Biological community and sediment fatty acids associated with the deep-sea whale skeleton at the Torishima Seamount

A whale skeleton was discovered on the flat-topped summit of the Torishima Seamount, 4037 m deep, northwest Pacific Ocean, during a dive by the submersibleShinkai 6500 in 1992. The skeleton was encrusted with mytilid mussels and harbored benthic animals such as galatheid crabs, echinoderms, sea anemones, and unidentifiable tube worms. The whale skeleton was revisited in 1993. Sediment samples were collected to outline the chemical-microbial distribution in the sediment associated with the skeleton. In the sediment, there was a gradient of sulfide concentration with the peak of 20 n moles per gram sediment just beneath a bone. Corresponding gradients were observed in thiosulfate-oxidizing enzyme activity, bacterial colony counts and fatty acid amounts. Direct analysis of the sediment fatty acid composition suggested the occurrence of methane-oxidizing bacteria and sulfur-reducing bacteria in close association with the whale skeleton. These observations imply that the methane and sulfides were formed during the saprogenic process and utilized for the chemosynthetic bacterial production to feed the whale skeleton-animal community.     

Trench triple junction off Central Japan—preliminary results of French-Japanese 1984 Kaiko cruise, Leg 2

Leg 2 of the French-Japanese 1984 Kaiko cruise has surveyed the trench triple junction off central Japan, where the Japan, Izu-Bonin and Sagami Trenches intersect. The Izu-Bonin Trench is deeper than the Japan Trench and filled by a thick turbiditic series. Its anomalous depth is explained by the westward retreat of the edge of the northwestward moving Philippine Sea plate. On the contrary to what happens in the Japan Trench, horst and graben structures of the Pacific plate obliquely enters the Izu-Bonin Trench, suggesting that the actual boundary between these two trenches is located to the north of the triple junction. The inner wall of the Izu-Bonin Trench is characterized in the triple junction area by a series of slope basins whose occurrence is related to the dynamics of this area. The northernmost basin is overthrust by the edge of the fore-arc area of the Northeast Japan plate. The plate boundary is hardly discernible further east, which makes it impossible to locate precisely the triple junction itself. These features suggest that large intra-plate deformation occurs there due to the interaction of the plates involved in the triple junction and the weak mechanical strength of the wedge-shaped margin of the overriding plates.     

26Al/10Be ratios reveal the source of river sediments in the Kimberley,NW Australia

We use cosmogenic ¹⁰Be and ²⁶Al in both bedrock and fluvial sediments to investigate controls on erosion rates and sediment supply to river basins at the regional scale in the Kimberley, NW Australia. The area is characterised by lithologically controlled morphologies such as cuestas, isolated mesas and extensive plateaus made of slightly dipping, extensively jointed sandstones. All sampled bedrock surfaces at plateau tops, ridgelines, and in the broader floodplain of major rivers over the region show similar slow lowering rates between 0.17 and 4.88 m.Myr^-1, with a mean value of 1.0 ± 0.6 m.Myr^-1 (n=15), whilst two bedrock samples collected directly within river-beds record rates that are one to two orders of magnitude higher (14.4 ± 1.5 and 20.9 ± 2.5 m.Myr^-1, respectively). Bedrock ²⁶Al/¹⁰Be ratios are all compatible with simple, continuous sub-aerial exposure histories. Modern river sediment yield lower ¹⁰Be and ²⁶Al concentrations, apparent ¹⁰Be basin-wide denudation rates ranging between 1.8 and 7.7 m.Myr^-1, with a median value of 2.6 m.Myr^-1, more than double the magnitude of bedrock erosion rates. ²⁶Al/¹⁰Be ratios of the sediment samples are lower than those obtained for bedrock samples. We propose that these depleted ²⁶Al/¹⁰Be ratios can largely be explained by the supply of sediment to river basins from the slab fragmentation and chemical weathering of channel gorge walls and plateau escarpments that result in diluting the cosmogenic nuclide concentration in river sediments measured at the basin outlets. The results of a mass-balance model suggest that ~60–90% of river sediment in the Kimberley results from the breakdown and chemical weathering of retreating vertical sandstone rock-walls in contrast to sediment generated by bedrock weathering and erosion on the plateau tops. This study emphasises the value of analysing two or more isotopes in basin-scale studies using cosmogenic nuclides, especially in slowly eroding post-orogenic settings. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evolution of sandstone peak‐forest landscapes – insights from quantifying erosional processes with cosmogenic nuclides

The sandstone peak‐forest landscape in Zhangjiajie UNESCO Global Geopark of Hunan Province, China, is characterized by >3000 vertical pillars and peak walls of up to 350 m height, representing a spectacular example of sandstone landform variety. Few studies have addressed the mechanisms and timescales of the longer‐term evolution of this landscape, and have focused on fluvial incision. We use in situ cosmogenic nuclides combined with GIS analysis to investigate the erosional processes contributing to the formation of pillars and peak‐forests, and discuss their relative roles in the formation and decay of the landscape. Model maximum‐limiting bedrock erosion rates are the highest along the narrow fluvial channels and valleys at the base of the sandstone pillars (~83–122 mm kyr^?1), and lowest on the peak wall tops (~2.5 mm kyr^?1). Erosion rates are highly variable and intermediate along vertical sandstone peak walls and pillars (~30 to 84 mm kyr^?1). Catchment‐wide denudation rates from river sediment vary between ~26 and 96 mm kyr^?1 and are generally consistent with vertical wall retreat rates. This highlights the importance of wall retreat for overall erosion in the sandstone peak‐forest. In combination with GIS‐derived erosional volumes, our results suggest that the peak‐forest formation in Zhangjiajie commenced in the Pliocene, and that the general evolution of the landscape followed our sequential refined model: (i) slow lowering rates following initial uplift; (ii) fast plateau dissection by headward knickpoint propagation along joints and faults followed by; (iii) increasing contribution of wall retreat in the well‐developed pillars and peak‐forests and a gradual decrease in overall denudation rates, leading to; (iv) the final consumption of pillars and peak‐forests. Our study provides an approach for quantifying the complex interplay between multiple geomorphic processes as required to assess the evolutionary pathways of other sandstone peak‐forest landscapes across the globe. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Deep-sea submersible survey in the Suruga, Sagami and Japan Trenches: preliminary results of the 1985 Kaiko cruise, Leg 2

Nine submersible dives were made in three trenches off central Japan, between 2990 and 5900 m of water depth. Our observations confirm the interpretation that Daiichi-Kashima Seamount is a Cretaceous guyot formed on the Pacific plate that has traveled into the Japan Trench. We also confirmed the previous interpretation of a large normal fault that splits the seamount in two halves, the lower one being now subducting beneath the Japan margin. Compressional deformation was identified within the lower part of the inner slope in front of the seamount. The pattern of deformation that affects Quaternary sediments is in agreement with the present kinematics of the convergence between the Pacific plate and Japan. Deep-water (5700 m) clam colonies are associated with advection of fluids, driven by the subduction-related overpressures. In the northern slope of the Boso Canyon, along the Sagami Trough system (Philippine Sea plate-Japan boundary), the deformation affecting a thick upper Miocene to lower Pliocene sequence indicates two directions of shortening: a N175°E direction which is consistent with the present relative motion along the Sagami Trough (N285–N300°E) and a N30°E direction which could be related to a more northerly direction of convergence that occured during the early Quaternary and earlier.     

Hahajima Seamount: An enigmatic tectonic block at the junction between the Izu–Bonin and Mariana Trenches

Abstract   The Hahajima Seamount, located at the junction between the Izu–Bonin and Mariana forearc slopes, is a notable rectangular shape and consists of various kinds of rocks. An elaborated bathymetric swath mapping with geophysical measurements and dredge hauls showed the Hahajima Seamount is cut by two predominating lineaments, northeast–southwest and northwest–southeast. These lineaments are of faults based on the topographic cross-sections and a 3-D view (whale's eye view). The former lineament is parallel to the transform faults of the Parece Vela Basin, whereas the latter is parallel to the nearby transform fault on the subducting Pacific Plate. The rocks constituting the seamount are ultramafic rocks (mostly harzburgite), boninite, basalt, andesite, gabbro, breccia and sedimentary rocks, which characterize an island arc and an ocean basin. Gravity measurement and seismic reflection survey offer neither a definite gravity anomaly at the seamount nor definite internal structures beneath the seamount. A northwest–southeast-trending fault and small-scale serpentine flows were observed during submersible dives at the Hahajima Seamount. The rectangular shape, size of the seamount, various kinds of rocks and geophysical measurements strongly suggest that the Hahajima Seamount is not a simple serpentine seamount controlled by various tectonic movements, as previously believed, but a tectonic block.