Iron sulfides in the sediment cores from the Sea of Japan and their geophysical implications

Ferromagnetic iron sulfides have been identified by thermomagnetic, X-ray crystallographic and reflection-microscopic analyses of deep-sea sediment cores taken from the Sea of Japan. Occurrence of iron sulfides at certain depths of the cores seems to indicate that the paleoenvironment of the deep basin in the Sea of Japan was very stagnant, probably due to the enclosure by lands caused by the lowering of the sea level during the glacial periods. Oxidation of sulfides as well as sulfuration of oxides in the sedimentary layer may account for the abnormally high heat flow in the deep basin.     

Spatio-temporal deposition profile of an experimentally produced turbidity current with a continuous suspension supply

A turbidity current is a turbulent, particle-laden gravity current that is driven by density differences resulting from the presence of suspended sediment particles. The current travels downslope, bearing a large amount of sediment over a great distance, and forms fluvial and submarine bedforms. Knowledge of the spatio-temporal deposition profile of turbidity-deposited sediment is important for a better understanding of sediment transport by turbidity currents. In the current study, the depositi...     

Gender differences in agricultural productivity: evidence from maize farm households in southern Ethiopia

GeoJournal - This study examines the impact of gender differences on maize productivity in Dawuro Zone, southern Ethiopia. Our study addressed the limitations of the previous studies in two ways....     

Effect of human activity on Lake Saroma (Japan) during the past 150 years: Evidence by variation of diatom assemblages

Diatom assemblages of the surface and in core sediment samples from Lake Saroma (Japan) were examined for the purpose of evaluating anthropogenic effect on the coastal environmental changes. Before the first inlet excavation, the lake's water quality and ecology were controlled by water exchange with the Okhotsk Sea as well as lake-level variation. However, large-scale ecological modification occurred, mainly due to artificial excavation and shellfish industrial farms. A distinct record of the succession of the dominant diatom taxa was preserved in core sediments. Low-oxygen water was prevalent in the lake in 1929, before the first inlet excavation. Immediately after the first inlet excavation, the low-oxygen water in the western basin of the lake began to disappear, in a trend that became increasing transparent, which has been attributed to an increasing rate of water exchange. However, the lacustrine environment of bottom sediments resumes deterioration 20 years after since the first artificial excavation: the resultant deposition of river-mouth materials into the deep basin caused eutrophication and environmental disturbance of the lake bottom. At the same time, the eutrophication of surface water became intensified with the onset of intense scallop culturing beginning in 1966. Increasing organic loads deposited onto the bottom layer in the form of excreta from the scallop nursery led to more oxygen deficiency and the elution of nitrogen and phosphorus from the sediment, which again brought about eutrophication of the surface layer. Such environmental change was reflected in a decrease of benthic diatom taxa and an increase of planktonic taxa, trends which have continued until today. Particularly, the numbers of diatom assemblage have been decreasing all over the lake during the last 10 years, which suggests that Lake Saroma's present-day deterioration and eutrophication will continue or become even worse.     

Mixing efficiency in decaying stably stratified turbulence

Mixing efficiency in stratified flows is a measure of the proportion of turbulent kinetic energy that goes into increasing the potential energy of the fluid by irreversible mixing. In this research direct numerical simulations (DNS) and rapid distortion theory (RDT) calculations of transient turbulent mixing events are carried out in order to study this aspect of mixing. In particular, DNS and RDT of decaying, homogeneous, stably-stratified turbulence are used to determine the mixing efficiency as a function of the initial turbulence Richardson number R_it0=(N_L0/_u0)²$R{i}_{t0}={(N{L}_0/u_0)}^2$, where N   is the buoyancy frequency and _L0$L_0$ and _u0$u_0$ are initial length and velocity scales of the turbulence. The results show that the mixing efficiency increases with increasing R_it0$R{i}_{t0}$ for small R_it0$R{i}_{t0}$, but for larger R_it0$R{i}_{t0}$ the mixing efficiency becomes approximately constant. These results are compared with data from towed grid experiments. There is qualitative agreement between the DNS results and the available experimental data, but significant quantitative discrepancies. The grid turbulence experiments suggest a maximum mixing efficiency (at large R_it0$R{i}_{t0}$) of about 6%, while the DNS and RDT results give about 30%. We consider two possible reasons for this discrepancy: Prandtl number effects and non-matching initial conditions. We conclude that the main source of the disagreement probably is due to inaccuracy in determining the initial turbulence energy input in the case of the grid turbulence experiments.     

Transport of chemical components in sea ice and under-ice water during melting in the seasonally ice-covered Saroma-ko Lagoon,Hokkaido, Japan

Physico-chemical properties in the brine and under-ice water were measured in Saroma-ko Lagoon on the northeastern coast of Hokkaido, Japan, which is connected to the Sea of Okhotsk, during the period from mid-February through mid-March 2006. The brine within brine channels of the sea ice was collected with a new sampling method examined in this study. Salinity, dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), total alkalinity (TA), dissolved oxygen (DO), nutrients and oxygen isotopic ratio (δ¹⁸O) contained in the brine within brine channels of the sea ice and in the under-ice water varied largely in both time and space during the ice melt period, when discharge from Saromabetsu River located on the southeast of the lagoon increased markedly due to the onset of snow melting. The under-ice plume expands as far as 4.5 km from the river mouth at mid-March 2006, transporting chemical components supplied from the river into the lagoon. The under-ice river water was likely transported into the sea ice through well-developed brine channels in the sea ice due to upward flushing of water through brine channels occurred by loading of snowfalls deposited over the sea ice. These results suggest that the river water plume plays an important role in supplying chemical components into the sea ice, which may be a key process influencing the biogeochemical cycle in the seasonally ice-covered Saroma-ko Lagoon.     

Evaluation of Vector Winds Observed by NSCAT in the Seas around Japan

In order to validate wind vectors derived from the NASA Scatterometer (NSCAT), two NSCAT wind products of different spatial resolutions are compared with observations by buoys and research vessels in the seas around Japan. In general, the NSCAT winds agree well with the wind data from the buoys and vessels. It is shown that the root-mean-square (rms) difference between NSCAT-derived wind speeds and the buoy observations is 1.7 ms^–1, which satisfies the mission requirement of accuracy, 2 ms^–1. However, the rms difference of wind directions is slightly larger than the mission requirement, 20°. This result does not agree with those of previous studies on validation of the NSCAT-derived wind vectors using buoy observations, and is considered to be due to differences in the buoy observation systems. It is also shown that there are no significant systematic trends of the NSCAT wind speed and direction depending on the wind speed and incidence angle. Comparison with ship winds shows that the NSCAT wind speeds are lower than those observed by the research vessels by about 0.7 ms^–1 and this bias is twice as large for data observed by moving ships than by stationary ships. This result suggests that the ship winds may be influenced by errors caused by ship's motion, such as pitching and rolling.     

A Late Holocene geomagnetic secular variation record from Erhai Lake, southwest China

A secular variation record of the geomagnetic field direction for the last 6.5  kyr has been obtained from the magnetization of sediment cores from Erhai Lake, southwest China. In order to make a comparison with this record, secular variation in east-central China was investigated by combining available magnetic field data from historical records and archaeomagnetic measurements since about 350 bc . The secular variation in Erhai Lake shows features consistent with the combined record, except for the oldest three observed declination swings in Sian from 720 to 900 ad . Many features of declination and inclination in China also occur in Japan. From 500 to 1000 ad , declination was westerly ranging from about −20° to −5° in Erhai Lake, east-central China, and Japan.     

Boron isotopic composition of fumarolic condensates and sassolites from Satsuma Iwo-jima,Japan

¹¹B/¹⁰B ratios of the high temperature fumarolic gases (>465°C) of this island were found to be constant within the limits of experimental error (¹¹B/¹⁰B = 4.066). This value may represent the ¹¹B/¹⁰B ratio of boron in the andesite magma. ¹¹B/¹⁰B ratios of the low temperature fumarolic gases (<235°C) were found to vary from 4.053 to 4.077. ¹¹B/¹⁰B ratios of some sassolites were approximately equal to that of the fumarolic condensates and the other ones were slightly enriched in ¹⁰B compared to the fumarolic condensates.     

Interelement relationships and age-related variation of trace element concentrations in liver of striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba) from Japanese coastal waters

Concentrations of 19 trace elements (V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Cu, Zn, Se, Rb, Sr, Mo, Ag, Cd, Sb, Cs, Ba, Tl, Hg, and Pb) were determined in the liver of the striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba) collected around Japan during 1977-1982 to examine the sex difference, age dependence, and interrelationships among trace elements. Tissue distribution of trace elements was also investigated in one adult and one fetus specimens. Generally, concentrations of Se, Sr, Ag, Cd, Cs, Ba, Hg, and Pb were higher in the tissues of adult than those of fetus, whereas the opposite trend was observed for Cr and Tl. There were no significant sex differences in the trace element levels in the liver. Significant positive correlations between age (0-26.5 years) and hepatic concentrations were found for Ag, Se, Hg, V, Fe, Pb, and Sr, suggesting their age-dependent accumulation in the liver. In contrast, hepatic concentrations of Mn and Zn decreased with age. Significant positive relationships were observed between Se, and Hg, Ag, V, Fe, and Sr in the liver.