Phototropic adjustment of the foliaceous coral Echinopora lamellosa in Palau

We tested the hypothesis that foliose plates of Echinopora lamellosa (Esper, 1795) adjust their primary growth direction (or slope from the horizontal) when irradiance (light) is limiting. This hypothesis was tested at a coral-reef locality that is shaded daily by steep adjacent hills, restricting direct light to only a few hours each day (Iwayama Bay, Palau). The angle at which colonies received maximum light was measured using acetate film, and was compared with modeled estimates (using a simple global-light model). We show strong relationships between light and primary-colony gradients; with the foliose plates acting as parabolic antennae, predictably adjusting their primary gradients to optimize light capture.     

Mantle hornblendites of Naein ophiolite (Central Iran): Evidence of deep high temperature hydrothermal metasomatism in an upper mantle section

The Naein ophiolite is the most complete ophiolitic exposure in Cental Iran and considered as a remnant of the Mesozoic Central East Iranian microcontinent (CEIM) confining oceanic crust. In the northeastern part of this ophiolite (Darreh Deh area) within the mantle peridotites, a few hundred meters below the top of the Moho transition zone (MTZ), the hornblendites are present as dykes (former cracks and joints) from a few millimeters to nearly 50 cm wide. They have sharp boundaries with the surrounding mantle harzburgites and dunites. These hornblendites are pale green and coarse-grained in hand specimen and composed of magnesio-hornblende (Mg# = 0.93), chlorite (penninite and clinochlore, Mg# = 0.95), Cr-spinel (chromite, Cr# = 0.67 and Mg# = 0.55), tremolite, calcite and dolomite. Tremolites were formed by retrograde metamorphism of hornblendes. Calcite and dolomite occur as late-stage veins. Very high amount of primary hydrous phases (~94 vol % hornblende and chlorite), as well as peculiar mineralogical and chemical characteristics of the Naein ophiolite mantle hornblendites, do not match a magmatic origin. They are possibly products of the reaction between mantle peridotites and seawater-originated supercritical fluids, rich in silicate components. The presence of primary hydrous phases (hornblende and chlorite) may reveal high activity of H₂O in the involved solution. The chemical composition of chromite in the hornblendites is near to the average chromite composition from the surrounding harzburgite and dunite. This suggests that the main source of Cr should be chromites of nearby peridotites, which were totally or partly dissolved by hydrothermal fluids. The positive anomaly of Eu in the chondrite-normalized REE patterns of hornblendes, high modal abundance of Ca-rich hornblende, as well as presence of calcite and dolomite, point to seawater ingression through the gabbros in to the uppermost mantle peridotites. The higher value of MgO than CaO, presence of high-Cr chromite and Cr-enrichment of hornblendes and chlorites indicate a higher contribution of peridotites rather than gabbros to the chemical characteristics of the involved fluids. This study shows that circulation of possibly seawater-derived high temperature hydrous fluids in the upper mantle can leach and provide necessary elements to form hornblendite in joints and cracks of the uppermost mantle.     

DISTRIBUTION OF AEROSOL EXTINCTION IN THE LOWER TROPOSPHERE BY MICRO-PULSE LIDAR OBSERVATION*

The profiles of aerosol extinction coefficients are investigated by micro-pulse lidar(MPL) combined with the meteorological data in the lower troposphere at Meteorological Research Institute(MRI).Japan.Larger extinction values of aerosol are demonstrated in the nocturnal stable air layer with larger Richardson number,and light wind velocities are favorable for aerosol concentrating in the planetary boundary layer(PBL).But aerosol extinction coefficients show larger values over the altitudes of 2.0 to 5.0km where correspond to higher relative humidity(RH).The tops of PBL identified by the aerosol extinction profiles almost agree with ones by radiosonde data.The diurnal variations of aerosol extinction profiles are clearly displayed,intensive aerosol layers usually are formed over the period of mid-morning to 1400 Loeal Time(LT).then elapse in the cloudless late afternoon and nighttime.Thermal eonvection or turbulent transport from the surfaee probably dominates these temporal and spatial changes of aerosol distribution.     

Did boninite originate from the heterogeneous mantle with recycled ancient slab?

Boninites are widely distributed along the western margin of the Pacific Plate extruded during the incipient stage of the subduction zone development in the early Paleogene period. This paper discusses the genetic relationships of boninite and antecedent protoarc basalt magmas and demonstrates their recycled ancient slab origin based on the T–P conditions and Pb–Hf–Nd–Os isotopic modeling. Primitive melt inclusions in chrome spinel from Ogasawara and Guam islands show severely depleted high‐SiO₂, MgO (high‐silica) and less depleted low‐SiO₂, MgO (low‐silica and ultralow‐silica) boninitic compositions. The genetic conditions of 1 346 °C at 0.58 GPa and 1 292 °C at 0.69 GPa for the low‐ and ultralow‐silica boninite magmas lie on adiabatic melting paths of depleted mid‐ocean ridge basalt mantle with a potential temperature of 1 430 °C in Ogasawara and of 1 370 °C in Guam, respectively. This is consistent with the model that the low‐ and ultralow‐silica boninites were produced by remelting of the residue of the protoarc basalt during the forearc spreading immediately following the subduction initiation. In contrast, the genetic conditions of 1 428 °C and 0.96 GPa for the high‐silica boninite magma is reconciled with the ascent of more depleted harzburgitic source which pre‐existed below the Izu–Ogasawara–Mariana forearc region before the subduction started. Mixing calculations based on the Pb–Nd–Hf isotopic data for the Mariana protoarc basalt and boninites support the above remelting model for the (ultra)low‐silica boninite and the discrete harzburgite source for the high‐silica boninite. Yb–Os isotopic modeling of the high‐Si boninite source indicates 18–30 wt% melting of the primitive upper mantle at 1.5–1.7 Ga, whereas the source mantle of the protoarc basalt, the residue of which became the source of the (ultra)low‐Si boninite, experienced only 3.5–4.0 wt% melt depletion at 3.6–3.1 Ga, much earlier than the average depleted mid‐ocean ridge basalt mantle with similar degrees of melt depletion at 2.6–2.2 Ga.     

Comparative Performance of Steel Drainage Pipes Against Flood-Induced Deformation in River Levee

Geotechnical and Geological Engineering - Steel drainage pipes that can provide both drainage and reinforcement functions are expected to give better performance in levee protection against...     

Temporal variability in physicochemical properties,phytoplankton standing crop and primary production for 7 years (2002–2008) in the neritic area of Sagami Bay,Japan

Seasonal and interannual variations in physicochemical properties (i.e., temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen and dissolved inorganic nutrients), chlorophyll a (Chl-a), particulate carbon and nitrogen (PC and PN, respectively), and primary production were investigated in the neritic area of Sagami Bay, Kanagawa, Japan, from January 2002 to December 2008. These abiotic/biotic variables, except for NH₄ ⁺–N, repeated similar seasonal variations for all 7 years. On the basis of the analysis of data obtained on 167 sampling dates, depth-integrated primary production in this water can be easily estimated from Chl-a at the surface using the regression equations obtained in the present study. Intermittently high values of dissolved inorganic nutrients, Chl-a, PC, PN and primary productivity at the surface during the summer stratified period were induced by high freshwater discharge from the rivers after rainfalls and by the expansion of nutrient-rich Tokyo Bay Water. Temperature, salinity and dissolved inorganic nutrients showed drastic variations within a scale of a few days and/or weeks, and these variations were related to sea levels that represent the intrusion of the Kuroshio Water, Intermediate Oyashio Water or deep water from the continental slope. However, there was no consistent trend in the variations in Chl-a, PC, PN and primary production due to the complex effects of these waters.     

H 0 from an orientation-unbiased sample of Sunyaev–Zel'dovich and X-ray clusters

We have observed the Sunyaev–Zel'dovich (SZ) effect in a sample of five moderate-redshift clusters with the Ryle Telescope, and used them in conjunction with X-ray imaging and spectral data from ROSAT and ASCA to measure the Hubble constant. This sample was chosen with a strict X-ray flux limit using both the Bright Cluster Sample and the Northern ROSAT All-Sky Survey (RASS) cluster catalogues to be well above the surface brightness limit of the RASS, and hence to be unbiased with respect to the orientation of the cluster. This controls a major potential systematic effect in the SZ/X-ray method of measuring H ₀. Taking the weighted geometric mean of the results and including the main sources of error, namely the noise in the SZ measurement, the uncertainty in the X-ray temperatures and the unknown ellipticity and substructure of the clusters, we find   H ₀= 59⁺¹⁰₋₉ (random)⁺⁸₋₇(systematic) km s⁻¹ Mpc⁻¹  assuming a standard cold dark matter model with  Ω_M= 1.0, Ω_Λ= 0.0  or   H ₀= 66⁺¹¹₋₁₀ ⁺⁹₋₈ km  s⁻¹ Mpc⁻¹  if  Ω_M= 0.3, Ω_Λ= 0.7  .     

A primitive dark inclusion with radiation‐damaged silicates in the Ningqiang carbonaceous chondrite

Abstract— A petrologic and TEM study of a remarkable dark inclusion (DI) in the Ningqiang CV3 chondrite reveals that it is a mixture of highly primitive solar nebula materials. The DI contains two lithologies. The first, lithology A, contains micron‐sized olivine and pyroxene grains rimmed by amorphous materials with compositions similar to the underlying crystalline grains. The second, lithology B, appears to preserve the mineralogy of lithology A before formation of the amorphous rims. Overall, the Ningqiang DI appears to record the following processes: 1) formation (condensation and Fe‐enrichment) of olivine crystals in the nebula with compositions of Fo_42–62; 2) irradiation, resulting in amorphitization of the olivine and pyroxene to varying degrees; 3) partial annealing, resulting in formation of fairly large, euhedral olivine and pyroxene grains with remnant amorphous sharply‐bounded rims; 4) in some cases, prolonged annealing, resulting in the formation of microcrystalline olivine or pyroxene rims. The latter annealing would have been a natural consequence of irradiation near the critical temperature for olivine; and 5) mixture of the above materials (lithology A) with nebular condensate high‐Ca pyroxene and olivine, which escaped nebular processing, to become lithology B. We suggest that the amorphous rims in lithology A formed in an energetic solar event such as a bi‐polar outflow or FU‐orionis flare.