Set-up of deep circulation in multi-level numerical models

The present study investigates the way an ocean filled with homogeneous warm water is cooled by prescribing cold water formation inside the ocean in the southern part of the southern hemisphere using multi-level numerical models. Cooling of the whole ocean starts with introduction of the cold water from the formation region into the deepest part of the ocean in the equatorial and eastern boundary regions by Kelvin wave-type density currents. The cold water along the eastern boundary extends westward as a Rossby wave-type density current setting up an interior poleward flow, and hits the western boundary to form a northward flowing boundary current in the northern hemisphere. Only then does the western boundary current cross the equator. Cooling of the rest of the ocean basin is accomplished by upwellings in the interior and also along the coasts. During this introduction the cold water is mixed with surrounding warm waters, and the thermocline, rather than forming just below the top level where heating is imposed, tends to spread down to deeper depths. Consequently the circulation at a steady state has a significant vertical structure such that the maximum upwelling in the interior occurs in the mid-depths, and only the deeper part of the deep ocean yields the Stommel and Arons circulation pattern. In the equatorial region higher vertical mode motions dominate, and a set of alternating zonal jets forms along the equator.     

Onset of coastal upwelling in a two-layer ocean by wind stress with longshore variation

On the assumption that motions of the barotropic mode are horizontally nondivergent, action of the wind stress with longshore variation on a two-layer ocean adjacent to the meridional east coast is studied. Only the equatorward wind stress is considered. Along the east coast, upwelling is induced by the direct effect of the coast and is confined in a narrow strip with the width of the order of the internal radius of deformation. The upwelling propagates poleward with the internal gravity wave speed. Coastal upwelling induced by the wind stress with longshore variation may be interpreted as the generation and propagation of internal Kelvin waves. Associated with the coastal upwelling, the equatorward flow in the upper layer and the poleward flow in the lower layer are formed as an internal mode of motions. When the bottom topography with the continental shelf and slope is taken into account, occurrence of the poleward undercurrent is delayed by a few days because of the generation of continental shelf waves. And, after the forcing is stopped, the shelf waves propagate poleward away from the upwelling region and the poleward undercurrent fully develops. At the margin of the continental shelf, another upwelling region is induced and propagates poleward.     

Coastal polynyas off East Queen Maud Land observed from NOAA AVHRR data

Coastal polynyas off East Queen Maud Land in Antarctica are examined using NOAA AVHRR infrared data. From image analyses, two locations of coastal polynyas in this region are identified; one in Breid Bay and the other along the shelf break. The areal coverage of the Breid Bay polynya is significantly related to the strength of katabatic winds, which maintain their strength over the coastal sea due to land topography favoring for their confluence, thereby being capable of removing newly formed ice. Land fast ice in the eastern part of the bay also plays an additional role in the formation mechanism. It is also found that the areal coverage of coastal polynyas in this region fluctuate coherently. Moreover, these fluctuations correspond to the synoptic index, which measures the strength of the offshore wind, with their peaks closely associated with the areal peaks. These facts strongly suggest the influence of synoptic scale weather on the formation and maintenance of polynyas in this region.     

Upwelling front and two-cell circulation in a two-dimensional model

The intensification of upwelling front and two-cell circulation is studied numerically in a two dimensional level model. Upwelling front is set initially with longshore geostrophic flow. The uniform wind stress forces the ocean which has an infinite north-south coast line. Two-cell circulation, downwelling just inshore-side of the front and upwelling offshore-side, is induced, and the front is intensified. It is found that the intensification is occurred in the inshore-side of the front, and the intensification is basically due to the deviation from the thermal-wind balance, as is shown bySuginohara (1977). It is found that the inshore-side cell intrudes under the pycnocline. It seems to reproduce the observed two-cell circulation.     

Epithermal Gold-Silver Mineralization of the Asachinskoe Deposit in South Kamchatka, Russia

The Asachinskoe epithermal Au‐Ag deposit is a representative low‐sulfidation type of deposit in Kamchatka, Russia. In the Asachinskoe deposit there are approximately 40 mineralized veins mainly hosted by dacite–andesite stock intrusions of Miocene–Pliocene age. The veins are emplaced in tensional cracks with a north orientation. Wall‐rock alteration at the bonanza level (170–200 m a.s.l.) consists of the mineral assemblage of quartz, pyrite, albite, illite and trace amounts of smectite. Mineralized veins are well banded with quartz, adularia and minor illite. Mineralization stages in the main zone are divided into stages I–IV. Stage I is relatively barren quartz–adularia association formed at 4.7 ± 0.2 Ma (K‐Ar age). Stage II consists of abundant illite, Cu‐bearing cryptomelane and other manganese oxides and hydroxides, electrum, argentite, quartz, adularia and minor rhodochrosite and calcite. Stage III, the main stage of gold mineralization (4.5–4.4 ± 0.1–3.1 ± 0.1 Ma, K‐Ar age), consists of a large amount of electrum, naumannite and Se‐bearing polybasite with quartz–adularia association. Stage IV is characterized by hydrothermal breccia, where electrum, tetrahedrite and secondary covellite occur with quartz, adularia and illite. The concentration of Au+Ag in ores has a positive correlation with the content of K₂O + Al₂O₃, which is controlled by the presence of adularia and minor illite, and both Hg and Au also have positive correlations with the light rare‐earth elements. Fluid inclusion studies indicate a salinity of 1.0–2.6 wt% NaCl equivalent for the whole deposit, and ore‐forming temperatures are estimated as approximately 160–190°C in stage III of the present 218 m a.s.l. and 170–180°C in stage IV of 200 m a.s.l. The depth of ore formation is estimated to be 90–400 m from the paleo‐water table for stage IV of 200 m a.s.l., if a hydrostatic condition is assumed. An increase of salinity (>C_NaCl≈ 0.2 wt%) and decrease of temperature (>T ≈ 30°C) within a 115‐m vertical interval for the ascending hydrothermal solution is calculated, which is interpreted as due to steam loss during fluid boiling. Ranges of selenium and sulfur fugacities are estimated to be logfSe2 = ?17 to ?14.5 and logfS2 = ?15 to ?12 for the ore‐forming solution that was responsible for Au‐Ag‐Se precipitation in stage III of 200 m a.s.l. Separation of Se from S‐Se complex in the solution and its partition into selenides could be due to a relatively oxidizing condition. The precipitation of Au‐Ag‐Se was caused by boiling in stage III, and the precipitation of Au‐Ag‐Cu was caused by sudden decompression and boiling in stage IV.     

Geochemical Features of Vein Anhydrite from the Kakkonda Geothermal System, Northeast Japan

Abstract. Cathodoluminescence (CL) color, rare earth element (REE) content, sulfur and oxygen isotopes and fluid inclusions of anhydrite, which frequently filled in hydrothermal veins in the Kakkonda geothermal system, were investigated to elucidate the spatial, temporal and genetical evolution of fluids in the deep reservoir. The anhydrite samples studied are classified into four types based on CL colors and REE contents: type-N (no color), type-G (green color), type-T (tan color) and type-S (tan color with a high REE content). In the shallow reservoir, only type-N anhydrite is observed. In the deep reservoir, type-G anhydrite occurs in vertical veins whereas type-T and -N in lateral veins. Type-S anhydrite occurs in the heat-source Kakkonda Granite. The CL textures revealed that type-G anhydrite deposited earlier than type-T in the deep reservoir, implying that fracture system was changed from predominantly vertical to lateral.
Studies of fluid inclusions and δ³⁴S and δ¹⁸O values of the samples indicate that type-N anhydrite deposited from diluted fluids derived from meteoric water, whereas type-G, -T and -S anhydrites deposited from magmatic brines derived from the Kakkonda Granite with the exception of some of type-G with recrystallization texture and no primary fluid inclusion, which deposited from fossil seawater preserved in the sedimentary rocks. Type-G, -T and -S anhydrites exhibit remarkably different chondrite-normalized REE patterns with a positive Eu anomaly, with a convex shape (peak at Sm or Eu) and with a negative Eu anomaly, respectively. The difference in the patterns might result from the different extent of hydrothermal alteration of the reservoir rocks and contribution of the magmatic fluids.     

Quasigeoid and deflection determinations by astrogravimetric methods

The main objective of the present work is to present methods to obtain detailed surveys of the shape of the quasigeoid and of deflections of the vertical from the point of view of three-dimensional constituting and rigorous computing of the astrogeodetic network. The error of an astrogravimetric leveling line in the most general case, i.e., in the shape of a polygon has been estimated. This error can be tested and checked by comparison of gravimetric deflections of the vertical with astrogeodetic deflections, i.e., by computation of the error of astrogeodetic gravimetric deflection of the vertical. The astrogeodetic deflections of the vertical required for the horizontal angle correction in triangulation and traverse are easily obtained by interpolation. An example of astrogravimetric leveling demonstrates the possibility to carry out an astrogravimetric leveling with any required accuracy, for example, with the accuracy of ±1 ml/1000 km. In connection with height determination from PGS a procedure of constituting a well-distributed set of fiducial ground stations by using high-precision astrogravimetric methods together with millimeter-level accuracy astrogravimetric leveling to test various space systems observations has been suggested.     

Distribution of titanium atoms in oxy-kaersutite

The distribution of Ti atoms in oxy-kaersutite has been studied by the neutron diffraction method. The cation distribution over the three octahedral sites determined by the x-ray method (Kitamura and Tokonami, 1971) is as follows; M1∶0.40MG+0.60 FE, M2∶0.75 MG+0.25 FE, M3∶0.50 MG+0.50 FE, where MG and FE represent (Mg+Al) and (Fe+Ti), respectively. The neutron diffraction study indicates that Ti atoms are enriched in the M1 site more than M2 and M3 sites as follows; M1∶0.40 MG+0.33 Fe+0.27 Ti, M2∶ 0.75 MG+0.23 Fe+0.02 Ti, M3∶0.50 MG+0.46 Fe+0.04 Ti. This distribution agrees with the result based on the Madelung energy of oxy-kaersutite by Whittaker (1972).     

Quartz microtextures of the Sambagawa schists and their implications in convergent margin processes

Abstract Quartz c-axis fabrics of the Sambagawa schists produced along a late Mesozoic convergent plate margin were analysed so that their tectono-metamorphic history could be clarified. It has been noted by many authors that quartz fabrics produced by earlier phase deformation are easily modified by strain increment during later phase deformation. This paper attempts to elucidate the high-temperature phases of prograde metamorphism (Sim-Bim phase) and of retrograde metamorphism (Sb₁ phase and Sb₂₋₁ phase) from quartz grains included in garnet and plagioclase porphyroblasts. Quartz c-axis fabrics for all these phases are explained in terms of a type I crossed girdle, without (only rarely with) higher concentration in the principal axis of strain Y (X>Y>Z), that must have been produced by the activity of a dominant slip system such as rhomb and basal. As a result, the plastic deformation of quartz, which was responsible for the formation of the type I crossed girdle, occurred even under temperatures greater than 500°C and pressures a little greater than 10–11 kb, which correspond to the physical condition of the Sim-Bim phase. It has been assumed that a high strain rate (and/or low H₂O content) caused rhomb and basal to be active as dominant slip systems in the subduction zone related to the formation of the Sambagawa schists even under high temperatures (> 500°C).     

Water mass exchange and diapycnal mixing at Bussol’ Strait revealed by water mass properties

Intensive CTD observations that resolve the mean and tidal components were done with a total of 129 casts in summer of 2001 at Bussol’ Strait. Based on these data and all the available historical data, we have revealed the outflow from Bussol’ Strait to the Pacific and the significant diapycnal mixing in the strait. In the range 27.0−27.3σ _θ , the water property in Bussol’ Strait is almost identical to that of the Kuril Basin Water (KBW). The KBW out of Bussol’ Strait forms a water mass front with the East Kamchatka Current Water (EKCW). This front also corresponds to the front of the Oyashio Current. In the lower part of the intermediate layer (27.3−27.6σ _θ ), part of the water in the strait is characterized by lower temperature, lower salinity, and higher dissolved oxygen than that of KBW and EKCW, which can be explained only by the diapycnal mixing. The strong diapycnal mixing in the strait can also be shown by the density inversion, occurrence frequency of which corresponds well to the amplitude distribution of the diurnal current. In the density range 26.7−26.8σ _θ , the water in Bussol’ Strait has the lowest potential vorticity, suggesting that it is a source region of the low potential vorticity water. Seasonal change of the water can reach up to a density of 26.8σ _θ around Bussol’ Strait. This leads us to propose that the combination of winter convection and local tidal mixing leads to effective ventilation of the intermediate layer.