Dredge petrology of the boninite‐ and adakite‐bearing Hahajima Seamount of the Ogasawara (Bonin) forearc: An ophiolite or a serpentinite seamount?§

Abstract During the Hakuho‐Maru KH03‐3 cruise and the Tansei‐Maru KT04‐28 cruise, more than 1000 rock samples were dredged from several localities over the Hahajima Seamount, a northwest–southeast elongated, rectangular massif, 60 km × 30 km in size, with a flat top approximately 1100 m deep. The rocks included almost every lithology commonly observed among the on‐land ophiolite outcrops. Volcanic rocks included mid‐oceanic ridge basalt (MORB)‐like tholeiitic basalt and dolerite, calc‐alkaline basalt and andesite, boninite, high‐Mg adakitic andesite, dacite, and minor rhyolite. Gabbroic rocks included troctolite, olivine gabbro, olivine gabbronorite (with inverted pigeonite), gabbro, gabbronorite, norite, and hornblende gabbro, and showed both MORB‐type and island arc‐type mineralogies. Ultramafic rocks were mainly depleted mantle harzburgite (spinel Cr? 50–80) and its serpentinized varieties, with some cumulate dunite, wehrlite and pyroxenites. This rock assemblage suggests a supra‐subduction zone origin for the Hahajima Seamount. Compilation of the available dredge data indicated that the ultramafic rocks occur in the two northeast–southwest‐oriented belts on the seamount, where serpentinite breccia and gabbro breccia have also developed, but the other areas are free from ultramafic rocks. Although many conical serpentinite seamounts 10 km in size are aligned along the Izu–Ogasawara (Bonin)–Mariana forearc, the Hahajima Seamount may be better interpreted as a fault‐bounded, uplifted massif composed of ophiolitic thrust sheets, resembling the Izki block of the Oman ophiolite in its shape and size. The ubiquitous roundness of the dredged rocks and their thin Mn coating (<2 mm) suggest that the Hahajima Seamount was uplifted above sealevel and wave‐eroded, like the present Macquarie Is., a rare example of ophiolite exposure in an oceanic setting. The Ogasawara Plateau on the Pacific Plate is adjacent to the east of the Hahajima Seamount, and collision and subduction of the plateau may have caused uplift of the forearc ophiolite body.     

Faulting in the Mikawa earthquake of 1945

This paper discusses the fault parameters of the Mikawa earthquake of January 12, 1945 on the basis of a simple dislocation model. Basically, the model assumes a rectangular shape of the fault plane striking N-S, so that it may fit the observed surface fault trace. Several sets of the fault parameters are tested to interpret the vertical and horizontal ground movements as observed geodetically. The fault model which is finally accepted is as follows: total length: 12 km; width: 11 km; dip angle: 30°; reverse dip-slip: 2 m; right-lateral strike-slip: 1 m. Geometry and slip in the present model seem to harmonize with the other sorts of evidence such as the seismological, tsunami genetic and reconnaissance data. From the tectonic point of view, this earthquake may be attributed to the secondary fault activity associated with the right lateral movement of the Median Tectonic Line.     

Water masses and hydrography in the tropical Pacific during Japanese Pacific Climate Study '91 cruise

Hydrographic measurements by CTD were made in the western-central Equatorial Pacific (160°W–147°E) during the Japanese Pacific Climate Study cruise in January–February 1991. InT-S diagram, three water masses are seen in the layer of kg/m³: salinity water corresponding to the Tropical Water of eastern South Pacific origin, less saline water in the North Pacific, and water with salinity between the above two, found on the equator. In three meridional sections (160°W–160°E), the Tropical Water of eastern South Pacific origin extends further equatorward than the climatological data of Levitus (1982).     

Influence of submarine fumaroles on the distribution of mercury in the sediment of Kagoshima Bay,Japan

To estimate the influence of mercury emitted from submarine fumaroles, the horizontal and vertical distribution of mercury in sediment of Kagoshima Bay was studied. The fumaroles are located in the northern bay head area, and the sediment samples had been taken from 52 points throughout the bay with a gravity core sampler. The core samples obtained were cut at a thickness of 1–2 cm and used for measurements. The total concentration of mercury in surface sediment in the northern and central areas of the bay was 51–679 μg kg^− 1 (average 199 μg kg^− 1, n = 22) and 23–100 μg kg^− 1 (average 55 μg kg^− 1, n = 30), respectively. The highest value was obtained in the vicinity of the fumaroles. The mercury concentration in sediment near the fumaroles varied with depth, which may reflect the variation in fumarolic activity. A successive extraction method was applied to the speciation of mercury in the sediment. The results showed that sediment taken in the vicinity of submarine fumaroles contained a higher percentage of mercury bound with organic matter.     

Fourth‐ to third‐order cycles in the Hakobuchi Formation: Shallow‐marine Campanian final deposition of the Yezo Group,Nakagawa area,northern Hokkaido,Japan

The Yezo Group has a wide longitudinal distribution across Hokkaido, northern Japan. It represents a Cretaceous (Early Aptian–Late Maastrichtian) and Late Paleocene forearc basin‐fill along the eastern margin of the paleo‐Asian continent. In the Nakagawa area of northern Hokkaido, the uppermost part of the Yezo Group consists of the Hakobuchi Formation. Along the western margin of the Yezo basin, 24 sedimentary facies (F) represent 6 facies associations (FA), suggesting prevailing storm‐dominated inner shelf to shoreface environments, subordinately associated with shoreface sand ridges, outer shelf, estuary and fluvial environments. The stacking patterns, thickness and facies trends of these associations allow the discrimination of six depositional sequences (DS). Inoceramids Sphenoceramus schmidti and Inoceramus balticus, and the ammonite Metaplacenticeras subtilistriatum, provide late Early to Late Campanian age constraints to this approximately 370‐m thick final stage of deposition and uplift of the Yezo forearc basin. Six shallow‐marine to subordinately non‐marine sandstone‐dominated depositional sequences include four 10 to 110‐m thick upward‐coarsening regressive successions (FS1), occasionally associated with thin, less than 10‐m thick, upward‐fining transgressive successions (FS2). The lower DS1–3, middle DS4–5 and upper DS6 represent three depositional sequential sets (DSS1–3). These eastward prograding and westward retrograding recurring shallow‐marine depositional systems may reflect third‐ and fourth‐order relative sealevel changes, in terms of sequence stratigraphy.     

Stochastic continuum modeling of flow and transport in a crystalline rock mass: Fanay-Augères,France, revisited

A stochastic discrete-fracture model was used by Cacas et al.^a,b to interpret flow measurements and transport experiments in a fractured crystalline rock mass at Fanay-Augères. They considered continuum models to be incapable of properly interpreting small-scale measurements or tracer tests in fractured systems, which, in their view, require three-dimensional modeling of numerous discrete channels; in their opinion, continuum modeling applies only to average flow on a relatively large scale. Cacas et al. considered their discrete fracture model to have been validated by its demonstrated ability to reproduce selected experimental results. In this paper, flow and transport at Fanay-Augères are modeled by viewing the fractured rock as a stochastic continuum in a manner originally proposed by Neuman^c,d. The stochastic continuum approach obviates the need for detailed information about fracture geometry or assumptions about how individual fractures control flow and transport. All it requires is the delineation of a few dominant features, which can be embedded into the stochastic continuum model as heterogeneous porous slabs. Though a fault zone has been identified at the Fanay-Augères experimental site, it has been modeled neither by Cacas et al. nor in this paper. In fact, in this paper, a larger selection of experimental results than those considered by Cacas et al. are reproduced merely by modeling the rock as a statistically homogeneous continuum in two dimensions. These results demonstrate that a continuum approach may be well suited for the analysis of flow and transport in fractured rock. This does not constitute a validation of the continuum approach, just as the results of Cacas et al. fall short of validating the discrete fracture approach. Instead, the two sets of results illustrate jointly the well-established principle that an open system, especially one as complex as fractured hydrogeologic environments tend to be, cannot be described uniquely on the basis of sparse data and need not be described in great detail to capture its salient behavior by a model.^a Cacas MC, Ledoux E, de Marsily G, Barbreau A, Calmels P, Gaillard B, Margritta R (1990a) Modelling fracture flow with a stochastic discrete fracture network: calibration and validation. 1. The flow model. Water Resour Res 26(3):479–489^b Cacas MC, Ledoux E, de Marsily G, Barbreau A, Calmels P, Gaillard B, Margritta R (1990b) Modelling fracture flow with a stochastic discrete fracture network: calibration and validation. 2. The transport model. Water Resour Res 26(3):491–500^c Neuman SP (1987) Stochastic continuum representation of fractured rock permeability as an alternative to the REV and fracture network concepts, in Rock Mechanics. In: Farmer IW, Daemen JJK, Desai CS, Glass CE, Neuman SP (eds) Proceedings of the 28th U.S. Symposium, Tucson, Arizona. Balkema, Rotterdam, pp 533–561^d Neuman SP (1988) A proposed conceptual framework and methodology for investigating flow and transport in Swedish crystalline rocks. SKB Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Co., Stockholm, September, Arbetsrapport 88–37, 39 pp     

Effects of environmental gradients concerning water qualities on the structure of the phytoplankton community in the coastal sea

The effects on the structure of the phytoplankton community of in situ environmental gradients concerning water qualities, formed during the mixing process of coastal with oceanic waters, were investigated on macro scale over a wide area of the Seto Inland Sea, Japan.The community structure of the phytoplankton varied almost constantly along the in situ environmental gradients in the community, which was shown by use of the diversity index rather than a mere listing of the phytoplankton community. These observations were considered to be the result of the direct or indirect response of the phytoplankton community to environmental gradients which occur in situ, which mean a series of variations of the habitat of the phytoplankton community. Their effects were reflected not in biomass but in the structure of the phytoplankton community. It was difficult to establish quantitatively the extent of their effects because of the variability in the degree of the environmental gradients which occur in situ.     

The phase boundary between wadsleyite and ringwoodite in Mg2SiO4 determined by in situ X-ray diffraction

The phase boundary between wadsleyite and ringwoodite in Mg₂SiO₄ has been determined in situ using a multi-anvil apparatus and synchrotron X-rays radiation at SPring-8. In spite of the similar X-ray diffraction profiles of these high-pressure phases with closely related structures, we were able to identify the occurrence of the mutual phase transformations based on the change in the difference profile by utilizing a newly introduced press-oscillation system. The boundary was located at ~18.9 GPa and 1,400°C when we used Shim’s gold pressure scale (Shim et al. in Earth Planet Sci Lett 203:729–739, 2002), which was slightly (~0.8 GPa) lower than the pressure as determined from the quench experiments of Katsura and Ito (J Geophys Res 94:15663–15670, 1989). Although it was difficult to constrain the Clapeyron slope based solely on the present data due to the kinetic problem, the phase boundary [P (GPa)=13.1+4.11×10⁻³×T (K)] calculated by a combination of a P–T position well constrained by the present experiment and the calorimetric data of Akaogi et al. (J Geophys Res 94:15671–15685, 1989) reasonably explains all the present data within the experimental error. When we used Anderson’s gold pressure scale (Anderson et al. in J Appl Phys 65:1535–1543, 1989), our phase boundary was located in ~18.1 GPa and 1,400°C, and the extrapolation boundary was consistent with that of Kuroda et al. (Phys Chem Miner 27:523–532, 2000), which was determined at high temperature (1,800–2,000°C) using a calibration based on the same pressure scale. Our new phase boundary is marginally consistent with that of Suzuki et al. (Geophys Res Lett 27:803–806, 2000) based on in situ X-ray experiments at lower temperatures (<1,000°C) using Brown’s and Decker’s NaCl pressure scales.     

江苏三处旧石器遗址中发现的火山玻璃

火山灰年代学是判断第四纪沉积物年龄的有效手段。文章报告在江苏三处旧石器遗址（和尚墩、放牛山和将军崖）上部堆积中发现的火山玻璃及初步研究结果。和尚墩遗址的火山玻璃主要出现在两个层位: 上层距地表约45cm,火山玻璃的水合层很薄,年代有可能晚于K Ah火山（7.3ka）;  下层距地表约70cm,火山玻璃的水合过程已经完成,时代稍老,大致与日本晚更新世火山同期,至少相当于AT火山,年代等于/大于25ka。遗址中的火山玻璃分为pm型和bw型。形态、屈折率及微量包含物的研究表明,火山玻璃的来源可能与日本的火山喷发无关。江苏旧石器遗址中发现的火山玻璃对判断中国东部地区更新世沉积物时代以及埋藏其中的旧石器遗存年代具标志意义。