Permian Peri‐glacial Deposits from Central Mongolia in Central Asian Orogenic Belt: A Possible Indicator of the Capitanian Cooling Event

A dropstone‐bearing, Middle Permian to Early Triassic peri‐glacial sedimentary unit was first discovered from the Khangai–Khentei Belt in Mongolia, Central Asian Orogenic Belt. The unit, Urmegtei Formation, is assumed to cover the early Carboniferous Khangai–Khentei accretionary complex, and is an upward‐fining sequence, consisting of conglomerates, sandstones, and varved sandstone and mudstone beds with granite dropstones in ascending order. The formation was cut by a felsic dike, and was deformed and metamorphosed together with the felsic dike. An undeformed porphyritic granite batholith finally cut all the deformed and metamorphosed rocks. LA‐ICP‐MS, U–Pb zircon dating has revealed the following ²⁰⁶Pb/²³⁸U weighted mean igneous ages: (i) a granite dropstone in the Urmegtei Formation is 273 ± 5 Ma (Kungurian of Early Permian); (ii) the deformed felsic dike is 247 ± 4 Ma (Olenekian of Early Triassic); and (iii) the undeformed granite batholith is 218 ± 9 Ma (Carnian of Late Triassic). From these data, the age of sedimentation of the Urmegtei Formation is constrained between the Kungurian and the Olenekian (273–247 Ma), and the age of deformation and metamorphism is constrained between the Olenekian and the Carnian (247–218 Ma). In Permian and Triassic times, the global climate was in a warming trend from the Serpukhovian (early Late Carboniferous) to the Kungurian long and severe cool mode (328–271 Ma) to the Roadian to Bajocian (Middle Jurassic) warm mode (271–168 Ma), with an interruption with the Capitanian Kamura cooling event (266–260 Ma). The dropstone‐bearing strata of the Urmegtei Formation, together with the glacier‐related deposits in the Verkhoyansk, Kolyma, and Omolon areas of northeastern Siberia (said to be of Middle to Late Permian age), must be products of the Capitanian cooling event. Although further study is needed, the dropstone‐bearing strata we found can be explained in two ways: (i) the Urmegtei Formation is an autochthonous formation indicating a short‐term expansion of land glacier to the central part of Siberia in Capitanian age; or (ii) the Urmegtei Formation was deposited in or around a limited ice‐covered continent in northeast Siberia in the Capitanian and was displaced to the present position by the Carnian.     

Field observations of meteotsunami locally called “abiki” in Urauchi Bay, Kami-Koshiki Island, Japan

A seasonal scale field observation extending over a period of 82?days was conducted in Urauchi Bay on Kami-Koshiki Island, to record meteotsunami events, disastrous secondary oscillations locally known as ??abiki.?? The bay has an elongated T-shape topography with a narrow mouth opening westward to the East China Sea. The area has suffered the effects of meteotsunami causing flooding in residential area and damage to fishing fleets and facilities. A comprehensive observation system for sea level, ocean currents and barometric pressure was deployed to cover the regions within and offshore from Urauchi Bay and the open sea near the island of Mejima in the East China Sea. Vigorous meteotsunami events, where the total height exceeded 150?cm, were observed over five-day periods during the observation period. One or two hours prior to the arrival of meteotsunami events at Kami-Koshiki Island, abrupt 1?C2?hPa pressure changes were observed at the Mejima observation site. Pressure disturbances were found to travel eastward or northeastward. The propagation speed was found to nearly coincide with that of ocean long waves over the East China Sea, and as a result, resonant coupling should be anticipated. The incoming long waves were also amplified by geometric resonance with eigen oscillations inherent in the T-shape topography of Urauchi Bay.     

Ordovician backarc‐basin metadolerite and metabasalt of the South Kitakami Terrane,Northeast Japan

Basement rocks that occur along the northern margin of the South Kitakami Terrane in Japan consist of Ordovician ultramafic rocks (Hayachine ultramafic complex), gneissose amphibolite (Kuromoriyama amphibolite), and mafic rocks (Kagura igneous rocks, KIR). The KIR are composed of metagabbro, metadolerite, metabasalt, and minor felsic–intermediate dikes. Although the KIR contain green hornblende due to metamorphism of greenschist to epidote–amphibolite facies, they rarely retain primary brown hornblende. Approximately 30% of the metabasalt shows porphyritic textures, with phenocrysts of saussuritized plagioclase and/or altered mafic minerals. The geochemistry of the common metadolerite and metabasalt of the KIR shows a tholeiite trend, a low TiO₂ content, and high Th/Nb and Ti/V ratios. The KIR are therefore indicative of a supra‐subduction zone tectonic setting, which implies a backarc origin (as also indicated by discrimination diagrams). Trace element patterns of the KIR resemble those of the backarc‐basin basalt of the Japan and Yamato basins in the Japan Sea. We propose that the KIR formed during backarc spreading from the Ordovician to Early Silurian. This view is supported by the geochemical data, the tectonic setting of the Hayachine ultramafic rocks, and the provenance of clastics within Silurian sedimentary rocks.     

Numerical simulation of tidally induced eddies in the Bungo Channel: A possible role for sporadic Kuroshio-water intrusion (kyucho)

It is well known that the sudden intrusion of Kuroshio warm water into the Bungo Channel (kyucho) is regulated by spring–neap tidal forcing. In order to clarify the physical background behind this regulation, numerical experiments are carried out using a high-resolution non-hydrostatic three-dimensional model. We first reproduce the strong mixing region off the east coast of the Bungo Channel resulting from tidal flow interaction with complicated land configurations during spring tides; behind islands and headlands, small-scale eddies satisfying an approximate cyclostrophic balance are generated. As a result, averaged over the whole model domain, the tidal-mean energy dissipation rate reaches ≈1.6?×?10^?6?W?kg^?1. The model predicted energy dissipation rates at the location and times of direct microstructure measurements in the Bungo Channel are comparable to the observed values. We next examine whether or not strong tidal mixing thus reproduced can inhibit the northward intrusion of Kuroshio warm water in the Bungo Channel. It is shown that the Kuroshio warm water can (or cannot) pass through the tidal mixing regions off the east coast of the Bungo Channel during periods of weakened (or enhanced) tidal mixing at neap (or spring) tides. This indicates that taking into account the realistic spring–neap modulation of tidal mixing intensity is indispensable to further increase the ability of the existing forecast system for kyucho in the Bungo Channel.     

Case study of the transformation of swells propagating into Sendai Bay

A high-resolution two-dimensional map of swell wavelength and propagating direction was retrieved from a phased array type L-band synthetic aperture radar scene observed on 24 September 2006 over Sendai Bay in the Tohoku region of Japan. Features of the wavelength map were compared with a wavelength map calculated from in situ measurements of the swell period using infinitesimal amplitude surface wave theory. The maps corresponded well in most areas, although large differences appeared in the near-shore area (area I) and an area of complicated bottom topography (area II). Because the spatial resolution of swell parameters was too coarse to investigate the surface waves in area I, wavelet transform (WT) was applied along a swell ray to improve the spatial resolution. In the resulting WT wavelength map, the large difference in area I disappeared. For area II, perturbation theory was introduced for surface waves propagating obliquely on a gentle slope. The large wavelength difference in area II was well explained by the second-order solution of perturbation theory.     

Soil organic carbon pools in alpine to nival zones along an altitudinal gradient (4400–5300 m) on the Tibetan Plateau

To accurately estimate soil organic carbon (SOC) storage in upper alpine to nival zones on the Tibetan Plateau, we inventoried SOC pools in 0–0.3 m profiles along an altitudinal gradient (4400–5300 m asl). We also studied vegetation properties and decomposition activity along the gradient to provide insight into the mechanisms of SOC storage. The vegetation cover and belowground root biomass showed a gradual increased with altitude, reaching a peak in the upper alpine zone at 4800–4950 m before decreasing in the nival zone at 5200–5300 m.Decomposition activity was invariant along the altitudinal gradient except in the nival zone. SOC pools at lower sites were relatively small (2.6 kg C m⁻² at 4400 m), but increased sharply with altitude, reaching a peak in the upper alpine zone (4950 m; 13.7 kg C m⁻²) before decreasing (1.0 kg C m⁻² at 5300 m) with altitude in the nival zone. SOC pool varied greatly within individual alpine meadows by a factor of five or more, as did bulk density, partly due to the effect of grazing. Inventory data for both carbon density and bulk density along altitudinal gradients in alpine ecosystems are of crucial importance in estimating global tundra SOC storage.     

Simultaneous assimilation of surface drifter data, satellite and in situ observations for improved estimates of meso-scale variability in the Kuroshio Extension Region

In order to better estimate meso-scale variabilities in the energetic Kuroshio Extension (KE) region, simultaneous assimilation of drifter-derived velocity data, together with satellite and in situ hydrographic data, is attempted by using a high-resolution 4-dimensional variational data assimilation (4D-VAR) system. Our experimental results, both with and without assimilation of drifter data (Exp. Drf and Exp. Ref, respectively) for the period during Aug–Oct 2005, show that the reproduced fields in Exp. Drf better reflect the observed meso-scale features such as the KE meandering jet and associated eddies. The adjoint sensitivity analysis indicates that our 4D-VAR system has the ability to provide a more realistic timeseries of the meandering jet structures that play a key role in the intergyre exchange between the subtropical and subarctic gyres in the North Pacific. In addition, the observed information from the surface drifters works to improve the subsurface structure. These results illustrate the advantage of our 4D-VAR simultaneous assimilation with the addition of drifter-derived surface velocity information.     

Assessment of mixed layer models embedded in an ocean general circulation model

The atmospheric mixed layer obtained using the Mellor–Yamada model grows slower and becomes shallower than observed, which motivated Nakanishi and Niino (J Meteorol Soc Jpn 87:895–912, 2009) to present a modified version of the Mellor–Yamada model. In this study, incorporating each of the Mellor–Yamada and the Nakanishi–Niino models into an ocean general circulation model, we evaluate its performance in the ocean. Comparing the numerical results with the observed ones in the western North Pacific, the Nakanishi–Niino model is shown to exhibit a better performance than the Mellor–Yamada model under strong wind forcing and sea surface cooling during winter and after passage of typhoons during summer.     

Structure and dynamics of water on muscovite mica surfaces

The structure and dynamics of water on muscovite mica (0 0 1) surfaces have been investigated by molecular dynamics simulations. X-ray reflectivity profiles highly reflecting the interfacial structure are directly calculated and compared with those of experiments. The direct comparison has validated the usefulness of MD simulations to understand the real interfacial structure of the mica−water system. We observed five distinguished peaks in the density profile of oxygen present in water, and these peaks are attributable to the water molecules directly adsorbed on mica, hydrated to the K⁺ ions on the mica surface, and ordered due to hydrogen bonds between hydrated K⁺ ions. The hydrated K⁺ ions make an inner-sphere complex and have an explicit first hydration shell with a radius of 3.6 Å and a hydration number of 2.9. The change of the viscosity of water located above 1 nm apart from the mica surface was not observed. This feature is in good agreement with a recent experimental study in which the shear measurement was conducted using a surface forces apparatus. The increase of the viscosity by a factor of ca. 2-3 relative to that of the bulk water was observed at water located within 1 nm from the isolated mica surface.     

Hydrogen isotopic ratios of plant wax n-alkanes in a peat bog deposited in northeast China during the last 16 kyr

Based on paleoclimatic reconstructions using various proxies, the Holocene Climate Optimum (10.5–6 ka) has been characterized as a warmer and wetter period in most of East Asia. The summer monsoons associated with the East Asian Monsoon evidently intensified and extended further inland from the Pacific Ocean, a source region of moisture. A notable exception to this general pattern exists in northeast China, where less wet conditions are recorded. We determined molecular compositions of individual plant wax hydrocarbons and their hydrogen isotope compositions (δD values) in a radiocarbon-dated peat core recovered from the Hani marsh in Jilin Province (China) and confirmed that the temperature-dependent effective precipitation in northeast China decreased during the Holocene Climate Optimum. A combination of P_aq, an indicator of the relative contribution of aquatic to terrestrial plants, and the difference in δD between low (C₂₃, C₂₅ and C₂₇) and high molecular weight (C₃₁) n-alkanes in the Hani peat bog indicates a dramatic change in vegetation from the deglaciation to the Holocene. No significant differences were observed between the δD values of low and high molecular weight n-alkanes with relatively high δD values and low P_aq during the early Holocene, indicating that all n-alkanes were produced by evapotranspiration-sensitive terrestrial plants during that time. However, lower δD values of mid-chain n-alkanes (C₂₃, C₂₅ and C₂₇) relative to the long chain n-alkane (C₃₁), together with higher P_aq values during the deglaciation (14–11 ka), suggest an increase in the contribution of aquatic plants and a higher water level during the period. The study demonstrates that northeast China was under a markedly wetter climate condition during the late deglaciation. For the 16 kyr record in the Hani peat sequence, we infer that moisture delivery by the East Asian Monsoon was relatively invariable in northeast China, but increased evaporation during the warmer Holocene Climate Optimum reduced the effective precipitation, defined by the balance between precipitation and evaporation.