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。     

Early succession of micro‐periphyton communities in kelp bed and barren ground ecological systems

In shallow sublittoral rocky habitats of the Southeast Pacific, two conspicuous ecological systems exist; kelp beds dominated by large Laminariales algae, and barren grounds dominated by crustose coralline algae and sea urchins. The aim of this study was to examine the successional development of micro‐periphyton communities in both ecological systems using a colonization experiment conducted in Northern Chile. In both ecological systems, we installed replicated ceramic plates at 10 m depth and samples were taken after 1, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 14 days of exposure. Bacteria, diatoms, protozoans and small eukaryotes were identified, quantified and analysed. The succession of micro‐periphyton communities in both ecological systems followed a common pattern consisting of a net accumulation of functional groups and taxa over time; however, the total density of all groups was significantly higher in the kelp beds. In addition, the community structure of the developing micro‐periphytons was different and specific for each ecological system. Although previous studies have suggested that kelp beds and barren grounds are capable of switching from one state to the other without substantial changes in biodiversity, our results show that each of these ecological systems promotes its own successional development, suggesting that they are unique, self‐organized entities. This study is the first step towards an understanding of these ecological systems operating independently at this scale of organization.     

Variations of magnetospheric convection electric fields during substorms as inferred from pc1 hydromagnetic waves

The convection electric field in the vicinity of the plasmapause in the midnight sector during magnetospheric substorms has been obtained on the basis of spectral analysis of Pc1 hydromagnetic (HM) waves observed at the low latitude station, Onagawa (Φ = 28.°3, Λ = 206.°8). Variations of the field are consistent for four independent substorm events studied. The calculation implies that the convection electric field increases westwards up to ~1.0 mV/m during the expansion phase of the substorms, changes polarity near the end of the expansion phase, and then points eastwards during the recovery phase.     

Occurrence of Two Distinct Types of Tissue Inhibitors of Metallo-proteinases-2 in Fugu rubripes

In this study, genes of two distinct tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases-2 （TIMP-2） from Japanese puffer fish Fugu rubripes, Fugu TIMP-2a and TIMP-2b, were cloned. The open reading frames of Fugu TIMP-2a and TIMP-2b cDNAs are composed of 660 and 657 nucleotides and 220 and 219 amino acids, respectively. Both Fugu TIMP-2s contain 12 cysteine residues, which might form six disulfide bonds as in other animals＇ TIMP-2s. Reverse-transcribed polymerase chain reaction analysis showed the mRNAs of Fugu TIMP-2a and TIMP-2b to be expressed in some tissues examined with different expression patterns. These findings suggest that the two distinct Fugu TIMP-2s might perform different functions in Fugu tissues.     

The earth's palaeomagnetosphere as the third type of planetary magnetosphere

From the viewpoint of dynamical topology, planetary magnetospheres are classified into three: Types 1, 2 and 3. When the rotation vector and dipole moment of a planet and the velocity vector of the solar wind are denoted as Ω, M, and V, respectively, the planetary magnetosphere with Ω∥M⊥V is called Type 1. The magnetospheres of the present Earth, Jupiter, and Uranus at its equinoctial points belong to this type. The magnetosphere with Ω∥M∥V is called Type 2, which includes the Uranian magnetosphere at its solstitial points. The magnetosphere with Ω⊥M and Ω⊥V is called Type 3. The Earth's palaeomagnetosphere is considered to have experienced Type 3 during excursions and transition stages of palaeomagnetic polarity reversals. In the Type 3 magnetosphere, drastic diurnal variations are expected in configurations of the dayside cusps, tail axis, neutral sheet, polar caps, and so on. A possible relation between the Type 3 palaeomagnetosphere and palaeoclimate of the Earth during polarity reversals and geomagnetic excursions is suggested. It is also suggested that the heliomagnetosphere during polarity reversals of the general field of the Sun exhibits a drastic configuration change similar to the Type 3 palaeomagnetosphere of the Earth. A relation between the perpendicular condition Ω⊥M and magnetic variable stars and pulsars is briefly discussed.     

Fission track and U–Pb zircon ages of psammitic rocks from the Harushinai unit,Kamuikotan metamorphic rocks,central Hokkaido,Japan: constraints on metamorphic histories

Accurate pressure–temperature–time (P–T–t) paths of rocks from sedimentation through maximum burial to exhumation are needed to determine the processes and mechanisms that form high‐pressure and low‐temperature type metamorphic rocks. Here, we present a new method combining laser ablation–inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (LA–ICP–MS) U–Pb with fission track (FT) dates for detrital zircons from two psammitic rock samples collected from the Harushinai unit of the Kamuikotan metamorphic rocks. The concordant zircon U–Pb ages for these samples vary markedly, from 1980 to 95 Ma, with the youngest age clusters in both samples yielding Albian‐Cenomanian weighted mean ages of 100.8 ± 1.1 and 99.3 ± 1.0 Ma (2σ uncertainties). The zircon U–Pb ages were not reset by high‐P/T type metamorphism, because there is no indication of overgrowth within the zircons with igneous oscillatory zoning. Therefore, these weighted mean ages are indicative of the maximum age of deposition of protolithic material. By comparison, the zircon FT data yield a pooled age of ca. 90 Ma, which is almost the same as the weighted mean age of the youngest U–Pb age cluster. This indicates that the zircon FT ages were reset at ca. 90 Ma while still at their source, but have not been reset since. This conclusion is supported by recorded temperature conditions of less than about 300 °C (the closure temperature of zircon FTs), as estimated from microstructures in the deformed detrital quartz grains in psammitic rocks, and no shortening of fission track lengths in the zircon. Combining these new data with previously reported white mica K–Ar ages indicates that the Harushinai unit was deposited after ca. 100 Ma, and underwent burial to its maximum depth before being subjected to a localized thermal overprint during exhumation at ca. 58 Ma.     

A method for determination of volcanic glass concentrations in sedimentary sequences and its application to quaternary studies

A method for determination of volcanic glass concentration in sedimentary sequences is presented. This method consists of two steps: (1) systematic extraction of volcanic glass particles from samples taken at close intervals in a sedimentary section, and the determination of their concentration; (2) precise measurement of the refractive indices of the separated glass particles. A recently developed measuring system (RIMS 86) based on the thermal immersion method permits quick and accurate measurement of the refractive index of a large number of grains within samples. Based on these kinds of data, we typically recognize five types of concentration of volcanic glass shards in sedimentary sequences. The method proposed here enables the simultaneous determination of the refractive index of glass shards and the proportion of glass shards in a sample, which makes it possible to recognize certain ash-fall-horizons, even those undetectable through visual observation of a sedimentary column. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.