Japanese Astrometry Satellite Mission for Infrared Exploration

JASMINE is the name of a Japanese infrared (K-band) scanning astrometric satellite. JASMINE (I and/or II-project) is planned to be launched between 2013 and 2017 and will measure parallaxes and proper motions with the precision of 10μas at K≃ 12 - 15 mag. JASMINE will observe a few hundred million stars belonging to the disk and the bulge components of our Galaxy, which are hidden by the interstellar dust extinction in optical bands. Furthermore, JASMINE will also obtain photometry of stars in K, J and H-bands. The main objective of JASMINE is to study the most fundamental structure and evolution of the disk and the bulge components of the Milky Way Galaxy. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Rare earth elements and Opal/CaCO<Subscript>3</Subscript> ratio of sinking particles observed with a time-series sediment trap at the mouth of Tokyo Bay

A time-series sediment trap was deployed from December 1994 to February 2002 at the mouth of Tokyo Bay (35°03′ N, 139°40′ E; water depth, 850 m). Sinking particles were obtained with a time interval of one week at a depth of approximately 100 m above the sea floor. Observed total mass fluxes varied from 3.3 to 226.7 g/m²/day with an average of 28.0 g/m²/day. Concentrations of rare earth elements, Al, Ca and Si in particulate materials were measured. The combustible fraction at 450°C is assumed to be equivalent to the organic matter content. Contents of biogenic materials, namely organic matter, opal and calcium carbonate, were about 30% and the content of lithogenic material was about 70%. Using La/Yb ratios of particles from the sediment trap and Tama-gawa River and surface sediment of Tokyo Bay, it was estimated that about 50% of the lithogenic particles collected in the sediment trap at the mouth of Tokyo Bay originated from resuspended surface sediment in Tokyo Bay. An increasing trend of Opal/CaCO₃ ratio in the sinking particles was found in the spring season. It is suggested that the relative increase of diatoms is due to the decreasing dissolved inorganic nitrogen input into Tokyo Bay.     

Morphology and tectonics of the Yap Trench

We conducted swath bathymetry and gravity surveys the whole-length of the Yap Trench, lying on the southeastern boundary of the Philippine Sea Plate. These surveys provided a detailed morphology and substantial insight into the tectonics of this area subsequent the Caroline Ridge colliding with this trench. Horst and graben structures and other indications of normal faulting were observed in the sea-ward trench seafloor, suggesting bending of the subducting oceanic plate. Major two slope breaks were commonly observed in the arc-ward trench slope. The origin of these slope breaks is thought to be thrust faults and lithological boundaries. No flat lying layered sediments were found in the trench axis. These morphological characteristics suggest that the trench is tectonically active and that subduction is presently occurring. Negative peaks of Bouguer anomalies were observed over the arc-ward trench slope. This indicates that the crust is thickest beneath the arc-ward trench slope because the crustal layers on the convergent two plates overlap. Bouguer gravity anomalies over the northern portion of the Yap Arc are positive. These gravity signals show that the Yap Arc is uplifted by dynamic force, even though dense crustal layers underlie the arc. This overlying high density arc possibly forces the trench to have great water depths of nearly 9000 m. We propose a tectonic evolution of the trench. Subduction along the Yap Trench has continued with very slow rates of convergence, although the cessation of volcanism at the Yap Arc was contemporaneous with collision of the Caroline Ridge. The Yap Trench migrated westward with respect to the Philippine Sea Plate after collision, then consumption of the volcanic arc crust occurred, caused by tectonic erosion, and the distance between the arc and the trench consequently narrowed. Lower crustal sections of the Philippine Sea Plate were exposed on the arc-ward trench slope by overthrusting. Intense shearing caused deformation of the accumulated rocks, resulting in their metamorphism in the Yap Arc.     

Fine structure in photoluminescence spectrum of S<Subscript>2</Subscript><Superscript>−</Superscript> center in sodalite

The photoluminescence and excitation spectra of sodalites from Greenland, Canada and Xinjiang (China) are observed at 300 and 10 K in detail. The features of the emission and excitation spectra of the orange-yellow fluorescence of these sodalites are independent of the locality. The emission spectra at 300 and 10 K consist of a broad band with a series of peaks and a maximum peak at 648 and 645.9 nm, respectively. The excitation spectra obtained by monitoring the orange-yellow fluorescence at 300 and 10 K consist of a main band with a peak at 392 nm. The luminescence efficiency of the heat-treated sodalite from Xinjiang is about seven times as high as that of untreated natural sodalite. The emission spectrum of the S₂ ⁻ center in sodalite at 10 K consists of a band with a clearly resolved structure with a series of maxima spaced about 560 cm⁻¹ (20–25 nm) apart. Each narrow band at 10 K shows a fine structure consisting of a small peak due to the stretching vibration of the isotopic species of ³²S³⁴S⁻, a main peak due to that of the isotopic species of ³²S₂ ⁻ and five peaks due to phonon sidebands of the main peak.     

Clockwise 180° rotation of slip direction in a superficial nappe pile emplaced upon a high-P/T type metamorphic terrane in central Japan

Understanding the exhumation process of deep-seated material within subduction zones is important in comprehending the tectonic evolution of active margins. The deformation and slip history of superficial nappe pile emplaced upon high-P/T type metamorphic rocks can reveal the intimate relationship between deformation and transitions in paleo-stress that most likely arose from changes in the direction of plate convergence and exhumation of the metamorphic terrane. The Kinshozan–Atokura nappe pile emplaced upon the high-P/T type Sanbagawa (= Sambagawa) metamorphic rocks is the remnant of a pre-existing terrane located between paired metamorphic terranes along the Median Tectonic Line (MTL) of central Japan. Intra- and inter-nappe structures record the state of paleo-stress during metamorphism and exhumation of the Sanbagawa terrane. The following tectonic evolution of the nappes is inferred from a combined structural analysis of the basal fault of the nappes and their internal structures. The relative slip direction along the hanging wall rotated clockwise by 180°, from S to N, in association with a series of major tectonic changes from MTL-normal contraction to MTL-parallel strike-slip and finally MTL-normal extension. This clockwise rotation of the slip direction can be attributed to changes in the plate-induced regional stress state and associated exhumation of the deep-seated Sanbagawa terrane from the Late Cretaceous (Coniacian) to the Middle Miocene.     

Pre-Japan-ARGO: Experimental Observation of Upper and Middle Layers South of the Kuroshio Extension Region Using Profiling Floats

We deployed two profiling floats in the region south of the Kuroshio Extension in March 2000. Temperature and salinity profiles from a depth of 1500 × 10⁴ Pa to the surface are reported every two and four weeks, respectively. The floats performed very well for first four months after deployment. Later they failed in surfacing for a few months when the sea surface temperature in the region was high. The salinity sensors seemed to suffer from some damage during their failure-in-surfacing period. Despite this trouble, the results clearly demonstrate that the profiling float is a very useful and cost-effective tool for physical oceanographic observation in the open sea. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Nonuniform Distribution Of High-Frequency Turbulence In The Unstable Boundary Layer

Turbulent flow data of wind velocity and temperature in the unstably stratifiedatmospheric boundary layer, derived from steel tower observations in the field and wind-tunnel experiments were used to study the relationship between the plumes and the small-scale eddies in the inertial subrange. Flow visualisation experiments in the wind tunnel were also conducted to observe the structure of the flow in the plumes, and time series data were analysed by using wavelet transforms. The results show that variances of velocity and temperature due to the small-scale eddies are large in the plumes and small outside of the plumes, and that the momentum and heat fluxes due to the small-scale eddies follow the same tendency as found in the variances. The ratios of the variances caused by the small-scale eddies in the plumes to the whole of the variances caused by the small-scale eddies in and out the plumes increase with non-dimensional height -z/L in which L is the local Obukhov length. Similar ratios of the fluxes caused by the small-scale eddies also show the same tendency. These ratios can be expressed as functions of -z/L for results based on field observationand the wind tunnel experiments. This relation hardly changes even if the wavelet function is changed. The flow visualisation experiments show that the plumes have a complicated structure in which mushroom type flows are stacked on top of each other. This characteristic structure seems to increase the energy of the small-scale eddies in the plumes.     

Non-metamorphosed autochthonous Kuncha-Naudanda-Heklang Formations and their differences from those of the Kuncha nappe: A multichronological approach

Non-metamorphosed, autochthonous Lesser Himalayan sediments (LHS), which are correlated to the Kuncha and Naudanda Formations, were found in a narrow belt between the Main Boundary Thrust and the Lesser Himalayan Thrust at the base of the Kuncha nappe in southeastern Nepal. The autochthonous Naudanda Formation is comprised of cross-bedded and rippled orthoquartzite and yielded a maximum depositional age of 1795.1 Ma ±5.1 Ma using detrital zircons. Low-grade metamorphosed quartzite in the Kuncha nappe yielded a maximum depositional age of 1867.4 Ma ±3.4 Ma, although it is totally recrystallized. These ages and age distribution patterns of detrital zircon grains indicate that the meta-quartzite of the nappe is originally Naudanda Formation. A zircon fission-track age of the autochthonous Naudanda Formation shows partially annealed age of 864 Ma ±56 Ma, in contrast, that of the Kuncha nappe shows a totally annealed age of 11.9 Ma ±1.6 Ma. These results suggest that the autochthonous LHS have never undergone metamorphism during the Himalayan orogeny. We also discovered a non-metamorphosed Heklang Formation that rests on the Naudanda Formation, and designated it as a sub-type section on the basis of detailed lithostratigraphic study. It is characterized by black and light green slate with dolerite sills and ill-sorted quartzose sandstone, and correlated to the metamorphosed Dandagaon Phyllites in the Kathmandu area. Non-metamorphosed autochthonous formations distributed to the south of the nappe front suggest that they escaped from thermal metamorphism by hot nappe.