Kosa (yellow sand) components in precipitation collected at central Japan

In east Asia, acidic gases derived from fossil fuel combustion have increased in the past decades. On the other hand, the Asian dust, also called Kosa (yellow sand) is transported following windstorms from arid lands in the Asian continent. Many researchers have been interested in the reaction between acidic aerosols and Kosa aerosols as well as the long-range transport of these emissions. To investigate the characteristics of chemical components in precipitation on a long-term basis over Japan, precipitation was sequentially collected from April 1984 to March 1997 at Kanazawa located near the coast of the Sea of Japan. Precipitation samples were collected at 1 mm intervals for the first 5 mm rainfall and all volume of rainwater after 6 mm for all precipitation events with an automatic wet only precipitation collector. According to the analyses of precipitation including Kosa aerosols during Kosa periods, the reaction in the air between Kosa and acidic components during the long-range transport was discussed.     

Exhumation rates and age of metamorphism in the Sanbagawa belt: new constraints from zircon fission track analysis

Zircon fission track dating and track length analysis in the high‐grade part of the Asemigawa region of the Sanbagawa belt demonstrates a simple cooling history passing through the partial annealing zone at 63.2 ± 5.8 (2 σ) Ma. Combining this age with previous results of phengite and amphibole K–Ar and ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating gives a cooling rate of between 6 and 13 °C Myr^?1, which can be converted to a maximum exhumation rate of 0.7 mm year^?1 using the known shape of the P–T path. This is an order of magnitude lower than the early part of the exhumation history. In contrast, zircon fission track analyses in the low‐grade Oboke region show that this area has undergone a complex thermal history probably related to post‐orogenic secondary reheating younger than c. 30 Ma. This event may correlate with the widespread igneous activity in south‐west Japan around 15 Ma. The age of subduction‐related metamorphism in the Oboke area is probably considerably older than the generally accepted range of 77–70 Ma.     

Apatite Composition of Representative Magnetite‐series and Ilmenite‐series Granitoids in Japan

Apatites of representative magnetite‐series and ilmenite‐series granitoids were studied in the Japanese Islands. Concentrations of the volatile components F, Cl and SO₃ are differently distributed in apatites of these granitoid series. Apatites are always fluoroapatite. They have weakly higher F content in the ilmenite series than in the magnetite series. In contrast, Cl and SO₃, are significantly concentrated in apatites of the magnetite series compared to the ilmenite series. These characteristics reflect the original concentrations of these components in the host granitic magmas. A high fO₂ seems most important for the S‐concentration as sulfate in apatite of the magnetite series. REE and Y are only erratically high in the studied apatites.     

An unusual zone of seismic coupling in the Bonin arc: The 1972 Hachijo-Oki earthquakes and related seismicity

The 1972 February and December Hachijo-Oki earthquakes (M _s=7.3 and 7.4), in the northernmost part of the Izu-Bonin subduction zone, are the only major events (M _s>7.0) in the Bonin arc for the past 80 years. Relocation of the hypocenters, using one smaller event having a wellconstrained focal depth as a master event, shows that the depth of the February event is 10 km shallower than that of the December event. We have determined the rupture process for both events by minimizing the error in waveform between observed and synthetic seismograms. Although the number of available stations are limited, the depth range of the major energy release for the December event extends deeper than for the February one. The rupture propagated up-dip for both events. It is likely that the rupture zone of the two events overlapped, and that the December event ruptured the deeper part. This suggestion is consistent with the observation that the aftershock zones of both events overlap with that of the December event shifted landward. The waveforms of the December event have a smaller high frequency component than those of the February event, suggesting that the stress at the thrust zone became more uniform or reduced after the February event.No thrust type smaller event occurred near the rupture zone. Instead, theP-axes of smaller events are parallel to the dip of the slab and theirT-axes dip to the southwest. Focal depths of these events estimated byP-wave forward modeling are generally between 40–50 km and located beneath the thrust zone. We thus interpret them as the events within the Pacific slab near the zone ruptured by the two major events. The stress concentration around the rupture zone of the major events is suggested to have triggered these slab events. After the occurrence of the large events, the slab events are concentrated near the deeper portion of the rupture zone. These events may have been caused by the loading of the down-dip compressional stress near the down-dip end of the rupture zone due to the rupture. The occurrence of the doublet of large earthquakes and a number of down-dip compressional events beneath their rupture zones in a shallow portion of the subducting slab indicates an unusual zone of seismic coupling in the Bonin arc, most of which is seismically quiescent.     

Triassic mid-oceanic sedimentation in Panthalassa Ocean: Sambosan accretionary complex, Japan

Abstract   The Sambosan accretionary complex of southwest Japan was formed during the uppermost Jurassic to lowermost Cretaceous and consists of basaltic rocks, carbonates and siliceous rocks. The Sambosan oceanic rocks were grouped into four stratigraphic successions: (i) Middle Upper Triassic basaltic rock; (ii) Upper Triassic shallow-water limestone; (iii) limestone breccia; and (iv) Middle Middle Triassic to lower Upper Jurassic siliceous rock successions. The basaltic rocks have a geochemical affinity with oceanic island basalt of a normal hotspot origin. The shallow-water limestone, limestone breccia, and siliceous rock successions are interpreted to be sediments on the seamount-top, upper seamount-flank and surrounding ocean floor, respectively. Deposition of the radiolarian chert of the siliceous rock succession took place on the ocean floor in Late Anisian and continued until Middle Jurassic. Oceanic island basalt was erupted to form a seamount by an intraplate volcanism in Late Carnian. Late Triassic shallow-water carbonate sedimentation occurred at the top of this seamount. Accumulation of the radiolarian chert was temporally replaced by Late Carnian to Early Norian deep-water pelagic carbonate sedimentation. Biotic association and lithologic properties of the pelagic carbonates suggest that an enormous production and accumulation of calcareous planktonic biotas occurred in an open-ocean realm of the Panthalassa Ocean in Late Carnian through Early Norian. Upper Norian ribbon chert of the siliceous rock succession contains thin beds of limestone breccia displaced from the shallow-water buildup resting upon the seamount. The shallow-water limestone and siliceous rock successions are nearly coeval with one another and are laterally linked by displaced carbonates in the siliceous rock succession.     

Jointing of two tunnel shields using artificial underground freezing

Freezing was used in the jointing section of two shields (diameter 3.14 m) which ran across at right angles and at 25-m depth under the crossing of main roads for the construction of a 2.4-m diameter sewer tunnel. The object of freezing was to create a frozen barrier to prevent the inflow of water and fine sand into the area to be excavated.

Thirty-five freeze pipes (length about 7 m) were placed from one shield conically in the direction of the flank of another shield with freeze pipes attached to its inside wall. The cooling unit was placed on unoccupied land at about 60 m distant from the jointing section and the freeze pipes were connected with the cooling unit by supply and return pipelines.

The cooling unit had a cooling capacity of 79,000 kcal/h at an evaporation temperature of −27°C and a condensation temperature of +40°C. Freezing was continued for 180 days and the CaCl₂ brine temperature was −25 to −30°C. These works were accomplished without the sinking of shaft and the use of injection, in complete safety with no traffic restriction on the road surface.     

Impact of flood events on macrobenthic community structure on an intertidal flat developing in the Ohta River Estuary

We investigated the effects of river floods on the macrobenthic community of the intertidal flat in the Ohta River Estuary, Japan, from 2005 to 2010. Sediment erosion by flood events ranged from about 2–3 cm to 12 cm, and the salinity dropped to 0‰ even during low-intensity flood events. Cluster analysis of the macrobenthic population showed that the community structure was controlled by the physical disturbance, decreased salinity, or both. The opportunistic polychaete Capitella sp. was the most dominant species in all clusters, and populations of the long-lived polychaete Ceratonereis erythraeensis increased in years with stable flow and almost disappeared in years with intense flooding. The bivalve Musculista senhousia was also an important opportunistic species that formed mats in summer of the stable years and influenced the structure of the macrobenthic community. Our results demonstrate the substantial effects of flood events on the macrobenthic community structure.     

Comment on ‘Clinoform quantification for assessing the effects of external forcing on continental margin development’

The application of geometric modeling to shelf‐margin stratigraphy has the potential to constrain interpretations of external forcings on margin development. Here we apply such a model to the Ebro margin in order to complement the analysis of Kertznus & Kneller (2009) . Our results suggest that increased mass wasting in the Pleistocene was unlikely to have been a factor in the observed long‐term shelf‐edge trajectory, and that the trajectory can be explained by the interaction of sediment flux, relative sea‐level rise, and basin shape.     

Diurnal surface temperature difference index derived from ground-based meteorological measurements for assessment of moisture availability

Droughts have become widespread in the Northern Hemisphere, including in China, where they have affected farmland resources on the Loess Plateau. Given this background, we proposed a new index, the Normalized Day-Night Surface Temperature Index (NTDI), to estimate moisture availability (m_a), defined as the ratio of actual to reference evapotranspiration. The NTDI is defined as the ratio of the difference between the maximum daytime surface temperature and the minimum nighttime surface temperature, to the difference between the maximum and minimum surface temperatures estimated from meteorological data by applying energy balance equations.To calculate the index, we used data of 20 clear-sky meteorological observations made during the 2005 growing season at a natural grassland station in the Liudaogou River basin on the Loess Plateau. The NTDI showed a significant inverse exponential correlation with m_a (R² = 0.97, p < 0.001), whereas the numerator of the index (the maximum daytime surface temperature minus the minimum nighttime surface temperature) was only weakly correlated with m_a (R² = 0.24, p = 0.03). This result indicates that normalization relative to the index denominator (maximum surface temperature − minimum surface temperature) dramatically improved the accuracy of the estimate.