Characterization of Fe(III) (hydr)oxides in arsenic contaminated soil under various redox conditions by XAFS and Mössbauer spectroscopies

Characterization of Fe(III) (hydr)oxides in soils near the Ichinokawa mine was conducted using X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) and Mössbauer spectroscopies, and the structural changes were correlated with the release of As into pore-water. The Eh values decreased monotonically with depth. Iron is mainly present as poorly-ordered Fe(III) (hydr)oxides, such as ferrihydrite, over a wide redox range (from Eh = 360 to −140 mV). Structural details of the short-range order of these Fe(III) (hydr)oxides were examined using Mössbauer spectroscopy by comparing the soil phases with synthesized ferrihydrite samples having varying crystallinities. The crystallinity of the soil Fe (hydr)oxides decreased slightly with depth and Eh. Thus, within the redox range of this soil profile, ferrihydrite dominated, even under very reducing conditions, but the crystalline domain size, and, potentially, particle size, changed with the variation in Eh. In the soil–water system examined here, where As concentration and the As(III)/As(V) ratio in soil water increased with depth, ferrihydrite persisted and maintained or even enhanced its capacity for As retention with increased reducing conditions. Therefore, it is concluded that As release from these soils largely depends on the transformation of As(V) to As(III) rather than reductive dissolution of Fe(III) (hydr)oxide.     

Lethality of increasing CO2 levels on deep-sea copepods in the western North Pacific

The first CO₂ exposure experiments on several species of pelagic copepods inhabiting surface and deep layers in the western North Pacific were conducted. Living organisms were collected from two layers between the surface and 1,500 m between latitudes of 11 and 44°N, and they were exposed aboard ship to various pCO₂ up to about 98,000 μatm. Mortality of copepods from both shallow and deep layers in subarctic to subtropical regions increased with increasing pCO₂ and exposure time. Deep-living copepods showed higher tolerance to pCO₂ than shallow-living copepods. Furthermore, deep-living copepods from subarctic and transitional regions had higher tolerances than the subtropical copepods. The higher tolerances of the deep-living copepods from subarctic and transitional regions may be due to the adaptation to the natural pCO₂ conditions in the subarctic ocean.     

Direct observation of Cm(III)-fulvate species on fulvic acid-montmorillonite hybrid by laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy

Particulate matter plays an important role in the removal of metal ions from water in natural aquifers. Some of the most important of these materials consist of associations of inorganic particles (clay minerals, oxides) with humic substances, associations that can form readily in such an environment due to the strong affinity between inorganic particles and humic substances. These associations are referred to in this paper as organic-inorganic hybrids. However, it is not clear whether the sorbed species of metal ions in such organic-inorganic hybrids are organic or inorganic species because of the complexity of such hybrids and the lack of appropriate methods for characterizing the trace metal ions incorporated in them. In this study, laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy (LIF) was used successfully to characterize the Cm(III) species on an FA(fulvic acid)-montmorillonite hybrid, an example of such organic-inorganic hybrids. The LIF clearly showed that Cm(III) can be sorbed as Cm(III)-fulvate complex in the FA-montmorillonite hybrid. These results were consistent with those of experiments of solid-water partitioning of Cm(III) (or Eu(III) used as an analogue) and speciation calculations based on the stability constants of Cm(III)-fulvate complexes determined in this study. The results of LIF and the partitioning experiments showed that the solid-water distribution of humic substances governed that of Cm(III) under our experimental conditions. The Cm(III) preference for forming Cm(III)-fulvate complexes was also evident under a condition that would be found in a natural aquifer with a fairly low concentration of organic matter in freshwater (dissolved organic carbon: 2 mg/dm³), as determined by our speciation calculations. These findings on the importance of humic substances in the migration of Cm(III) indicate that the clarification of the environmental behavior of humic substances is necessary to understand fully the behavior of Cm(III), or actinide(III) and lanthanide(III) ions, in natural aquifers.     

A 3D magnetic structure of Izu-Oshima Volcano and their changes after the eruption in 1986 as estimated from repeated airborne magnetic surveys

A 3D magnetic inversion method using a conjugate gradient method (CG method) was developed for constructing 3D magnetization models of a volcanic edifice and applied to aeromagnetic anomalies of Izu-Oshima Volcano surveyed in 1986 and in 1997. The calculated results of the 1986 data show that the volcanic edifice of Izu-Oshima Volcano has a mean magnetization intensity ranging from 10.4 to 12.1 A/m. The derived 3D magnetic structure shows low magnetization zones beneath the west-northwest of the western caldera rim, beneath the west-southwest of Mt. Mihara and beneath Mt. Shiroishi. These features may be related with demagnetizations, reflecting a high thermal state due to magma activities in the 1986 eruption. The comparison between 3D magnetization models in 1986 and in 1997, indicates meaningful changes beneath the C-craters erupted in 1986, suggesting a recovery process of demagnetizations and a considerable decrease of magnetization intensities in the foot of Mt. Futago, indicative of demagnetizations. A derived magnetization model including Izu-Oshima Volcano and its surrounding sea areas clarifies the submerged volcanic edifices around Izu-Oshima Island, and suggests that the old volcanic edifices of Fudeshima, Gyojyanoiwaya, and Okata Volcanoes have been affected by eastward migrations due to massive intrusions of a dike-like structure inferred at the base of Izu-Oshima Volcano.     

<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.     

How do “numbers” construct social reality in disaster-stricken areas?: a case of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan,China

This article focuses on the dynamics of using numbers to construct an image of social reality in disaster areas. Numbers are neither objective nor value-neutral but are rather generated, transmitted and shared with social signification. In other words, numbers can be thought of as simply socially constructed information. Statistics and other numbers usually work in positive ways. However, it is also possible that using numbers in the media can lead to unintended messages that could produce negative consequences. We conducted field studies in disaster-stricken areas of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in China and compared findings to the case of the 1995 Kobe earthquake in Japan in order to examine how numbers—in terms of the amount of donations, the timeline of reconstruction projects and casualty figures—construct social reality and cause a variety of social dysfunctions.     

Detection of small earthquakes along the Pacific-Antarctic Ridge from T-waves recorded by abyssal ocean-bottom observatories

A number of seismoacoustic T-wave events were observed between January 2003 and January 2004 by broadband ocean-bottom seismometers installed on the French Polynesia seafloor at depths of 4,000?C5,000?m, well below the conjugate depth of the SOFAR channel. Using T-wave arrival times, we located 89 T-wave events along the Pacific-Antarctic Ridge. Among these, 63 events were not detected by land-based seismic observations of the United States Geological Survey (USGS), which was nearly twice the number of earthquakes reported by the USGS in the area during the observation period. We used a simple method to estimate earthquake magnitude from T-wave energy. The magnitudes of the events unidentified by the USGS ranged from 2.3 to 5.5, whereas magnitudes of the earthquakes reported by the USGS ranged from 4.1 to 6.2. Our study suggests that T-wave observations with abyssal ocean-bottom seismometers can improve the detection of small earthquakes and help our understanding of the seismotectonics of remote oceanic areas.     

Thermal expansion of fayalite,Fe2SiO4

Thermal expansion of single-crystal fayalite has been measured by a dilatometric method at temperatures between 25 °C and 850 °C. The results show the presence of anomalous expansion in the b axis, which is correlated to the anomalous variation of elastic moduli with temperature. Grüneisen's parameter is 1.10 and the thermal Debye temperature is 565 K, which is close to the acoustic Debye temperature of 511 K.     

Iterative deconvolution of complex body waves from great earthquakes—the Tokachi-Oki earthquake of 1968

A method of body-wave inversion is developed in an attempt to extract the information about asperities or barriers in a fault zone. A sequence of point sources, each being characterized with the seismic moment, the onset time and the location, are iteratively derived from observed records at multi-stations, where the two-dimensional extent of the source location is taken into account. A modification is made of the iterative method of Kikuchi and Kanamori on the formulation of inversion procedure to facilitate the computation.Using this method, we analyse long period P waves of the Tokachi-Oki earthquake of 1968 (M_w = 8.2) and obtain several significant subevents with time durations of ～ 10 s. Their spatio-temporal distribution shows that the rupture process consists of three characteristic stages: (A) a stage of introductory rupture, (B) a stage of main rupture and (C) a stage of aftershocks. The main rupture takes place in the form of clustering around a few sites of the fault plane. The largest subevent occurs in the northwestern corner. The stress drop associated with this event is estimated to be ～ 200 bars, one order of magnitude higher than the stress drop averaged over the entire fault plane. The sum of the seismic moments of the individual subevents amounts to 2.3 × 10²⁸ dyn. cm which approximately coincides with the one estimated from the analysis of long-period surface waves. This implies that the source of the Tokachi-Oki earthquake consists of several major subevents with time durations of ～ 10 s in addition to other minor subevents.     

Elastic properties of a single-crystal forsterite Mg2SiO4, up to 1,200 K

Elastic moduli of forsterite were measured between 300 and 1,200 K (? 1.6 times the Debye temperature) by the Rectangular Parallelepiped Resonance method. All the moduli decrease regularly with temperature. A summary of the results is as follows: