Sound velocity measurements in dhcp-FeH up to 70 GPa with inelastic X-ray scattering: Implications for the composition of the Earth's core

We have determined the density evolution of the sound velocity of dhcp-FeH_x (x ≈ 1) up to 70 GPa at room temperature, by inelastic X-ray scattering and by X-ray diffraction. We find that the variation of V_P with density is different for the ferromagnetic and nonmagnetic dhcp-FeH_x, and that only nonmagnetic dhcp-FeH_x follows Birch's law. Combining our results with Birch's law for iron and assuming an ideal two-component mixing model, we obtain an upper bound of the hydrogen content in the Earth's inner core, 0.23(6) wt.% H, corresponding to FeH_0.13(3). The iron alloy with 0.23(6) wt.% H can satisfy the density, and compressional and shear sound velocities of the PREM inner core, assuming that there are no other light elements in the inner core.     

The rectilinear three-body problem

The rectilinear equal-mass and unequal-mass three-body problems are considered. The first part of the paper is a review that covers the following items: regularization of the equations of motion, integrable cases, triple collisions and their vicinities, escapes, periodic orbits and their stability, chaos and regularity of motions. The second part contains the results of our numerical simulations in this problem. A classification of orbits in correspondence with the following evolution scenarios is suggested: ejections, escapes, conditional escapes (long ejections), periodic orbits, quasi-stable long-lived systems in the vicinity of stable periodic orbits, and triple collisions. Homothetic solutions ending by triple collisions and their dependence on initial parameters are found. We study how the ejection length changes in response to the variation of the triple approach parameters. Regions of initial conditions are outlined in which escapes occur after a definite number of triple approaches or a definite time. In the vicinity of a stable Schubart periodic orbit, we reveal a region of initial parameters that corresponds to trajectories with finite motions. The regular and chaotic structure of the manifold of orbits is mostly defined by this periodic orbit. We have studied the phase space structure via Poincaré sections. Using these sections and symbolic dynamics, we study the fine structure of the region of initial conditions, in particular the chaotic scattering region.     

Short-term variation in copepod community and physical environment in the waters adjacent to the Kuroshio Current

A continuous survey examined short-term variations in the zooplankton community and physical ocean environment from the northeastern Izu Islands to Boso Peninsula in Japan. High copepod abundance and small upwellings in the surface layer and salinity minimum layer in the subsurface were observed on the north side of coastal fronts in the westernmost transect, moving southward as the Kuroshio Current left the Boso Peninsula. Thus, the salinity minimum layer might be a key factor forming upwelling and the fronts, leading to large abundance of coastal copepods off the northeastern Izu Islands. A community structure analysis of calanoid copepods revealed an intermediate belt assemblage between coastal and offshore (Kuroshio) assemblages. Copepod abundance was remarkably low and Ctenocalanus vanus dominated (nearly 37%) in the intermediate belt zone, indicating that C. vanus has a relatively high tolerance to adverse environments for calanoid copepods. As the Kuroshio Current left the Boso Peninsula, the coastal assemblage expanded in the same direction, and the intermediate belt assemblage off the northeastern Izu Islands disappeared. The largest population of Calanus sinicus was found along the two western transects off the northeastern Izu Islands (>1000 m depth), which was assumed to be transported from Sagami Bay and advanced southwestward while growing from copepodite stages CIII to CV. Larvae of C. sinicus would be an important food for fish larvae in addition to Paracalanus parvus s.l., the numerically dominant species in the coastal assemblage, and C. vanus under the adverse conditions for coastal copepods.     

The role of water in the deep upper mantle and transition zone: dehydration of stagnant slabs and its effects on the big mantle wedge

Mineral physics data related to the deep dehydration of stagnant slabs are summarized. The hydrogen diffusion in minerals of the mantle transition zone is not fast enough to homogenize the transition zone on the geological time scale, and hydrogen is expected to be unevenly distributed there. The hydrous fluid formed in the transition zone tends to percolate into shallower depths to form gravitationally stable hydrous magmas at the base of the upper mantle. We need further studies on the relation of intraplate volcanism above the stagnant slab and deep dehydration, because we expect the geochemical fingerprints of deep dehydration to be quite different from those of shallow dehydration from the subducting slabs.     

A search for collision orbits in the free-fall three-body problem I. Numerical procedure

A numerical procedure is devised to find binary collision orbits in the free-fall three-body problem. Applying this procedure, families of binary collision orbits are found and a sequence of triple collision orbits are positioned. A property of sets of binary collision orbits which is convenient to search triple collision orbits is found. Important numerical results are formulated and summarized in the final section.     

Experimental investigation of the α-β transformation of San Carlos olivine single crystal

Single crystalline San Carlos olivine (1 mm cube) was transformed to (Mg,Fe)₂SiO₄β-phase at 13.5–15 GPa, 1030–1330 °C for 0–600 min using a multi-anvil high pressure apparatus. The α-β transformation occurred by incoherent surface nucleation and interface-controlled growth and recovered partially transformed samples showed sharply defined reaction rim. The growth rate of the β-phase rim significantly decreased with time and the growth eventually ceased. TEM observations revealed that many dislocations were created in both the relict olivine just near the α-β interface and the β-phase in the rim, which show evidence for deformation caused by interfacial stresses associated with the misfit elastic strain of the transformation. The observed tangled dislocation texture in β-phase suggested that the β-phase rim was hardened and relaxation of the interfacial stress was retarded. This probably caused a localized pressure drop in the relict olivine and decreased the growth rate. Time-dependent growth rates of β-phase is possibly controlled by the rheology of β-phase, which must be considered for the prediction of the olivine metastability in the subducting slabs. Received: 24 January 1997 / Revised, accepted: 24 July 1998     

Optically thick accretion onto black holes

Spherically symmetric, steady-state, optically thick accretion onto a nonrotating black hole with the mass of is studied. The gas accreting onto the black hole is assumed to be a fully ionized hydrogen plasma withn ₀=10⁸ cm^–3 andT ₀=10⁴ K far from the black hole, and a new approximate expression for the Eddington factor is introduced. The luminosity is estimated to beL=1.875×10³³ erg s^–1, which primarily arises from the optical surface (1) ofT10⁴ K. The accretion flow is characterized by 1 and (v/c)10. In the optically thin region, the flow remains isothermal, and the increase of temperature occurs at 1. The radiative equilibrium is strictly realized at (v/c)10.     

Mg–Fe interdiffusion rates in wadsleyite and the diffusivity jump at the 410-km discontinuity

Mg–Fe interdiffusion rates have been measured in wadsleyite aggregates at 16.0–17.0 GPa and 1230–1530 °C by the diffusion couple method. Oxygen fugacity was controlled using the NNO buffer, and water contents of wadsleyite were measured by infrared spectroscopy. Measured asymmetric diffusion profiles, analyzed using the Boltzmann–Matano equation, indicate that the diffusion rate increases with increasing iron concentration and decreasing grain size. In the case of wadsleyite containing 50–90 weight ppm H₂O, the Mg–Fe interdiffusion coefficients at compositions of Mg/(Mg + Fe)=0.95 in the coarse-grained region (about 60 m) and 0.90 in the fine-grained region (about 6 m) were determined to be a D_Xmg = 0.95 (m² s^–1)=1.24 × 10^–9 exp[–172 (kJ mol^–1)/RT] and D_Xmg = 0.90 (m² s^–1)=1.77 × 10^–9 exp[–143 (kJ mol^–1)/RT], respectively. Grain-boundary diffusion rates were estimated to be about 4 orders of magnitude faster than the volume diffusion rate. Grain-boundary diffusion dominates when the grain size is less than a few tens of microns. Results for the nominally dry diffusion couple in the present study are roughly consistent with previous studies, taking into account differences in pressure and grain size, although water contents of samples were not clear in previous studies. We observed that the diffusivity is enhanced by about 1 order of magnitude in wadsleyite containing 300–2100 wt. ppm H₂O at 1230 °C, which is almost identical to the enhancement associated with a 300 °C increase in temperature. It is still not conclusive that a jump in diffusivity exists between olivine and wadsleyite because water contents of olivine in previous diffusion studies and effects of water on the olivine diffusivity are uncertain.     

Biomass, Abundance, and Vertical Distribution of Micronekton and Large Gelatinous Zooplankton in the Subarctic Pacific and the Bering Sea during the Summer of 1997

The biomass, abundance, and vertical distribution of micronekton, including enidarians, mysids, euphausiids, decapods, thaliaceans, and fishes, were studied on the basis of samples collected with an 8-m² opening-closing rectangular midwater trawl (RMT-8, mesh size: 4.5 mm) at three stations in the subarctic Pacific (the western subarctic gyre, the central Subarctic, and the Gulf of Alaska) and one station in the oceanic Bering Sea. The total biomass in the 0–1000 m water column ranged from 2.9 to 5.1 gDW m^–2. Except for primary consumers that showed highly variable biomass (thaliaceans and euphausiids), biomass was highest in the oceanic Bering Sea followed by the central (boundary between eastern and western gyres), western gyre, and eastern Gulf of Alaska. The biomass compositions by higher taxa were basically similar between regions: fishes were most dominant, followed by enidarians at all stations, except for the marked predominance of thaliaceans in the Gulf of Alaska. High biomasses of gelatinous animals (31% of overall dry weight), occasionally comparable to those of fishes and crustaceans, suggest their potential importance in the subarctic Pacific. Characteristics in vertical patterns of micronekton biomass common in all stations were: (1) a mesopelagic peak around 500–600 m both day and night, (2) a layer of low biomass in the cold intermediate water and/or in the upper mesopelagic zone, (3) a nighttime shift of biomass to upper layers, and (4) an highly variable biomass of epipelagic/interzonal migrants (euphausiids and thaliaceans).     

Thermoelastic properties of chromium oxide Cr<Subscript>2</Subscript>O<Subscript>3</Subscript> (eskolaite) at high pressures and temperatures

A new synchrotron X-ray diffraction study of chromium oxide Cr₂O₃ (eskolaite) with the corundum-type structure has been carried out in a Kawai-type multi-anvil apparatus to pressure of 15 GPa and temperatures of 1873 K. Fitting the Birch–Murnaghan equation of state (EoS) with the present data up to 15 GPa yielded: bulk modulus (K _0,T0), 206 ± 4 GPa; its pressure derivative K′_0,T , 4.4 ± 0.8; (?K _0,T /?T) = ?0.037 ± 0.006 GPa K^?1; a = 2.98 ± 0.14 × 10^?5 K^?1 and b = 0.47 ± 0.28 × 10^?8 K^?2, where α _0,T  = a + bT is the volumetric thermal expansion coefficient. The thermal expansion of Cr₂O₃ was additionally measured at the high-temperature powder diffraction experiment at ambient pressure and α _0,T0 was determined to be 2.95 × 10^?5 K^?1. The results indicate that coefficient of the thermal expansion calculated from the EoS appeared to be high-precision because it is consistent with the data obtained at 1 atm. However, our results contradict α ₀ value suggested by Rigby et al. (Brit Ceram Trans J 45:137–148, 1946) widely used in many physical and geological databases. Fitting the Mie–Grüneisen–Debye EoS with the present ambient and high-pressure data yielded the following parameters: K _0,T0 = 205 ± 3 GPa, K′_0,T  = 4.0, Grüneisen parameter (γ ₀) = 1.42 ± 0.80, q = 1.82 ± 0.56. The thermoelastic parameters indicate that Cr₂O₃ undergoes near isotropic compression at room and high temperatures up to 15 GPa. Cr₂O₃ is shown to be stable in this pressure range and adopts the corundum-type structure. Using obtained thermoelastic parameters, we calculated the reaction boundary of knorringite formation from enstatite and eskolaite. The Clapeyron slope (with \({\text{d}}P/{\text{d}}T = - 0.014\) GPa/K) was found to be consistent with experimental data.