Disturbance of recruitment success of mantis shrimp in Tokyo Bay associated with effects of hypoxia on the early life history

We investigated effects of severe hypoxia (dissolved oxygen <1 ml l⁻¹) on recruitment of mantis shrimp Oratosquilla oratoria in Tokyo Bay. Ten-year field surveys were conducted to examine quantitative relationships in annual mean densities of larvae and juveniles, and spatial distribution of juveniles and severe hypoxia. There was no significant correlation between annual mean densities of larvae and juveniles, suggesting that mortality during larval or juvenile stages varies among years, which might have regulated abundance of young-of-the-year juveniles. Juvenile density was low in the severely hypoxic area, implying that hypoxia could affect survivals and spatial distribution of juveniles. Meanwhile, there are yearly fluctuations in juvenile density in normoxic areas of both northern and southern part of the bay. This evidence suggests that abundance of post-settled juveniles might have been determined by not only effects of hypoxia, but also other factors influencing mortality during the early life stages.     

Detection and temporal variation of Co in the digestive glands of the common octopus, Octopus vulgaris, in the East China Sea

⁶⁰Co were detected in common octopus specimens collected in the East China Sea in 1996-2005. The source of ⁶⁰Co has remained unclear yet. Stable isotope analyses showed that there was no difference in stable Co concentrations between octopus samples with ⁶⁰Co and without ⁶⁰Co. This result showed that the stable Co in the digestive gland of octopus potentially did not include a trace amount of ⁶⁰Co and the source of ⁶⁰Co existed independently. Furthermore, investigations of octopus in other area and other species indicated that the origin of the source of ⁶⁰Co occurred locally in the restricted area in the East China Sea and not in the coastal area of Japan. Concentrations of ⁶⁰Co have annually decreased with shorter half-life than the physical half-life. This decrease tendency suggests that the sources of ⁶⁰Co were identical and were temporary dumped into the East China Sea as a solid waste.     

Influence of shear angle on hangingwall deformation during tectonic inversion

Tectonic inversion is a common phenomenon in island arc settings, especially in back‐arc basins. The reactivation of normal faults as thrusts, triggered by tectonic inversion, produces typical inversion fault‐related folds and thrusts in the hangingwall. These hangingwall inversion geometries are affected by two factors: the geometry of the underlying master fault and the angle of inclined simple shear relative to the regional dip of strata, in the case that the deformation is approximated by simple shear. This study employed numerical simulations to analyse the influence of the antithetic shear angle on the geometry of the hangingwall and displacement along the master fault. The simulation results reveal that a steeply inclined shear vector during extension produces a narrow, steep‐sided half‐graben, whereas a gently inclined shear produces a wide, open basin. After tectonic inversion, a tight anticline is formed under steeply inclined shear, whereas an open anticline is formed under gently inclined shear. Antithetic shear results in reduced total displacement along the master fault, and the greater the angle between the shear direction and the regional dip, the greater the displacement along the master fault. Because the deformation geometry of syn‐extension layers is affected by extension followed by contraction, a change in the shear angle during tectonic inversion produces a wide variety of deformation geometries. Comparison of the simulation results with the results of analogue modelling suggests that the shear angle decreases by 5° during the transition from extension to tectonic inversion and that such a change may be commonly observed in natural geological structures. These results highlight the benefits of numerical simulations, which can be used to readily examine a variety of constraining parameters and thereby lead to a better understanding of the mechanism of hangingwall deformation, avoiding erroneous estimates of the amount of fault displacement.     

Dissecting large earthquakes in Japan: Role of arc magma and fluids

We synthesized information from recent high-resolution tomographic studies of large crustal earthquakes which occurred in the Japanese Islands during 1995–2008. Prominent anomalies of low-velocity and high Poisson's ratio are revealed in the crust and uppermost mantle beneath the mainshock hypocenters, which may reflect arc magma and fluids that are produced by a combination of subducting slab dehydration and corner flow in the mantle wedge. Distribution of 164 crustal earthquakes ( M 5.7–8.0) that occurred in Japan during 1885–2008 also shows a correlation with the distribution of low-velocity zones in the crust and uppermost mantle. A qualitative model is proposed to explain the geophysical observations recorded so far in Japan. We consider that the nucleation of a large earthquake is not entirely a mechanical process, but is closely related to the subduction dynamics and physical and chemical properties of materials in the crust and upper mantle; in particular, the arc magma and fluids.     

Mixed Land Use and Obesity: An Empirical Comparison of Alternative Land Use Measures and Geographic Scales

Obesity is a growing epidemic in the United States. Walkable neighborhoods, characterized as having the three Ds of walkability (population Density, land use Diversity, and pedestrian-friendly Design), have been identified as a potentially promising factor to prevent obesity for residents. Past studies examining the relationship between obesity and walkability vary in geographic scales of neighborhood definitions and methods of measuring the three Ds. To better understand potential influences of these sometimes arbitrary choices, we test how four types of alternative measures of land use diversity measured at three geographic scales relate to body mass index for 4,960 Salt Lake County adults. Generalized estimation equation models demonstrate that optimal diversity measures differed by gender and geographic scale and that integrating walkability measures at different scales improved the overall performance of models.     

Chemical and Isotopic Characteristics of the Kuroko‐Forming Volcanism

The Miocene northeast Honshu magmatic arc, Japan, formed at a terrestrial continental margin via a stage of spreading in a back‐arc basin (23–17 Ma) followed by multiple stages of submarine rifting (19–13 Ma). The Kuroko deposits formed during this period, with most forming during the youngest rifting stage. The mode of magma eruption changed from submarine basalt lava flows during back‐arc basin spreading to submarine bimodal basalt lava flows and abundant rhyolitic effusive rocks during the rifting stage. The basalts produced during the stage of back‐arc basin spreading are geochemically similar to mid‐ocean ridge basalt, with a depleted Sr–Nd mantle source, whereas those produced during the rifting stage possess arc signatures with an enriched mantle source. The Nb/Zr ratios of the volcanic rocks show an increase over time, indicating a temporal increase in the fertility of the source. The Nb/Zr ratios are similar in basalts and rhyolites from a given rift zone, whereas the Nd isotopic compositions of the rhyolites are less radiogenic than those of the basalts. These data suggest that the rhyolites were derived from a basaltic magma via crystal fractionation and crustal assimilation. The rhyolites associated with the Kuroko deposits are aphyric and have higher concentrations of incompatible elements than do post‐Kuroko quartz‐phyric rhyolites. These observations suggest that the aphyric rhyolite magma was derived from a relatively deep magma chamber with strong fractional crystallization. Almost all of the Kuroko deposits formed in close temporal relation to the aphyric rhyolite indicating a genetic link between the Kuroko deposits and highly differentiated rhyolitic magma.     

Crystal bending,subgrain boundary development,and recrystallization in orthopyroxene during granulite-facies deformation

A prominent feature of a granulite-facies shear zone from the Hidaka Main Zone (Japan) is the folding of orthopyroxene (opx) porphyroclasts. Dislocation density estimated by transmission electron microscope (TEM) and chemical etching in homogeneously folded domains is too low to account for the amplitude of crystallographic bending, leading us to propose a model similar to “flexural slip” folding, where folded layers are micrometer-wide opx layers between thin planar clinopyroxene (cpx) exsolutions. Extension (compression) in the extrados (intrados) of the folded layer is accommodated by dislocations at the cpx–opx interfaces. Alternatively to distributed deformation, crystal bending also localizes in grain boundaries (GBs), mostly oriented close to the (001) plane and with various misorientation angles but misorientation axes consistently close to the b-axis. For misorientation up to a few degrees, GBs were imaged as tilt walls composed of regularly spaced (100)[001] dislocations. For misorientation angles of 7°, individual dislocations are no longer visible, but high-resolution TEM (HRTEM) observation showed the partial continuity of opx tetrahedral chains through the boundary. For 21° misorientation, the two adjacent crystals are completely separated by an incoherent boundary. In spite of these atomic-scale variations, all GBs share orientation and rotation axis, suggesting a continuous process of misorientation by symmetric incorporation of (100)[001] dislocations. In addition to the dominant GBs perpendicular to the (100) plane, boundaries at low angle with (100) planes are also present, incorporating dislocations with a component of Burgers vector along the a-axis. The two kinds of boundaries combine to delimit subgrains, which progressively rotate with respect to host grains around the b-axis, eventually leading to recrystallization of large porphyroclasts.     

Mixing of magmatic CO2 into volcano groundwater flow at Aso volcano assessed combining carbon and water stable isotopes

To understand deep groundwater flow systems and their interaction with CO₂ emanated from magma at depth in a volcanic edifice, deep groundwater samples were collected from hot spring wells in the Aso volcanic area for hydrogen, oxygen and carbon isotope analyses and measurements of the stable carbon isotope ratios and concentrations of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC). Relations between the stable carbon isotope ratio (δ¹³C_DIC) and DIC concentrations of the sampled waters show that magma-derived CO₂ mixed into the deep groundwater. Furthermore, groundwaters of deeper areas, except samples from fumarolic areas, show higher δ¹³C_DIC values. The waters' stable hydrogen and oxygen isotope ratios (δD and δ¹⁸O) reflect the meteoric-water origin of that region's deep groundwater. A negative correlation was found between the altitude of the well bottom and the altitude of groundwater recharge as calculated using the equation of the recharge-water line and δD value. This applies especially in the Aso-dani area, where deeper groundwater correlates with higher recharge. Groundwater recharged at high altitude has higher δ¹³C_DIC of than groundwater recharged at low altitude, strongly suggesting that magmatic CO₂ is present to a much greater degree in deeper groundwater. These results indicate that magmatic CO₂ mixes into deeper groundwater flowing nearer the magma conduit or chamber.     

Empirical ocean-color algorithms to retrieve chlorophyll-a, total suspended matter, and colored dissolved organic matter absorption coefficient in the Yellow and East China Seas

A bio-optical dataset collected during the 1998?C2007 period in the Yellow and East China Seas (YECS) was used to provide alternative empirical ocean-color algorithms in the retrieval of chlorophyll-a (Chl-a), total suspended matter (TSM), and colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) absorption coefficients at 440 nm (ag₄₄₀). Assuming that remote-sensing reflectance (Rrs) could be retrieved accurately, empirical algorithms for T_Chl (regionally tuned Tassan??s Chl-a algorithm) in case-1 waters (T_Chl2i in case-2 waters), T_TSM (regionally tuned Tassan??s TSM algorithm), and T_ag440 or C_ag440 (regionally tuned Tassan??s or Carder??s ag₄₄₀ algorithm) were able to retrieve Chl-a, TSM, and ag₄₄₀ with uncertainties as high as 35, 46, and 35%, respectively. Applying the standard SeaWiFS Rrs, T_Chl was not viable in the eastern part of the YECS, which was associated with an inaccurate SeaWiFS Rrs retrieval because of improper atmospheric correction. T_Chl behaved better than other algorithms in the turbid case-2 waters, although overestimation was still observed. To retrieve more reliable Chl-a estimates with standard SeaWiFS Rrs in turbid water (a proxy for case-2 waters), we modified T_Chl for data with SeaWiFS normalized water-leaving radiance at 555 nm (nLw₅₅₅) > 2 mW cm^?2 ??m^?1 sr^?1 (T_Chl2s). Finally, with standard SeaWiFS Rrs, we recommend switching algorithms from T_Chl2s (for case-2 waters) to MOC_Chl (SeaWiFS-modified NASA OC4v4 standard algorithm for case-1 waters) for retrieving Chl-a, which resulted in uncertainties as high as 49%. To retrieve TSM and ag₄₄₀ using SeaWiFS Rrs, we recommend empirical algorithms for T_TSM (pre-SeaWiFS-modified form) and MT_ag440 or MC_ag440 (SeaWiFS Rrs-modified forms of T_ag440 or C_ag440). These could retrieve with uncertainties as high as 82 and 52%, respectively.