Mechanisms for anhydrite and gypsum formation in the Kuroko massive sulfide–sulfate deposits,north Japan

The Sr, Ba, and rare earth elements (REEs) concentrations and Sr isotopic composition of anhydrite and gypsum have been determined for samples from the Matsumine, Shakanai, and Hanaoka Kuroko-type massive sulfide–sulfate deposits of northern Japan to evaluate the mechanisms of sekko (anhydrite and gypsum) ore formation. The Sr isotopic compositions of the samples fall in the range of 0.7077–0.7087, intermediate between that for middle Miocene (13–15 Ma) seawater (0.7088) (Peterman et al., Geochim Cosmochim Acta, 34:105–120, 1970) and that for country rocks (e.g., 0.7030–0.7050) (Shuto, Assn Geol Collab Japan Monograph 18:91–105, 1974). The Kuroko anhydrite samples exhibit two types of chondrite-normalized REE patterns: one with a decrease from light REEs (LREEs) to heavy REEs (HREEs) (type I), and another with a LREE-depleted pattern (type II). Based on the Sr content and isotopic ratio (assuming an Sr/Ca (mM/M) of 8.7 for seawater), anhydrite is considered to have formed by mixing of preheated seawater with a hydrothermal solution of Sr/Ca (mM/M) = ca. 0.59–1.36 under the condition in which the partition coefficient (Kd) ranges between ca. 0.5 and 0.7. This results in the formation of anhydrite with higher Sr content with an Sr isotopic value close to that of seawater under seawater-dominant conditions. Larger crystals of type II anhydrite are partly replaced by smaller ones, indicating that anhydrite dissolution and recrystallization occurred after or during the formation of sekko ore. Gypsum, which partially replaces anhydrite in the Kuroko deposits, also exhibits two distinct chondrite-normalized REE patterns. Because LREEs are likely to be more readily mobilized during dissolution and recrystallization, it is hypothesized that LREEs are leached from type I anhydrite, resulting in the formation of type II anhydrite with LREE-depleted profiles.     

Forced convection accompanying wind waves

Wind-wave tunnel experiments reveal, by use of techniques of the flow visualization, that wind waves are accompanied by the wind drift surface current with large velocity shear and with horizontal variation of velocity relative to the wave profile. The surface current converges from the crest to a little leeward face of the crest, making a downward flow there, even though the wave is not breaking. Namely, wind waves are accompanied by forced convections relative to the crests of the waves. Since the location of the convergence and the downward flow travels on the water surface as the crest of the wave propagates, the motion as a whole is characterized by turbulent structure as well as by the nature of water-surface waves. In this meaning, the term of real wind waves is proposed in contrast with ordinary water waves. The study of real wind waves will be essential in future development of the study of wind waves.     

Geochemical and mineralogical characteristics of ion-adsorption type REE mineralization in Phuket, Thailand

Geochemical and mineralogical studies were conducted on the 12-m-thick weathering profile of the Kata Beach granite in Phuket, Thailand, in order to reveal the transport and adsorption of rare earth elements (REE) related to the ion-adsorption type mineralization. The parent rock is ilmenite-series biotite granite with transitional characteristics from I type to S type, abundant in REE (592 ppm). REE are contained dominantly in fluorocarbonate as well as in allanite, titanite, apatite, and zircon. The chondrite-normalized REE pattern of the parent granite indicates enrichment of LREE relative to HREE and no significant Ce anomaly. The upper part of the weathering profile from the surface to 4.5 m depth is mostly characterized by positive Ce anomaly, showing lower REE contents ranging from 174 to 548 ppm and lower percentages of adsorbed REE from 34% to 68% compared with the parent granite. In contrast, the lower part of the profile from 4.5 to 12 m depth is characterized by negative Ce anomaly, showing higher REE contents ranging from 578 to 1,084 ppm and higher percentages from 53% to 85%. The negative Ce anomaly and enrichment of REE in the lower part of the profile suggest that acidic soil water in an oxidizing condition in the upper part mostly immobilized Ce⁴⁺ as CeO₂ and transported REE³⁺ downward to the lower part of the profile. The transported REE³⁺ were adsorbed onto weathering products or distributed to secondary minerals such as rhabdophane. The immobilization of REE results from the increase of pH due to the contact with higher pH groundwater. Since the majority of REE in the weathered granite are present in the ion-adsorption fraction with negative Ce anomaly, the percentages of adsorbed REE are positively correlated with the whole-rock negative Ce anomaly. The result of this study suggests that the ion-adsorption type REE mineralization is identified by the occurrence of easily soluble REE fluorocarbonate and whole-rock negative Ce anomaly of weathered granite. Although fractionation of REE in weathered granite is controlled by the occurrence of REE-bearing minerals and adsorption by weathering products, the ion-adsorption fraction tends to be enriched in LREE relative to weathered granite.     

Field data support of three-seconds power law andgu *σ−4-spectral form for growing wind waves

Observational data on air-sea boundary processes at the Shirahama Oceanographic Tower Station, Kyoto University, obtained in November, 1969, was analyzed and presented as an example representing the structure of growing wind-wave field. The condition was an ideal onshore wind, and the data contained continuous records of the wind speed at four heights, the wind direction, the air and water temperatures, the tides, and the growing wind waves, for more than six hours. The main results are as follows. Firstly, in both of the wind speed and the sea surface wind stress, rather conspicuous variations of about six-minute period were appreciable. Secondly, the three-seconds power law and its lemma expressed byH ^*=BT ^*3/2 and=2BT ^*–1/2, respectively, are very well supported by the data, whereH ^*(gH/u _* ²) andT ^*(gT/u _*) are the dimensionless significant wave height and period, respectively, the wave steepness,u _* the friction velocity of air,g the acceleration of gravity, andB=0.062 is a universal constant. Thirdly, the spectral form for the high-frequency side of the spectral maximum is well expressed by the form of()= _sgu_*^–4, where is the angular frequency and() the spectral density. The value of _s is determined as 0.062±0.010 from the observational data. There is a conspicuous discrepancy between the spectral shape of wind waves obtained in wind-wave tunnels and those in the sea, the former containing well-defined higher harmonics of the spectral peak, and consequently there is an apparent difference in the values of _s also. However, it is shown that the discrepancy of _s may be eliminated by evaluating properly the energy level of the spectral form containing higher harmonics.     

Measurement of skin friction distribution along the surface of wind waves

Measurements of local values of the skin friction have been made at many points along the surface of representative wind wave crests in a wind wave tunnel, by use of the distortion of hydrogen-bubble lines. The results obtained at 2.85-m fetch under 6.2 m s^–1 mean wind speed show that the intensity of the skin friction varies greatly along the surface of wind waves as a function of the phase angle. It increases rather continuously at the windward surface toward the crest, attains a value of about 12 dyn cm^–2 near the crest, decreases suddenly just past the crest, and the value at the lee surface is substantially zero Values of the skin friction thus determined along the representative wind waves give an average value of 3.6 dyn cm^–2, rather exceeding the overall stress value of 3.0 dyn cm^–2, which has been estimated from the wind profile. The results are interpreted as that the skin friction bears most of the shearing stress of wind, and that it exerts most intensively around the representative wave crests at their windward faces.     

Uranium in coastal sediments of Tokyo Bay and Funka Bay

The sediment cores from Tokyo Bay and Funka Bay were analyzed for U and its isotopic ratio,²³⁴U/²³⁸U, after dissolving them in 0.1 M HCl, and 30% H₂O₂ in 0.05 M HCl. A small fraction of U in the anoxic sediments was dissolved in 0.1M HCl and even the added yield tracer,²³²U, was lost. The isotopic ratio of H₂O₂ soluble U in the sediments was equal to that of seawater, suggesting that the H₂O₂ soluble U in the sediments is authigenic. The 6M HCl solution dissolved part of the lithogenic U besides the authigenic U. The depth profiles of U from the two bays resembled each other. The authigenic U comprised more than half of the total U even at the surface and increased with depth down to 70 cm, showing small maxima at about 20 cm. The concentration of refractory U was nearly constant with depth and similar to that of the pelagic sediments. The highest U concentration, 6 µg g^–1 which was about 5 times that of the pelagic sediments, was observed in the layer between 70 and 160 cm depth in Tokyo Bay. The annual sedimentation rates of U in the Tokyo Bay sediments were 2.6 tons at the surface and 7.0 tons at the 70–160 cm depth. The increase in U with depth should be due to the deposition of interstitial U either diffusing downward from the surface indicating the trapping of seawater U, or otherwise diffusing upward from the deeper layer indicating the internal cycling of U within the sediments.     

Winter Oceanographic Conditions in the Southwestern Part of the Okhotsk Sea and Their Relation to Sea Ice

In the southwestern part of the Okhotsk Sea, oceanographic and sea-ice observations on board the icebreaker Soya were carried out in February 1997. A mixed layer of uniform temperature nearly at the freezing point extending down to a depth of about 300 m was observed. This is much deeper than has previously been reported. It is suggested that this deep mixed layer originated from the north (off East Sakhalin), being advected along the shelf slope via the East Sakhalin Current, accompanied with the thick first-year ice (average thickness 0.6 m). This vertically uniform winter water, through mixing with the surrounding water, makes the surface water more saline (losing a characteristic of East Sakhalin Current Water) and the water in the 100–300 m depth zone less saline, colder, and richer in oxygen (a characteristic of the intermediate Okhotsk Sea water). The oceanographic structure and a heat budget analysis suggest that new ice zone, which often appears at ice edges, can be formed through preconditioning of thick ice advection and subsequent cooling by the latent heat release due to its melting. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.