Type IIIb radio bursts: 80 MHz source position and theoretical model

We present Culgoora spectrograph and radioheliograph observations as well as a model of type IIIb bursts; the latter are defined as chains of striae of slow or no frequency drift, the chain as a whole drifting like a normal type III burst.The 80 MHz source positions are studied for a group of IIIb bursts, a IIIb precursor and harmonic pairs of 1:2 frequency ratio. It is found that the IIIb position may vary in a IIIb group. No significant difference was found between the source positions of a IIIb precursor and the following III burst. For one event we found that the fundamental IIIb burst showed a high degree of circular polarization (46%), while its second harmonic, a normal type III burst, was unpolarized.We suggest that the main cause for the striae in type IIIb bursts is the existence of filamentary, density irregularities along the path of the electron stream. The denser filaments initially reduce the value of the density gradient along the electrons' path and thereby enhance their emissions over a small range of plasma frequencies. If the radio emission from the filaments dominates the emission from the ambient rarified plasma, striae appear in the spectrum and a type IIIb burst results. This condition is more easily satisfied at the fundamental frequency and for electron streams of relatively high density.Radiophysics Publication RPP 1758, October, 1974, (2nd version).On leave from the Dept. of Astronomy, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.On leave from the Dept. of Astronomy, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.     

Dragons,brimstone and the geology of a volcanic arc on the island of the last Samurai,Kyushu, Japan

Not even Hollywood could dream of a place so magical as Kyushu. The southern‐most of the four major islands of the Japanese archipelago, this is a land of volcanoes, dinosaurs, and the last stand of the Samurai. And for good measure, James Bond visited here too, in the 1967 film You Only Live Twice. The final explosive scenes of that film featured the destruction of megalomaniac Ernst Stavro Blofeld's headquarters hidden inside the crater of one of Kyushu's most emblematic volcanoes, Shinmoedake. Kyushu also straddles the largest geological structure in Japan, the Median Tectonic Line (MTL) that runs from the western approaches of the island to the central part of Honshu. The MTL has been active since the Cretaceous, and the sedimentary basins formed along its line in Kyushu contain some of Japan's most famous dinosaur finds. The MTL also defines a fundamental divide between the geological histories of the terranes north and south of its line, a history that takes us back to the origins of the Japanese archipelago half a billion years ago.     

Impact of climate change on the wheat-growing season over Iran

The objective of this paper is to derive and analyze the present and future climate projections over the region of wheat production over Iran. In addition, the projected future climate fluctuation results will be used to assist the maximum performance of wheat and to be used as the main basis for planning changes in the farming calendar in Iran. Observed climate (temperature and degree day) changes during the period (1951–2009) will be discussed. Projected future changes up to 2100 based on the MAGICC/SCENGEN 5.3 compound model was utilized. Furthermore, 18 scenarios were used to derive a single GCM model referred to as the United Kingdom Hadley Center Global Environment Model, which will be used to select the worst, best, and average scenario.     

Modal analysis of a DAM–Foundation system based on an FE–BE method in the time domain

A modal analysis procedure based on an FE–BE method in the time domain is first formulated and then applied to a dam–foundation system. In the application, horizontal and vertical impulsive responses are calculated for the system having six different impedance ratios. Modal characteristics such as natural frequencies, damping ratios and mode shapes are evaluated from the Fourier spectra of the responses. The proposed procedure allows analysis of not only the underdamped but also the overdamped modes. According to the analysis, the radiation damping pertinent to the vertical vibration is half of that pertinent to the horizontal vibration and the interaction effect on the modes is not negligibly small when the impedance ratio exceeds 0·3.     

Deep convection seesaw controlled by freshwater transport through the Denmark Strait

Observations of deep ocean temperature and salinity in the Labrador and Greenland Seas indicate that there is negative correlation between the activities of deep convection in these two sites. A previous study suggests that this negative correlation is controlled by the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). In this study, we discuss this deep convection seesaw by using a coupled atmosphere and ocean general circulation model. In this simulation, the deep convection is realistically simulated in both the Labrador and Greenland Seas and their negative correlation is also recognized. Regression of sea level pressure to wintertime mixed layer depth in the Labrador Sea reveals strong correlation between the convection and the NAO as previous studies suggest, but a significant portion of their variability is not correlated. On the other hand, the convection in the Greenland Sea is not directly related to the NAO, and its variability is in phase with changes in the freshwater budget in the GIN Seas. The deep convection seesaw found in the model is controlled by freshwater transport through the Denmark Strait. When this transport is larger, more freshwater flows to the Labrador Sea and less to the Greenland Sea. This leads to lower upper-ocean surface salinity in the Labrador Sea and higher salinity in the Greenland Sea, which produces negative correlation between these two deep convective activities. The deep convection seesaw observed in the recent decades could be interpreted as induced by the changes in the freshwater transport through the Denmark Strait, whose role has not been discussed so far.     

Spirits of Yokokurayama: shrine of the Japanese trilobites

‘We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep’. So sleep the trilobites of Yokokurayama, a sacred mountain hidden within the beautiful landscape of Japan’s Shikoku’s island. And though Prospero may have been speaking to his daughter and her fiancé (in William Shakespeare’s The Tempest), he might well have been contemplating the magnificent trilobite fossils of Yokokurayama. Japan may be better known for its sweeping volcanic landscapes, majestic castles, Shinto shrines and bullet trains, but it is also home to important collections of Silurian and Devonian trilobites.     

Fracture-zone conditions on a recently active fault: insights from mineralogical and geochemical analyses of the Hirabayashi NIED drill core on the Nojima fault, southwest Japan, which ruptured in the 1995 Kobe earthquake

An 1800-m-deep borehole into the Nojima fault zone was drilled at Nojima-Hirabayashi, Japan, after the 1995 Hyogo-ken Nanbu (Kobe) earthquake. Three possible fracture zones were detected at depths of about 1140, 1300, and 1800 m. To assess these fracture zones in this recently active fault, we analyzed the distributions of fault rocks, minerals, and chemical elements in these zones. The central fault plane in the shallowest fracture zone was identified by foliated blue-gray gouge at a depth of 1140 m. The degree of fracturing was evidently greater in the hanging wall than in the footwall. Minerals detected in this zone were quartz, orthoclase, plagioclase, and biotite, as in the parent rock (granodiorite), and also kaolinite, smectite, laumontite, stilbite, calcite, ankerite, and siderite, which are related to hydrothermal alteration. Biotite was absent in both the hanging wall and footwall across the central fault plane, but it was absent over a greater distance from the central fault plane in the hanging wall than in the footwall. Major element compositions across this zone suggested that hydrothermal alteration minerals such as kaolinite and smectite occurred across the central fault plane for a greater distance in the hanging wall than in the footwall. Similarly, H₂O+ and CO₂ had higher concentrations in the hanging wall than in the footwall. This asymmetrical distribution pattern is probably due to the greater degree of wall–rock fracturing and associated alteration in the hanging wall. We attributed the characteristics of this zone to fault activity and fluid–rock interactions. We analyzed the other fracture zones along this fault in the same way. In the fracture zone at about 1300 m depth, we detected the same kinds of hydrothermal alteration minerals as in the shallower zone, but they were in fewer samples. We detected relatively little H₂O+ and CO₂, and little evidence for movement of the major chemical elements, indicating little past fluid–rock interaction. In the fracture zone at about 1800 m depth, H₂O+ and CO₂ were very enriched throughout the interval, as in the fracture zone at about 1140 m depth. However, smectite was absent and chlorite was present, indicating the occurrence of chloritization, which requires a temperature of more than 200 °C. Only smectite can form under the present conditions in these fracture zones. The chloritization probably occurred in the past when the fracture zone was deeper than it is now. These observations suggest that among the three fracture zones, that at about 1140 m depth was the most activated at the time of the 1995 Hyogo-ken Nanbu (Kobe) earthquake.     

Effectiveness of Neural Kriging for Three-Dimensional Modeling of Sparse and Strongly Biased Distribution of Geological Data with Application to Seafloor Hydrothermal Mineralization

Mathematical Geosciences - Three-dimensional modeling of geoscientific data of limited amounts and strongly biased locations is difficult and impractical using almost any method. To obtain a...     

Deformation behaviour of a large underground cavern

Summary The Imaichi underground power station, with a cross sectional area of 1420 m², which is now under construction by Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc., is one of the largest underground caverns in the world. Due to the considerable depth of the over-burden of 400 m, the horseshoe-shaped section was adopted for the first time in Japan to minimize excesive stress concentration on the surrounding bedrock and keep loosened zones to a minimum.The bedrock consists of sandstone, slate, siliceous sandstone and breccia. The rock is generally hard and compact, with few fractured zones which may have an adverse influence on the excavation of the cavern.The supporting system of the cavern consists of prestressed rock anchors, rock bolts and shotcrete.Approximately 800 instruments, mainly multiple stage extensometers, were used to monitor behaviour of the surrounding rock during excavation of the cavern. With the exception of some cracks which occurred in a portion of the shotcrete when about half the height of the cavern had been excavated, excavation work was completed without any major trouble. In spite of the symmetrical shape of the cavern, the deformation behaviour of the surrounding rock during excavation was remarkedly asymmetric. The reason for this was concluded to be the peculiar deformation behaviour exhibited by Breccia during stress relief, as shown by in-situ rock tests, etc., and analysis of deformation data after completion of the excavation work.     

TeV γ-rays from old supernova remnants

We study the emission from an old supernova remnant (SNR) with an age of around 10⁵ yr and that from a giant molecular cloud (GMC) encountered by the SNR. When the SNR age is around 10⁵ yr, proton acceleration is efficient enough to emit TeV γ-rays both at the shock of the SNR and that in the GMC. The maximum energy of primarily accelerated electrons is so small that TeV γ-rays and X-rays are dominated by hadronic processes,  π⁰  -decay and synchrotron radiation from secondary electrons, respectively. However, if the SNR is older than several 10⁵ yr, there are few high-energy particles emitting TeV γ-rays because of the energy-loss effect and/or the wave-damping effect occurring at low-velocity isothermal shocks. For old SNRs or SNR–GMC interacting systems capable of generating TeV γ-ray emitting particles, we calculated the ratio of TeV γ-ray (1–10 TeV) to X-ray (2–10 keV) energy flux and found that it can be more than  ∼10²  . Such a source showing large flux ratio may be a possible origin of recently discovered unidentified TeV sources.