New buoy observation system for tsunami and crustal deformation

We have developed a new system for real-time observation of tsunamis and crustal deformation using a seafloor pressure sensor, an array of seafloor transponders and a Precise Point Positioning (PPP ) system on a buoy. The seafloor pressure sensor and the PPP system detect tsunamis, and the pressure sensor and the transponder array measure crustal deformation. The system is designed to be capable of detecting tsunami and vertical crustal deformation of ±8 m with a resolution of less than 5 mm. A noteworthy innovation in our system is its resistance to disturbance by strong ocean currents. Seismogenic zones near Japan lie in areas of strong currents like the Kuroshio, which reaches speeds of approximately 5.5 kt (2.8 m/s) around the Nankai Trough. Our techniques include slack mooring and new acoustic transmission methods using double pulses for sending tsunami data. The slack ratio can be specified for the environment of the deployment location. We can adjust slack ratios, rope lengths, anchor weights and buoy sizes to control the ability of the buoy system to maintain freeboard. The measured pressure data is converted to time difference of a double pulse and this simple method is effective to save battery to transmit data. The time difference of the double pulse has error due to move of the buoy and fluctuation of the seawater environment. We set a wire-end station 1,000 m beneath the buoy to minimize the error. The crustal deformation data is measured by acoustic ranging between the buoy and six transponders on the seafloor. All pressure and crustal deformation data are sent to land station in real-time using iridium communication.     

Quick triggering of magnetic reconnection in magnetotail

Recently, quick triggering of magnetic reconnection (QMRT) even in an ion-scale current sheet is found to be possible with the help of the nonlinear evolution of the lower hybrid drift instability (LHDI). The details of the QMRT mechanism are reviewed mostly based on three-dimensional full-particle simulation results of our group. QMRT is mediated by LHDI and its time scale is comparable to the saturation time scale of LHDI. Depending on the initial current sheet thickness, two types of QMRT, so-called Type-I and Type-II QMRT, are demonstrated.     

江豚的分娩及相关行为观察

于１９９３年４月１０日,在日本江之岛水族馆,江豚顺利分娩,对其分娩过程,以及与之相关的呼吸,活动行为进行较详细的观察和研究,结果表明,母豚将小母豚发尾部生以占分娩的绝大部分时间,分娩后期段平均呼吸频率减缓,游动速度放慢,水面活动增多,并趋于单独活动,此外,还记录到母豚的喷水,跳水,收腹,摆尾,转游等分娩时的特殊行为及出生后幼豚的行为。     

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.     

Life inhabits rocks: clues to rock erosion from electron microscopy of pisolite at a UNESCO heritage site in Brazil

Rock erosion is attracting increasing attention from scientists worldwide. The area encompassing the Saint John Baptist Church, Saint John Village, XVII century ruins in Rio Grande do Sul at the UNESCO World Heritage Site is considered a Brazilian treasure. However, the risk of damage to this site from rock erosion has recently increased tremendously. Generally, the rocky construction such as fence, wall and tomb stone, seems strong but is actually extremely sensitive to erosion caused by lichens, fungi, molds and bacteria. Because of biological erosion and massive exposure, the fresh rock is dominated by clays and microorganisms. Water-adsorbing clays and microorganisms influence the mechanisms of the rock erosion. In this study, the formation of bio-clay-minerals in porous structure of pisolite was demonstrated using electron microscopy. Bacterial clay mineralization can deform the rock structure and even produce organic materials. Biological activity could easily corrode rocky constructions around the Saint John Baptist Church site. The rocks are pisolitic laterites possibly formed in Tertiary over the Kretaceous Parana flood Basalts. Samples inhabited by lichens and fungi were collected from a collapsed wall in the ancient church. The zonal reddish-brown pisolites are 4 mm in diameter in a matrix of clays associated with porous and empty spaces. Elemental distribution maps from X-ray fluorescence microscopy show iron-rich spherules of pisolite, whereas the matrix is composed of Al, Si, Mn, and Sr; thus producing goethite and kaolinite. Transmission electron microscopic observation showed that various types of bacteria inhabit the spherule and are associated with clay minerals and graphite. STEM elemental analysis confirmed the bio-clay-mineralization with Al, Si, S, and Fe, around bacterial cells. The results presented here will improve our understanding of nm-scale bio-mineralization and bio-erosion in lateritic rocks. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Cross-scale: multi-scale coupling in space plasmas

Most of the visible universe is in the highly ionised plasma state, and most of that plasma is collision-free. Three physical phenomena are responsible for nearly all of the processes that accelerate particles, transport material and energy, and mediate flows in systems as diverse as radio galaxy jets and supernovae explosions through to solar flares and planetary magnetospheres. These processes in turn result from the coupling amongst phenomena at macroscopic fluid scales, smaller ion scales, and down to electron scales. Cross-Scale, in concert with its sister mission SCOPE (to be provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency—JAXA), is dedicated to quantifying that nonlinear, time-varying coupling via the simultaneous in-situ observations of space plasmas performed by a fleet of 12 spacecraft in near-Earth orbit. Cross-Scale has been selected for the Assessment Phase of Cosmic Vision by the European Space Agency.      

Correlation between the densities of X-ray sources and interstellar gas

The distribution of X-ray sources in our galaxy is obtained, assuming that the absolute X-ray luminosities of these sources are the same. The distribution is found to be in good correlation with the distribution of interstellar gas. The density of X-ray sources is nearly proportional to the square density of gas. This indicates that X-ray sources are comparatively young. The relation between the densities of X-ray sources and gas allows us to estimate the X-ray intensities of various objects such as Magellanic Clouds and Andromeda nebula, and also to obtain the average X-ray luminosity of spiral galaxies. The latter should increase as the age of a galaxy decreases, since the amount of gas decreases as the galaxy evolves. Under the assumptions that the gas density is inversely proportional to the age and that galaxies older thant ₀/30 are visible in X-rays, wheret ₀ is the present age of the universe, the contribution of X-ray sources in distant galaxies to the background component is calculated. The intensity and the spectrum of the background component of X-rays thus obtained are in fair agreement with observed ones in the energy range between 1 and 4 keV but significantly deviate from the latter at high energies.     

Internal structure of the Nojima Fault zone from the Hirabayashi GSJ drill core

Abstract The internal structures of the Nojima Fault, south-west Japan, are examined from mesoscopic observations of continuous core samples from the Hirabayashi Geological Survey of Japan (GSJ) drilling. The drilling penetrated the central part of the Nojima Fault, which ruptured during the 1995 Kobe earthquake (Hyogo-ken Nanbu earthquake) ( M 7.2). It intersected a 0.3 m-thick layer of fault gouge, which is presumed to constitute the fault core (defined as a narrow zone of extremely concentrated deformation) of the Nojima Fault Zone. The rocks obtained from the Hirabayashi GSJ drilling were divided into five types based on the intensities of deformation and alteration: host rock, weakly deformed and altered granodiorite, fault breccia, cataclasite, and fault gouge. Weakly deformed and altered granodiorite is distributed widely in the fault zone. Fault breccia appears mostly just above the fault core. Cataclasite is distributed mainly in a narrow (≈1 m wide) zone in between the fault core and a smaller gouge zone encountered lower down from the drilling. Fault gouge in the fault core is divided into three types based on their color and textures. From their cross-cutting relationships and vein development, the lowest fault gouge in the fault core is judged to be newer than the other two. The fault zone characterized by the deformation and alteration is assumed to be deeper than 426.2 m and its net thickness is > 46.5 m. The fault rocks in the hanging wall (above the fault core) are deformed and altered more intensely than those in the footwall (below the fault core). Furthermore, the intensities of deformation and alteration increase progressively towards the fault core in the hanging wall, but not in the footwall. The difference in the fault rock distribution between the hanging wall and the footwall might be related to the offset of the Nojima Fault and/or the asymmetrical ground motion during earthquakes.     

Textural evidence for recent co-seismic circulation of fluids in the Nojima fault zone, Awaji island, Japan

The Hirabayashi borehole (Awaji Island, Japan) was drilled by the Geological Survey of Japan (GSJ) 1 year after the Hyogo-ken Nanbu (Kobe) earthquake (1995, M_JMA=7.2). This has enabled scientists to study the complete sequence of deformation across the active Nojima fault, from undeformed granodiorite to the fault core. In the fault core, different types of gouge and fractures have been observed and can be interpreted in terms of a complex history of faulting and fluid circulation. Above the fault core and within the hanging wall, compacted cataclasites and gouge are cut by fractures which show high apparent porosity and are filled by 5–50 μm euhedral and zoned siderite and ankerite crystals. These carbonate-filled fractures have been observed within a 5.5-m-wide zone above the fault, but are especially abundant in the vicinity (1 m) of the fault. The log-normal crystal size distributions of the siderite and ankerite suggest that they originated by decaying-rate nucleation accompanied by surface-controlled growth in a fluid saturated with respect to these carbonates. These carbonate-filled fractures are interpreted as the result of co-seismic hydraulic fracturing and upward circulation of fluids in the hanging wall of the fault, with the fast nucleation of carbonates attributed to a sudden fluid or CO₂ partial pressure drop due to fracturing. The fractures cut almost all visible structures at a thin section scale, although in some places, the original idiomorphic shape of carbonates is modified by a pressure-solution mechanism or the carbonate-filled fractures are cut and brecciated by very thin gouge zones; these features are attributed to low and high strain-rate mechanisms, respectively. The composition of the present-day groundwater is at near equilibrium or slightly oversaturated with respect to the siderite, calcite, dolomite and rhodochrosite. Taken together, this suggests that these fractures formed very late in the evolution of the fault zone, and may be induced by co-seismic hydraulic fracturing and circulation of a fluid with a similar composition to the present-day groundwater. They are therefore potentially related to recent earthquake activity (<1.2 Ma) on the Nojima fault.