Thermohaline staircases in the Warm-Core Ring off Cape Erimo,Hokkaido and their fluxes due to salt finger

Thermohaline staircases off Cape Erimo, Hokkaido are described and their physical properties are compared with those in other seas. The mean fluxes for heat and salt across the interface induced by salt finger were estimated as 105 cal cm^–2d^–1, and 0.03 g cm^–2d^–1, respectively. These values were in the same order as those in Caribbean Sea. The effective eddy diffusivities were also in the same order as the Caribbean ones. This suggests that the double-diffusive convection plays on important role on the water mass conversions occurring in the interfrontal zone between the Oyashio and the Kuroshio Waters.     

Stress drops, wave spectra and recurrence intervals of great earthquakes — implications of the Etorofu earthquake of 1958 November 6

Summary . The great Etorofu earthquake of 1958 November 6 is characterized by a relatively small aftershock area (70 × 150 km²) and an extremely large felt area. The felt area is more extensive than those of any other large earthquakes which have occurred in the southern Kurile to northern Japan arc since the beginning of this century. The mechanism is a pure thrust fault typical of most great earthquakes in island arcs. A body wave magnitude of m _b = 8.2 is obtained at periods around 6 s using more than 40 observations, although an m _b value of only 7.6–7.7 would be expected empirically from the observed surface wave magnitude of M _s= 8.1–8.2. Both an unusually large felt area and a high m _b indicate a dominance of high-frequency components in the seismic waves. A seismic moment of M _o= 4.4 × 10²⁸ dyne cm is determined from long-period surface waves from which a high stress drop of Δσ = 78 bar is obtained using a relatively small aftershock area. Historic data indicate an anomalously long time interval between the 1958 event and any earlier great earthquake from the same source region. The observed high stress drop can be interpreted as a consequence of this long intervening period through which strain built up. The dominance of the high-frequency seismic waves can then be interpreted as a result of this high stress drop. Stress drops, seismic wave spectra and recurrence intervals of great earthquakes are in this way closely related to each other. The 1958 event may represent a high strength extreme of stochastic fluctuation of fracture strength relevant to great earthquakes.     

Dynamic behaviour of pile foundations in homogeneous and non-homogeneous media

A three-dimensional formulation based on Green's functions of cylindrical loads in layered semi-infinite media is employed to investigate the dynamic behaviour of piles in homogeneous and non-homogeneous half spaces. The pile-soil-pile interaction taking place in pile groups is incorporated in the model. The results presented in this paper include the dynamic stiffnesses and dampings of single piles as well as those of representative 2 × 2 and 4 × 4 square pile groups in the soil media considered in this study. In addition, the distribution of forces applied on the pile cap among the individual piles in a group is investigated.     

Short-wave radiation flux divergence in arctic cirrus: a case study

Radiation and particle measurements have been performed with an aircraft in deep cirrus cloud fields near the island of Svalbard. The data of 12 March 1993, when measurements at 10 different levels could be obtained, are used in a comparative study with radiative transfer calculations. In a first analysis, the cirrus cloud field was assumed to be horizontally homogeneous and invariable during the time of measurements (frozen properties). Calculations of the up and downward radiative flux densities showed root mean square differences of 9 Wm⁻² from the measurements. To estimate the possible effect of changes of the optical properties of cirrus with time, the flux densities in the upper part (6000–8500 m) and the lower part (3000–5500 m) of the cirrus cloud were analyzed separately. In these simulations, the optical thickness in the lower (upper) part was increased (decreased) by 50%. By this treatment, most of all calculated flux densities were within one standard deviation of the natural variability in each leg. Finally, the effect of inhomogeneities in the cloud field on the solar flux density has been simulated using a Monte Carlo method, since the upper part of the cirrus field has indeed been very inhomogeneous. This paper is a result of a collaborative effort between the MRI in Tsukuba, Japan, and the GKSS in Geesthacht, Germany.     

Major Element Compositions and Rare—earth Element Abundaces of Cenozoic Basalts in Eastern China：Implications for a Pressure Control over LREE／HREE Fractionation in Continental Basalt

Major element compositions and rare-earth element (REE) and transition element(Ni,Cr and V) abundances have been determined on 44 basalt samples from eastern China.These basalts have SiO2 contents ranging from 38.63 to 55.24(wt.%),and Na2O K2O from 3.1 to 9.4(wt.%).Ni and Cr abundances are largely variable,respectively falling in ranges 60-605 and 78-1150 ppm.REE abundances,especially light rare-earth elements(LREE), are highly variable.La/Sm and La/Yb ratios vary 2.8 to 7.6 and 1.8 to 8.1. Although the segregation mainly of olivine and clinopyroxene is requested to account for the vari-able and low MgO,CaO/Al2O3,Cr and Ni characteristic of these basalts studied here,the differ-ences in REE composition of the basalts are still related mainly to the partial melting process.Obvious varations in REE abundances could be principally attributed to the partial melting process.Obvious variations in REE abundances could be principally attributed to the partial melting processes that took place at different depths,in spite of some variations caused by the fractional crystallization processes.REE abundances and La/Sm and La/Yb ratios systematically decrease with increasing SiO2,which probably indicated that the basaltic magma derived from a deeper level has higher LREE and LREE/HREE ratios than that from a shallower level.As viewed from the fact that the D^Yb/D^La ratios of clinopyroxenes in the basaltic system increase with increasing pressure,the increase of LREE/HUEE ratios with increasing melting depth can be interpreted as the pressure dependence of bulk D^HREE/D^LREE ratios of silicate minerals,in addition to the pressure control over the melting degree.     

CaPtO3 as a novel post-perovskite oxide

Structural, morphological, magnetic, and thermal properties have been investigated for a novel post-perovskite oxide CaPtO₃ synthesized under high pressure. By comparing obtained structural parameters with those for known post-perovskite compounds, we argue that the chemical bond has a strong covalent character. Precise measurements of the Langevin susceptibility χ ₀ = −9.6 × 10⁻⁵ emu/mol and Debye temperature θ ∼ 470 K provide a good opportunity to confirm the reliability of first-principle calculations on predicting physical properties of the Earth’s D” layer.