A New Coastal Marine Ecosystem Model Study Coupled with Hydrodynamics and Tidal Flat Ecosystem Effect

A new coastal marine ecosystem model was developed, which was composed of pelagic and benthic ecosystems, and was applied to Mikawa Bay, Japan. This model deals with variations of biochemical and physical interactions among dissolved oxygen and C–N–P species (composition formed out of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus elements) so that it resolves the flux dynamics of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and oxygen elements. The physical and biochemical mechanism figured in this model is constructed for the purpose of simulating the estuarine lower trophic ecosystem, in areas where the sea was too deep for light to reach the sea-bottom. As a result of coupling the benthic with pelagic system, the effect of process of sedimentation and nutrient diffusion back to the pelagic system could be indicated. In addition, by implementing the tidal flat ecosystem model's calculation result, the integrated model can include the effect of water purification in tidal flats where the light can reach the sea-bottom, and where sea-weed, sea grass and benthic algae exist. In this study, the model indicates that oxygen-depleted water exists at the sea-bottom especially in summer mainly caused by an increase of oxygen consumption in the benthic system and a decrease of the vertical mixing water process. Furthermore, by comparing the case – with the tidal flat ecosystem model and the case without it, the effect of water purification of tidal flat estuaries was indicated. From the viewpoint of a short time scale, the tidal flat has the potential to restrict red tide (rapid increase of phytoplankton), and from the viewpoint of a long time scale, it restricts the sedimentation of detritus. Restricting the sedimentation prevents oxygen-depleted water occurring in the coastal marine system of Mikawa Bay.     

FLUID-FLOW MONITORING USING ELECTROMAGNETIC PROBING*

High-frequency electromagnetic probing is used to monitor the rate and direction of flow of fluids injected into the ground. This method shows the potential for providing more detailed information than procedures presently used. The experimental technique and the test-of-concept experimental results are discussed. This technique has applications in oil-reservoir engineering and in hydrology studies concerning storage of chemical wastes.     

The face of the trench

The deep-sea trenches that occur between unstable chains of volanic arcs and the ocean floor attract great interest because they are the most inaccessible areas of our planet. Now, direct observations of trench faces have become possible by using deep-sea submersibles. This article describes features of the Nankai Trough and the Japan and Kuril Trenches at depths of up to 6000 m.     

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.     

NON-GREYWACKE "TURBIDITE" SANDSTONES IN THE WELSH GEOSYNCLINE

In contrast with the commonly accepted notion regarding ancient turbidites, non-greywacke sandstones are not uncommon in the typically graded turbidite facies of the Cambrian and Silurian sediments in north Wales. The sandstones are the arkosic and lithic types of PETTIJOHN (1957) or the feldspathic and lithic arenites of GILBERT (1954) and occur at the bottom of graded beds when the grain size tends to be above medium grade. Petrological features suggest that debris forming the sandstones in north Wales was not significantly modified during transportation and original provenance characters are well preserved. The occurrence of such sandstones implies that: (1) the current concept of ancient graded greywackes in the turbidite facies should be revised; (2) non-greywacke sandstones in ancient turbidites are comparable in petrological features to recent deep-sea sands; (3) these sandstones are important in connection with the origin of the clay matrix in greywacke.     

Calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphic study of forearc basin sediments: Lower to Upper Cretaceous Budden Canyon Formation (Great Valley Group), northern California,USA

The results of a calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphic investigation of the North Fork Cottonwood Creek section of the Budden Canyon Formation (BCF; Hauterivian–Turonian) in northern California are summarized using the Boreal – cosmopolitan Boreal Nannofossil Biostratigraphy (BC) – Upper Cretaceous Nannofossil Biostratigraphy (UC) nannofossil zonal schemes of Bown et al. and Burnett et al. Sixteen intervals, ranging from the BC15 to UC8 zones, were established in the section. Combined biostratigraphic and magnetostratigraphic studies suggest a Hauterivian to mid‐Turonian age for the studied sequence. The Hauterivian–Barremian, Barremian–Aptian, Aptian–Albian, Albian–Cenomanian, and Cenomanian–Turonian stage boundaries were delineated near the top of the Ogo Member, below the Huling Sandstone Member, within the upper Chickabally Member, in the upper portion of the Bald Hills Member and within the Gas Point Member, respectively. Unconformities probably exist at the base of the Huling Sandstone Member and the upper part of the upper Chickabally Member. The nannofossil assemblage in the North Fork Cottonwood Creek suggests that the study area was under the influence of cold‐water conditions during the Barremian to Lower Aptian interval, shifting to tropical/warm‐water conditions during the Albian to Turonian interval as a result of the mid‐Cretaceous global warming. Although oceanic anoxic events have not yet been reported in the BCF, preliminary total organic carbon, along with nannofossil data, suggest the presence of the global Cenomanian–Turonian boundary oceanic anoxic event 2.     

Hayabusa‐returned sample curation in the Planetary Material Sample Curation Facility of JAXA

Abstract– The Planetary Material Sample Curation Facility of JAXA (PMSCF/JAXA) was established in Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan, to curate planetary material samples returned from space in conditions of minimum terrestrial contaminants. The performances for the curation of Hayabusa‐returned samples had been checked with a series of comprehensive tests and rehearsals. After the Hayabusa spacecraft had accomplished a round‐trip flight to asteroid 25143 Itokawa and returned its reentry capsule to the Earth in June 2010, the reentry capsule was brought back to the PMSCF/JAXA and was put to a series of processes to extract recovered samples from Itokawa. The particles recovered from the sample catcher were analyzed by electron microscope, given their ID, grouped into four categories, and preserved in dimples on quartz slide glasses. Some fraction of them has been distributed for initial analyses at NASA, and will be distributed for international announcement of opportunity (AO), but a certain fraction of them will be preserved in vacuum for future analyses.