Ce and Nd isotope geochemistry on island arc volcanic rocks with negative Ce anomaly: existence of sources with concave REE patterns in the mantle beneath the Solomon and Bonin island arcs

¹³⁸Ce/¹⁴²Ce isotope ratios in Cenozoic island arc volcanic rocks are reported for the first time, together with isotope ratios of Nd and Sr and abundances of REE, Ba and Sr. The island arc volcanics studies here are boninites from Chichijima, the Bonin Islands, and basalts and andesites from the Solomon Islands. REE patterns of the island arc volcanic rocks from the Solmon Islands and the Bonin Islands are confirmed to have negative Ce anomalies. It is also disclosed that the majority of these island arc volcanic rocks show mainly positive values for both _Ce and _Nd. It is shown that these _Ce and _Ce values can hardly be interpreted by simple mixing between MORB and oceanic or continental crustal rocks; the former have positive _Nd and negative _Ce and the latter have negative _Ce and positive or negative _Nd. Existence of sources having positive _Ce and _Nd values is strongly suggested. If the sources are assumed to have been fractionated from CHUR (chondritic uniform reservoir) at the early or middle Precambrian era, the sources from which the volcanics were derived are concluded to have kept concave REE patterns with larger (La/Ce)_N and smaller (Nd/Sm)_N ratios than chondritic values over a substantial period of time, until the time of Cenozoic magmatism forming island arc volcanic rocks in question. During the periods of the Cenozoic magmatic activities and their related events, Ce anomalies are considered to have been created. From Ce and Nd isotope ratios, however, it is difficult to determine which of the following processes was responsible for the Ce anomaly; the incorporation process of subducted oceanic crust into magma at the mantle or the slab dehydration and metasomatism process. Nevertheless, so far as Ce and Nd isotopic ratios are concerned, incorporation of oceanic sediments did not take place to any clearly detectable degree.     

First record of a Cretaceous cheilostome bryozoan from Hokkaido, Japan

A small collection of recrystallised, encrusting colonies of a single species from the Mikasa Formation (lower Middle Cenomanian), represents the first record of cheilostome (malacostegan or anascan) bryozoans from Hokkaido, Japan.     

Geological and geomorphological characteristics of landslides triggered by the 2004 Mid Niigta prefecture earthquake in Japan

The 2004 Mid Niigta prefecture earthquake (M_JMA 6.8) triggered more than one thousand landslides in the Miocene to Quaternary sedimentary rocks in Japan. The most common landslides were shallow disrupted landslides on steep slopes, which has been common in many previous disastrous earthquakes in the world. The Mid Niigta prefecture earthquake also triggered more than one hundred deep landslides, providing valuable information on the conditions for their occurrence. A field investigation and the interpretation of aerial photographs taken before and after the earthquake suggest that reactivation of existing landslides and undercutting of slopes are the most important factors for deep landslides to be triggered by earthquakes. In addition, planar sliding surfaces seem to be essential for the generation of catastrophic landslides triggered by this earthquake. Planar bedding–parallel sliding surfaces were formed at the boundary between the overlying permeable sandstone and underlying siltstone or along the bedding planes of alternating beds of sandstone and siltstone. Sliding surfaces along the slope-parallel oxidation front were formed in the area of black mudstone. New landslides (rockslide-avalanches) occurred with the sliding surfaces in a several-cm thick tuff interbedded in siltstone. One rockslide-avalanche occurred on a slope where buckling deformation preceded the earthquake. Gentle valley bottom sediments were mobilized in many locations, probably because they were saturated and partial liquefaction had occurred due to the earthquake shaking.     

Estimation of the annual primary production of the lichen Cetrariella delisei in a glacier foreland in the High Arctic, Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard

The fruticose lichen Cetrariella delisei is among the dominant lichen species in the deglaciated High Arctic areas of Svalbard. As part of a study of carbon cycling in the High Arctic, we aimed to estimate the primary production of lichen in a deglaciated area in Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard (79° N), by examining the effects of abiotic factors on the net photosynthesis ( Pn ) and dark respiration ( R ) rates of C. delisei . Experiments were conducted in the snow-free season of 2000 using an open-flow gas exchange system with an infrared gas analyser. Positive photosynthetic activities were observed on rainy days or soon after rainfall when the thallus water content was high, whereas photosynthetic activities dropped below the detectable limit on clear days because of the low thallus water content. Under a sufficiently high thallus water content and close to light saturation, Pn was nearly constant over a wide temperature range of 4–20 °C, while R increased with increasing temperature. We constructed a model for estimating the net primary production ( NPP ) of lichen based on the relationships between abiotic factors and the CO₂ exchange rate. The mean, minimum and maximum NPP values in the snow-free season, estimated using meteorological data obtained from 1995–2003, were 5.1, 1.0 and 8.4 g dry wt. m⁻² snow-free season⁻¹, respectively. These results suggest that NPP is highly variable and the contribution of lichen to carbon input is small compared with that of vascular plants and mosses in the study site.     

Hybrid vibration experiments with a bridge foundation system model

In order to improve seismic design technology of bridges, it is necessary to evaluate the vibration characteristics of a bridge–soil system that consists of soil, foundation structure, pier and superstructure. However, there have been few experimental studies on seismic behavior of bridge–soil system. In this paper, we conducted the hybrid vibration experiment on seismic behavior of bridge–soil system, and examined the applicability of hybrid vibration experiment to study seismic response of bridge–soil system. Based on the experiment results, seismic response of bridge was quantitatively studied.     

Issues of Globalization and Reflexivity in the Japanese Tourism Production System: The Case of Whistler,British Columbia

This article examines contemporary Japanese overseas tourism from a supplier‐side perspective using the concept of production systems. We first outline characteristics of the evolving structure of Japanese overseas tourism, with an emphasis on the global spread of Japanese travel companies. This provides a frame for presenting an empirical account of the transactional relationships in the Japanese package tour production system in Whistler, British Columbia, where Japanese tour operators play a pivotal role. We conclude that the recent expansion of Japanese travel companies is fostering the functional integration of the global tourism production system and exhibits increasing reflexivity.     

Effect of Sliding Rate on the Activity of Acoustic Emission During Stable Sliding

--The mechanical and statistical characteristics of acoustic emission (AE) events during stable sliding are investigated through a laboratory experiment using a granite specimen with a pre-cut fault. Numerous AE events are found to be generated on the pre-cut fault, indicating that microscopically unstable fracture occurs during macroscopically stable sliding. The composite focal mechanism solution of AE events is determined from the first motion directions of P-waves. The determined mechanism is consistent with the double-couple one expected for the slip on the pre-cut fault. The source radii of large AE events are estimated to be about 10 mm from the widths of the first P-wave pulses. These indicate that the AE events are generated by shear fracture whose faulting area is a part of the pre-cut fault plane. The occurrence of AE events as a stochastic process approximately obeys the Poisson process, if the effect of mutually dependent events consti tuting clusters is corrected. The observed amplitude-frequency relation of AE events approximately follows a power law for a limited amplitude range. As the macroscopic sliding rate increases, the number of AE events per unit sliding distance decreases. This rate dependence of the AE activity is qualitatively consistent with the observation that the real area of contact between sliding surfaces decreases with an increase in the sliding rate as reported in the literature.     

Lithology and palynology of Neogene sediments on the narrow edge of the Kitakami Massif (basement rocks), northeast Japan: Significant change for depositional environments as a result of plate tectonics

Abstract A controversial stratigraphic section, the Taneichi Formation, is exposed along the Pacific Coast of northeastern Honshu, the main island of the Japanese Archipelago. Although most sediments of the formation have long been dated as late Cretaceous, the northern section of it has been assigned to (i) the Upper Cretaceous; (ii) the Paleogene; or (iii) the Neogene. In the present report, we present the data of palynological and sedimentological studies, showing that the northern section should be assigned to the Neogene. A more important point in the present study is that we invoke some basic principles of fluvial sedimentology to resolve this stratigraphic subject. The lignite layers full of Paleogene–Miocene dinoflagellate cysts and pollen assemblages drape over the boulder‐sized (>40 cm in diameter) clasts in the northern section. However, the layers totally consist of aggregates of small lignite chips, indicating that the lignites are allochthonous materials. The mega‐clasts with derived microfossils in the lignites are thought to have been deposited as Neogene fluvial (flood) sediments in the newly formed Japanese Archipelago. Prior to the Miocene, the northern Honshu was part of the Eurasian Plate, thus the boulder‐sized clasts cannot be envisaged as long river flood deposits along the continental Paleogene Pacific Coast. Instead, the mega‐clasts with the draping lignites were probably derived from nearby Miocene highlands in the newly born island arc.     

GPS-measured land subsidence in Ojiya City, Niigata Prefecture, Japan

Land subsidence caused by compression of clay layers in Ojiya City, Japan was measured by global positioning system (GPS) between 1 April 1996 and 31 December 1998.

Three baselines were selected in and around the city, and height difference on a WGS-84 ellipsoid was measured by GPS on each baseline. The ground at the GPS station in the city subsides and rebounds 7 cm every winter and spring, respectively. Measurement accuracy was 9.5 mm standard deviation. Ground water level was observed at a well near the GPS station. Regression analysis between total strain, calculated as ratio of the height difference displacement to the total thickness of the clay layers, and the layers' effective stress change with ground water level change gave good correlation. The slope of regression line 7.0×10⁻¹¹ m²/N was obtained as an average apparent coefficient of volume compressibility of the layers.     

Chemical, Isotopic, and Fluid Inclusion Evidence for the Hydrothermal Alteration of the Footwall Rocks of the BIF-Hosted Iron Ore Deposits in the Hamersley District, Western Australia

Abstract. The petrography, chemical, fluid inclusion and isotope analyses (O, Rb-Sr) were conducted for the shale samples of the Mount McRae Shale collected from the Tom Price, Newman, and Paraburdoo mines in the Hamersley Basin, Western Australia. The Mount McRae Shale at these mines occurs as a footwall unit of the secondary, hematite-rich iron ores derived from the Brockman Iron Formation, one of the largest banded iron formations (BIFs) in the world. Unusually low contents of Na, Ca, and Sr in the shales suggest that these elements were leached away from the shale after deposition. The δ¹⁸O (SMOW) values fall in the range of + 15.0 to +17.9 per mil and show the positive correlation with calculated quartz/sericite ratios of the shale samples. This suggests that the oxygen isotopic compositions of shale samples were homogenized and equilibrated by postdepositional event. The pyrite nodules hosted by shales are often rimmed by thin layers of silica of varying crystallinity. Fluid inclusions in quartz crystals rimming a pyrite nodule show homogenization temperatures ranging from 100 to 240C for 47 inclusions and salinities ranging from 0.4 to 12.3 wt% NaCl equivalent for 18 inclusions. These fluid inclusion data give direct evidence for the hydrothermal activity and are comparable to those of the vein quartz collected from the BIF-derived secondary iron ores (Taylor et al, 2001). The Rb-Sr age for the Mount McRae Shale is 1,952 ± 289 Ma and at least 200 million years younger than the depositional age of the Brockman Iron Formation of ∼ 2.5 Ga in age. All the data obtained in this study are consistent with the suggestion that high temperature hydrothermal fluids were responsible for both the secondary iron ore formation and the alteration of the Mount McRae Shale.