Application of lattice imagery to radiation damage investigation in natural zircon

High-, intermediate-, and low-type zircon crystals of natural origin were investigated using a 1,000 kV high-resolution electron microscope. The lattice images obtained successfully for high zircon were in good accordance with computer simulated ones, and 1.5 Å separations, the nearest distance between zirconium atoms projected along the a axis, were clearly resolved under a certain instrumental condition. The images of fission tracks and surrounding areas show nearly perfect lattice images and that within the fission tracks, with a width of 20 ～ 30 Å and length of ca. 1,000 Å, the structure is heavily disordered, almost amorphous; that both sides of the tracks the lattices are displaced or dislocated, and that in the area adjacent to the tracks, bright and dark spot images occur, corresponding to vacancies and their interstitial atoms. In low zircon, the structure is completely destroyed to show an entirely amorphous state, whereas an intermediate type consists of domains of the order of 50 ～ 100 Å across with nearly regular lattices, along whose boundaries strongly disordered areas with widths of few tens of angstroms appear, but the relative orientations of the neighbouring domains are almost continuous. Thus a whole process of metamictization is visualized on a lattice scale. Metamictization proceeds principally by the formation of fission tracks, the direct result of fast movement of nuclear particles; recoil nuclei therefrom seem to play a less important role in the destruction of the structure.     

Effects of mixing on the subduction of South Pacific waters identified by a simulated passive tracer and its adjoint

Effects of mixing on water mass subduction are analyzed in the South Pacific Ocean. Model simulations using a passive tracer and its adjoint are employed in conjunction with a particle tracking method to distinguish effects of mixing from those of advection. The results show that mixing processes can contribute to as much as 20% of the overall subduction rate in the South Pacific. Of this mixing contribution, about 30% can be attributed to meso-scale eddies, including their associated bolus transport, while the major part (70%) is due to other diabatic processes. The impact of mixing reaches its maximum near the Sub-Antarctic Front, accounting for nearly 30% of the total subduction rate. Consequently, estimates based on tracing particles or on advection alone may significantly underestimate the subduction rate in the South Pacific Ocean.     

‘Thailand was a desert' during the mid‐Cretaceous: Equatorward shift of the subtropical high‐pressure belt indicated by eolian deposits (Phu Thok Formation) in the Khorat Basin,northeastern Thailand

The Tibetan Plateau is a key factor in controlling the present‐day climate and atmospheric circulation pattern in Asia. The pattern of atmospheric circulation after the uplift of the plateau is well known, whereas direct evidence is lacking regarding the nature of the circulation pattern prior to the uplift. The distribution of desert directly reflects the position of the subtropical high‐pressure belt, and the prevailing surface‐wind pattern recorded in desert deposits reveals the position of its divergence axis. Cretaceous eolian sandstone of the Phu Thok Formation is extensively exposed in the northern Khorat Basin, northeastern Thailand. We conducted a sedimentological study on this formation to reconstruct temporal changes in the latitude of the subtropical high‐pressure belt in low‐latitude Asia during the Cretaceous. Spatio‐temporal changes in the paleo‐wind directions recorded in the Phu Thok Formation reveal that the Khorat Basin mainly belonged to the northeast trade wind belt and subtropical high‐pressure belt was situated to the north of the Khorat Basin during the initial stages of deposition, shifted southward to immediately above the basin during the main phase of deposition, and then shifted northward again to the north of the basin during the final stages of deposition. The paleomagnetic polarity sequence obtained for the Phu Thok Formation comprises three zones of normal polarity and two of reversed polarity, correlating to chrons M1n to C34n of the geomagnetic polarity time scale. This result suggests that the Phu Thok Formation is mid‐Cretaceous in age (from c. 126 Ma to c. 99–93 Ma), similar to the age of eolian sandstone in the Sichuan Basin, southern China (the Jiaguan Formation). These results, in combination with paleo‐wind direction data, suggest the development of low‐latitude desert and an equatorward shift of the subtropical high‐pressure belt (relative to the present‐day) in Asia during the mid‐Cretaceous.     

科尔沁沙地采用人工植被对流沙治理的技术

在科尔沁沙地的流动沙丘上采用不同的人工措施,即铺设秸秆栅栏沙障、草方格和栽植差不嘎蒿,对沙丘的固定作用进行了研究。结果表明三种措施都有利于增加沙丘植物的多样性和生物量,但栽植差不嘎蒿和草方格好于秸秆栅栏沙障;沙丘固定过程中,植物的演替顺序有沙蓬-差不嘎蒿-狗尾草-黄蒿的趋势;植物生物量的形成与土壤湿度关系密切,应用试验数据建立了生物量(Y)与土壤湿度(X)的回归关系方程。Y=-13.7x²+72.5x-11.42 R²=0.824。     

Stable isotope-guided analysis of biomagnification profiles of arsenic species in a tropical mangrove ecosystem

We performed stable carbon and nitrogen-guided analyses of biomagnification profiles of arsenic (As) species, including total As, lipid-soluble As, eight water-soluble As compounds (arsenobetaine (AB), arsenocholine (AC), tetramethylarsonium ion (TETRA), trimethylarsine oxide (TMAO), dimethylarsinic acid (DMA), monomethylarsonic acid (MMA), arsenate (As[V]), and arsenite (As[III])), and non-extracted As in a tropical mangrove ecosystem in the Ba Ria Vung Tau, South Vietnam. Arsenobetaine was the predominant As species (65-96% of water-soluble As). Simple linear regression slopes of log-transformed concentrations of total As, As fractions or individual As compounds on stable nitrogen isotopic ratio (δ15N) values are regarded as indices of biomagnification. In this ecosystem, lipid-soluble As (slope, 0.130) and AB (slope, 0.108) were significantly biomagnified through the food web; total As and other water-soluble As compounds were not. To our knowledge, this is one of the first reports on biomagnification profiles of As compounds from a tropical mangrove ecosystem.     

The sudden disappearance of a dark filament observed on October 26, 1989

We present H monochromatic and spectroscopic observations of the sudden disappearance of a dark filament located near the center of the solar disk on October 26, 1989. The event was not associated with the flare activity. The dark filament first disintegrated into two loop-like components, and then each component successively showed ascending motion with a velocity greater than 30 km s^–1. Comparison of the H pictures taken before and after the start of this event suggests that the dark filament was originally composed of two magnetic flux loops.     

Simulation of Formation and Spreading of Salinity Minimum Associated with NPIW Using a High-Resolution Model

A series of numerical experiments were conducted with a high-resolution (eddy-permitting) North Pacific model to simulate the formation and spreading of the salinity minimum associated with the North Pacific Intermediate Water (NPIW). It was found that two factors are required to simulate a realistic configuration of the salinity minimum: a realistic wind stress field and small-scale disturbances. The NCEP reanalyzed wind stress data lead to better results than the Hellerman and Rosenstein wind stress data, due to the closer location of the simulated Oyashio and Kuroshio at the western boundary. Small-scale disturbances formed by relaxing computational diffusivity included in the advection scheme promote the large-scale isopycnal mixing between the Oyashio and Kuroshio waters, simulating a realistic configuration of the salinity minimum. A detailed analysis of the Oyashio water transport was carried out on the final three-year data of the experiment with reduced computational diffusivity. Simulated transport of the Kuroshio Extension in the intermediate layer is generally smaller than the observed value, while those of the Oyashio and the flow at the subarctic front are comparable to the observed levels. In the Oyashio-Kuroshio interfrontal zone the zonally integrated southward transport of the Oyashio water (140–155°E) is borne by the eddy activity, though the time-mean flow reveals the existence of a coastal Oyashio intrusion. In the eastern part (155°E–180°) the zonally integrated transport of the Oyashio water indicates a southward peak at the southern edge of the Kuroshio Extension, which corresponds to the branching of the recirculating flow from the Kuroshio Extension. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Convection induced by cooling at one side wall in two-dimensional non-rotating fluid —applicability to the deep Pacific circulation—

In recognition that similarity in the density balance leads to resemblance in circulation between the two-dimensional non-rotating and three-dimensional rotating systems which have similar density stratification, we investigate convection induced by cooling at one side wall and heating at the sea surface by using a two-dimensional non-rotating model as idealized representation for the deep Pacific circulation. In the model, various vertical profiles are taken for the side wall cooling, which are assumed to correspond to the density structure of the Anatarctic Circumpolar Current. In a small diffusivity range, two important features are found to be robust against change in the vertical profile of the side wall cooling. One is that the density stratification is horizontally almost uniform. The other is that the balance in the density equation between the vertical advection and the vertical diffusion holds in the interior. Consequently, the vertical density balance, together with the equation of continuity, determines the circulation pattern for the prescribed vertical profile of the side wall cooling. The multi-layered meridional flow, which is expected to exist in the deep Pacific, is shown to form for certain vertical profiles of the side wall cooling.