidified seawater under weak or strong light conditions. Our results indicate that the photosynthetic efficiency and calcification of S. pistillata are insensitive to changes in ocean acidity.     

Parameterization of rain cell properties using an advection-diffusion model and rain gage data

To reduce flooding risks and improve urban drainage management, there is a need to increase the forecasting accuracy for rainfall models on small typical urban time and space scales. Increased rainfall forecasting accuracy will in turn improve runoff prediction and thus, prevent flooding hazards, decrease pollution discharge through combined sewers, increase waste water treatment efficiency, etc. For this purpose, we analyzed the parameters of a two-dimensional stochastic advection-diffusion model including a Fourier domain method and an extended Kalman filter algorithm for investigation of motion, shape, size, and intensity distribution of convective rainfall. The resulting set of model parameters (advective velocity, apparent turbulent diffusion, and development/decay of rainfall rate) is used to study convective rainfall variability. It appears that the speed at which the rainfall cell is advected is not dependent on the cell development stage or apparent diffusion. Instead, there is a dependence between the source/sink term and apparent diffusion. This can be explained by the turbulent updraft of warm air which results in large rainfall intensity increase. This strong turbulence results in larger diffusion (and vice versa). The behavior of the model parameters is therefore physically explainable and relevant. The results can be used as first choice of parameter values when modeling convective rainfall over ungaged areas.     

Oxygen isotopic fractionation in the system quartz-albite-anorthite-water

Oxygen isotopic fractionations have been determined between quartz and water, albite and water, and anorthite and water at temperatures from 300 to 825°C, and pressures from 1.5. to 25 kbar. The equilibrium quartz-feldspar fractionation curves can be approximated by the following equations: 1000ln α_Q?PI = (0.46 + 0.55β)10⁶T^?2 + (0.02 + 0.85β) between 500 and 800°C 1000ln α_Q?PI = (0.79 + 0.90β)10⁶T^?2 — (0.43 ? 0.30β) between 400 and 500°C where β is the mole-fraction of anorthite in plagioclase.Application of these isotopic thermometer calibrations to literature data on quartz and feldspar gives temperatures for some metamorphic rocks which are concordant with quartz-magnetite temperatures. Plutonic igneous rocks typically have quartz-feldspar fractionations which are substantially larger than the equilibrium values at solidus temperatures, indicating substantial retrograde exchange effects.     

Nine unusually large tsunami deposits from the past 4000 years at Kiritappu marsh along the southern Kuril Trench

Large earthquakes along the Kuril subduction zone in northern Japan are known to have caused damaging tsunami, although there is a little information on historical earthquakes and tsunami in this area because no documents exist before the 19th century that might refer to tsunami events. To determine the likely timing and size of future events we need information on their recurrence intervals and to do this for the prehistoric past we have investigated sediments located in the Kiritappu marsh in eastern Hokaido that we interpret as laid down by tsunami. Using reliable multiple lines of evidence from sedimentological, geomorphological, micropaleontological, and chronological results, we identify 13 tsunami sands. Two of these lie within a peat bed above a historical tephra, Ta-a (AD 1739); the upper one probably corresponds to the AD 1843 Tempo Tokachi-oki earthquake (M 8.2) tsunami, and the lower to either the AD 1952 Tokachi-oki earthquake (M 8.2) tsunami or the AD 1960 Chilean earthquake (M 9.5) tsunami. Underlying are 11 prehistoric tsunami sand beds (nine large sand beds and two smaller sand beds) deposited during the past 4000 years. Because of the wide spatial distribution of the large sand beds, and inundation distances inland of between 1200 to 3000 m, we suggest that they record unusually large tsunamis along the Kuril subduction zone. According to our analyses, these tsunami sands were derived from the coastal area and, although they do not show clear graded bedding, they commonly have gradational upper boundaries and erosional bases and include internal sedimentary structures such as plane beds, dunes, and current ripples, reflecting bedload transportation. Based on our results we calculate the recurrence interval of unusually large earthquakes (probably M 8.6) along the Kuril subduction zone as about 365–553 years and estimate the youngest large event to have occurred in the 17th century.     

Development of a Multi-Layer Urban Canopy Model for the Analysis of Energy Consumption in a Big City: Structure of the Urban Canopy Model and its Basic Performance

A multilayer one-dimensional canopy model was developed to analyze the relationship between urban warming and the increase in energy consumption in a big city. The canopy model, which consists of one-dimensional diffusion equations with a drag force, has three major parameters: building width, distance between buildings, and vertical floor density distribution, which is the distribution of a ratio of the number of the buildings that are taller than some level to all the buildings in the area under consideration. In addition, a simplified radiative process in the canopy is introduced. Both the drag force of the buildings and the radiative process depend on the floor density distribution. The thermal characteristics of an urban canopy including the effects of anthropogenic heat are very complicated. Therefore, the focus of this research is mainly on the basic performance of an urban canopy without anthropogenic heat. First, the basic thermal characteristics of the urban canopy alone were investigated. The canopy model was then connected with a three-dimensional mesoscale meteorological model, and on-line calculations were performed for 10 and 11 August, 2002 in Tokyo, Japan. The temperature near the ground surface at the bottom of the canopy was considerably improved by the calculation with the canopy model. However, a small difference remained between the calculation and the observation for minimum temperature. Deceleration of the wind was well reproduced for the velocity at the top of the building by the calculation with the canopy model, in which the floor density distribution was considered.     

Detailed Observation of Spatial Abundance of Clam Larva Ruditapes philippinarum in Tokyo Bay, Central Japan

The spatial distribution of the larval abundance of the clam Ruditapes philippinarum has been investigated at 65 stations throughout Tokyo Bay on August 2, 2001. The large number of small D-shaped larvae that were found shortly after hatching in the waters around the Banzu, Futtu, and Sanmaizu-Haneda areas indicates that spawning populations in these areas probably contribute greatly to the larval supply in the bay. Small larvae also occurred abundantly around the Yokohama and Ichihara port areas, suggesting that these port regions play a role in the transport of larvae into Tokyo Bay. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.