Rainstorm-induced landslides at Kisawa village, Tokushima Prefecture, Japan, August 2004

Heavy rain fell on the Shikoku area during Typhoon Namtheun, setting a new record for daily rainfall in Japan of 1317 mm. The rain which peaked at 120 mm/h, triggered numerous landslides in the Nakagawa basin of Tokushima Prefecture, Japan on August 1, 2004. Among them, four large, rapid, long-runout landslides were triggered at Kisawa village. Two people were caught in one landslide and disappeared without trace, and there was much property damage. Ring-shear tests on samples from the landslides showed that shear resistance was greatly reduced by high pore-water pressure after shear failure was triggered by the increase in ground-water level during the rain.     

Seasonal Variability of the Yellow Sea／East China Sea Surface Fluxes and Thermohaline Structure

We use the U.S. Navy‘s Master Oceanographic Observation Data Set (MOODS) for the Yellow Sea/East China Sea (YES) to investigate the climatological water mass features and the seasonal and non-seasonal variabilities of the thermohaline structure, and use the Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere Data Set (COADS) from 1945 to 1989 to investigate the linkage between the fluxes (momentum, heat, and moisture) across the air-ocean interface and the formation of the water mass features. After examining the major current systems and considering the local bathymetry and water mass properties, we divide YES into five regions: East China Sea (ECS) shelf, Yellow Sea (YS) Basin, Cheju bifurcation (CB) zone,Taiwan Warm Current (TWC) region, Kuroshio Current (KC) region. The long term mean surface heat balance corresponds to a heat loss of 30 W m^-2 in the ESC and CB regions, a heat loss of 65 W m^-2 in the KC and TWC regions, and a heat gain of 15 W m^-2 in the YS region. The surface freshwater balance is defined by precipitation minus evaporation. The annual water loss from the surface for the five subarea sranges from 1.8 to 4 cm month^-1. The fresh water loss from the surface should be compensated for from the river run-off. The entire water column of the shelf region (ECS, YS, and CB) undergoes an evident seasonal thermal cycle with maximum values of temperature during summer and maximum mixed layer depths during winter. However, only the surface waters of the TWC and KC regions exhibit a seasonal thermal cycle. We also found two different relations between surface salinity and the Yangtze River run-off,namely, out-of-phase in the East China Sea shelf and in-phase in the Yellow Sea. This may confirm an earlier study that the summer fresh water discharge from the Yangtze River forms a relatively shallow, low salinity plume-like structure extending offshore on average towards the northeast.     

Electrostatic instability excited by an electron beam trapped in the magnetic mirror of the magnetosphere

A dispersion relation which takes into account the nonuniformity of the magnetic field as well as the plasma density along the field lines is obtained for an electrostatic wave propagating parallel to the magnetic field. This dispersion relation is solved for a particular case in which a group of electrons with a monochromatic distribution in magnetic moment is mixed with a low energy plasma. Such electrons are shown to excite ion acoustic waves carried by the low-energy plasma component near multiples of the bounce frequency of these electrons. The theoretical results are applied to explain electrostatic oscillations with a period of approximately fifty seconds observed in the high energy electron fluxes at synchronous altitude.     

Tomographic imaging of seismic velocity structure in and around the Onikobe volcanic area, northeastern Japan: implications for fluid distribution

We estimated three-dimensional P- (V_p) and S-wave velocity (V_s) and V_p/V_s structures in and around the Onikobe volcanic area, northeastern Japan, by local travel time tomography. We used travel time data from source and receiver pairs located within and outside the study area, which plays an important role in obtaining the optimum ray coverage and in elucidating the deeper structure more accurately. Detailed information on deeper structures is essential for imaging the complete volcanic system from the magmatic source zone through areas of shallow hydrothermal circulation. More than 50 000 travel time data for the P-waves and 35 000 for the S-waves were used to image the velocity structure. Our results show the following dominant features: (1) two conduits in the upper crust with low V_p and low V_s indicative of H₂O-rich fluid pathways: one lying beneath Naruko volcano, the other beneath the focal area of the 1962 Northern Miyagi earthquake (M6.5); (2) an underlying broad region in the lower crust with low V_p, low V_s and high V_p/V_s, suggestive of a zone of partial melt, from which the fluids in (1) are derived; and (3) low V_p/V_s areas near the surface of the Sanzugawa and Onikobe calderas, suggesting a diffuse vapor-saturated cap.     

Tectonothermal evolution of the Lesser Himalaya, Nepal: Constraints from 40Ar/39Ar ages from the Kathmandu Nappe

Abstract The Himalaya is a fold-and-thrust wedge formed along the northern margin of the Indian continent, and consists of three thrust-bounded lithotectonic units; the Sub-Himalaya, the Lesser Himalaya, and the Higher Himalaya with the overlying Tethys Himalaya from south to north, respectively. The orogen-scale, intracrustal thrusts which bound the above lithotectonic units are splays off an underlying subhorizontal dkcollement, and show a southward propagating piggy-back sequence with an out-of-sequence thrust. Among these thrusts, the Main Central Thrust zone (MCT zone) has played a major role in Himalayan tectonics. The MCT zone represents a shear zone which has accommodated southward thrusting of the Higher Himalayan crystalline thrust sheet over the Lesser Himalayan sequence for ～140 km. The Kathmandu Nappe in central Nepal has been transported over the Lesser Himalayan metasediments along the MCT zone, and is locally separated from the Higher Himalayan thrust sheet in the north by an out-of-sequence thrust. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages have been determined for one whole-rock phyllite and six muscovite concentrates from metasedimenta-ry rocks and variably deformed granites in the Kathmandu Nappe. These ages range from 44 Ma to 14 Ma, and suggest a record of both Eo-Himalayan (Eocene) and Neo-Himalayan (Miocene) tectonothermal events in the Tertiary Himalayan orogeny. The Miocene event was associated with translation along the MCT zone. No tectonothermal event of the Late Miocene to Early Pliocene ages have been reported near the MCT zone in southern Lesser Himalayan crystalline nappe or klippe, although such events have been documented within and around the MCT zone in the northern root zone of the Higher Himalaya. This suggests that out-of-sequence thrusting may have occurred between 14 Ma and 5 Ma, probably during the period 10-7.5 Ma. Since then the frontal MCT zone below the Kathmandu Nappe has been inactive, but the MCT zone in the northern root zone has remained active. The rapid increase in denudation rates of the Higher Himalaya since the Late Miocene may have been caused by ramping along the out-of-sequence thrust at depth.     

A method for determining both diffusion and sorption coefficients of rock medium within a few days by adopting a micro-reactor technique

Migration properties characterized by physico-chemical factors such as distribution coefficient (K_d) and diffusion coefficient (D_e) are of great concern in performance assessment of high-level radioactive waste disposal in a deep geologic environment. These coefficients are normally obtained with different sample geometries using conventional methods, i.e., crushed samples by the batch sorption method for K_d determination and block samples by the through-diffusion method for D_e. A size dependence on both K_d and D_e has been reported and an additional correction due to size difference is required to maintain consistency of the data set. A fast method was developed, hereafter referred to as the micro-channel method, to determine both the sorption coefficient (R_d) and D_e using non-crushed rock sample by adopting the micro-reactor technique. In this method, a radionuclide solution is injected into a micro-channel (20 mm length, 4 mm width, 160 μm depth), which is in contact with a plate-shaped rock sample. A part of the injected radionuclide can diffuse into the rock matrix and/or adsorb on the rock surface and this results in an inlet-outlet concentration difference. A breakthrough curve is easily obtained with a short observation period because the injection amount is extremely small and is comparable to that escaping by diffusion into the matrix. The breakthrough curve is analyzed by a two-dimensional diffusion-advection equation to evaluate R_d and D_e.In the present study, tritiated water (specific activity, 1.2 × 10⁴ Bq/mL; pH, 6) was injected into the micro-channel, and the breakthrough curve of ³H obtained. A series of experiments was carried out by changing the flow rate of the tritiated water (2.6 × 10⁻⁵–7.7 × 10⁻⁴ m/s). Rock samples were biotite granite from the Makabe area, Japan. The diffusion coefficient evaluated by least squares fitting to the numerical solutions (D_e = 1.5 × 10⁻¹¹ m²/s) agreed well with that obtained by the through-diffusion method (1.3 × 10⁻¹¹ m²/s). The breakthrough curve of Cs ([Cs] = 1.0 × 10⁻⁷ mol/L, pH 6) labeled with ¹³⁴Cs (specific activity adjusted to 4.9 × 10¹ Bq/mL) was also obtained. A nearly constant R_d value (5.5 × 10⁻² m³/kg) was found when the flow rate was less than 2.5 × 10⁻⁴ m/s. This implied that the sorption equilibrium is reached and K_d is obtained by the present method. This value was almost identical to K_d obtained by the batch sorption method (5.0 × 10⁻² m³/kg), but the testing period was very different; 1 day and 7 days, respectively. It is concluded that application of the micro-channel method provided advantages when compared with the conventional methods.     

Two Se-bearing Ag–Bi Sulphosalts, Benjaminite and Matildite from the Ikuno Deposits, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan –Au–Ag Mineralization in Polymetallic Zone

Abstract: Se-bearing benjaminite and matildite are described from the polymetallic zone of the Ikuno deposits, Japan. The former is the first occurrence in Japan, and is from two separate veins, the Nanten and Daimaru, while the locality of the latter could not be specified. The empirical formulae of two benjaminites based on 22 atoms are (Ag_{2. 74}Cu_{0. 24})_{Σ2. 98}(Bi_{7. 00}Sb_{0. 01})_{Σ7. 01}(S_{10. 89}Se_{1. 12})_{Σ12. 01} (Nanten) and (Ag_{2. 90}Cu_{0. 10})_{Σ3. 00}(Bi_{6. 74}Pb_{0. 18}Sb_{0. 07})_{Σ6. 99}(S_{11. 68}Se_{0.33)Σ12. 01} (Daimaru), leading to the validation of the formula Ag₃Bi₇S₁₂ as the ideal one for benjaminite, and that of matildite based on 4 atoms is Ag_{1. 00}Bi_{1. 00}(S_{1. 78}Se_{0. 22})Σ_{2. 00}. These designate the substitution of Se for S in all of them, where Se is preferentially incorporated into these Ag-Bi sulphosalts. The unit-cell parameters of them and matildite are: a 13. 272, b 4. 037, c 20. 185 Å, and β 103. 16° (Daimaru), a 13. 270, b 4. 040, c 20. 273 Å, and β103. 17° (Nanten); and a 4. 0670, c 18. 996 Å, respectively. The products of Au-Ag mineralization in the Ikuno polymetallic vein-type deposits also occur as such Ag-Bi sulfosalts as benjaminite and matildite, in addition to pavonite, “treasurite derivative” and “electrum” with cassiterite in the polymetallic zone, and also do as “electrum”, acanthite, and pyrargyrite-proustite in the Au-Ag zone. The significant quantity of the Ag-Bi sulfosalts does not violate the zoning occupying the outermost part of the zonal distribution of ores in the deposits.     

Vesicle layering in solidified intrusive magma bodies: a newly recognized type of igneous structure

 We report a novel type of layering structure in igneous rocks. The layering structure in the Ogi picrite sill in Sado Island, Japan, is spatially periodic, and appears to be caused by the variation in vesicle volume fraction. The gas phase forming the vesicles apparently exsolved from the interstitial melt at the final stage of solidification of the magma body. We call this type of layering caused by periodic vesiculation in the solidifying magma body "vesicle layering." The presence of vesicle layering in other basic igneous bodies (pillow lava at Ogi and dolerite sill at Atsumi, Japan) implies that it may be a fairly common igneous feature. The width of individual layers slightly, but regularly, increases with distance from the upper contact. The layering plane is perpendicular to the long axes of columnar joints, regardless of gravitational direction, suggesting that the formation of vesicles is mainly controlled by the temperature distribution in the cooling magma body. We propose a model of formation of vesicle layering which is basically the same as that for Liesegang rings. The interplay between the diffusion of heat and magmatic volatiles in melt, and the sudden vesiculation upon supersaturation, both play important roles. Received: 15 February 1996 / Accepted: 24 June 1996     

The 1989 submarine eruption off eastern Izu Peninsula,Japan: ejecta and eruption mechanisms

The submarine eruption of a new small knoll, which was named Teishi knoll, off eastern Izu Peninsula behind the Izu-Mariana arc occurred in the evening of 13 July 1989. This is the first historic eruption of the Higashi-Izu monogenetic volcano group. The eruption of 13 July followed an earthquake swarm near Ito city starting on 30 June. There were subsequent volcanic tremors on 11 and 12 July, and the formation of the Teishi knoll on the 100 m deep insular shelf 4 km northeast of Ito city. There were five submarine explosions, which were characterized by intermittent domelike bulges of water and black tephra-jets, which occurred within 10 min on 13 July. Ejecta of the eruption was small in volume and composed of highly crystalline basalt scoria, highly vesiculated pumice, and lithic material. Petrographical features suggest that the pumice was produced by vesiculation of reheated wet felsic tuff of an older formation. The Teishi knoll, before the eruption, was a circular dome, 450 m across and 25 m high, with steep sides and a flat summit. Considerations of submarine topographic change indicate the knoll was raised by sill-like intrusion of 10⁶ m³ of magma beneath a 30 m thick sediment blanket. This shallow intrusion is assumed to have started on 11 July when volcanic tremors were observed for the first time, but there was no indications of violent interaction between wet host sediments and intruding magma. The submarine eruption of 13 July appears to have been Friggered by a major lowering of the magma-column. The basalt scoria, having crystal-contents of more than 60%, is assumed to be derived from the cooled plastic margin of the shallow intrusive body. However, glassy scoria, which would indicate the interaction between hot fluidal magma and external water, was not observed. A scenario for the 1989 submarine eruption is as follows. When rapid subsidence of the hot interior of the intrusive magma occurred, reduced pressure caused the implosion of cooled plastic magma, adjacent pressurized, hot host material, and wet sediment. The mixing of these materials triggered the vigorous vapor explosions.     

Locations of Jovian decametric radiation sources

The location of the Jovian decametric radiation main source is determined to be the south magnetic pole while the location of the early source is found to be near the north magnetic pole, with an equal contribution from a region near the south magnetic pole. The results are based on calculations of the region observable from the Earth (ROE) for Jovian decametric radio waves that are emitted in the direction ± 10° centered on the direction perpendicular to the Jovian magnetic field and based on a Pioneer 11 model of the field at the level of the topside region of the Jovian ionosphere. Ground-based observations of the occurrence frequency of the decametric radiation as a function of Jovian longitude, which indicate a remarkable asymmetry between the early and main sources, agree with the calculated ROE area that varies as a function of CML observed from the Earth. The observations support a recent theory for the origin of the decametric radiation which is based on a wave-mode conversion from plasma waves into electromagnetic waves.