Anatomy and genesis of a subduction-related orogen: A new view of geotectonic subdivision and evolution of the Japanese Islands

Abstract The Japanese Islands represent a segment of a 450 million year old subduction-related orogen developed along the western Pacific convergent margin. The geotectonic subdivision of the Japanese Islands is newly revised on the basis of recent progress in the 1980s utilizing microfossil and chronometric mapping methods for ancient accretionary complexes and their high-P/T metamorphic equivalents. This new subdivision is based on accretion tectonics, and it contrasts strikingly with previous schemes based on‘geosyncline’tectonics, continent-continent collision-related tectonics, or terrane tectonics. Most of the geotectonic units in Japan are composed of Late Paleozoic to Cenozoic accretionary complexes and their high-PIT metamorphic equivalents, except for two units representing fragments of Precambrian cratons, which were detached from mainland Asia in the Tertiary. These ancient accretionary complexes are identified using the method of oceanic plate stratigraphy. The Japanese Islands are comprised of 12 geotectonic units, all noted in southwest Japan, five of which have along-arc equivalents in the Ryukyus. Northeast Japan has nine of these 12 geotectonic units, and East Hokkaido has three of these units. Recent field observations have shown that most of the primary geotectonic boundaries are demarcated by low-angle faults, and sometimes modified by secondary vertical normal and/or strike-slip faults. On the basis of these new observations, the tectonic evolution of the Japanese Islands is summarized in the following stages: (i) birth at a rifted Yangtze continental margin at ca 750–700 Ma; (ii) tectonic inversion from passive margin to active margin around 500 Ma; (iii) successive oceanic subduction beginning at 450 Ma and continuing to the present time; and (iv) isolation from mainland Asia by back-arc spreading at ca 20 Ma. In addition, a continent-continent collision occurred between the Yangtze and Sino-Korean cratons at 250 Ma during stage three. Five characteristic features of the 450 Ma subduction-related orogen are newly recognized here: (i) step-wise (not steady-state) growth of ancient accretionary complexes; (ii) subhorizontal piled nappe structure; (iii) tectonically downward-younging polarity; (iv) intermittent exhumation of high-P/T metamorphosed accretionary complex; and (v) microplate-induced modification. These features suggest that the subduction-related orogenic growth in Japan resulted from highly episodic processes. The episodic exhumation of high-P/T units and the formation of associated granitic batholith (i.e. formation of paired metamorphic belts) occurred approximately every 100 million years, and the timing of such orogenic culmination apparently coincides with episodic ridge subduction beneath Asia.     

Spectroscopic properties of Cr-doped melilite crystals

 Four kinds of Cr-droped melilite crystals, Ca₂MgSi₂O₇ (akermanite), CaAl₂SiO₇ (gehlenite), CaGa₂SiO₇ (Ga-gehlenite) and CaGa₂GeO₇ (GaGe-gehlenite), with different sizes of the sites for Cr ions to substitute, were grown in series, using both the CZ and FZ techniques. Although Cr⁴⁺ is regarded as a major species in melilites, the existence of Cr⁶⁺ in gehlenite is also suggested from the change in absorption spectra by annealing, and the dependence of distribution coefficient of Cr ions on growth atmosphere. Spectral peak shifts are not obvious if the host crystal field is altered in melilites, because the local environment of the sites for Cr ion is possibly changed by reforming the packing features of the host lattice. Received February 7, 1996 / Revised, accepted September 20, 1996     

Effects of Interannual Variability in the Eastern Indian Ocean on the Indonesian Throughflow

The influences of the large-scale interannual variations in the eastern Indian Ocean on the variability of the Indonesian throughflow are investigated by using an ocean general circulation model, driven by the ERS satellite winds from July 1992 to June 1997. The empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis of the simulated surface dynamic height variability captures two dominant modes on an interannual time scale, which are quite consistent with the available observations. The first mode indicates large amplitude in the western tropical Pacific and has a strong relation to the El Niño events, while the second EOF exhibits the large amplitude in the eastern Indian Ocean. The simulated net Indonesian throughflow shows an interannual variation of amplitude of about 15 Sv, with large transport from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean during 1994/95 and small transport during 1992 and 1997. It turns out that the net throughflow variation shows a high correlation with the second EOF mode (r = 0.51) for the whole five-year simulation. On the other hand, the correlation with the first mode is rather low (r = ?0.07). However, the relative importance of the EOF modes to the throughflow variability changes with time. The upper-layer transport above a depth of 230 m in the Indonesian archipelago is also affected by the second mode. The difference in the upper-layer transport across 1°S and 110°E generates warm water convergence/divergence with a magnitude of 4 Sv within the Indonesian Seas on the interannual time scale, which shows good correspondence with sea surface temperature variation averaged over the Indonesian archipelago.     

Measurement of directional spectrum of wind waves using an array of wave detectors

A method is proposed to estimate the true directional spectrum of wind waves by making use of more than four wave detectors. The true spectrum of wind waves whose wave lengths lie between about 1.1 and 2.6 times the largest span between the wave gauges can be recovered with an error less than 0.5 %. An additional wave gauge with fixed maximum span extends its effectivity to shorter wave lengths, but does not effect the upper limit of wave length.The method is based on the fact that the spectrum estimated byBarber (1961) is connected with true directional spectrum by the Fredholm integral equation of the first kind if the wave component satisfies the dispersion relation. Solving the equation by using the Fourier series method, we can get true spectrum.     

A model on the mechanism of momentum transfer from turbulent atmosphere to water waves

Interaction between the turbulence and the wave-induced air disturbances is treated by use of the mass and momentum conservation equations and the rapid distortion assumption. Assuming the correlation functions of the velocity derivatives, growth rates of waves are calculated. The growth rate obtained for the reasonable values of parameters shows the agreement with that obtained in the laboratory experiment byKendall (1970) and in the field experiments.     

Errors in sampling procedure for the determination of dissolved oxygen by Winkler method

Sources of systematic error in the sampling procedure by Winkler method were examined. In the laboratory experiment, the dissolution of atmospheric oxygen into oxygenfree sea water during sampling amounts to 0.022 ml/l, and the effect of dissolved oxygen in sea water remaining in oxygen bottle is 0.019 ml/l. The effect of reagents added amounts to 0.017 ml/l. In the sampling procedures aboard, the effect of dissolution became bigger, and the table is presented for the correction to the reported value of dissolved oxygen measured by the “Manual of Oceanographic Observation”. The corrected value of dissolved oxygen in the routine analysis may not be correct within 0.02 ml/l.     

Heat and salt balances in the Seto Inland Sea

Seasonal variations of heat and salt balances are estimated in the Seto Inland Sea with the use of a numerical experiment.The surface effect is dominant with respect to the heat balance. In spring, however, the effect of the horizontal heat transport is the same as or greater than that of the surface heating (or cooling). Annual mean heat transport is 85 cal cm^–2 day^–1 (356 J cm^–2 day^–1) which is supplied from the open ocean and lost through the sea surface in the Inland Sea as a whole. Because of the shallow water depth, heat is supplied through the surface and carried out by the horizontal heat transport in Hiuchi- and Bingo-nada in the annual mean. The heat transport has the opposite sense to that in the whole Seto Inland Sea and annual mean transport is negative (–10 cal cm^–2 day^–1,i.e., –42 J cm^–2 day^–1).The salt balance is primarily controlled by the river discharge and the surface effect (precipitation) in June and July. In the other months, the effects of horizontal salt transport, of river inflow and of sea surface exchange (especially of the evaporation in autumn) are comparable to each other. In the Bungo Channel the river effect is relatively small. Osaka Bay and the Kii Channel are characterized by a smaller surface effect.Contribution No. 446 from Tohoku Regional Fisheries Research Laboratory.     

Testing of the bandpass eddy covariance method for a long-term measurement of water vapour flux over a forest

The bandpass eddy covariance method has been used to measure the turbulent flux of scalar quantities using a slow-responsescalar sensor. The method issimilar in principle to the traditional eddy correlation method but includes the estimation of high-frequency components of the flux on the basis of cospectral similarity in the atmospheric surface layer. In order to investigate the performance of the method, measurements of the water vapour flux over a forest with the bandpass eddy covariance method and the direct eddy correlation method were compared. The flux obtained by the bandpass eddy covariance method agreed with that by the eddy correlation method within ±20% for most cases, in spite of a rather slow sensor-response of the adopted hygrometer. This result supports its relevance to a long-term continuous operation, since a stable, low-maintenance,general-purpose sensor canbe utilized for scalar quantities. Oneweak point of the method isits difficulty in principle to measure the correct flux when the magnitude of the sensible heat flux is very small, because the method uses the sensible heat flux as a standard reference for the prediction of undetectable high-frequency components of the scalar flux. An advanced method is then presented to increase its robustness. In the new method, output signals from a slow-response sensor are corrected using empirical frequency-responsefunctions for the sensor,thereby extending the width of the bandpass frequency region where components of the flux are directly measured (not predicted). The advanced method produced correct fluxes for all cases including the cases of small sensible heat flux. The advanced bandpass eddy covariance method is thus appropriate for along-term measurement of the scalar fluxes.     

日本地震预警系统在2011年3月11日地震中的效能、不足与改进

自2007年10月以来,成熟的公共紧急地震速报(earthquake early warning,EEW)系统(国内称为地震预警系统)在日本得到应用。2011年日本东北近海(Tohokuoki)地震和海啸(也被称为3·11)发生时,震中附近的几百万人在最严重的振动发生前约15~20s,收到了地震预警(EEW)信息,同时更多周边地区的人在不太严重的振动开始前,有更多的预警时间。这些人中大约90%能够预先采取行动拯救自己及其家庭成员的生命,或根据事先计划采取其他措施,有些行为措施是基于对警报的直观反应。如此高的效率,取决于学校及社会中关于EEW系统知识的教育。尽管EEW系统存在着一些不足,但其有效性促使日本加密现有的地震与海啸监测台网。该台网在日本东部近海岛弧有约150个台站,并提供一个特殊的终端,使EEW系统更进一步应用在超过53 000名学生的学校中。当前对其分析和发布方案的改进也正在进行中。