The effect of groundwater on topographic changes in a gravel beach

In recent years, several attempts to stabilize the beach by control of the percolation of water have been proposed. However, morphodynamics in the surf zone is still not clear because of the complexity of wave actions and sediment transport. Especially, there is a little research on gravel beach morphodynamics including wave breaking in the surf zone. The present study investigates experimentally how groundwater level influences topographic changes in a gravel beach and simulates numerically the wave fields and flow patterns in the surf zone, considering the porosity of the media and the presence of groundwater. In experiments, water-level control tank was designed to control the simulated groundwater elevation and the wave flume was divided into two parts to maintain a constant mean water level. The experimental results show that the berm formed in the upper portion of the shoreline moves up the beach as the groundwater level falls and the lower the groundwater level, the steeper the beach surface. The numerical model was developed to clarify these features capable of simulating the difference of groundwater and mean water level. Numerical results showed different flow patterns due to the groundwater elevation; wave run-up weakens and wave run-down strengthens by the seaward currents caused by elevated groundwater. These deformations of the flow pattern explain well how the beach profile is affected by the groundwater elevation.     

Topographic effect of a marine ridge on the spin-down of a cyclonic eddy

The topographic effect of a meridional marine ridge on the spin-down of a cyclonic eddy is discussed by use of a two layer model. It is shown that cyclonic eddies on the eastern side of a marine ridge decay in a shorter time in comparison with those on the western side. The fast decay on the eastern side is mainly due to the planetary effect, which carries the eddy westward to a shallower region on the ridge, where remarkable frictional spin-down is carried out. Conversely, westward shift of the similar cyclonic eddy yields a weak bottom effect in the western side. It is inferred that the resulting remarkable spin-down on the eastern side of a marine ridge is one of the causes of the observed fast decay of the cyclonic cold water mass accompanied by the large meander of the Kuroshio on the eastern side of the Izu Ridge south of Japan.     

A numerical study on the generation of the small meander of the Kuroshio off southern Kyûshû

The generation of small meanders of the Kuroshio off southern Kyûshû is investigated. Basing on the fact that the small meanders tend to follow an increase in velocity of the Kuroshio in the Satsunan region (Sekine andToba, 1981), the influence of this velocity increase on the quasi-stationary path of the Kuroshio is studied numerically. Simplified bottom and coastal topographies are employed in a two layer model ocean. A quasi-stationary numerical solution with a constant inflow is used for the initial condition, and a temporal increase in the inflow with corresponding leakage is employed as the boundary condition to investigate nonlinear effects due to the increase in current velocity. Experiments for four different physical models are carried out to determine the specific roles of the continental slope, the planetary-effect, and density stratification. Temporal increase in the inflow tends to cause offshore shift of the current path. But the topographic effect of the continental slope is strong enough that no significant shift of the current path occurs in the case of the barotropic ocean. However, in the case of a baroclinic ocean, temporal increase in the inflow does cause generation of small meanders, because density stratification diminishes the topographic effect. A larger density stratification provides more favorable condition for the appearance of the small meander, and a cyclonic eddy is formed on the continental side of the small meander path.     

Accretion process of the moon

Recent geochemical and geophysical data suggest that the initial temperature of the Moon was strongly peaked toward the lunar surface. To explain such an initial temperature distribution, a simple model of accretion process of the Moon is presented. The model assumes that the Moon was formed from the accumulation of the solid particles or gases in the isolated, closed cloud. Two equations are derived to calculate the accretion rate and surface temperature of the accreting Moon. Numerical calculations are made for a wide range of the parameters particle concentration and particle velocity in the cloud. A limited set of the parameters gives the initial temperature profiles as required by geochemical and geophysical data. These models of the proto-moon cloud indicate that the lunar outershell, about 400 km thick, was partially or completely molten just after the accretion of the Moon and that the Moon should have been formed in a period shorter than 1000 yr. If the Moon formed at a position nearer to the Earth than its present one, the Moon might have been formed in a period of less than one year.On leave from Geophysical Institute, University of Tokyo.Contribution No. 2104, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology.     

Morphology and formation of spreading cracks on pillow lavas at Cape Grim, northwestern Tasmania, Australia

Tertiary basaltic pillow lobes at Cape Grim, northwestern Tasmania, Australia display well-preserved spreading cracks in the glassy crust. The spreading cracks are lens-shaped or rectangular in plan view. In cross section, they consist of a graben-like depression with a broad floor bounded by steep scarps. The floor of spreading crack contains an axial crack and a number of ridges that are arranged symmetrically with respect to the axial crack. The ridges within spreading cracks are inferred to have formed by the regular, repeated production and splitting of new crust at the centre of the spreading crack. This new interpretation of ridges in spreading cracks differs from the previous interpretation in which they are regarded as elongate normal fault blocks. Our interpretation provides new insight into the propagation mechanisms of pillow lavas.     

Progressive ordering of cristobalitic silica in the early stage of diagenesis

Examination of hydrothermally transformed silica from controlled experiments reveals that amorphous silica changes to quartz through an intermediate phase of opal-CT and that the d(101) spacing of cristobalite progressively decreases from 4.10 Å to 4.05 Å. The rate of spacing decrease is definitely dependent on the reaction temperature, being faster at higher temperatures. This spacing change represents ordering of opal-CT crystals with the passage of time.The relationship between thermal history and degree of ordering suggests that stratigraphic boundaries are usually parallel to isopleths of d (101) spacings, but do not always coincide with them. The isopleths should be more or less discordant to the stratigraphic boundaries where the strata have been folded. This discordancy can be ascribed to the difference of ordering, chiefly controlled by the thermal history during the burial and folding process.     

Stochastic analysis of bed-thickness distribution of sediments

On formation of a bed and distribution of bed thickness, A. N. Kolmogorov presented a mathematical explanation that if repetitive alternations of material accumulation and erosion form a sequence of beds, the resultant bed-thickness distribution curve takes a shape truncated by the ordinate at zero thickness. In this truncated distribution curve, its continuation and extension from positive to negative thickness represents the distribution of beds with negative thickness, that is, the depth of erosion. When a distribution curve, including both positive and negative parts, is expressed by a function f(x),the ratio \(\int_0^\infty {f(x)dx to} \int_{ - \infty }^\infty {f(x)dx} \) ,called Kolmogorov's coefficient and designated as p,is a parameter representing the degree of accumulation in the depositional environment. On the assumption that f(x)is described by the Gaussian distribution function, the coefficient pfor Permian and Pliocene sequences in central Japan was calculated. The coefficients also were obtained from published data for different types of sediments from other areas. It was determined that they are more or less different depending on their depositional environments. The calculated results are summarized as follows: $$\begin{gathered} p = 0.80 - 1.0for{\text{ }}alluvial{\text{ }}or{\text{ }}fluvial{\text{ }}deposits \hfill \\ p = 0.65 - 0.95for{\text{ }}nearshore{\text{ }}sediments \hfill \\ p = 0.55 - 0.95for{\text{ }}geosynclinal{\text{ }}sediments \hfill \\ p = 0.90 - 1.0for{\text{ }}varves \hfill \\ \end{gathered} $$ In addition, a ratio \(q = \int_0^\infty {xf(x)dx/} \int_{ - \infty }^\infty {|x|f(x)dx} \) ,called Kolmogorov's ratio in this paper, is introduced for estimating a degree of total thickness actually observed in the field relative to total thickness once present in a basin. The calculated results of Kolmogorov's ratio are as follows: $$\begin{gathered} q = 0.88 - 1.0for{\text{ }}alluvial{\text{ }}or{\text{ }}fluvial{\text{ }}deposits \hfill \\ q = 0.68 - 0.98for{\text{ }}nearshore{\text{ }}sediments \hfill \\ q = 0.55 - 0.96for{\text{ }}geosynclinal{\text{ }}sediments \hfill \\ q = 0.92 - 1.0for{\text{ }}varves \hfill \\ \end{gathered} $$ The sedimentological significance of these values is discussed.     

Lunar-A mission: Outline and current status

The scientific objective of the Lunar-A, Japanese Penetrator Mission, is to explore the lunar interior by seismic and heat-flow experiments. Two penetrators containing two seismometers (horizontal and vertical components) and heat-flow probes will be deployed from a spacecraft onto the lunar surface, one on the near-side and the other on the far-side of the moon. The data obtained by the penetrators will be transmitted to the earth station via the Lunar-A mother spacecraft orbiting at an altitude of about 200 km. The spacecraft of a cylindrical shape, 2.2 m in maximum diameter and 1.7 m in height, is designed to be spin-stabilized. The spacecraft will be inserted into an elliptic lunar orbit, after about a half-year cruise during which complex manoeuvering is made using the lunar-solar gravity assist. After lunar orbit insertion, two penetrators will be separated from the spacecraft near perilune, one by one, and will be landed on the lunar surface. The final impact velocity of the penetrator will be about 285 m/sec; it will encounter a shock of about 8000 G at impact on the lunar surface. According to numerous experimental impact tests using model penetrators and a lunar-regolith analog target, each penetrator is predicted to penetrate to a depth between l and 3 m, depending on the hardness and/or particle-size distribution of the lunar regolith. The penetration depth is important for ensuring the temperature stability of the instruments in the penetrator and heat flow measurements. According to the results of the Apollo heat flow experiment, an insulating regolith blanket of only 30 cm is sufficient to dampen out about 280 K lunar surface temperature fluctuation to < 3 K variation. The seismic observations are expected to provide key data on the size of the lunar core, as well as data on deep lunar mantle structure. The heat flow measurements at two penetrator-landing sites will also provide important data on the thermal structure and bulk concentrations of heat-generating elements in the Moon. These data will provide much stronger geophysical constraints on the origin and evolution of the Moon than has been obtained so far. Currently, the Lunar-A system is being reviewed and a more robust system for communication between the penetrators and spacecraft is being implemented according to the lessons learned from Beagle-2 and DS-2 failures. More impact tests for penetrators onto a lunar regolith analogue target will be undertaken before its launch.