Discovery of Jurassic ammonoids from the Shyok suture zone to the northeast of Chang La Pass, Ladakh, northwest India and its tectonic significance

Abstract   Callovian (late Middle Jurassic) ammonoids Macrocephalites and Jeanneticeras were recovered from the Shyok suture zone, northeast of Chang La Pass, Ladakh, northwest India. They are the first reliable Jurassic fossils and the oldest chronologic data from the Shyok suture zone. The ammonoid-bearing Jurassic strata, newly defined as the Tsoltak Formation, consist largely of terrigenous mudstone with thin sandstone beds and were probably a part of the continental basement to the Cretaceous Ladakh Arc.     

Ultraviolet-background-induced bifurcation of galactic morphology

Based upon a novel paradigm of galaxy formation under the influence of an ultraviolet background, the evolutionary bifurcation of pre-galactic clouds is compared with observations of elliptical and spiral galaxies. The theory predicts that the dichotomy between dissipational and dissipationless galaxy formation stems from the degree of self-shielding from the ultraviolet background radiation. This is demonstrated on a bifurcation diagram of collapse epochs versus masses of pre-galactic clouds. Using the observed properties, the collapse epochs and mass are assessed for each type of galaxy . By direct comparison of the theory with observations, it turns out that the theoretical bifurcation branch successfully discriminates between elliptical and spiral galaxies. This suggests that the ultraviolet background radiation could play a profound role in the differentiation of galactic morphology into the Hubble sequence.     

Broadband Ground Motion Reconstruction for the Kanto Basin during the 1923 Kanto Earthquake

Ground motions of the 1923 Kanto Earthquake inside the Kanto Basin are numerically simulated in a wide frequency range (0?C10?Hz) based on new knowledge of the earthquake??s source processes, the sedimentary structure of the basin, and techniques for generating broadband source models of great earthquakes. The Kanto Earthquake remains one of the most important exemplars for ground motion prediction in Japan due to its size, faulting geometry, and location beneath the densely populated Kanto sedimentary basin. We reconstruct a broadband source model of the 1923 Kanto Earthquake from inversion results by introducing small-scale heterogeneities. The corresponding ground motions are simulated using a hybrid technique comprising the following four calculations: (1) low-frequency ground motion of the engineering basement, modeled using a finite difference method; (2) high-frequency ground motion of the engineering basement, modeled using a stochastic Green??s function method; (3) total ground motion of the engineering basement (i.e. 1?+?2); and (4) ground motion at the surface in response to the total basement ground motion. We employ a recently developed three-dimensional (3D) velocity structure model of the Kanto Basin that incorporates prospecting data, microtremor observations and measurements derived from strong ground motion records. Our calculations reveal peak ground velocities (PGV) exceeding 50?cm/s in the area above the fault plane: to the south, where the fault plane is shallowest, PGV reaches 150?C200?cm/s at the engineering basement and 200?C250?cm/s at the surface. Intensity 7, the maximum value in the Japan Meteorological Agency??s intensity scale, is calculated to have occurred widely in Sagami Bay, which corresponds well with observed house-collapse rates due to the 1923 event. The modeling reveals a pronounced forward directivity effect for the area lying above the southern, shallow part of the fault plane. The high PGV and intensity seen above the southeastern corner of the fault plane and further east are largely due to this effect. Waveforms above the fault plane contain both short- and long-period components, but the short-period components are not observed further afield. Away from the fault, long-period waves (>2?s) dominate the ground motion, and in areas where the base of the third layer is relatively deep, the predominant period is >5?s. Levels of long-period ground motion in the southern part of the study area, around Sagami Bay and the southern parts of Boso Peninsula and Tokyo Bay, exceed that recorded at Tomakomai during the 2003 Tokachi-oki earthquake, when large oil storage tanks collapsed in response to sloshing generated by strong long-period motions.     

Hayabusa‐returned sample curation in the Planetary Material Sample Curation Facility of JAXA

Abstract– The Planetary Material Sample Curation Facility of JAXA (PMSCF/JAXA) was established in Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan, to curate planetary material samples returned from space in conditions of minimum terrestrial contaminants. The performances for the curation of Hayabusa‐returned samples had been checked with a series of comprehensive tests and rehearsals. After the Hayabusa spacecraft had accomplished a round‐trip flight to asteroid 25143 Itokawa and returned its reentry capsule to the Earth in June 2010, the reentry capsule was brought back to the PMSCF/JAXA and was put to a series of processes to extract recovered samples from Itokawa. The particles recovered from the sample catcher were analyzed by electron microscope, given their ID, grouped into four categories, and preserved in dimples on quartz slide glasses. Some fraction of them has been distributed for initial analyses at NASA, and will be distributed for international announcement of opportunity (AO), but a certain fraction of them will be preserved in vacuum for future analyses.     

Impact of land uses on heavy metal distribution in the Selenga River system in Mongolia

The Selenga River contributes to 50% of the total inflow to Lake Baikal. Large tracts of the Selenga River Basin have been developed for industry, urbanization, mining, and agriculture, resulting in the release of suspended solids (SS) that affect downstream water quality and primary productivity. This study addressed SS as the main factor controlling pollutant transport and the primary indicator of land degradation in the Selenga River system. Tributaries with larger areas dedicated to agricultural use had higher SS concentrations, reaching 862 mg L^?1, especially during the high runoff and intensive cultivation season. Although the large SS flux was detected in the main river, the small tributaries were distinguished by high SS concentrations. The high SS concentration corresponded to widespread development in the watershed. Watersheds with high potential of SS release are sensitive to intensive land uses. SS in the river system had a constant elemental composition consisting mainly of Fe and Al oxides, indicating that surface soils were major constituents of the tributary SS. Three minor heavy metals (Zn, Cu, and Cr) appeared in high concentrations downstream of urban and mining areas (two- to sixfold increases), indicating that these contaminants are carried by SS. At two tributary junctions, the concentration of contaminants on the SS decreased due to a large influx of SS with low heavy metal contents. Changes in electric conductivity and pH at downstream of tributary junctions enhanced the sedimentation of SS and the removal of contaminants from the water phase after aggregation of the SS. Land use changes in the tributary watersheds are major controlling factors for the fate of contaminants in the river system.     

Do Solar Coronal Holes Affect the Properties of Solar Energetic Particle Events?

The intensities and timescales of gradual solar energetic particle (SEP) events at 1 AU may depend not only on the characteristics of shocks driven by coronal mass ejections (CMEs), but also on large-scale coronal and interplanetary structures. It has long been suspected that the presence of coronal holes (CHs) near the CMEs or near the 1-AU magnetic footpoints may be an important factor in SEP events. We used a group of 41 E≈ 20 MeV SEP events with origins near the solar central meridian to search for such effects. First we investigated whether the presence of a CH directly between the sources of the CME and of the magnetic connection at 1 AU is an important factor. Then we searched for variations of the SEP events among different solar wind (SW) stream types: slow, fast, and transient. Finally, we considered the separations between CME sources and CH footpoint connections from 1 AU determined from four-day forecast maps based on Mount Wilson Observatory and the National Solar Observatory synoptic magnetic-field maps and the Wang–Sheeley–Arge model of SW propagation. The observed in-situ magnetic-field polarities and SW speeds at SEP event onsets tested the forecast accuracies employed to select the best SEP/CH connection events for that analysis. Within our limited sample and the three analytical treatments, we found no statistical evidence for an effect of CHs on SEP event peak intensities, onset times, or rise times. The only exception is a possible enhancement of SEP peak intensities in magnetic clouds.     

Cosmological radiative transfer codes comparison project – I. The static density field tests

Radiative transfer (RT) simulations are now at the forefront of numerical astrophysics. They are becoming crucial for an increasing number of astrophysical and cosmological problems; at the same time their computational cost has come within reach of currently available computational power. Further progress is retarded by the considerable number of different algorithms (including various flavours of ray tracing and moment schemes) developed, which makes the selection of the most suitable technique for a given problem a non-trivial task. Assessing the validity ranges, accuracy and performances of these schemes is the main aim of this paper, for which we have compared 11 independent RT codes on five test problems: (0) basic physics; (1) isothermal H  ii region expansion; (2) H  ii region expansion with evolving temperature; (3) I-front trapping and shadowing by a dense clump and (4) multiple sources in a cosmological density field. The outputs of these tests have been compared and differences analysed. The agreement between the various codes is satisfactory although not perfect. The main source of discrepancy appears to reside in the multifrequency treatment approach, resulting in different thicknesses of the ionized-neutral transition regions and the temperature structure. The present results and tests represent the most complete benchmark available for the development of new codes and improvement of existing ones. To further this aim all test inputs and outputs are made publicly available in digital form.     

Investigation of cutting methods for small samples of Hayabusa and future sample return missions

We report the investigation of cutting methods for Hayabusa samples. The purpose of our study is to explore the possibility of applying multiple analyses to a single particle effectively. We investigated the cutting performance of a blade dicing saw, laser, focused ion beam (FIB), and physical breaking by microindenter. Cutting performance was examined by estimating the aspect ratio of the cut slit, i.e., depth over width of the slit. We also investigated the possible contamination and sample damage by cutting. The result of the investigation shows that we can cut the samples from <50 μm to 500 μm using those methods with aspect ratios from 10 to 20, although they would introduce some contamination or damage to the samples. Our investigations also provide an important basis for the analysis of samples obtained by future sample return missions.