Titanochondrodite and titanoclinohumite derived from the upper mantle in the Buell Park Kimberlite,Arizona, USA

Kimberlite from Buell Park, Arizona, which was intruded into Permian sediments about 30 m.y. ago, is characterized by the hydrous silicates titanochondrodite and titanoclinohumite. Titanochondrodite is the first finding in kimberlites. Optical properties, chemical compositions and cell dimensions of these two minerals are determined.Titanochondrodite and titanoclinohumite are considered to crystallize from kimberlite magma at a depth of about 100 km and at 1,000° C, on the basis of kimberlite mineralogy, petrography and high pressure experimental work. Although there is no direct evidence, the importance of these two minerals in peridotite wedges above sinking lithosphere at the continental margins is also discussed.     

A model of tuned liquid damper for suppressing pitching motions of structures

A tuned liquid damper (TLD), which consists of rigid tanks partially filled by liquid, is a type of passive control device relying upon liquid sloshing forces or moments to change the dynamical properties and to dissipate vibrational energy of a structure. An analytical non-linear model is proposed for a TLD using rectangular tanks filled with shallow liquid under pitching vibration, utilizing a shallow water wave theory. The model includes the linear damping of the sloshing liquid, which is an important parameter in the study of a TLD as it affects the efficiency of the TLD. Shaking table experiments were conducted for verification; good agreement between the analytical simulations and the experimental results was observed in a small excitation amplitude range. The simulations of TLD-structure interaction by using the proposed model show that the TLD can efficiently suppress resonant pitching vibration of a structure. It is also found that the effectiveness of a TLD for suppressing the pitching vibration depends not only on the mass of liquid in the TLD but also on the configuration of the liquid as well as upon the position where the TLD is located. If the configuration of the liquid, i.e. the liquid depth and the TLD tank size, is designed suitably, the TLD can have a large suppressing moment and can be very effective even with a small mass of liquid.     

Seagrasses from the Nansei Islands, Southern Japanese Archipelago: species composition, distribution and biogeography

The Nansei Islands in the southern Japanese Archipelago have 15 taxa of seagrasses from seven genera within three families. Seagrasses in this region grow on coral sands or coral debris in shallow reefs and on sandy or muddy substrata in the shallow areas of bays and inlets. Certain Halophila species grow in deep water off some islands. Enhalus acoroides only reaches to Ishigaki I. with winter sea water temperature (WST) at 23 °C, while Okinawa I. (WST at 21.6 °C) is the northern biogeographic limit for Halophila decipiens, H. okinawensis, H. major and H. gaudichaudii. Amami‐oshima I. (WST at 20.7 °C) is the northern border for Thalassia hemprichii, H. minor, H. ovalis, Cymodocea serrulata, Cymodocea rotundata, Syringodium isoetifolium, Halodule uninervis and Halodule pinifolia. Halophila mikii the sole seagrass collected from Yakushima I. (WST at 19.3 °C), is of volcanic origin. The distribution of tropical seagrasses in the Nansei Islands is clearly associated with the warm Kuroshio Current, WST and habitat availability. Zostera japonica is the only temperate species occurring in the region. Meadows of Z. japonica, H. ovalis and Halodule pinifolia have disappeared from certain localities in the Archipelago, due probably to human activities and natural siltation.     

Spatial and Temporal Variability of Satellite Primary Production in the Japan Sea from 1998 to 2002

The spatial and seasonal variability of primary production in the Japan Sea from 1998 to 2002 was estimated using a satellite primary production model. A size-fractionated primary production model was validated by in situ primary production data measured in the Japan Sea. Estimated primary production and in situ primary production showed a good positive correlation. Estimated primary production showed spatial variability. Annual primary production levels were 170, 161, 191 and 222 gC m⁻²year⁻¹ at the Russian coast, in the middle of the Japan Basin, the southeastern area and the southwestern area, respectively. It was higher to the south around 40°N than to the north, and higher in the western area than in the eastern one. Peaks of primary production appeared twice, in spring and fall, in the southern area, while a single peak appeared in the northern area. Primary production along the Russian coast was higher than in other areas during summer. The spring bloom contributed 42% to the annual primary production in these four areas. Furthermore, estimated primary production showed an interannual variability that was largest in spring. Primary production in fall also showed interannual variability, especially in the middle of the Japan Basin and the southwestern area. This corresponded mainly to the size of the phytoplankton bloom in each year. Winter convection by wind and the depth of nutrient-rich, cold subsurface water underlying the Tsushima Current may contribute to the nutrient supply to upper layer and interannual variations of primary production in spring.     

Subduction of mantle wedge peridotites: Evidence from the Higashi-akaishi ultramafic body in the Sanbagawa metamorphic belt

The Higashi-akaishi garnet-bearing ultramafic body in the Sanbagawa metamorphic belt, Southwest Japan, represents a rare example of oceanic-type ultrahigh-pressure metamorphism. The body of 2 km × 5 km is composed mostly of anhydrous dunite with volumetrically minor lenses of clinopyroxene-rich rocks. Dunite samples contain high Ir-type platinum group elements (PGE) and Cr in bulk rocks, high Mg and Ni in olivine, and high Cr in spinel. On the other hand, clinopyroxene-rich rocks contain low concentrations of Ir-type PGE and Cr, high concentrations of fluid-mobile elements in bulk rocks, and low Ni and Mg in olivine. Clinopyroxene is diopsidic with low Al₂O₃. The compositions of bulk rocks and mineral chemistry of spinel, olivine, and clinopyroxene suggest that the olivine-dominated rocks are residual mantle peridotites after high degrees of influx partial melting, and that the clinopyroxene-rich rocks are cumulates of subduction-related melts. Thus, the Higashi-akaishi ultramafic body originated from the interior of the mantle wedge, most likely the forearc upper mantle. It was then incorporated into the Sanbagawa subduction channel by a mantle flow, and underwent high pressure metamorphism to a depth greater than 100 km. Such a strong active flow in the mantle wedge is likely facilitated by the lack of serpentinites along the interface between the slab and the overlying mantle, as it was too hot for serpentine. These unusually hot conditions and strong active mantle flow may reflect conditions in the earliest stage of development of subduction, and may have been maintained by massive upwelling and subsequent eastward flow of asthenospheric mantle in the northeastern Asian continent in Cretaceous time when the Sanbagawa belt began to form.     

吉林东部汪清新生代玄武岩中地幔包体的矿物化学：对该地区岩石圈地幔形成过程的启示

在对吉林汪清新生代玄武岩中橄榄岩包体进行全岩主、微量元素分析的基础上,重点分析了矿物的主、微量元素含量,讨论了华北克拉通东北缘与兴蒙造山带结合部位陆下岩石圈地幔所经历的部分熔融作用和地幔交代作用。橄榄石的Fo、单斜辉石以及尖晶石的Mg#和Cr#均表明该地区陆下岩石圈地幔相对饱满。对地幔橄榄岩透辉石微量元素模拟计算证实,汪清陆下岩石圈地幔经历了1%~3%的部分熔融作用,并遭受后期硅酸盐熔体交代作用。这些地幔特征与中国东部其他地区新生代主体岩石圈相似。研究结果证明,吉林汪清中、新生代以来岩石圈性质的转变是在汇聚板块构造体制下通过“拆沉作用”实现的。     

Plastic deformation of garnets: systematics and implications for the rheology of the mantle transition zone

Plastic properties of materials with garnet structure have been studied under wide temperature conditions, ranging from room temperature to 95% of the melting temperatures, using uniaxial compression and hot microhardness tests. Garnets studied include single crystals of oxide garnets (Y₃Al₅O₁₂, Gd₃Ga₅O₁₂ and Y₃Fe₅O₁₂) and silicate garnets (various solid solutions, including grossular, almandine, andradite, pyrope, spessartine and uvarovite). Both uniaxial compression and hot hardness tests indicate that there is a general trend in the plasticity of garnets when the data are compared at normalized conditions (T/T_m andσ/μ), and that the resistance to plastic deformation in garnets is significantly higher than most of the other minerals in the Earth's mantle. Based on both stress-dip tests and microstructural observations, it is proposed that the creep strength of garnet is largely controlled by the resistance to dislocation glide rather than by recovery processes. This conclusion is consistent with the high Peierls stress inferred from the hot hardness tests. The high Peierls stress in garnets is, presumably, due to the large unit cell (i.e., long Burgers vectors) and/or the bcc packing, which are common to all garnets. We postulate, therefore, that the present results can be applied to the strength of high-pressure garnet (majorite) and suggest that garnet-rich layers in the Earth, such as subducted oceanic crust in the transition zone or a possibly garnet-rich (bottom part of the) transition zone, will be considerably stronger than surrounding regions.     

Mixing efficiency in decaying stably stratified turbulence

Mixing efficiency in stratified flows is a measure of the proportion of turbulent kinetic energy that goes into increasing the potential energy of the fluid by irreversible mixing. In this research direct numerical simulations (DNS) and rapid distortion theory (RDT) calculations of transient turbulent mixing events are carried out in order to study this aspect of mixing. In particular, DNS and RDT of decaying, homogeneous, stably-stratified turbulence are used to determine the mixing efficiency as a function of the initial turbulence Richardson number R_it0=(N_L0/_u0)²$R{i}_{t0}={(N{L}_0/u_0)}^2$, where N   is the buoyancy frequency and _L0$L_0$ and _u0$u_0$ are initial length and velocity scales of the turbulence. The results show that the mixing efficiency increases with increasing R_it0$R{i}_{t0}$ for small R_it0$R{i}_{t0}$, but for larger R_it0$R{i}_{t0}$ the mixing efficiency becomes approximately constant. These results are compared with data from towed grid experiments. There is qualitative agreement between the DNS results and the available experimental data, but significant quantitative discrepancies. The grid turbulence experiments suggest a maximum mixing efficiency (at large R_it0$R{i}_{t0}$) of about 6%, while the DNS and RDT results give about 30%. We consider two possible reasons for this discrepancy: Prandtl number effects and non-matching initial conditions. We conclude that the main source of the disagreement probably is due to inaccuracy in determining the initial turbulence energy input in the case of the grid turbulence experiments.     

Dynamic characterization of multiple tuned mass dampers and some design formulas

Multiple Tuned Mass Dampers (MTMD) consist of a large number of small oscillators with natural frequencies distributed around the natural frequency of a controlled mode of the structure. In the present paper, the modal characteristics and efficiency of the MTMD are studied analytically. Perturbation solutions for the modal properties of the MTMD–structure system are obtained and the modal characteristics are discussed. An explicit formula to estimate the effectiveness of the MTMD subjected to harmonic forces is also derived. It is shown that the MTMD is efficient when at least one of the oscillators is strongly coupled with the structure in any mode. Based on this observation, a critical bandwidth of the natural frequencies of the MTMD to make the system multiply tuned is derived in a simple form, and furthermore a robustness criterion for the frequency tuning under a given bandwidth is proposed. It is shown that, when properly designed, the MTMD can be much more stable (robust) than a conventional single TMD while maintaining more or less the same efficiency. Numerical studies verify the accuracy of the perturbation solutions and the proposed formulas.