Inhibiting effects of lanthanum ion on calcite formation from CaCL2-NaHCO3 solutions at 25°C

The influence of La³⁺ on calcite formation was studied using CaCl₂-NaHCO₃ solutions. We adopted a closed system, where the pH change of the solutions was monitored in a closed vessel. The closed system reduces a number of thermodynamic variables of the solution, thus enabling us to calculate the amount of CaCO₃ precipitate only from pH with the assumption of equilibria among dissolved components in solution. After the analytical inspection of the calculation and assumption on which the calculation is based on, it was applied to experiments of the calcite formation in a Teflon vessel. The mole concentration of lanthanum added in the experiments was smaller than 1/3000 of that of calcium ion in the solutions. The addition of lanthanum oxide, chloride, and nitrate caused the difference in the pH change of the solution. The decrease of pH was smaller when lanthanum reagents were added, indicating that the amount of CaCO₃ precipitate decreased. The smallest decrease was observed when lanthanum chloride or nitrate salt was added. The X-ray diffraction study showed that the CaCO₃ precipitated in any solutions were calcite. If an equilibrium is assumed, which is considered to be likely from the pH change, the ion activity product (IAP) calculated in this study increased about 6 times when lanthanum ion, whose concentration is only 1/14 000 mole of calcium ion, was present.     

Temporal and spatial variations of radiocarbon in Japan Sea bottom water

In 1995 and 2000, the radiocarbon ratio (Δ¹⁴C) of total dissolved inorganic carbon was measured in the Japan Sea where deep and bottom waters are formed within the sea itself. We found that (1) since 1979, the Δ¹⁴C in bottom water below about 2000-m depth in the western Japan Basin (WJB) had increased by about 30‰ by 1995, and (2) the bottom Δ¹⁴C in the WJB did not change between 1995 and 2000. The former finding was due to penetration of surface bomb-produced radiocarbon into the bottom water owing to bottom ventilation, whereas the latter was caused by stagnation of the bottom ventilation there. In the eastern Japan Basin (EJB), the bottom Δ¹⁴C also increased by about 30‰ between 1979 and 2002. Recent stagnation of the bottom ventilation in the EJB is also suggested from analyses of constant bomb-produced tritium between 1984 and 1999. The temporal variations of Δ¹⁴C, tritium, and dissolved oxygen in the bottom waters indicate that: (1) new bottom water is formed south of Vladivostok in the WJB only in severe winters; and (2) the new bottom water then follows the path of a cyclonic abyssal circulation of the Japan Sea, which results in the increases in dissolved oxygen and the transient tracers in the bottom waters in the EJB and Yamato Basin with an approximate 3-to 6-year time lag. This process is consistent with the spatial variations of Δ¹⁴C, bomb-produced ¹³⁷Cs, and chlorofluorocarbon-11 in the bottom waters of the Japan Sea.     

Iodine (and Other Halogens) in Twenty Six Geological Reference Materials by ICP-MS and Ion Chromatography

Analytical results for iodine in twenty six geological reference materials (RM) are presented. Bromine, fluorine and chlorine were also determined in some samples. Pyrohydrolysis in a heated quartz tube under a wet oxygen flow was used for the separation of the halogens from the matrix and the evolved gas was absorbed in a trap solution. The halogens were measured by ICP-MS and ion chromatography (IC). All four halogens can be collected in the trap solution from one combustion procedure. The analysed samples range in type from igneous rocks to terrestrial and marine sediments. Precision, detection limits, and accuracy are also presented.     

Advances in computational morphodynamics using the International River Interface Cooperative (iRIC) software

Results from computational morphodynamics modeling of coupled flow–bed–sediment systems are described for 10 applications as a review of recent advances in the field. Each of these applications is drawn from solvers included in the public-domain International River Interface Cooperative (iRIC) software package. For mesoscale river features such as bars, predictions of alternate and higher mode river bars are shown for flows with equilibrium sediment supply and for a single case of oversupplied sediment. For microscale bed features such as bedforms, computational results are shown for the development and evolution of two-dimensional bedforms using a simple closure-based two-dimensional model, for two- and three-dimensional ripples and dunes using a three-dimensional large-eddy simulation flow model coupled to a physics-based particle transport model, and for the development of bed streaks using a three-dimensional unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes solver with a simple sediment-transport treatment. Finally, macroscale or channel evolution treatments are used to examine the temporal development of meandering channels, a failure model for cantilevered banks, the effect of bank vegetation on channel width, the development of channel networks in tidal systems, and the evolution of bedrock channels. In all examples, computational morphodynamics results from iRIC solvers compare well to observations of natural bed morphology. For each of the three scales investigated here, brief suggestions for future work and potential research directions are offered. © 2019 The Authors Earth Surface Processes and Landforms Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd     

Reliability of palaeointensity methods using alternating field demagnetization and anhysteretic remanence

Summary. Using natural volcanic rocks which acquired thermoremanence (TRM) in known fields, reliability of various palaeointensity methods using alternating field (AF) demagnetization were evaluated. Natural remanence (NRM), TRM and anhysteretic remanences (ARM's) before and after heating were stepwisely AF demagnetized following Shaw's method.
It was found that the coercivity spectra of TRM and ARM in these samples are very similar, and that even when changes occurred during heating, the changes for two remanences are quite similar in many samples. Therefore, Shaw's method of palaeointensity determination, which incorporates ARM checks to the conventional comparison of NRM and TRM coercivity spectra, gives results as reliable as those obtained by the Thellier method. Many examples were demonstrated in which TRM and ARM intensities changed substantially by heating, but without changes in the shape of their coercivity spectra. Such changes cannot normally be detected and erroneous palaeointensities with apparent internal consistency would be obtained by usual AF demagnetization methods.
Although ARM is quite similar to TRM, the rate of acquisition of ARM and TRM in weak fields varies by a factor of five among the present samples. To determine palaeointensities from the linear relation between ARM and TRM, it is necessary to determine experimentally the relative acquisition rate of these remanences. Therefore, methods based only on NRM-ARM relations would not give palaeointensities with acceptable errors.     

Direct correlation of radiolarian <Emphasis Type="Italic">Kilinora spiralis</Emphasis> Zone with the Late Jurassic ammonite faunal succession in the Kurisaka Formation,Kurosegawa Terrane,SW Japan

The last appearance datum of the radiolarian Kilinora spiralis is recorded above the first appearance datum of the ammonite Ataxioceras (A.) kurisakense in the Todoro Section of the Kurisaka Formation, Southern Kurosegawa Terrane, Shikoku, SW Japan. The constraint by ammonite age prolongs the range of the Kilinora spiralis Zone, a remarkable Jurassic radiolarian zone in Japan-NW Pacific region, into the lower Kimmeridgian. The direct correlation of the Kilinora spiralis zone with the Late Jurassic ammonite faunal succession in the Kurisaka Formation will provide a clue to the still pending chronological difference between European and North American radiolarian zones.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">P</Emphasis>–<Emphasis Type="Italic">V</Emphasis>–<Emphasis Type="Italic">T</Emphasis> equation of state of CaAl<Subscript>4</Subscript>Si<Subscript>2</Subscript>O<Subscript>11</Subscript> CAS phase

The thermoelastic parameters of the CAS phase (CaAl₄Si₂O₁₁) were examined by in situ high-pressure (up to 23.7 GPa) and high-temperature (up to 2,100 K) synchrotron X-ray diffraction, using a Kawai-type multi-anvil press. P–V data at room temperature fitted to a third-order Birch–Murnaghan equation of state (BM EOS) yielded: V _0,300 = 324.2 ± 0.2 Å³ and K _0,300 = 164 ± 6 GPa for K′ _0,300 = 6.2 ± 0.8. With K′ _0,300 fixed to 4.0, we obtained: V _0,300 = 324.0 ± 0.1 Å³ and K _0,300 = 180 ± 1 GPa. Fitting our P–V–T data with a modified high-temperature BM EOS, we obtained: V _0,300 = 324.2 ± 0.1 Å³, K _0,300 = 171 ± 5 GPa, K′ _0,300 = 5.1 ± 0.6 (?K _0,T /?T) _P  = ?0.023 ± 0.006 GPa K^?1, and α_0,T  = 3.09 ± 0.25 × 10^?5 K^?1. Using the equation of state parameters of the CAS phase determined in the present study, we calculated a density profile of a hypothetical continental crust that would contain ~10 vol% of CaAl₄Si₂O₁₁. Because of the higher density compared with the coexisting minerals, the CAS phase is expected to be a plunging agent for continental crust subducted in the transition zone. On the other hand, because of the lower density compared with lower mantle minerals, the CAS phase is expected to remain buoyant in the lowermost part of the transition zone.     

P–V–T equation of state of Ca3Al2Si3O12 grossular garnet

The thermoelastic parameters of synthetic Ca₃Al₂Si₃O₁₂ grossular garnet were examined in situ at high-pressure and high-temperature by energy dispersive X-ray diffraction, using a Kawai-type multi-anvil press apparatus coupled with synchrotron radiation. Measurements have been conducted at pressures up to 20 GPa and temperatures up to 1,650 K: this P, T range covered the entire high-P, T stability field of grossular garnet. The analysis of room temperature data yielded V _0,300 = 1,664 ± 2 ?³ and K ₀ = 166 ± 3 GPa for K^￠₀ K^{\prime}_{0} fixed to 4.0. Fitting of our P–V–T data by means of the high-temperature third order Birch–Murnaghan or the Mie–Grüneisen–Debye thermal equations of state, gives the thermoelastic parameters: (∂K _0,T /∂T) _P  = −0.019 ± 0.001 GPa K⁻¹ and α _0,T  = 2.62 ± 0.23 × 10⁻⁵ K⁻¹, or γ ₀ = 1.21 for fixed values q ₀ = 1.0 and θ ₀ = 823 (Isaak et al. Phys Chem Min19:106–120, 1992). From the comparison of fits from two different approaches, we propose to constrain the bulk modulus of grossular garnet and its pressure derivative to K _T0 = 166 GPa and K^￠_T0 K^{\prime}_{T0}  = 4.03–4.35. Present results are compared with previously determined thermoelastic properties of grossular-rich garnets.     

Thickening model of the continental lithosphere

Summary. The thickening plate theory proposed by Yoshii and Parker & Oldenburg for the oceanic lithosphere is extended to include the continental lithosphere. The theory is based on the assumption that the lithosphere—asthenosphere boundary is a solidus and that as a result solidification of the top of the asthenosphere is occurring. Observational data imply that the relationship between the plate thickness and basement age for the North American continent is y = 1.7 √ t + (50 ± 10), where y (km) is the plate thickness and t (Myr) is the basement age.
The theory is tested against changes with basement age of the observed surface heat-flow and seismic estimate of plate thickness. The following conclusions are inferred:
(1) The changes both of the observed heat flow and plate thickness with basement age are explained by this theory.
(2) The surface erosion and vertical distribution of radiogenic heat sources are important factors in controlling the thickening process of the continental lithosphere.
(3) The equality of the average surface heat-flow over the oceans and over the continents is a consequence of a faster release of latent heat at the lithosphere—asthenosphere boundary under the oceans, instead of a higher heat production in the continental crust.