Effects of deposit feeder Stichopus japonicus on algal bloom and organic matter contents of bottom sediments of the enclosed sea

Algae growing in an enclosed sea may inhibit eutrophication because they absorb nutrients in the water. However, dead algae often cause anaerobic conditions in the water just above and on sediment after they are deposited on the bottom. We found that Stichopus japonicus inhibited the anaerobic processes coupling water sulfite production in sediment. The present study investigates whether S. japonicus inhibits algal flourish and influences sediment properties such as organic matter contents. Aquarium experiments were carried out at Komatsushima port in Tokushima Prefecture, western Japan. The aquaria used in the experiments were supplied with water directly from the adjacent sea (6 L/min), laid with sand of 10 cm depths, and lighted at 12 h intervals. Six aquaria each containing a sea cucumber from Komatsushima port and six aquaria without any were used in the experiments. Water temperature ranged between 9 and 15 degrees C during December 2000 and April 2001. Salinity ranged between 32 per thousand and 34 per thousand. Algae began to cover the bottom of the aquaria without S. japonicus after 2 weeks, whereas no growth was evident in the aquaria containing sea cucumbers. Chlorophyll a concentration in the surface sediment of the aquaria with S. japonicus (6.1+/-3.6 microg/g, mean S.D.+/-standard deviation) was significantly lower than that without it (60+/-17 microg/g, U-test, p<0.05). Phaeophytin concentration in the surface sediment of the aquaria with S. japonicus (0.9+/-0.09 microg/g) was also significantly lower than that without it (4.5+/-1.0 microg/g, U-test, p<0.05). TOC concentration in the surface sediment of the aquaria with S. japonicus (2.6+/-1.3 microg/g) was slightly lower than that without it (4.0+/-1.2 microg/g). These results showed that algal biomass and organic matter concentration of the bottom were decreased in the presence of S. japonicus. Therefore, S. japonicus inhibits algal bloom and decrease the contents of organic matter deposited on the bottom of enclosed sea areas.     

Where and why do large shallow intraslab earthquakes occur?

We try to find how often, and in what regions large earthquakes (M≥7.0) occur within the shallow portion (20-60 km depth) of a subducting slab. Searching for events in published individual studies and the Harvard University centroid moment tensor catalogue, we find twenty such events in E. Hokkaido, Kyushu-SW, Japan, S. Mariana, Manila, Sumatra, Vanuatu, N. Chile, C. Peru, El Salvador, Mexico, N. Cascadia and Alaska. Slab stresses revealed from the mechanism solutions of these large intraslab events and nearby smaller events are almost always down-dip tensional. Except for E. Hokkaido, Manila, and Sumatra, the upper plate shows horizontal stress gradient in the arc-perpendicular direction. We infer that shear tractions are operating at the base of the upper plate in this direction to produce the observed gradient and compression in the outer fore-arc, balancing the down-dip tensional stress of the slab. This tectonic situation in the subduction zone might be realized as part of the convection system with some conditions, as shown by previous numerical simulations.     

The Dependence of Constitutive Properties on Temperature and Effective Normal Stress in Seismogenic Environments

— We have evaluated how the parameters prescribing the slip-dependent constitutive law are affected by temperature and effective normal stress, by conducting the triaxial fracture experiments on Tsukuba-granite samples in seismogenic environments, which correspond to a depth range to 15 km. The normalized critical slip displacement D _c almost remains constant below 300^oC (insensitive to both temperature and effective normal stress σ _n ^eff); D _c increases with increasing temperature above 300 °C, and the rate of D _c increase with temperature tends to be largest at higher σ _n ^eff. The breakdown stress drop Δτ _b for the granite at constant σ _n ^eff is roughly 80 MPa below 300 °C, and does not depend on σ _n ^eff. Above 300 °C, Δτ _b decreases gradually with increasing temperature, and the rate of Δτ _b reduction with temperature increases at higher σ _n ^eff. The peak shear strength τ _p increases nearly linearly with increasing σ _n ^eff below 300 °C. However, τ _p becomes lower above 300 °C, deviating from the linear relation extrapolated from below 300 °C. This is consistent with the onset of crystal plastic deformation mechanisms of Tsukuba granite.     

Structure and Evolution of the East Antarctic Lithosphere: Tectonic Implications for the Development and Dispersal of Gondwana

Lithospheric evolution of the Antarctic shield is one of the keystones for understanding continental growth during the Earth's evolution. Architecture of the East Antarctic craton is characterized by comparison with deep structures of the other Precambrian terrains. In this paper, we review the subsurface structure of the Lower Paleozoic metamorphic complex around the Lützow-Holm area (LHC), East Antarctica, where high-grade metamorphism occurred during the Pan-African orogenic event. LHC is considered to be one of the collision zones in the last stage of the formation of Gondwana. A geoscience program named ‘Structure and Evolution of the East Antarctic Lithosphere (SEAL)’ was carried out since 1996-1997 austral summer season as part of the Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition (JARE). Several geological and geophysical surveys were conducted including a deep seismic refraction/wide-angle reflection survey in the LHC. The main target of the SEAL seismic transect was to obtain lithospheric structure over several geological terrains from the western adjacent Achaean Napier Complex to the eastern Lower Paleozoic Yamato-Belgica Complex. The SEAL program is part of a larger deep seismic profile, LEGENDS (Lithospheric Evolution of Gondwana East iNterdisciplinary Deep Surveys) that will extend across the Pan-African belt in neighboring fragments of Gondwana.     

Interactions of uranium with bacteria and kaolinite clay

We assessed the accumulation of uranium (VI) by a bacterium, Bacillus subtilis, suspended in a slurry of kaolinite clay, to elucidate the role of microbes on the mobility of U(VI). Various mixtures of bacteria and the koalinite were exposed to solutions of 8 × 10^− 6 M- and 4 × 10^− 4 M-U(VI) in 0.01 M NaCl at pH 4.7. After 48 h, the mixtures were separated from the solutions by centrifugation, and treated with a 1 M CH₃COOK for 24 h to determine the associations of U within the mixture. The mixture exposed to 4 × 10^− 4 M U was analyzed by transmission electron microscope (TEM) equipped with EDS. The accumulation of U by the mixture increased with an increase in the amount of B. subtilis cells present at both U concentrations. Treatment of kaolinite with CH₃COOK, removed approximately 80% of the associated uranium. However, in the presence of B. subtilis the amount of U removed was much less. TEM–EDS analysis confirmed that most of the U removed from solution was associated with B. subtilis. XANES analysis of the oxidation state of uranium associated with B. subtilis, kaolinite, and with the mixture containing both revealed that it was present as U(VI). These results suggest that the bacteria have a higher affinity for U than the kaolinite clay mineral under the experimental conditions tested, and that they can immobilize significant amount of uranium.     

Chemistry and Sulfur Isotopes of the Chert-Clastic Sequence Surrounding the Kajika Massive Sulfide Ores at the Ashio Copper Mine, Ashio Terrane, Central Japan

Abstract. Chemical and sulfur isotopic compositions were obtained for a series of rocks within the chert‐clastic sequence surrounding the Kajika massive sulfide ore horizon at Shibukawasawa in the Ashio copper‐mining district, Ashio Terrane, central Japan. The sequence is lithologically classified into three units: chert, siliceous shale with basic volcanics, and sandstone‐shale, in ascending stratigraphic order. The Kajika ore horizon corresponds to the lowermost part of the unit that contains siliceous shale with basic volcanics. The rocks around the Kajika ore horizon are enriched in P₂O₅ (max. 0.22 %), Ba (max. 2400 ppm), Cu (595 ppm), V (323 ppm), Pb (168 ppm), Zn (124 ppm), and Mo (24 ppm) in siliceous shale; and Ba (4220 ppm), Zr (974 ppm), Cr (718 ppm), Ni (492 ppm), V (362 ppm), Zn (232 ppm), Nb (231 ppm), and Co (71 ppm) in the basic volcanics. The siliceous shale is enriched in a number of redox‐sensitive elements such as Cu, V, Pb, Zn, and Mo, which are known to be enriched in black shale and anoxic and hydrothermal sediments. The δ³⁴S values of sulfides in the chert and sandstone‐shale lie in the range of 0±2 %, and those in the siliceous shale range from ‐5 to ‐14 %. The measured δ³⁴S values in the basic volcanics are ‐0.3, ‐2.7, and ‐31.5 %. These heavier δ³⁴S signatures (around 0 %) recorded throughout the sequence indicate that the rocks formed under anoxic bottom‐water conditions. Slightly lighter δ³⁴S values recorded in siliceous shale might reflect significant mixing of sulfides that formed by sulfate‐reducing bacteria in an overlying oxic environment. The long‐term duration of anoxic conditions indicated by the heavier δ³⁴S signature is considered to have played an important role in protecting the Kajika sulfide ores from oxidative decomposition and preserving the ores in sedimentary accumulations.     

Miocene intra-arc bending at an arc-arc collision zone, central Japan

Abstract Recent paleomagnetic studies are reviewed in an effort to clarify the relationship between the intra-arc deformation of central Japan and the collision tectonics of the Izu-Bonin Arc. The cusp structure of the pre-Neogene terranes of central Japan, called the Kanto Syntaxis, suggests a collisional origin with the Izu-Bonin Arc. The paleomagnetic results and newly obtained radiometric ages of the Kanto Mountains revealed the Miocene rotational history of the east wing of the Kanto Syntaxis. More than 90° clockwise rotation of the Kanto Mountains took place after deposition of the Miocene Chichibu Basin (planktonic foraminiferal zone of N.8: 16.6–15.2 Ma). After synthesizing the paleomagnetic data of the Japanese Islands and collision tectonics of central Japan, it appears that approximately a half rotation (40–50°) probably occurred at ca 15 Ma in association with the rapid rotation of Southwest Japan. The remainder (50-40°) continued until 6 Ma, resulting in the sharp bent structure of the pre-Neogene accretionary complexes (Kanto Syntaxis). The latter rotation seems to have been caused by the collision of the Izu-Bonin Arc on the northwestward migrating Philippine Sea Plate.     

Arc-type and intraplate-type ridge basalts formed at the trench-trench-ridge tripIe junction: Implication for the extensive sub-ridge mantle heterogeneity

Abstract ' In situ basalts' represent the ridge magmatism at and close to the ancient trench-trench-ridge triple junction. Such basalts in the Amami, Mugi, and Setogawa accretionary complexes, Southwest Japan, were described and analysed. The geochemical data show that the ' in situ basalts' include all the types of basalts, ranging from alkali basalts and high-alumina basalts to tholeiites, and the compositions tend towards intermediate and silicic rocks. The data also reveal that the ridge basalts are indistinguishable both from the island arc and intraplate basalts, no affinities with mid-ocean-ridge basalts. The sub-ridge mantle adjacent to the triple junction had a component of sub-arc mantle, and this mantle heterogeneity can be generated by the formation of a slab window.