Dietary analysis of harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) from faecal samples and overlap with fisheries in Erimo,Japan

The number of harbour seals in Japan has been rebounding since protection began in the mid‐1980s. With the increase in seal numbers, increased conflict with fisheries has occurred through depredation and the belief that seals compete with fisheries for prey. However, competition can only be determined if the prey species and quantities seals consume over time are known. We studied the diet of harbour seals in Erimo, site of the largest population of harbour seals in Japan, from 2011 to 2012 and assessed the degree of prey overlap with local fisheries. We used both hard parts and DNA techniques to identify prey items in seal scats, and compared these results to local fisheries data. A total of 46 prey occurrences was detected by both methods, of which 17 matched between techniques at least to the family level. Hard parts methods identified five incidences of prey undetected by DNA methods in five scats (one incidence per scat). DNA methods identified 24 additional prey occurrences in 13 scats, for which no hard part evidence for that prey had been found. This more than doubled the total number of prey occurrences across the 15 scats compared. Overall, the most frequently occurring harbour seal prey were walleye pollock (Theragra chalcogramma), sculpins and snailfishes. In contrast, the top three groups targeted by fisheries were codfishes, salmon and invertebrates. Many species common in the harbour seal's diet such as snailfishes and blennies were not targeted by fisheries. Fishes such as greenlings, sculpins, rockfishes and Japanese anchovy (Engraulis japonicus) were common in the diet of harbour seals, but made up a very small proportion of fisheries catches in Erimo. The importance of other prey species varied between seasons. Sculpins, greenlings and forage fishes were the top three prey groups for harbour seals in spring by percent modified frequency of occurrence, whereas the most important target groups by percentage mass caught by fisheries were codfishes, cephalopods and other invertebrates. Sculpins and rockfishes remained as important prey items for harbour seals in summer and autumn, in addition to codfishes, snailfishes and blennies. In contrast, the main groups caught by fisheries in summer were other fishes, particularly Japanese amberjack (Seriola quinqueradiata) and various species of sharks and eels, and invertebrates. By autumn, Erimo fisheries had focussed on catching salmon. Salmon were taken by harbour seals as well during this period, but at a relatively lower frequency compared to other prey groups. The results of our study show that although harbour seals consumed several of the prey species targeted by fisheries, the relative importance of these species to seals and fisheries and the seasons in which they were targeted were different.     

Stick-slip behavior of Indian gabbro as studied using a NIED large-scale biaxial friction apparatus

This paper reports stick-slip behaviors of Indian gabbro as studied using a new large-scale biaxial friction apparatus, built in the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention (NIED), Tsukuba, Japan. The apparatus consists of the existing shaking table as the shear-loading device up to 3, 600 kN, the main frame for holding two large rectangular prismatic specimens with a sliding area of 0.75 m² and for applying normal stresses σ_n up to 1.33 MPa, and a reaction force unit holding the stationary specimen to the ground. The shaking table can produce loading rates v up to 1.0 m/s, accelerations up to 9.4 m/s², and displacements d up to 0.44 m, using four servocontrolled actuators. We report results from eight preliminary experiments conducted with room humidity on the same gabbro specimens at v = 0.1-100 mm/s and σ_n = 0.66-1.33 MPa, and with d of about 0.39 m. The peak and steady-state friction coefficients were about 0.8 and 0.6, respectively, consistent with the Byerlee friction. The axial force drop or shear stress drop during an abrupt slip is linearly proportional to the amount of displacement, and the slope of this relationship determines the stiffness of the apparatus as 1.15×10⁸ N/m or 153 MPa/m for the specimens we used. This low stiffness makes fault motion very unstable and the overshooting of shear stress to a negative value was recognized in some violent stick-slip events. An abrupt slip occurred in a constant rise time of 16-18 ms despite wide variation of the stress drop, and an average velocity during an abrupt slip is linearly proportional to the stress drop. The use of a large-scale shaking table has a great potential in increasing the slip rate and total displacement in biaxial friction experiments with large specimens.     

Performance evaluation of a ground-source heat pump system utilizing a flowing well and estimation of suitable areas for its installation in Aizu Basin,Japan

Development of a ground-source heat pump (GSHP) system with higher efficiency, and evaluation of its operating performance, is essential to expand the growth of GSHP systems in Japan. A closed-loop GSHP system was constructed utilizing a flowing (artesian) well as a ground heat exchanger (GHE). The system was demonstrated for space-heating and space-cooling of a room (area 126.7 m²) in an office building. The average coefficient of performance was found to be 4.5 for space-heating and 8.1 for space-cooling. The maximum heat exchange rate was 70.8 W/m for space-heating and 57.6 W/m for space-cooling. From these results, it was determined that a GSHP system with a flowing well as a GHE can result in higher performance. With this kind of highly efficient system, energy saving and cost reduction can be expected. In order to assess appropriate locations for the installation of similar kinds of GSHP systems in Aizu Basin, a suitability map showing the distribution of groundwater up-flowing areas was prepared based on the results of a regional-scale three-dimensional analytical model. Groundwater up-flowing areas are considered to be suitable because the flowing well can be constructed at these areas. Performance evaluation of the GSHP system utilizing the flowing well, in conjunction with the prepared suitability map for its installation, can assist in the promotion of GSHP systems in Japan.     

Paleomagnetic evidence for post-Cretaceous internal deformation of the Chuan Dian Fragment in the Yangtze block: a consequence of indentation of India into Asia

Paleomagnetic samples of Paleocene–Eocene red sandstones were collected at 36 sites from the Jiangdihe-4 and Zhaojiadian formations around the Yongren (26.1°N, 101.7°E) and Dayao areas (25.7°N, 101.3°E). These areas are located in the Chuxiong basin of the Chuan Dian Fragment, southwestern part of the Yangtze block. After stepwise thermal demagnetization, a high-temperature component with unblocking temperature of about 680 °C is isolated from 26 sites. The primary nature of this magnetization is ascertained through positive fold and reversal tests at 95% confidence level. The tilt-corrected mean paleomagnetic directions for the Yongren and Dayao areas are D=17.2°, I=26.6° with α₉₅=5.8° and D=16.5°, I=31.1° with α₉₅=4.8, respectively. Easterly deflected declinations from this study are consistent with those reported from other areas of the Chuxiong basin, indicating its wide presence in the Cretaceous–Eocene formations of the said basin. Comparison with declination values expected from the Cretaceous–Eocene APWP of Eurasia indicates that the magnitude of clockwise rotation systematically increases toward the southeast within the Chuxiong basin as well as in the Chuan Dian Fragment. This trend of the differential tectonic rotation in the Chuan Dian Fragment is consistent with curvature of the Xianshuihe–Xiojiang fault system. Deformation of the Chuxiong basin can fairly be associated with the formation of eastward bulge in the southern part of the Chuan Dian fragment. During southward displacement, the Chuan Dian Fragment was probably subjected to tectonic stresses as a result interaction with the Yangtze and Indochina blocks, which resulted into east–west extension and north–south shortening.     

Diagenetic control on arsenic partitioning in sediments of the Meghna River delta,Bangladesh

A stratigraphic profile of solid phase As was measured to investigate the diagenetic cycling of arsenic and related elements in fluvial sediments of the Meghna River delta plain. The distributions of Fe, Mn, and Al are typically characterized by surficial solid phase enrichment, and As is distributed down to 36.6 m showing similar alternate layers of maxima and minima with Fe, Mn and TOC, which reflects the diagenetic remobilization and periodical differences in source materials of As. Lithological characteristics and geochemical data suggest that elevated levels of As are found in organic-matter-rich clay and silty sand rather than sand samples, with occasionally enriched As content in iron-oxyhydroxide-coated sand grains. Arsenic demonstrates a positive and significant co-variation with total organic carbon in sediments, which suggests the important role of particulate and colloidal organic matter and biological activity in controlling the distribution of arsenic in the Bengal delta. However, the concentrations of Fe and Mn weakly correlate with As contents, whereas Al contents show no relationship with As. The results of this study suggest that reactive oxides or hydroxides of Fe and Mn, rather than Fe and Mn with other minerals, might control arsenic distribution.     

Growth of twinned magnetic crystals in talc and talc-magnesite rock at Torika,Nagasaki Prefecture,Japan

Spinel-type twins of magnetite in a talc rock and a talk-magnesite rock at Torika, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan have been studied by means of optical microscopy, differential interference microscopy, microprobe analysis and size distribution analysis. The growth processes are discussed in detail. The number of magnetite twins in the talc-magnesite rock is larger than in the talc rock, and the percentage of the frequency number increases rapidly with increase in grain size. It is suggested that magnetite crystals in the talc-magnesite rock have grown by rapid crystallization in the earlier stage and by a layer-growth mechanism in the later stage in the carbonation-dehydration reaction that occurred within the rock. As large number of twin nuclei formed by rapid crystallization in the earlier stage of magnetite formation. As the dehydration reaction proceeded, the number of twin nuclei gradually decreased with the lowering of supersaturation by addition of some water. Magnetite crystals in the talc rock formed after talc crystallization by silicification and dehydration reactions in the process of steatitization. The twin nuclei here must have formed with difficulty, governed by the distribution of talc which crystallized before the magnetite and at relatively low supersaturation.