Effect of dust event timing on glacier runoff: sensitivity analysis for a Tibetan glacier

The impact of the timing of dust deposition on glacier runoff was evaluated using a glacier mass‐balance model with a newly improved scheme to track a dusted layer in a snow layer of a glacier. The lowering of surface albedo due to the dusted layer appearing leads to a drastic increase of glacier runoff even under the same meteorological conditions. Calculations of seasonal sensitivity, the relationship between dusted date and resulting runoff, have shown that dust deposition during a melting season might cause a drastic mass outflow from a glacier through changing the surface albedo during the melting season. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Bioconcentration and biomagnification of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) through lower-trophic-level coastal marine food web

Bivalves, crabs, fishes, seawater, and sediment collected from the inner part of Tokyo Bay, Japan, were measured for 20 polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) and 5 polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners. To determine the trophic levels of the organisms, carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios (δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N) were also measured. Bioconcentration factors of PBDE and PCB congeners increased as the octanol-water partition coefficient (K_ow) rose to log K_ow = 7, above which they decreased again. Biomagnification of PCBs and several PBDE congeners (BDE47, 99, 100, 153 and 154) up the trophic ladder was confirmed by a positive correlation between their concentrations and δ¹⁵N. Other PBDE congeners showed a negative or no correlation, suggesting their biotransformation through metabolism. The more hydrophobic congeners of both PBDEs (Br = 2-6) and PCBs (Cl = 6-9) were biomagnified more. It thus appears that PBDEs are less biomagnified than PCBs.     

Sediment and carbon storages in the Yahagi River Delta during the Holocene,central Japan

We estimated stored sediment and carbon during the Holocene for each layer of the Yahagi River Delta, central Japan and discussed the provenance of stored carbon. To estimate the bulk density and the carbon content of each layer, we collected two 30 m deep undisturbed cores. The volume of each layer was calculated using ArcView 3D analyst. Although the volume ratio of each layer to the total volume was calculated to be 9.5% for the top mud layer, 34.9% for the upper sand layer, 32.8% for the middle mud layer and 22.9% for the lower sand layer, the mass ratio of each layer to the total mass was calculated to be 8.5, 40.9, 25.2 and 25.4%, respectively, and the stored carbon ratio in each layer to the total stored carbon was 20.4, 4.7, 55.9 and 18.9%, respectively. These results suggest that the top mud and middle mud layers have a significant role as a place for carbon sequestration during postglacial time. Total stored carbon in the study area of only 92.1 km² was estimated at 26 Tg C, which is equivalent to 0.003% of atmospheric carbon. This suggests that deltas on the globe have accumulated a massive amount of carbon during the evolution. The inorganic carbon ratio to total carbon reached more than 45% around the boundary between the middle mud and lower sand layers. The increasing trend in the C_org/N_total ratio accompanied with a decrease in δ¹³C from the bottom to the top horizon in the middle mud layer indicates a gradual increase in terrestrial organic matter contribution. The relative proportion of terrestrially derived materials decreases with increasing distance seaward.     

The effect of a thin weak layer covering a basalt block on the impact cratering process

To clarify the effect of a surface regolith layer on the formation of craters in bedrock, we conducted impact-cratering experiments on two-layered targets composed of a basalt block covered with a mortar layer. A nylon projectile was impacted on the targets at velocities of 2 and 4 km s^?1, and we investigated the crater size formed on the basalt. The crater size decreased with increased mortar thickness and decreased projectile mass and impact velocity. The normalized crater volume, π_V, of all the data was successfully scaled by the following exponential equation with a reduction length λ₀: ${\pi }_{\text{V}}=b_0{\pi }_{\text{Y}}^{-b_1}\exp (-\lambda /{\lambda }_0)$, where λ is the normalized thickness T/L_p, T and L_p are the mortar thickness and the projectile length, respectively, b₀ and b₁ are fitted parameters obtained for a homogeneous basalt target, 10^?2.7±0.7 and ?1.4 ± 0.3, respectively, and λ₀ is obtained to be 0.38 ± 0.03. This empirical equation showing the effect of the mortar layer was physically explained by an improved non-dimensional scaling parameter, ${\pi }_{\text{Y}}^1$, defined by ${\pi }_{\text{Y}}^1=Y/({\rho }_{\text{t}}{u}_{\text{p}}^2)$, where u_p was the particle velocity of the mortar layer at the boundary between the mortar and the basalt. We performed the impact experiments to obtain the attenuation rate of the particle velocity in the mortar layer and derived the empirical equation of $\frac{u_{\text{p}}}{v_{\text{i}}}=0.50\exp \left(-\frac{\lambda }{1.03}\right)$, where v_i is the impact velocity of the projectile. We propose a simple model for the crater formation on the basalt block that the surface mortar layer with the impact velocity of u_p collides on the surface of the basalt block, and we confirmed that this model could reproduce our empirical equation showing the effect of the surface layer on the crater volume of basalt.     

Nature of accretion related to Paleo-Tethys subduction recorded in northern Thailand: Constraints from mélange kinematics and illite crystallinity

We reconstructed the accretion process related to Paleo-Tethys subduction recorded in northern Thailand, based on mélange and thrust structures, and metamorphic temperatures derived from illite crystallinity data. Mélange formation was characterized by hydrofracturing and cataclastic deformation, with mud injection under semi-lithified conditions followed by shear deformation and pressure solution. Illite crystallinity data suggest metamorphic temperatures below 250 °C during mélange formation. The combined structural and metamorphic data indicate that during mélange formation, the accretionary complex related to Paleo-Tethys subduction developed at shallow levels within an accretionary prism. Asymmetric shear fabrics in mélange indicate top-to-south shear. After correction for rotation associated with collision between the Indian and Eurasian continents, the trend of the Paleo-Tethys subduction zone is estimated to have been N80 °E. We conclude that the Paleo-Tethys was subducted northward beneath the Indochina Block from the Permian to Triassic.     

Temporal variations in phytoplankton biomass over the past 150 years in the western Seto Inland Sea,Japan

We examined fossil pigments in a ²¹⁰Pb-dated sediment core to document the temporal variations in phytoplankton biomass over the past 150 years in a semi-enclosed bay, Beppu Bay, in the western Seto Inland Sea, Japan. The flux of fossil pigments was used as an index of phytoplankton biomass, which we reconstructed after removing the effect of post-burial degradation on the concentrations of fossil pigments. The flux doubled from the 1960s to the early 1970s, decreased or remained stable in the early 1980s, and increased again from the late 1980s to the early 1990s. The first increase in phytoplankton biomass during the 1960s was likely caused by eutrophication due to an increase in terrestrial nutrient fluxes from watersheds. The decreasing phytoplankton biomass in the early 1980s was likely related to the establishment of a sewage treatment system that reduced the terrestrial nutrient fluxes to the sea. However, the terrestrial nutrient fluxes could not explain the second increase from the late 1980s to the early 1990s. Intensification of the influx of nutrients from the shelf slope to the sea was likely the cause of the second increase in phytoplankton biomass. This is supported by the inverse relationship between phytoplankton biomass and sea level at the shelf slope, the latter being an index of the intensity of the influx of oceanic nutrients from the shelf slope to the sea. The supply of oceanic nutrients may be therefore a critical factor in the determination of primary production in the western Seto Inland Sea.     

The second International Symposium on the Arctic Research (ISAR-2): Brief overview

The Arctic and the surrounding region of the sub-Arctic represent a key area for the study of global change because the anthropogenic impact, particularly the rate of warming, is projected to be the greatest in any part of the world due to the complicated feedback processes which occur. This Arctic region has undergone very large changes in recent years due to global warming, and accelerated change is predicted. The rapid changes that are occurring in the Arctic, and that have been the topic of the ISAR-1 and ISAR-2 conferences, manifest themselves at a number of scales. The large scales are Arctic-wide changes in key environmental parameters, which are described in a series of papers in this issue. On a more subtle scale we see changes to species and to biological processes in the Arctic. We hope that readers will enjoy the range of papers published in this issue, and will appreciate that phenomena ranging in scale from global radiation balance to clutch size of birds' eggs are actually all related via the central fact of the present-day Arctic, its high rate of warming.     

Ocean Plate Stratigraphy in East and Southeast Asia

Ancient accretionary wedges have been recognised by the presence of glaucophane schist, radiolarian chert and mélange. Recent techniques for the reconstruction of disrupted fragments of such wedges by means of radiolarian biostratigraphy, provide a more comprehensive history of ocean plate subduction and successive accretion of ocean floor materials from the oceanic plate through offscraping and underplating.Reconstructed ocean floor sequences found in ancient accretionary complexes in Japan comprise, from oldest to youngest, pillow basalt, limestone, radiolarian chert, siliceous shale, and shale and sandstone. Similar lithologies also occur in the mélange complexes of the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and other regions. This succession is called ‘Ocean Plate Stratigraphy’ (OPS), and it represents the following sequence of processes: birth of the oceanic plate at the oceanic ridge; formation of volcanic islands near the ridge, covered by calcareous reefs; sedimentation of calcilutite on the flanks of the volcanic islands where radiolarian chert is also deposited; deposition of radiolarian skeletons on the oceanic plate in a pelagic setting, and sedimentary mixing of radiolarian remains and detrital grains to form siliceous shale in a hemipelagic setting; and sedimentation of coarse-grained sandstone and shale at or near the trench of the convergent margin.Radiolarian biostratigraphy of detrital sedimentary rocks provides information on the time and duration of ocean plate subduction. The ages of detrital sediments becomes younger oceanward as younger packages of OPS are scraped off the downgoing plate.OPS reconstructed from ancient accretionary complexes give us the age of subduction and accretion, direction of subduction, and ancient tectonic environments and is an important key to understanding the paleoenvironment and history of the paleo-oceans now represented only in suture zones and orogenic belts.     

Influence of climate fluctuation on clay formation in the Baikal drainage basin

Sedimentary cores BDP 96 and 98 and VER 96-2 St. 3 from Academician Ridge in Lake Baikal were investigated to investigate the effect of climatic fluctuations on rock weathering and clay formation in the Baikal drainage basin. Illite, smectite, vermiculite, and kaolinite were identified as the major clay minerals in the sediments by X-ray diffraction analysis. Biotite in gravels in alluvial soils of the Baikal drainage area weathers through illite to vermiculite, smectite, and finally to kaolinite. To investigate the relationship between weathering and climate, we measured the clay content and the concentration of biogenic silica in the sediments. High surface productivity (increased biogenic silica) and high chemical weathering (decreased clay content) occurred simultaneously, showing that crustal weathering and soil formation were enhanced under warm climatic conditions.Clay formation was enhanced in the watershed from the Late Miocene to the Middle Pliocene, and mechanical weathering of rocks increased during glacial intervals after the climate began to cool in Late Pliocene time. This change in the weathering mode in the watershed reduced the nutrient flux and aquatic productivity of Lake Baikal.     

Extended probit mortality model for zooplankton against transient change of PCO(2)

The direct injection of CO(2) in the deep ocean is a promising way to mitigate global warming. One of the uncertainties in this method, however, is its impact on marine organisms in the near field. Since the concentration of CO(2), which organisms experience in the ocean, changes with time, it is required to develop a biological impact model for the organisms against the unsteady change of CO(2) concentration. In general, the LC(50) concept is widely applied for testing a toxic agent for the acute mortality. Here, we regard the probit-transformed mortality as a linear function not only of the concentration of CO(2) but also of exposure time. A simple mathematical transform of the function gives a damage-accumulation mortality model for zooplankton. In this article, this model was validated by the mortality test of Metamphiascopsis hirsutus against the transient change of CO(2) concentration.