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.     

Zircon U–Pb ages of Miocene granitic rocks in the Koshikijima Islands: Implications for Neogene tectonics in the Kyushu region,southwest Japan

The opening of the Japan Sea separated southwest Japan from the Eurasian continent during the Early to Middle Miocene. Since then, diverse igneous activities have occurred in relation to the subduction of the Philippine Sea Plate beneath southwest Japan. The Okinawa Trough formed in the back-arc region of the Ryukyu Arc since the Late Miocene. In the Koshikijima Islands, off the west coast of Kyushu and near the northern end of the Okinawa Trough, felsic to intermediate igneous rocks with Middle to Late Miocene radiometric ages occur as granitic intrusions and dikes. We obtained zircon U–Pb ages and whole-rock major- and trace-element compositions of Koshikijima granitic rocks to elucidate their magmagenesis. The U–Pb ages of granitic rocks in Kamikoshikijima and Shimokoshikijima and a dacite dike are about 10 Ma, suggesting that most magmatism on the Koshikijima Islands was coeval with early rifting in the Okinawa Trough. We infer that magmagenesis occurred via melting of lower crustal mafic rocks related to rifting in the Okinawa Trough based on the arc-like trace-element compositions of these I-type granites. Andesitic dikes preceded felsic igneous activity on the Koshikijima Islands, and their ages and petrochemistry will help elucidate the magmatism and tectonics in this area throughout the Miocene.     

Measurement of IO radical concentrations in the marine boundary layer using a cavity ring-down spectrometer

An open-path cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS) instrument for measurement of atmospheric iodine monoxide (IO) radicals has been tested in the laboratory and subsequently deployed in Roscoff on the north-west coast of France as part of the Reactive Halogens in the Marine Boundary Layer (RHaMBLe) project in September 2006. In situ measurements are reported of local IO mixing ratios in the marine boundary layer. To obtain these mixing ratios, accurate absorption cross sections of IO are required at the selected wavelengths used for spectroscopic measurements. Absorption cross sections at the bandheads of the IO A²Π_3/2–X²Π_3/2 (3,0) and (2,0) vibronic bands were thus verified by a combination of spectral simulation methods, inter-comparison of prior determinations of cross-sections at high and low spectral resolution, and by measurement of rates of loss of IO by its self-reaction. The performance of the open-path CRDS instrument was tested by measuring concentrations of NO₂ in ambient air, both within and outside the laboratory, with results that were in excellent agreement with a previously validated continuous wave CRDS apparatus for NO₂ detection. During the RHaMBLe campaign, the open-path CRDS instrument was located within a few metres of the shoreline and operated at wavelengths close to 435 nm to detect the absorption of light by trace levels of IO. The IO mixing ratios were obtained on two days, peaked close to low tide, and were approximately 5–10 times higher than values calculated from column densities previously reported by long-path, differential optical absorption spectroscopy (DOAS) in coastal regions. The typical detection limit of the instrument was estimated to be 10 pptv of IO, with some fluctuation around this value depending on the conditions of wind and atmospheric aerosol particles, and the total accumulation time was 30 s for each data point. The observations of relatively high concentration of IO, compared to the values previously reported by DOAS, are consistent with the concurrent observations using a LIF (Laser induced Fluorescence) instrument (Whalley et al. in press). The first such measurements of localized IO by CRDS and LIF should contribute to an improved understanding of the chemistry of halogen compounds and the formation of iodine oxide aerosol particles in the marine boundary layer.     

钻孔千斤顶压裂测量技术的发展和原地测量

为了测量距地表1 000 m以下位置的地壳应力状态,我们研究并开发了钻孔千斤顶压裂技术.技术的原理是:当钻孔千斤顶对钻孔壁加载时,与钻孔轴向平行的方向将会产生两个相对的新裂隙;卸载之后,如果千斤顶对钻孔壁的同一个地方进行施压,这对裂隙将会再次张开.与钻孔轴向垂直的平面上的两个主应力的大小和方向分别是由重张压力和裂隙的方...     

Rainfall event-based landslide susceptibility zonation mapping

Landslide susceptibility assessment is a major research topic in geo-disaster management. In recent days, various landslide susceptibility and landslide hazard assessment methodologies have been introduced with diverse thoughts of assessment and validation method. Fundamentally, in landslide susceptibility zonation mapping, the susceptibility predictions are generally made in terms of likelihoods and probabilities. An overview of landslide susceptibility zoning practices in the last few years reveals that susceptibility maps have been prepared to have different accuracies and reliabilities. To address this issue, the work in this paper focuses on extreme event-based landslide susceptibility zonation mapping and its evaluation. An ideal terrain of northern Shikoku, Japan, was selected in this study for modeling and event-based landslide susceptibility mapping. Both bivariate and multivariate approaches were considered for the zonation mapping. Two event-based landslide databases were used for the susceptibility analysis, while a relatively new third event landslide database was used in validation. Different event-based susceptibility zonation maps were merged and rectified to prepare a final susceptibility zonation map, which was found to have an accuracy of more than 77 %. The multivariate approach was ascertained to yield a better prediction rate. From this study, it is understood that rectification of susceptibility zonation map is appropriate and reliable when multiple event-based landslide database is available for the same area. The analytical results lead to a significant understanding of improvement in bivariate and multivariate approaches as well as the success rate and prediction rate of the susceptibility maps.     

Olivine-rich exposures in the South Pole-Aitken Basin

The distribution and the geological context of the olivine-rich exposures in the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) Basin on the Moon were investigated based on the spectral data obtained from the Spectral Profiler (SP) and Multiband Imager (MI) onboard the Japanese lunar explorer Kaguya/SELENE. The olivine-rich exposures are found only in the peak rings or central peaks of the Schrödinger basin and Zeeman crater, which are located in the outer region of the SPA Basin and not in the center region. On a localized scale, the olivine-rich materials are exposed on landslide features on the crater walls or sloped wall of the central peaks or the peak rings. Another observational finding is the co-existence of olivine-rich and plagioclase-rich materials on a kilometer scale spanning most of the olivine-rich sites in the Schrödinger basin. Pyroxene-rich materials are found in fresh craters outside the peak rings or the central peaks with olivine-rich materials. Based on these results, the following scenario are proposed: (1) the impact to form the SPA Basin melted a large amount of the lunar upper mantle and crust, and distributed the melted materials to the outer region; (2) local differentiation of melted materials hid the olivine-rich materials in the center region of the SPA Basin; (3) later impacts that formed the Schrödinger and Zeeman craters excavated and exposed the olivine-rich materials to the surface again; and (4) space weathering and regolith gardening obscured the olivine-rich spectra at the exposure sites, but recent, small scale impacts or landslides on the sloped wall exposed fresh olivine-rich materials, allowing the identification of the olivine-rich exposures by spectral remote-sensing. This suggests that several, different scale events play an important role in forming the surface distributions of originally deep-seated materials on the Moon, as well as on other planetary bodies.     

Major and trace element abundances in volcanic glass shards in visible tephras in SG93 and SG06 drillcore samples from Lake Suigetsu,central Japan,obtained using femtosecond LA–ICP–MS

The major and trace element concentrations of volcanic glass shards from visible tephra layers in the SG93 and SG06 cores from Lake Suigetsu, central Japan, were determined by femtosecond laser ablation–inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry. The glass-shard analyses, together with the petrographic properties of the tephra samples, allow the Suigetsu tephra layers to be broadly classified into tephras derived from calderas on Kyushu Island, and from Daisen and Sambe volcanoes in the Chugoku district of southwest Japan. The layers correlated with tephras from Kuju caldera and Daisen volcano, and with the younger Sambe tephras, have adakitic elemental features. A Suigetsu tephra sample correlated with the Sambe−Kisuki tephra based on petrographic properties has an elemental pattern similar to that of the Toya tephra from Hokkaido Island, northeast Japan. This match implies that tephras from northeast Japan, as well as Kyushu–Chugoku tephras, are possible correlatives of the Suigetsu tephra layers. Both petrographic properties and major–trace element data of volcanic glass shards are essential for robust tephra correlations, and hierarchical cluster analysis proved additionally useful in statistically evaluating relationships among the tephras.     

Geochemical Assessment of a Subtropical Reservoir: A Case Study in Curitiba,Southern Brazil

Suspended particles and dissolved substances in water provide reactive surfaces, influence metabolic activity and contribute to the net sediment deposition. It therefore plays an important part in the ecology and quality of the water mass. The water quality in reservoirs is crucial and it is naturally maintained by flushing and sedimentation, which continuously remove phosphorus from the water. In some reservoirs, however, these removal processes are countered by recycling of ions which could play a key role to start and/or maintain the eutrophic state. The combination of macro‐, trace‐ and microanalysis techniques can be useful to trace pollution sources through a chemical fingerprint, whether be during an acute environmental disaster or a long‐term release of pollutants. The water quality and total metal content of reservoir sediments were assessed in a reservoir, situated in the capital of the Paraná State, in the South‐Eastern part of Brazil. The goal of this paper was to determine the metal presence in the sediment and metal and ionic speciation in the Green River reservoir water. Water and bed sediment samples, collected from various sites during 2008 and 2009, were investigated using XRF, ICP‐OES, ICP‐MS, XRD and zeta potential measurements. Based on the results, the heavy metal concentration and chemical composition of the suspended matter in the water samples, as well as the sediment's chemical composition will be discussed.     

Origin of sapphirine-bearing garnet-orthopyroxene granulites: possible hydrothermally altered ocean floor

Sapphirine is a metamorphic mineral that forms in the deep crust in rocks with distinctive bulk compositions, in particular high concentrations of Mg and Al. This study investigates a thin, discontinuous layer of sapphirine-bearing garnet-orthopyroxene (SGO) granulite within a Palaeoproterozoic mafic granulite together with metamorphosed mafic and ultramafic rocks, micaceous rocks rich in magnetite and pyrite, and marble. All of these rocks occur within a low-strain zone in the Lewisian complex of South Harris, NW Scotland. Data on mineral compositions and major, trace, and rare earth element (REE) patterns provide evidence for the origin of the precursor of the SGO granulite. The host mafic granulite has a trace element signature and REE pattern comparable with that of E-type MORB. The chemical abundances of Nb, Ta, La, Ce, Nd, Zr, Hf, Ti, and V in the SGO granulite, except for one sample that records total element loss, are similar to those of the host mafic granulite; however, in terms of whole-rock element abundances, the former is relatively enriched in MgO and depleted in CaO, Na₂O, MnO, Sr, and Eu. Elements within the SGO granulite that were apparently unaffected by hydrothermal alteration—V, Y, Zr, and Cr—are within the range of values observed in the host mafic granulite. Sm–Nd whole-rock isotope systematics suggest that both the host mafic granulite and SGO granulite were metamorphosed at 1.9 Ga, and the Nd initial ratio is consistent with a MORB source at that time. There is no significant difference in the Nd values of the two rock types, suggesting that they originally belonged to the same protolith. Chemical trends within a narrow zone between the SGO and host rock granulite suggest that the former was derived from a basaltic precursor of the latter by a process of infiltration metasomatism, comparable with the chemical exchange that takes place when hydrothermal fluids in present-day oceanic crust pass through vents in a “recharge zone.” The geological and chemical relations observed in the South Harris rocks are consistent with the following model: hydrothermally altered oceanic basaltic crust was trapped in an accretionary wedge and subducted, followed by granulite-facies metamorphism in a deep continental environment during arc–continent collision. This is the first report of hydrothermally altered oceanic crust that was converted to sapphirine-bearing granulite deep in the continental crust.     

Formation age of the lunar crater Giordano Bruno

Abstract— Using the Terrain Camera onboard the Japanese lunar explorer, SELENE (Kaguya), we obtained new high‐resolution images of the 22‐kilometer‐diameter lunar crater Giordano Bruno. Based on crater size‐frequency measurements of small craters (<200 m in diameter) superposed on its continuous ejecta, the formation age of Giordano Bruno is estimated to be 1 to 10 Ma. This is constructive evidence against the crater's medieval age formation hypothesis.