Non-destructive monitoring of trace element levels in short-tailed albatrosses (Phoebastria albatrus) and black-footed albatrosses (Phoebastria nigripes) from Torishima Island, Japan using eggs and blood

Concentrations of 18 trace elements (V, Cr, Mn, Co, Cu, Zn, Se, Rb, Sr, Mo, Ag, Cd, Sb, Cs, Ba, Hg, Tl and Pb) were determined in abandoned eggs of short-tailed albatrosses and abandoned eggs and blood of black-footed albatrosses from Torishima Island, Japan in 2002. Mercury concentration was highest among the toxic elements in egg content of both the two species. In some egg contents of black-footed albatrosses, Hg concentrations were higher than the threshold level that may cause decreased hatchability and aberrant nesting behavior in some avian species. Concentrations of Cd in egg content and Ba in egg content and shell increased with an increase in egg breadth/length ratio, whereas Hg in egg content showed an opposite trend in black-footed albatrosses. Since egg breadth/length ratio is known to increase with the age of mother bird, this result may imply that concentrations of these elements in eggs vary with age of mother bird. In blood of black-footed albatross chicks, concentration of Hg was highest among the toxic elements and the Hg concentration showed an increase in the later growth stages. In contrast, concentration of Sr in blood decreased with growth stage. Since the behaviour of Sr is similar to that of Ca in animals, it is conceivable that Sr was used along with Ca for the formation of bone.     

Rockfall hazard in the Daisekkei Valley, the northern Japanese Alps, on 11 August 2005

This paper describes a rockfall event in the Daisekkei Valley of Mount Shirouma-dake (2,932 m), the northern Japanese Alps. The rockfall occurred on a steep cliff comprising well-jointed felsites and produced debris of ≥8,000 m³. Most debris was deposited on an elongated snowpatch located immediately beneath the cliff, and it caused casualties among people who were trekking along a trail on the snowpatch. Additionally, a large rock block slipped 1 km on the snowpatch. The rockfall could have been due to the differential retreat of the rockwall, which contains areas of high- and low-density joints. Seasonal and diurnal freeze–thaw activities and snow avalanches and wash appear to be important factors responsible for the retreat. Although some rock blocks that can collapse further remain on the rockwall, the position of the mountain trail in the Daisekkei Valley is fixed. Fundamental reform of tourism systems for climbers, including education on natural hazards, is required.     

The 11 March 2011 Tohoku Tsunami Survey in Rikuzentakata and Comparison with Historical Events

On 11 March 2011, a moment magnitude M _w = 9.0 earthquake occurred off the Japan Tohoku coast causing catastrophic damage and loss of human lives. In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, we conducted the reconnaissance survey in the city of Rikuzentakata, Japan. In comparison with three previous historical tsunamis impacting the same region, the 2011 event presented the largest values with respect to the tsunami height, the inundation area and the inundation distance. A representative tsunami height of 15 m was recorded in Rikuzentakata, with increased heights of 20 m around rocky headlands. In terms of the inundation area, the 2011 Tohoku tsunami exceeded by almost 2.6 times the area flooded by the 1960 Chilean tsunami, which ranks second among the four events compared. The maximum tsunami inundation distance was 8.1 km along the Kesen River, exceeding the 1933 Showa and 1960 Chilean tsunami inundations by factors of 6.2 and 2.7, respectively. The overland tsunami inundation distance was less than 2 km. The tsunami inundation height linearly decreased along the Kesen River at a rate of approximately 1 m/km. Nevertheless, the measured inland tsunami heights exhibit significant variations on local and regional scales. A designated “tsunami control forest” planted with a cross-shore width of about 200 m along a 2 km stretch of Rikuzentakata coastline was completely overrun and failed to protect the local community during this extreme event. Similarly, many designated tsunami shelters were too low and were overwashed by tsunami waves, thereby failing to provide shelter for evacuees—a risk that had been underestimated.     

Predicting the displacement of triple pendulum™ bearings in a full‐scale shaking experiment using a three‐dimensional element

The accuracy of a series spring model to predict the peak displacement and displacement history of Triple Pendulum? (TP) bearings in a strongly shaken, full‐scale building is evaluated in this paper. The series spring model was implemented as a self‐contained three‐dimensional TP bearing element in OpenSees and is now available for general use. The TP bearing element contains the option for constant friction or a generalized friction model that accounts for the effect of instantaneous velocity and compression load on the friction coefficient. Comparison between numerical simulation and experimental data of a five‐story steel moment frame building shows that the peak displacement of isolation system can generally be predicted with confidence using a constant friction coefficient model. The friction coefficient model accounting for the effect of axial load and velocity leads to minor improvement over the constant friction coefficient models in some cases. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Todorokite formation in seawater by microbial mediation

Microbial manganese oxidation in seawater was carried out in enrichment cultures which were obtained from the seawater supply system at the Marine Science Museum, Tokai University (Shimizu-shi, Japan). The manganese oxide formed was well-crystallized todorokite. The major element composition was within the range of marine manganese concretions and the O/Mn molar ratio was 1.8. The conditions for formation of manganese oxide minerals in marine environments are discussed on the basis of these results.     

Crustal structure of the continental margin of Korea in the East Sea (Japan Sea) from deep seismic sounding data: evidence for rifting affected by the hotter than normal mantle

Despite the various opening models of the southwestern part of the East Sea (Japan Sea) between the Korean Peninsula and the Japan Arc, the continental margin of the Korean Peninsula remains unknown in crustal structure. As a result, continental rifting and subsequent seafloor spreading processes to explain the opening of the East Sea have not been adequately addressed. We investigated crustal and sedimentary velocity structures across the Korean margin into the adjacent Ulleung Basin from multichannel seismic (MCS) reflection and ocean bottom seismometer (OBS) data. The Ulleung Basin shows crustal velocity structure typical of oceanic although its crustal thickness of about 10 km is greater than normal. The continental margin documents rapid transition from continental to oceanic crust, exhibiting a remarkable decrease in crustal thickness accompanied by shallowing of Moho over a distance of about 50 km. The crustal model of the margin is characterized by a high-velocity (up to 7.4 km/s) lower crustal (HVLC) layer that is thicker than 10 km under the slope base and pinches out seawards. The HVLC layer is interpreted as magmatic underplating emplaced during continental rifting in response to high upper mantle temperature. The acoustic basement of the slope base shows an igneous stratigraphy developed by massive volcanic eruption. These features suggest that the evolution of the Korean margin can be explained by the processes occurring at volcanic rifted margins. Global earthquake tomography supports our interpretation by defining the abnormally hot upper mantle across the Korean margin and in the Ulleung Basin.     

土地利用变化研究中的细胞自动机与灰色局势决策

把细胞自动机和灰色局势决策结合起来对土地利用变换机制进行模拟。实验证明,基于灰色局势决策规则的细胞自动机是对土地利用变换机制从宏观和微观角度进行模拟的有效方法。     

Is the periodicity in the distribution of quasar redshifts evidence for the universe being multiply-connected ?

If the cosmological space is a topolegically compactified manifold, e.g. a three-dimensional torus, then the periodicity in the distribution of quasar redshifts can be explained. The present scale of such a compactified space is estimated to be on the order of 600 Mpc.     

Scale factor calibration of a superconducting gravimeter at Esashi Station, Japan, using absolute gravity measurements

The scale factor of a superconducting gravimeter (SG) at the Esashi Earth Tides Station, Japan, was revised by repeating co-located absolute gravity measurements with an FG5 gravimeter. Although the calibration results from the absolute gravimeter (AG) show an apparent secular change in the scale factor of the SG (0.4% for the period 1993–2002), the relative scale factors, which are determined by tidal analysis with the response method, indicate that it has changed by no more than 0.01% during the above period. If the mean scale factor over the 10 years is adopted, a value of –56.082±0.029 Gal/V (1 Gal =10^–8 m s^–2) is obtained, which is about 0.4% smaller than that used in the global geodynamics project (GGP) database. Based on this newly determined scale factor, the tidal gravity factors at Esashi have been re-estimated. The observed tidal factors, corrected for the ocean tide effects with recent models, indicate that the theoretical gravity factors for an inelastic Earth model are more consistent with the observations than are those for an elastic model.