Numerical study of the behavior of heated water discharged into the ocean

Matsuno and Nagata (1987) showed numerically that the spreading characteristics of the discharged heated water from power plants of existing scale is significantly influenced by the earth's rotation effect. Although the effect of the enhancement of the Coriolis parameter on the spreading characteristics of the formed warm water mass was discussed in order to demonstrate the rotation effect, other parameters such as the density difference between the discharged heated water and ambient water and the vertical eddy viscosity and diffusivity were fixed. In this paper, the dependence of the spreading characteristics on these parameters is examined. Then, it is shown that the overall shape of the formed warm water mass and density and velocity structure strongly depend on these parameters. Also, it is indicated that the behavior of the warm water mass under the rotation effects is too complicated to be described with a few parameters. For example, the internal radius of deformation seems to be one of the determinative parameters, and the increase of the density difference between discharged water and ambient water has a similar effect on the shape of the formed warm water mass as a decrease of the Coriolis parameter. However, a change of the two values has different effects on the detailed density structure and current structure of the warm water mass. The Prandtl number seems to determine some aspects of the veloczty field such as velocity magnitude and width of the southward flowing current zone. However, other features such as the thickness of the warm water mass are not determined by the Prandtl number.     

中国东南部与日本中—新生代构造-岩浆作用对比研究

重点讨论了中国东南部和日本中、新生代火成岩的时空分布及其构造环境,总结了两者的异同性。印支期和燕山早期（190～170Ma）中国东南部和日本具有不同的岩浆活动演化史。在165～150Ma期间,中国东南部广泛分布有过铝和弱过铝的S型花岗岩,而170～130Ma则为日本岩浆活动沉寂期。燕山晚期,中国东南部和日本都发生大规模的火山-侵入活动,同是库拉-太平洋板块向欧亚大陆俯冲-碰撞及其后伸展-裂解的产物,日本开始时代晚（130Ma）,并一直持续到始新世（45Ma）。进入喜马拉雅期,在日本海打开之前（>15Ma）,中国东南部和日本同处于大陆伸展构造环境,在日本海打开之后（<15Ma）,中国东南部和日本进入完全不同的构造演化阶段。     

地表刚性对地震液化作用的影响

一种新的假说阐述了在大地震中饱和沙土的液化现象。这是建立在多反射理论和FEM动力反应计算的基础上的。计算中应用了在1994年三陆外海M7.5地震时对八户港土层的假设,其结果与观测到的地震现象十分符合。这种方法也被应用于其他曾经发生液化的地区并被证实是在液化机理可接受限度内。富井地震(1948年6月,M=7.1)发生在福井盆地中央,深度为15 km,引起了大范围的破坏,伤亡人数达到5 300人。这次地震在各处引起大面积的液化,导致大范围的稻田被砂石所覆盖。但是,尽管加速度很大,盆地的几部分没有被液化。应用这种假说,我们分析了在相同情况下地表层的差异。结果发现液化的产生取决于地表层刚性引起的应变大小,假设与实际情况一致。     

Ba, Si, U, Al, Sc, La, Th, C and C/C in a sediment core in the western subarctic Pacific as proxies of past biological production

A sediment core covering the last 145 kyrs was collected in the western subarctic Pacific (WSAP), and analyzed for Ba, U, Al, Sc, La, Yb, Th, biogenic opal (Opal) and organic carbon (C_org) as well as its isotopic ratio (δ¹³C). This study examined the change of past biological production in WSAP with multiple proxies, together with understanding the relation between Loess from the Asian continent and the biological production. The Loess content was estimated from the metal components, Al, Sc, La, Yb and Th. In this high latitude core (50°N), the Loess content was generally high during the glacial periods, but it was also high even in some interglacial periods. The excess amount of Ba relative to the detrital material composition, Ba_ex, showed the best correlation with the Vostok δD (r = 0.72, p < 0.001), indicating that the biological production was lower in the glacial periods than in the interglacials. This corroborates the pervasive correlation between Ba_ex in the polar region, WSAP and the Antarctic Sea, and Antarctic temperature, combined with previous research. This correlation might be explained by the stratification caused by cooling. In addition, the time variations of Ba_ex in WSAP were similar to those of Ba_ex in the Okhotsk Sea and of other proxies (C_org and Opal) in both the Okhotsk and the Bering Sea, indicating the spatial homogeneity of Ba_ex in WSAP including proximal marginal seas. The Opal content was more weakly correlated with the Vostok δD (r = 0.46, p < 0.001) than Ba_ex, reflecting that Opal in WSAP including proximal marginal seas was spatially heterogeneous compared to Ba_ex. While both the C_org content and U_ex, the excess amount of U relative to the detritus composition, were not positively correlated with the Vostok δD, they behaved similarly in the sediments. The positive correlation between δ¹³C and the Vostok δD (r = 0.42, p < 0.001), between δ¹³C and Ba_ex (r = 0.60, p < 0.001) and between δ¹³C and Opal (r = 0.36, p < 0.01) indicates that δ¹³C in WSAP may give some information on the phytoplankton growth rate. There was not a significant correlation between the spatially homogeneous Ba_ex in WSAP and Loess (r = − 0.16, p > 0.01), suggesting that the increase of biological production with the increase of Loess supply during the glacial periods did not occur.     

Tritium in the northwestern North Pacific

Vertical profiles of tritium in seawater were determined for samples collected during the period from 1988 to 1990 at fourteen stations in the northwestern North Pacific (the Oyashio region) including the Okhotsk Sea and the Bering Sea. The profiles usually had a maximum in the surface layer and decreased gradually with depth down to 1,000 m. The water column inventory of tritium averaged 63% of the total atmospheric input in this region.The horizontal distribution of tritium showed a maximum in the region facing the Okhotsk Sea near 45°N for every isopycnal surface of ₀ ranging from 26.60 to 27.40. The ages of the intermediate water were calculated for the respective isopycnal surfaces in the maximum region. This calculation assumed that the intermediate water was formed by the isopycnal mixing of two water masses—the Okhotsk Sea and the Bering Sea Component Waters, which had been produced in wintertime by the diapycnal mixing of the surface and the deep waters in the respective marginal seas. The results show that the intermediate water in this region was formed in the late 1980's for the water which has ₀ of 26.60 to 26.80 and about 1970 for the water which has ₀ of 27.00 to 27.40. Although we have estimated the mean ages of the intermediate water, the horizontal profile of dissolved oxygen suggests that the Okhotsk Sea Component Water is younger than the mean age.     

Geochemistry of adakitic quartz diorite in the Yamizo Mountains, central Japan: Implications for Early Cretaceous adakitic magmatism in the inner zone of southwest Japan

Abstract   Small-volume plutons of Early to Late Cretaceous ages are widely distributed in the Yamizo Mountains, central Japan. These plutons consist predominantly of granitoids, classified into hornblende gabbro, quartz diorite, hornblende–biotite granodiorite and coarse-grained biotite granite. The quartz diorite (52–64 wt% of SiO₂) is characterized by a high Sr content (606–769 p.p.m.) associated with a low Y (13–27 p.p.m.) and heavy rare earth element content (Yb content of 1.19–2.13 p.p.m.). On the Sr/Y versus Y diagram, this rock type mainly plots in the adakite and Archean high-Al tonalite, trondhjemite and granodiorite (TTG) field. Together with its initial Sr isotopic ratios, which range from 0.7038 to 0.7046, these data suggest that quartz diorite originated as slab melts. However, geochemical calculations assuming either eclogite or garnet amphibolite as the source material do not support this suggestion. Instead, the chemical compositions of quartz diorite are better explained by the fractional crystallization of hornblende, plagioclase and biotite from a primitive, basaltic melt in a magma chamber. In this case, the formation of the associated hornblende gabbro can also be explained by the accumulation of hornblende and plagioclase. Adakitic rocks of Early Cretaceous ages have also been reported in the Tamba Belt of the inner zone of southwest Japan, located ca 500 km west of the Yamizo Mountains. These rocks can be correlated to the adakitic rocks in the Yamizo Mountains based on the geology, petrography, geochemistry and radiometric ages. Therefore, we propose the possibility that the Early Cretaceous adakitic rocks in the inner zone of southwest Japan were produced by fractional crystallization from basaltic arc magmas generated by a partial melting of metasomatized wedge mantle peridotite.     

Shear wave velocity measurement during a standard penetration test

An experiment was carried out to develop a technique to measure shear wave velocity simultaneously with the standard penetration test popular in soil engineering. In the standard penetration test an impact at the bottom of a borehole is produced by weight dropping and may be expected to generate seismic waves. A three-component geophone was set on the ground surface near the borehole and the waves generated were recorded with a magnetic recorder at successive depths of the penetration test. The predominance of the SV wave obtained with this simple method was assured by measurement of the particle orbit. Signal amplitudes decrease with depth and become less than the noise level at a certain depth. Therefore records from deeper sources must be processed to disclose the shear waves. Since waveforms of SV events generated by blows of the penetration test at a given depth are very similar, the signal to noise ratio would be expected to be improved by a stack of wave trains. A paste-up of the radial component after stacking was compared with that before stacking and a refinement was clearly recognized. A vertical distribution of shear wave velocity was obtained by reading the onset time at each depth. Shear wave velocities thus obtained were compared with N values from the standard penetration test and specific resistivities from electrical logging in the same borehole. The data were mutually consistent. This experiment showed that a convenient, precise shear wave velocity measurement can be conducted during the routine work of a standard penetration test.     

Interannual variations of the occurrence of epipelagic fish in the diets of the seabirds breeding on Teuri Island, northern Hokkaido, Japan

The diets of breeding seabirds can be a good monitor of marine environmental changes. From 1984 to 2001 we monitored the diets of black-tailed gulls (Larus crassirostris) (“surface foragers”), rhinoceros auklets (Cerorhinca monocerata) (“epipelagic divers”), and Japanese cormorants (Phalacrocorax filamentotus) (“bottom divers”) that breed on Teuri Island at the northern boundary of the Tsushima Warm current in the Sea of Japan/East Sea. Between 1984 and 1987, both the gulls and the auklets foraged on the sardine (Sardinops melanostictus), but after 1992, they switched to the anchovy (Engraulis japonica). This change might reflect the collapse of the sardine stock in the late 1980s. In the 1990s, the year-to-year variations of the percentage of anchovy in the diets of the three seabird species showed similar trends: High in 1994 and 1998–2001; and low in 1992–1993 and 1995–1997. The estimated stock size of the anchovy population in the Tsushima Current area was positively correlated with the percentage of mass of anchovy in the seabirds’ diets. Thus, the short-term annual changes of the total anchovy availability, which might reflect SST or the volume transport of Tsushima Current, possibly affected the seabirds diets on this island.     

Bispectra of spike-array type time series and their application to the analysis of oceanic microstructures

Bispectral analysis is applied to records of the vertical profile of the vertical temperature gradient in the oceanic thermocline in the San Diego Trough. The bispectra exhibit three notable features; (1) bispectral peaks at the points (0.2 m^–1, 0.2 m^–1) and (0.2 m^–1, 0.1 m^–1), (2) bispectral ridges along the lines ( ₁= ₀, ₂= ₀ and ₁+ ₂= ₀ corresponding to peak wavenumbers ₀ in power spectra, and (3) array of bispectral peaks of interval of 0.2 m^–1 The results are compared with the bispectra of several modeled time series of spike-array type. The periodicity of 5 m found in the records seems to have two meanings: spacing of predominant spikes and wavelength of predominant sinusoidal wave. If this indicates the existence of internal waves having a vertical wavelength the same as the scale of homogeneous layers, it would suggest the possible importance of internal waves in the formation and maintenance mechanisms of oceanic microstructure.