Potential of submarine-cave sediments and oxygen isotope composition of cavernicolous micro-bivalve as a late Holocene paleoenvironmental record

A sediment layer (43 cm thick) and surface sediments (5 cm thick) in a submarine limestone cave (31 m water depth) on the fore-reef slope of Ie Island, off Okinawa mainland, Japan, were examined by visual, mineralogical and geochemical means. Oxygen isotope analysis was performed on the cavernicolous micro-bivalve Carditella iejimensis from both cored sediments and surface sediments, and the water temperature within the cave was recorded for nearly one year. These data show that: (1) water temperature within the cave is equal to that at 30 m deep in the open sea; (2) the biotic and non-biotic environments within the cave have persisted for the past 2000 years; (3) mud-size carbonate detritus is a major constituent of the submarine-cave deposit, and may have come mainly from the suspended carbonate mud produced on the emergent Holocene reef flat over the past two millennia; (4) the δ¹⁸O-derived temperature (T_δ18_O) of C. iejimensis suggests that the species grows between April and July; (5) the T_δ18_O of C. iejimensis from cored sediments implies that there were two warmer intervals, at AD 340 ± 40 and AD 1000 ± 40, which correspond to the Roman Warm Period and Medieval Warm Period, respectively. These suggest that submarine-cave sediments provide unique information for Holocene reef development. In addition, oxygen isotope records of cavernicolous C. iejimensis are a useful tool to reconstruct century-scale climatic variability for the Okinawa Islands during the Holocene.     

Decay of a post-depositional remanent magnetization in wet sediments due to the effect of drying

Summary. The decay of the post-depositional remanent magnetization (post-DRM) during desiccation in magnetic field free space is measured as a function of the loss of water. The decay is ascribed to the drying effect and the time decay of viscous remanent magnetization (VRM). The VRM forms only 10 per cent of the total of loss of remanent magnetization. The decay due to the drying effects depends both on the loss of water and on either the evaporation rate or the period of storage. The percentage of loss of magnetization is independent of its intensity.
A critical drying stage appears (about 60 per cent in water content on a dry basis) which is characterized as a vanishing point of mobile particles or particle units. The mobile particles or units play an important role both in acquisition and demagnetization through physical rotational motion within wet sediments before the critical drying stage. More than 80 per cent of the total loss of the post-DRM is destroyed before the desiccation proceeds to the critical drying stage. The decay of post-DRh4 is concluded to be mainly due to the physically random rotation of the magnetic particles trapped in shallow energy wells which are overcome by the torques caused by the application of the alternating magnetic field less than 200 Oe.     

Experimental determination of partition coefficients of ten rare earth elements and barium between clinopyroxene and liquid in the synthetic silicate system at 20 kilobar pressure

Two experiments were carried out at 20 kb pressure for the measurement of partition coefficients of ten lanthanides and barium between diopside clinopyroxene and liquid in the synthetic system diopside-enstatite-silica-H₂O. Starting materials are glass of two different compositions CaMgSi₂O₆ 56, MgSiO₃ 14, SiO₂ 30 weight % and CaMgSi₂O₆ 80, MgSiO₃ 20 weight %.In the experiment on the former composition, the partition coefficient increases regularly with decrease of ionic radii from La to Dy and decreases also regularly from Dy to Lu. In the experiment on the latter composition, stepwise shift of partition coefficient was observed between Dy and Er.The results suggest that the lanthanide cations occupy the site of 8-fold coordination in the clinopyroxene and that the partition coefficients depend on the ionic radii of lanthanide elements and also on the chemical composition of the starting material or heating process during the run.     

An ultimate steady-state pattern of c-axis fabric of quartz in metamorphic tectonites

The c-axis fabrics of quartz grains at the hinge zones of the orthorhombic buckle folds of quartz-rich layers which were collected from the Sambagawa crystalline schists of Shikoku, Japan, have been described and discussed. Especially, attempt to correlate the pattern of the quartz fabric with the strain picture has been made. It has been pointed out that the high concentration of quartz axes on two positions which are symmetrically placed on the plane of the longest principal axis and the shortest principal axis of the strain ellipsoid and at an angle of ca. 30 to the latter axis may be regarded as an ultimate steady-state pattern of preferred orientation of quartz axes developed under non-rotational two dimensional strain.

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Zusammenfassung Untersucht wurden die Quarzachsen-Gefüge in den Scheiteln der orthorhombischen Biegefalten der quarzreichen Lagen aus dem Sambagawa-Schiefer von Shikoku, Japan. Besonders wurde es versucht, die Quarzachsen-Orientierung mit dem Verformungsbild zu vergleichen. Zwei Quarzachsen-Maxima in der Ebene von der lÄngsten Hauptachse und der kürzesten Hauptachse des Verformungsellipsoides, die symmetrisch zur kürzesten Hauptachse im Abstand von etwa 30 liegen, wurden als bevorzugte Endlagenorientierung der Quarzachsen angesprochen, die durch die zweidimensionale Verformung ohne Rotation erzeugt wurden.

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Résumé La fabrique c-axiale des grains de quartz dans les charnières de plis, collectionnés dans les schistes cristallins de Sambagawa prés de Shikoku (Japon) sont décrits et interprétés dans cette étude. Il a été essayé spécialement de comparer le type de la fabrique du quartz au type de la déformation. Enfin il a été prouvé que la forte concentration des axes de quartz en deux lieux fixes des diagrammes, qui sont situés symétriquement aux deux axes principaux (long et petit) de l ellipsoide de déformation et qui forment un angle de 30 avec le petit axe, sont les positions définitives et stables de l'orientation préférée des axes de quartz qui à été produite par une déformation bi-dimensionelle sans rotation.

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Development of new drain method for protection of existing pile foundations from liquefaction effects

Pile foundation as well as other underground structures could be seriously affected by soil liquefaction during strong earthquakes. Damages on pile foundation due to liquefaction can be reduced by implementation of some soil improvement method. Main objective of present study is developing of drain method that can improve the soil in order to mitigate the destructiveness of liquefaction on superstructure supported by pile foundation. Series of shaking table tests were conducted on 2×2 pile foundation and soil model was improved by drains. Configurations of drains around piles, intensity of shaking were one of the parameters that were changing during the tests in order to investigate the response of pile foundation in improved soil condition.Shaking table tests and performed On-site experiment showed the following effects of the new drain method. (1) When the intensity of earthquake motion is 200 gal or less, generation of excess pore water pressure is reduced and the pile bending moment is decreased, (2) when the intensity of earthquake motion is stronger (300 gal or more), drainage effect prevents disappearance of subgrade reaction, and (3) proposed new type of drain can control excess pore water pressure without clogging.     

Ultrahigh-pressure metamorphic records hidden in zircons from amphibolites in Sulu Terrane, eastern China

Abstract The amphibolites occur sporadically as thin layers and blocks throughout the Sulu Terrane, eastern China. All analyzed amphibolite from outcrop and drill cores from prepilot drill hole CCSD‐PP1 and CCSD‐PP2, Chinese Continental Scientific Drilling Project in the Sulu Terrane, are retrograded eclogites overprinted by amphibolite‐facies retrograde metamorphism, with characteristic mineral assemblages of amphibole + plagioclase + epidote ± quartz ± biotite ± ilmenite ± titanite. However, coesite and coesite‐bearing ultrahigh‐pressure (UHP) mineral assemblages are identified by Raman spectroscopy and electron microprobe analysis as inclusions in zircons separated from these amphibolites. In general, coesite and other UHP mineral inclusions are preserved in the cores and mantles of zircons, whereas quartz inclusions occur in the rims of the same zircons. The UHP mineral assemblages consist mainly of coesite + garnet + omphacite + rutile, coesite + garnet + omphacite, coesite + garnet + omphacite + phengite + rutile + apatite, coesite + omphacite + rutile and coesite + magnesite. Compositions of analyzed mineral inclusions are very similar to those of matrix minerals from Sulu eclogites. These UHP mineral inclusion assemblages yield temperatures of 631–780°C and pressures of ≥2.8 × 10³ MPa, representing the P–T conditions of peak metamorphism of these rocks, which are consistent with those (T = 642–726°C; P ≥ 2.8 × 10³ MPa) deduced from adjacent eclogites. These data indicate that the amphibolites are the retrogressive products of UHP eclogites.     

A Point-process Analysis of the Matsushiro Earthquake Swarm Sequence: The Effect of Water on Earthquake Occurrence

Temporal characteristics of the famous Matsushiro earthquake swarm were investigated quantitatively using point-process analysis. Analysis of the earthquake occurrence rate revealed not only the precise and interesting process of the swarm, but also the relation between pore water pressure and the strength of the epidemic effect, and the modified Omori-type temporal decay of earthquake activity. The occurrence rate function (t) for this swarm is represented well aswhere f(t) represents the contribution of the swarm driver, which was the erupting water from the deep in this case, and the second term represents an epidemic effect of the modified Omori type. Based on changes in the form of f(t), this two-year long swarm was divided into six periods and one short transitional epoch. The form of f(t) in each period revealed the detail of the water erupting process. In the final stage, f (t) decayed according to the modified Omori-formula form, while it decayed exponentially in the brief respite of the water eruption in the fourth period. When an exponential decay of swarm activity is observed, we have to be cautious of a sudden restart of the violent activity. The epidemic effect is stronger when the pressure of the pore water is higher. Even when the pressure is not high, the p value in the epidemic effect is small, when there is plenty of pore water. However, the epidemic effect produced about a quarter of the earthquakes even though there was not much pore water in the rocks.     

CALCIUM-ALUMINIUM-RICH CHONDRULES IN THE UNEQUILIBRATED ORDINARY CHONDRITES

Calcium-aluminium-rich chondrules were found in L-3 (ALH-77015) and LL-3 (ALH-77278) chondrites. They consist of spinel, olivine, fassaite and glassy groundmass enriched in anorthite component. The bulk chemical compositions of the two chondrules are nearly the same and resemble those of the calcium-aluminium-rich inclusions in the carbonaceous chondrites, but the former is more enriched in MgO and SiO₂ and depleted in Al₂O₃ and CaO. The calcium-aluminium-rich chondrules would have been primarily early condensates which existed at the place where the chondrules were formed, and heated up to 1400 °C or higher to have melted and cooled at the rate similar to those for other chondrules, or the products of intensive heating followed by reaction with gas.     

Deformation fabrics of the Cima di Gagnone peridotite massif, Central Alps, Switzerland: evidence of deformation at low temperatures in the presence of water

We report a new observation of the olivine B-type lattice-preferred orientation (LPO), from the garnet peridotite at Cima di Gagnone, Switzerland. The olivine B-type fabric forms at low temperatures and/or high stress in the presence of water, and is of particular interest because it may be used to explain the trench-parallel shear-wave splitting that is often observed at subduction zones. In conjunction with the olivine B-type fabric, we have found strong orthopyroxene LPO that is identical to those formed under water-free conditions. This suggests that water may not have a significant effect on orthopyroxene fabric. From the olivine microstructure, we determine that a stress of 22 ± 8 MPa was applied during the deformation event that formed the olivine LPO. Using an olivine flow-law, and assuming geological strain-rates, we determine the temperature of deformation to be 800 ± 175°C. This does not preclude an ultra-deep origin for the ultramafic rocks at Cima di Gagnone, but indicates that much of the deformation recorded in the microstructure occurred at modest temperatures.Communicated by T.L. Grove     

Mechanism and future risk of slope instability induced by extreme rainfall event in Izu Oshima Island,Japan

Natural Hazards - A volcanic slope in Izu Oshima Island in Japan experienced a profound rain-induced disaster in October 2013. Since this slope had been stable for centuries except for minor...