High heat flow anomalies on an old oceanic plate observed seaward of the Japan Trench

Thirty-three new measurements on the seaward slope and outer rise of the Japan Trench along a parallel of 38°45′N revealed the existence of high heat flow anomalies on the subducting Pacific plate, where the seafloor age is about 135 m.y.. The most prominent anomaly with the highest value of 114 mW/m² is associated with a small mound on the outer rise, which was reported to be a kind of mud volcano. On the seaward slope of the trench, heat flow is variable: high (70–90 mW/m²) at some locations and normal for the seafloor age (about 50 mW/m²) at others. The spatial variation of heat flow may be related to development of normal faults and horst/graben structures due to bending of the Pacific plate before subduction, with fluid flow along the fault zones enhancing the vertical heat transfer. Possible heat sources of the high heat flow anomalies are intra-plate volcanism in the last several million years like that discovered recently on the Pacific plate east of the Japan Trench.     

Inversely-Mapped Analytical Solutions for Flow Patterns around and within Inclined Elliptic Inclusions in Fluid-Saturated Rocks

In this paper, an inverse mapping is used to transform the previously-derived analytical solutions from a local elliptical coordinate system into a conventional Cartesian coordinate system. This enables a complete set of exact analytical solutions to be derived rigorously for the pore-fluid velocity, stream function, and excess pore-fluid pressure around and within buried inclined elliptic inclusions in pore-fluid-saturated porous rocks. To maximize the application range of the derived analytical solutions, the focal distance of an ellipse is used to represent the size of the ellipse, while the length ratio of the long axis to the short one is used to represent the geometrical shape of the ellipse. Since the present analytical solutions are expressed in a conventional Cartesian coordinate system, it is convenient to investigate, both qualitatively and quantitatively, the distribution patterns of the pore-fluid flow and excess pressure around and within many different families of buried inclined elliptic inclusions. The major advantage in using the present analytical solution is that they can be conveniently computed in a global Cartesian coordinate system, which is widely used in many scientific and engineering computations. As an application example, the present analytical solutions have been used to investigate how the dip angle of an inclined elliptic inclusion affects the distribution patterns of the pore-fluid flow and excess pore-fluid pressure when the permeability ratio of the elliptic inclusion is of finite but nonzero values.     

Radiation parameters of an especially great radio microwave burst

By using the data of an especially great solar radio microwave burst occurring at 1700 UT on 30 October, 1992 in a very active active region NOAA/USAF Region 7321, on the basis of the theoretical emission mechanism of nonthermal gyro-synchrotron radiation, we have derived the radiation parameters such as the energy distribution of energetic electrons in the source region of the burst, the emission coefficient, absorption coefficient and source function of the gyro-synchrotron radiation and made a simple analysis.     

Detection of spectral variability of the optical component of the IR source IRAS 20508+2011

Our high-resolution spectral observations have revealed variability of the optical spectrum of the cool star identified with the IR source IRAS 20508+2011. We measured the equivalent widths of numerous absorption lines of neutral atoms and ions at wavelengths 4300–7930 Å, along with the corresponding radial velocities. Over the four years of our observations, the radial velocity derived from photospheric absorption lines varied in the interval V _r⊙ = 15–30 km/s. In the same period, the Hα profile varied from being an intense bell-shaped emission line with a small amount of core absorption to displaying two-peaked emission with a central absorption feature below the continuum level. At all but one epoch, the positions of the metallic photospheric lines were systematically shifted relative to the Hα emission: ΔV _r = V _r(met) ? V _r(Hα, emis) ≈ ?23 km/s. The Na D doublet displayed a complex profile with broad (half-width ≈ 120 km/s) emission and photospheric absorption, as well as an interstellar component. We used model atmospheres to determine the physical parameters and chemical composition of the star’s atmosphere: T _eff = 4800 K, log g = 1.5, ξ_t = 4.0 km/s. The metallicity of the star differs little from the solar value: [Fe/H]_⊙ = ?0.36. We detected overabundances of oxygen [O/Fe]_⊙ = +1.79 (with the ratio [C/O] ≈ ?0.9), and α-process elements, as well as a deficit of heavy metals. The entire set of the star’s parameters suggests that the optical component of IRAS 20508+2011 is an “O-rich” AGB star with luminosity M _v ≈ ?3^m that is close to its evolutionary transition to the post-AGB stage.     

Chemical composition of stars in the galactic halo

The chemical compositions of the atmospheres of six metal-poor stars are analyzed. Spectra with signal-to-noise ratios of no less than 100 and a resolution of R≈17 000 were obtained using the 6-m telescope of the Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The abundances of Li, O, α-process elements (Mg, Si, Ca, Ti), Na, K, Sc, iron-peak elements (Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn), and s-process elements (Y, Ba) are derived. The star G251-54 ([Fe/H]=?1.55, T _eff=5541 K, logg=3.58) is deficient in some elements compared to both stars with similar metallicities and the Sun. The atmosphere of G251-54 has the following elemental abundances relative to iron: [O/Fe]=+0.47, [α/Fe]≈?0.3, [Na/Fe]=?0.60, [Sc/Fe]=?0.57, [Cr, Ni, Fe]≈0, [Zn/Fe]=+0.16, [Cu/Fe]=?0.66, [Y/Fe]=?0.70, and [Ba/Fe]=?1.35. The remaining five stars have metallicities in the range ?1.6<[Fe/H]相似文献   

A decade of change in the Skidaway River estuary I. Hydrography and nutrients

The Skidaway River estuary is a tidally-dominated subtropical estuary in the southeastern USA surrounded by extensiveSpartina salt marshes. Weekly smapling at high and low tide began in 1986 for hydrography, nutrients, chlorophylla, particulate matter, and microbial and plankton biomass and composition; hydrographic and nutrient data during 1986–1996 are reported here. Salinity varied inversely with river discharge and exhibited variability at all time scales but with no long-term trend. Water temperature typically ranged over 25°C and was without apparent long-term frend. Seasonal cycles in concentrations of NO₃, NH₄, PO₄, Si(OH)₄, and DON were observed, with annual maxima generally occurring in late summer. Superimposed on seasonal cycles, all five nutrients exhibited steady increases in minimum, mean, and maximum concentrations; mean concentrations increased c. 50–150% during the decade. Nutrient concentrations were highly correlated with water temperature over the ten-year period, but weakly related to salinity and discharge. Nutrients were strongly correlated with one another, and the relative ratios among inorganic nutrients showed little long-term trend. Correlations among temperature and nutrient concentrations exhibited considerable inter-annual variability. Major spikes in organic and inorganic nutrient concentrations coincided with significant rainfall events; concentrations increased hyperbolically with rainfall. Although pristine compared to more heavily impacted waterways primarily outside the region, residential development and population density have been increasing rapidly during the past 15–20 years. Land use is apparently altering nutrient loading over the long-term (months-years), and superimposed on this are stochastic meteorological events that accelerate these changes over the short term (days-weeks).     

Kosa (yellow sand) components in precipitation collected at central Japan

In east Asia, acidic gases derived from fossil fuel combustion have increased in the past decades. On the other hand, the Asian dust, also called Kosa (yellow sand) is transported following windstorms from arid lands in the Asian continent. Many researchers have been interested in the reaction between acidic aerosols and Kosa aerosols as well as the long-range transport of these emissions. To investigate the characteristics of chemical components in precipitation on a long-term basis over Japan, precipitation was sequentially collected from April 1984 to March 1997 at Kanazawa located near the coast of the Sea of Japan. Precipitation samples were collected at 1 mm intervals for the first 5 mm rainfall and all volume of rainwater after 6 mm for all precipitation events with an automatic wet only precipitation collector. According to the analyses of precipitation including Kosa aerosols during Kosa periods, the reaction in the air between Kosa and acidic components during the long-range transport was discussed.     

Getting ‘holistic’ about land rehabilitation in hot arid regions

The paper describes Western Australian examples and causes of land degradation. It outlines shortcomings in the methodologies used to rehabilitate these areas. From this a protocol is suggested for an ‘holistic’ approach to land rehabilitation.     

云南中强震的水氡前兆异常特征

2001年云南澜沧5.0、施甸5.2,5.9,5.3、宁蒗5.8、楚雄5.3和江川5.1级地震前，云南49项水氡前兆中的一些台站出现突出的异常。研究发现，根据这些异常项的异常特征和空间分布特征及历史震例，可对这几次地震预报的三要素，尤其是地点和时间做出较好的判断。