Observation of shear zone development in ring-shear apparatus with a transparent shear box

Using a new ring-shear apparatus with a transparent shear box and video image analysis system, drained and undrained speed-controlled tests were conducted on coarse-grained silica sands to study the shear-zone formation process in granular materials. Velocity distribution profiles of grains under shear at various stages in the ring shear tests were observed through processing the video image by the Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) program. Shear-zone thickness and type of shear mode (slide-like or flow-like) during shear were observed. Before reaching peak strength in low-speed and drained condition test, a comparatively major part of the sample in the upper shear box showed a velocity distribution profile of structural deformation and dilatancy behavior. After peak strength, the velocity profile changed into a slide-like mode and thereafter showed almost no change. In higher speed tests with drained and undrained conditions, an almost slide-like mode was observed, compared to low-speed test. Apparent shear-zone thicknesses of high-speed tests are thinner than low-speed tests. Unexpectedly, almost no difference was observed in the shear-zone thickness and mode of shear (slide or flow-like) between drained and undrained tests. This study was conducted as part of the International Programme on Landslides (IPL) M101 “Areal prediction of earthquake and rain induced rapid and long-traveling flow phenomena (APERITIF)” of the International Consortium on Landslides (ICL). These results will contribute to understanding the mechanism of shear-zone development in granular materials as a basic knowledge for disaster risk mitigation of rapid long run-out landslides.     

Failure mechanism in an extremely slow rock slide at Bitchu-Matsuyama castle site (Japan)

One of the specific problems related to historical structures is the fact that they are prone to damage caused by even very small deformations acting over a long period of time, such as creep or extremely small rock displacements. If any damage has already occurred, the determination of the rock slope failure mechanism is one of the prerequisites for successful mitigation technique selection. In this study a medieval castle in central Japan, suffering damage caused by deformation of the rock mass in the subgrade of the castle, was investigated using a combination of field investigation, high-precision monitoring and physical modeling experiments. Using these techniques an attempt to determine the failure mechanism of the rock slope was made. Based on the field investigation a toe-slope failure seemed to be the main triggering factor activating the deformations in the upper slope area, right below the defense walls of the castle. The displacement monitoring of the surface rock blocks revealed a slumping failure with the backward rotational component prevailing over the sliding in the immediate vicinity of the castle wall. This was in accordance with the expectations obtained from the structural analysis of the rock mass carried out during the field investigation. The displacements obtained during the rock block monitoring, especially from the crack gauges, were not sufficient for drawing a satisfactory conclusions about the failure mechanism of the blocks located in the central part of the slope. Therefore, the failure mechanisms of rock blocks inferred from their displacements obtained from the monitoring were correlated with the results of modeling experiments carried out on the scaled slope model. The physical modeling revealed a possibility of toppling failure of rock blocks in the central area of the slope caused mainly by block interlocking, which was supported by the data from surface tilt meters installed additionally in the field. Furthermore, the possibility of the occurrence of forward and backward rock block rotations in the same sliding body at given conditions was supported by the physical modeling experiments.     

Carbon and hydrogen isotope variation of plant biomarkers in a plant-soil system

Stable carbon (δ¹³C) and hydrogen (δD) isotopic compositions of n-alkanes, anteiso-alkanes, n-alkanoic acids, n-alkanols, phytol and sterols in raw leaves of Acer argutum and Acer carpinifolium, their fallen leaves, mold and soils from a natural Acer forest were measured in order to: (1) understand isotopic variation of the plant biomarkers in a plant-soil system and (2) evaluate which biomarker is the most effective recorder of soil vegetation. Long-chain (> C₂₄) n-alkanes, n-alkanoic acids and n-alkanols are gradually enriched in ¹³C up to 12.9‰ (average of 4.3‰) and depleted in D up to 94‰ (average of 55‰) from raw leaves to soils. However, anteiso-alkanes, phytol and sterols show little variation in both δ¹³C (< ± 1‰) and δD (< ± 2‰) from raw leaves to soils. These isotope signatures in a plant-soil system indicate that isoprenoid plant biomarkers such as sterols in soils faithfully preserve the isotopic compositions of dominant higher plants growing on the soils without a diagenetic effect upon the isotopic compositions. In contrast, long-chain n-alkyl molecules in soils undergo specific isotopic modification during biodegradation associated with early diagenesis and/or a significant contribution from heterotrophic reworking.     

Mesoscale spatial and temporal variability of meteorological observations from an array of buoys in JASIN-1978

Observations of wind speed and direction, air and sea temperatures and solar radiation were obtained from an array of buoys in JASIN-1978 conducted in the area northwest of Scotland in the summer of 1978. The observations were analyzed to show spatial and temporal variability in the mesoscale fields. Spectra of wind speed and air and sea temperatures were computed to illustrate the distribution of variance over periods ranging from 3.5 min to 40 days. When plotted on log-log graphs, the spectral estimates generally decreased with slopes between –3/2 and –2 with increasing frequency. Spectra of air and sea temperatures had a peak at the diurnal period but not the wind speed spectrum. When plotted in variance-preserving form, the spectrum of wind speed was consistent with a spectral gap and was qualitatively similar to other observations of low-frequency spectra. On the basis of auto- and cross-correlation analyses, it appeared that mesoscale eddies propagated through the array of buoys with the mean wind speed except during times of frontal passages. The cross-correlation between wind speed and air temperature showed evidence of horizontal roll vortices or some other forms of organized convection.     

Noble gas elemental and isotopic abundances in deep-sea trenches in the western Pacific

Noble gas elemental and isotopic abundances were measured in seven deep-sea water samples from five different sampling sites in the Nankai Trough, the Japan Trench and the Kuril Trench. The samples were obtained by the manned submersible “Nautile”. Most of the sampling sites are associated with clam colonies and/or fluid venting. Excesses both in³He/⁴He ratio and He concentration are observed in a seawater sample collected a few kilometers off the clam colonies which were found at a depth of 3830 m at the mouth of the Tenryu Canyon. Concentrations of noble gases (Ne, Ar, Kr and Xe) in this sample show progressive depletion from Ne to Xe relative to those in 1°C air-saturated seawater, which can be attributed to mixing of hot water ( 15°C) with cold ambient water ( 1°C). Isotopic compositions of Ne, Ar, Kr and Xe in this sample are atmospheric. These observations may reflect venting of hot pore water around the Tenryu Canyon. All the other samples show a significant excess in concentration of all noble gases relative to 1°C air-saturated seawater and the isotopic compositions are atmospheric. This excess of noble gas concentrations may appear to be air contamination in the samples. However, results of hydrocarbon analyses of the Kaiko samples imply that such large amount of air contamination is improbable. Decomposition of gas hydrate in deep-sea sediments is a more likely explanation for the observed excess of noble gas concentration.     

Precise temperature measurement of groundwater for earthquake-prediction study

Precise measurements of groundwater temperature, with a resolution of 0.0001°C, have been made for the purpose of earthquake prediction at four water wells in the Tokai district in Japan. The characteristics of temporal variations in groundwater temperature differ from well to well. From records of a well located in an area where use of groundwater is heavy, movement of groundwater was sensed by temperature variations. By contrast, water temperatures in a 500 m well far from cultural areas were extremely steady, with fluctuations of less than 0.0005°C. This well appears to be suitable for monitoring possible temperature changes related to the occurrence of an impending large earthquake.     

Trace element concentrations in the isotopically unique Allende inclusion,EK 1-4-1

Concentrations of rare-earth elements (REE), Sc, Fe, Co, Cr, Na and Ir in the bulk sample and mineral separates of the isotopically unique Allende inclusion, EK 1-4-1, were determined by instrumental neutron activation analysis. REE concentrations were also determined by mass-spectrometric isotope dilution for two density separates.The inclusion showed enrichment of light REE over heavy REE with a positive Yb anomaly, thus showing a tendency to resemble group II fine-grained inclusions in REE abundances, although EK 1-4-1 is a coarse-grained inclusion. High Cr concentrations also indicate group II affinity. However, high Ir (6 ppm) and Sc (105 ppm), and low FeO (1.80%), and Co (13.8 ppm) concentrations in the bulk sample and low Na concentrations in mineral separates show group I affinity.Between melilite and pyroxene fractions, the same samples in which mass-fractionated O isotope ratios were observed (Clayton and Mayeda, 1977), REE, Sc, Co and Fe showed distributions which are substantially different from those observed for “ordinary” Allende type B inclusions. These two minerals do not appear to be in equilibrium with respect to trace element distributions.The results indicate that the isotopically unique EK 1-4-1 is also unusual in its elemental abundances and distributions.     

Characteristics of vertical land movement and microearthquake activity in the northeastern Japan arc

Methods have been devised for analyzing vertical land movement and seismicity data using two-dimensional Chebychev functions and oblique projections. A filtering operation in the space domain is made possible by use of a two-dimensional Chebychev function. The oblique projections give an intuitive understanding of land deformation. Characteristic aspects of vertical land movement obtained by precise levelling and of the energy release of microearthquakes with depths shallower than 20 km in the northeastern Japan arc were investigated in detail applying these methods.Lineations with wavelength of about 20–60km trending towards NE—SW were found for both the land deformation and the seismicity. It should be noted that this trend is almost perpendicular to the direction of the strain migration and is related to other geophysical information.     

Comparison of reductive accumulation of Re and Os in seawater-sediment systems

In order to understand the fractionation of Re and Os in marine environments, their removal from artificial seawater to Tokyo Bay sediments is studied using a multitracer technique. The chemical processes of the removal of Re and Os are also estimated based on their speciation analyses by X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) spectroscopy. The partitioning experiments, which use the multitracer technique, provide information on Re and Os regarding (i) their distributions between artificial seawater-sediment systems, (ii) their complexation with humic acid, and (iii) their carriers in sediments. In addition, XAFS spectroscopy provides direct information on the chemical states of Re and Os in the sediments.In an artificial seawater-sediment system containing a multitracer, Re is removed from the artificial seawater only under a reducing environment. The speciation of Re by X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) suggests that the majority of Re remains as in the artificial seawater even under highly reducing conditions, during laboratory time scale (about 2 weeks). Moreover, XANES simulation shows that some Re exists at a lower oxidation state, such as ReO₂, in the reducing sediment. These results can be explained by the slow kinetics of the reaction which is similar to those suggested by previous geochemical studies.In contrast, Os is readily removed from the artificial seawater into sediments under various redox conditions. Even under oxic conditions, a large fraction of Os is removed from the artificial seawater to sediments without organic matter. Based on the Os XANES study, it is confirmed that the oxidation states of Os incorporated in the reducing sediment and oxic sediment are trivalent and tetravalent, respectively. Sequential extraction suggests that the main carrier of Os in the organic-rich sediment is either ferromanganese oxides or organic matter, and that the Os in these two fractions may correspond to hydrolyzed insoluble Os species and Os species interacting with organic matter, at lower valence, respectively. The results of distribution study of Os in the absence and presence of humic acid (HA) also imply that Os assumes more than one chemical species, and a small fraction of Os may interact with HA in the experimental system. Meanwhile, extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) confirms that the first neighboring atom of Os in the reducing sediment is oxygen. If Os(VIII) is the main dissolved species in seawater, as is expected thermodynamically, reductive removal may control the enrichment of Os in the sediment. Osmium, which is removed as Os(IV), is reduced further to Os(III) by a diagenetic process and may be complexed with organic matter in the reducing sediment.The results of the removal behaviors of Re and Os obtained in the current study show that Re can be removed from the artificial seawater only under highly reducing conditions within 2 weeks, but Os removal from the artificial seawater can be found under various redox conditions. Thus, a high ¹⁸⁷Re/¹⁸⁸Os ratio can occur only in reducing sediments, such as black shales. The high¹⁸⁷Re/¹⁸⁸Os ratio, in turn, makes black shales suitable for Re-Os dating. In contrast, authigenic sediments (and minerals) under oxic environments can enrich Os, but since Re is not distributed to the sediments under oxic conditions, this will cause a much lower ¹⁸⁷Re/¹⁸⁸Os ratio than that of seawater. The Os isotope system of these materials can be used as a paleo-marine environmental tracer since the ¹⁸⁷Os/¹⁸⁸Os ratio cannot grow significantly due to its extremely low ¹⁸⁷Re/¹⁸⁸Os ratio.