Using Optical Properties to Quantify Fringe Mangrove Inputs to the Dissolved Organic Matter (DOM) Pool in a Subtropical Estuary

Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration and dissolved organic matter (DOM) optical properties were analyzed along two estuarine river transects during the wet and dry seasons to better understand DOM dynamics and quantify mangrove inputs. A tidal study was performed to assess the impacts of tidal pumping on DOM transport. DOM in the estuaries showed non-conservative mixing indicative of mangrove-derived inputs. Similarly, fluorescence data suggest that some terrestrial humic-like components showed non-conservative behavior. An Everglades freshwater-derived fluorescent component, which is associated with soil inputs from the Northern Everglades, behaved conservatively. During the dry season, a protein-like component behaved conservatively until the mid-salinity range when non-conservative behavior due to degradation and/or loss was observed. The tidal study data suggests mangrove porewater inputs to the rivers following low tide. The differences in quantity of DOM exported by the Shark and Harney Rivers imply that geomorphology and tidal hydrology may be a dominant factor controlling the amount of DOM exported from the mangrove ecotone, where up to 21 % of the DOC is mangrove-derived. Additionally, nutrient concentrations and other temporal factors may control DOM export from the mangroves, particularly for the microbially derived fluorescent components, contributing to the seasonal differences. The wet and dry season fluxes of mangrove DOM from the Shark River is estimated as 0.27?×?10⁹ mg C d^?1 and 0.075?×?10⁹ mg C d^?1, respectively, and the Harney River is estimated as 1.9?×?10⁹ mg C d^?1 and 0.20?×?10⁹ mg C d^?1.     

Finite‐element analysis of laminated rubber bearing of building frame under seismic excitation

Finite element analysis is carried out for a building frame supported by laminated rubber bearings to simultaneously investigate global displacement and local stress responses under seismic excitation. The frame members and the rubber bearings are discretized into hexahedral solid elements with more than 3 million degrees of freedom. The material property of rubber is represented by the Ogden model, and the frame is assumed to remain in elastic range. It is shown that the time histories of non‐uniform stress distribution and rocking behavior of the rubber bearings under a frame subjected to seismic excitation can be successfully evaluated, and detailed responses of base and frame can be evaluated through large‐scale finite element analysis. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Are numerical weather model outputs helpful to reduce tropospheric delay signals in InSAR data?

Interferometric synthetic aperture radar phase data include not only signals due to crustal movements, but also those associated with microwave propagation delay through the atmosphere. In particular, the effect of water vapor can generate apparent signals in the order of a few centimeters or more, and prevent us from detecting such geophysical signals as those due to secular crustal deformation. To examine if and to what extent numerical weather model (NWM) outputs are helpful to reduce the tropospheric delay signals at spatial scales of 5–50 km wavelengths, we compared three approaches of tropospheric signal reduction, using 54 interferograms in central Hokkaido, Japan. The first approach is the conventional topography-correlated delay correction that is based on the regional digital elevation model (DEM). The second approach is based on the Japan Meteorological Agency’s operational meso-scale analysis model (MSM) data, where we compute tropospheric delays and subtract them from the interferogram. However, the MSM data are available at predefined epochs and their spatial resolution is about 10 km; therefore, we need to interpolate both temporally and spatially to match with interferograms. Expecting to obtain a more physically plausible reduction of the tropospheric effects, we ran a 1-km mesh high-resolution numerical weather model WRF (Weather Research and Forecasting model) by ourselves, using the MSM data as the initial and boundary conditions. The third approach is similar to the second approach, except that we make use of the WRF-based tropospheric data. Results show that if the topography-correlated phases are significant, both the conventional DEM-based approach and the MSM-based approach reveal comparable performances. However, when the topography-correlated phases are insignificant, none of the approaches can efficiently reduce the tropospheric phases. Although it could reduce the tropospheric signals in a local area, in none of the case studies did the WRF model produce the “best” performance. Whereas the global atmospheric model outputs are shown to be effective in reducing long-wavelength tropospheric signals, we consider that further improvements are needed for the initial and boundary condition data for high-resolution NWM, so that the NWM-based approach will become more reliable even in the case of a non-stratified troposphere.     

The δ13C–δ18O variations in marble in the Hida Belt,Japan

Marble has a great potential to understand a history of various geological events occurring during tectonic processes. In order to decode metamorphic–metasomatic records on C–O isotope compositions of marble at mid-crustal conditions, we conducted a C–O–Sr isotope study on upper amphibolite-facies marbles and a carbonate–silicate rock from the Hida Belt, which was once a part of the crustal basement of the East Asian continental margin. Carbon and oxygen isotope analyses of calcite from marbles (Kamioka area) and a carbonate–silicate rock (Wadagawa area) show a large variation of δ¹³C [VPDB] and δ¹⁸O [VSMOW] values (from −4.4 to +4.2 ‰ and +1.6 to +20.8 ‰, respectively). The low δ¹³C values of calcites from the carbonate–silicate rock (from −4.4 to −2.9 ‰) can be explained by decarbonation (CO₂ releasing) reactions; carbon–oxygen isotope modeling suggests that a decrease of δ¹³C strongly depends on the amount of silicate reacting with carbonates. The occurrence of metamorphic clinopyroxene in marbles indicates that all samples have been affected by decarbonation reactions. All δ¹⁸O values of calcites are remarkably lower than the marine-carbonate values. The large δ¹⁸O variation can be explained by the isotope exchange via interactions between marble, external fluids, and/or silicates. Remarkably low δ¹⁸O values of marbles that are lower than mantle value (~+5 ‰) suggest the interaction with meteoric water at a later stage. Sr isotope ratios (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr = 0.707255–0.708220) might be close to their protolith values. One zircon associated with wollastonite in a marble thin-section yields a U–Pb age of 222 ± 3 Ma, which represents the timing of the recrystallization of marble, triggered by H₂O-rich fluid infiltration at a relatively high-temperature condition. Our isotope study implies that the upper amphibolite-facies condition, like the Hida Belt, might be appropriate to cause decarbonation reactions which can modify original isotope compositions of marble if carbonates react with silicates.     

Constrains on stresses in isotropic homogeneous infinite half-spaces being in welded contact: 2D anti-plane and in-plane cases

Formulas are derived for two-dimensional problems relating stresses across a plane boundary that divides infinite homogeneous half-spaces being in welded contact. The calculations are made for both anti-plane and in-plane stress cases. The results obtained for the former case that involve only two stress components are useful in the analysis of fracture of strike-slip type. For the in-plane case, the relations that link stresses in one half-space with the corresponding homogeneous stresses in the other half-space are presented for arbitrarily oriented shear and normal stresses and for the center of compression (dilatation). The above relations provide a compete set of expressions that, among other things, make it possible to analyze stresses involved in faulting of deep-slip type in an inhomogeneous medium. The quantitative preliminary evaluations based on the results obtained demonstrate the great role of low rigidity media in fracture processes of all kinds within the Earth’s crust.     

Earthquake rupture complexity due to dynamic nucleation and interaction of subsidiary faults

We numerically study the dynamic interaction of propagating cracks. It is assumed that propagating cracks can nucleate and drive subsidiary cracks because of shear strain enhancement near the propagating crack tips. The critical strain fracture criterion is assumed in the analysis. Intense interaction is expected to occur among the cracks. All the cracks are assumed to be parallel and antiplane strain deformation is assumed in the computation.In the interaction of two non-coplanar cracks, a strain shadow is formed in the neighborhood of each crack because of the strain release by the introduction of the crack. The growth of each crack is accelerated when the propagating tips of each crack are outside of the strain shadow of the other crack. In general, the crack tips enter the strain shadow, and the crack tips decelerate. The calculation shows that only one of the two cracks can continue to grow, and the other's growth is decelerated and arrested. If we can assume that the suite of cracks interact in a pairwise manner only, then this may suggest that only a limited number of cracks can continue to grow during the final stage of the rupture process. Hence the crack interaction causes complexity in dynamic earthquake faulting. The concepts of barrier and asperity have been employed by many researchers for the interpretation of complex seismic wave data. However, the physical realities of such concepts are obscure. Our calculations show that dynamic crack interactions can produce barriers and asperities in some cases; the crack tip deceleration or arrest due to the interactions among non-coplanar cracks can be interpreted as being due to a barrier. The dynamic coalescence among the coplanar cracks can be regarded as an asperity.Umeda found a localized area that strongly radiates high-frequency seismic waves in the epicentral areas of some large shallow earthquakes. He defined this as an earthquake bright spot. Our analysis implies that only a limited number of cracks continue to grow when many interactive cracks nucleate, and that all other cracks stop extending soon after nucleation. Hence, if the nucleation and termination of several cracks occur in a localized area, it will be observed seismologically as an earthquake bright spot. This is because it is theoretically known that the sudden termination of crack growth and dynamic crack coalescence efficiently emits high-frequency elastic waves.     

Melt inclusion analysis of the Unzen 1991–1995 dacite: implications for crystallization processes of dacite magma

Dacitic magma, a mixture of high-temperature (T) aphyric magma and low-T crystal-rich magma, was erupted during the 1991–1995 Mount Unzen eruptive cycle. Here, the crystallization processes of the low-T magma were examined on the basis of melt inclusion analysis and phase relationships. Variation in water content of the melt inclusions (5.1–7.2 wt% H₂O) reflected the degassing history of the low-T magma ascending from deeper levels (250 MPa) to a shallow magma chamber (140 MPa). The ascent rate of the low-T magma decreased markedly towards the emplacement level as crystal content increased. Cooling of magma as well as degassing-induced undercooling drove crystallization. With the decreasing ascent rate, degassing-induced undercooling decreased in importance, and cooling became more instrumental in crystallization, causing local and rapid crystallization along the margin of the magma body. Some crystals contain scores of melt inclusions, whereas there are some crystals without any inclusions. This heterogeneous distribution suggests the variation in the crystallization rate within the magma body; it also suggests that cooling was dominant cause for melt entrapment. Numerical calculations of the cooling magma body suggest that cooling caused rapid crystal growth and enhanced melt entrapment once the magma became a crystal-rich mush with evolved interstitial melt. The rhyolitic composition of melt inclusions is consistent with this model.Editorial responsibility: H Shinohara     

Dynamic FE simulation of four‐story steel frame modeled by solid elements and its validation using results of full‐scale shake‐table test

Dynamic finite element analyses of a four‐story steel building frame modeled as a fine mesh of solid elements are performed using E‐Simulator, which is a parallel finite element analysis software package for precisely simulating collapse behaviors of civil and building structures. E‐Simulator is under development at the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention (NIED), Japan. A full‐scale shake‐table test for a four‐story frame was conducted using E‐Defense at NIED, which is the largest shaking table in the world. A mesh of the entire structure of a four‐story frame with approximately 19 million degrees of freedom is constructed using solid elements. The density of the mesh is determined by referring to the results of elastic–plastic buckling analyses of a column of the frame using meshes of different densities. Therefore, the analysis model of the frame is well verified. Seismic response analyses under 60, 100, and 115% excitations of the JR Takatori record of the 1995 Hyogoken‐Nanbu earthquake are performed. Note that the simulation does not reproduce the collapse under the 100% excitation of the Takatori record in the E‐Defense test. Therefore, simulations for the 115% case are also performed. The results obtained by E‐Simulator are compared with those obtained by the E‐Defense full‐scale test in order to validate the results obtained by E‐Simulator. The shear forces and interstory drift angles of the first story obtained by the simulation and the test are in good agreement. Both the response of the entire frame and the local deformation as a result of elastic–plastic buckling are simulated simultaneously using E‐Simulator. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Organic micropollutants in marine plastics debris from the open ocean and remote and urban beaches

To understand the spatial variation in concentrations and compositions of organic micropollutants in marine plastic debris and their sources, we analyzed plastic fragments (∼10 mm) from the open ocean and from remote and urban beaches. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane and its metabolites (DDTs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), alkylphenols and bisphenol A were detected in the fragments at concentrations from 1 to 10,000 ng/g. Concentrations showed large piece-to-piece variability. Hydrophobic organic compounds such as PCBs and PAHs were sorbed from seawater to the plastic fragments. PCBs are most probably derived from legacy pollution. PAHs showed a petrogenic signature, suggesting the sorption of PAHs from oil slicks. Nonylphenol, bisphenol A, and PBDEs came mainly from additives and were detected at high concentrations in some fragments both from remote and urban beaches and the open ocean.