Seasonal Variations in the Sea off Sanriku Coast, Japan

The temperature and salinity data obtained by the Iwate Fisheries Technology Center for the 25-year period from 1971 to 1995 were analyzed to clarify the seasonal variations in the sea off Sanriku, Japan. The variations of three typical waters found in this region, the Tsugaru Current water, the Oyashio water, and the Kuroshio water are discussed in terms, of a T-S scatter diagram referring to the water mass classification proposed by Hanawa and Mitsudera (1986). The mean temperature and salinity fields averaged for each month show clear seasonal variation. Distributions of the Tsugaru Current water and the Oyashio water can barely be distinguished in the fields deeper than 200 m since the Tsugaru Current has a shallow structure; however, the fields at 100 m depth indicate remarkable seasonal variation in the area of the Tsugaru Current. At 100 m depth, the temperature and salinity fronts between the Tsugaru Current water and the Oyashio water gradually disappear in January through April, appear again in May, then become clearest in September. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Pelagic chaetognaths in Sagami Bay and Suruga Bay,Central Japan

Pelagic chaetognaths in Sagami Bay and Suruga Bay, Central Japan, were studied. Their community structure was very similar in both of these bays. Four genera and 26 species were identified. In Sagami Bay the habitat segregation by depths was clearly obtained. The population and species number of epipelagic (0–200 m) chaetognaths were larger in summer than in winter. The populations of meso- (200–500 m) and bathypelagic (500–1,000 m) species were smaller than that of epipelagic ones and fairly stable seasonally.     

Bacterial invasion of chaetognaths under laboratory and natural conditions

Chaetognaths are an abundant component of the plankton and are usually the most important carnivores. Head or tail damage is often found in chaetognath specimens from the laboratory and the sea. Examination by light and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of specimens with such damage has revealed that bacterial invasion occurs in chaetognaths under laboratory and natural conditions. Living chaetognaths which cease feeding are found to have large numbers of attached bacteria and some parts of their body become opaque. Once they are attacked in this manner the body appears to be a mass of bacteria. Examination of field samples has shown that similar bacterial attacks occur in the sea. Bacterial growth is common inside the muscle tissue of field specimens. Up to 13.3% of two dominant species of chaetognaths in Suruga Bay are attacked by bacteria.     

Feeding of a pelagic chaetognath,Sagitta nagae Alvariño in Suruga Bay,Central Japan

The feeding ofSagitta nagae, the most predominant chaetognath species in Suruga Bay, was studied. Specimens were collected with ORI-100 net (1.0 mm in mesh aperture) and MTD net (0.35 mm in mesh aperture) and were fixed with neutralized formalin. The main food organisms ofSagitta nagae were the copepods,Candacia bipinnata, Calanus pacificus andPareuchaeta russelli. The food-containing ratio (P/T, %) was higher at night and lower in the daytime. Here, P is the number ofSagitta containing food organisms in the gut and T is the total number ofSagitta examined. P/T was almost constant vertically in the upper 100 m layer. P/T was generally influenced neither by food density nor by the copepod numbers perSagitta in this study.Sagitta nagae took food throughout life. Food ingested bySagitta per day was calculated as 37.6% ofSagitta in dry weight.     

Episyenite formation in the Toki granite,central Japan

Episyenite is a quartz-depleted vuggy rock resulting from hydrothermal alteration of granitic rocks. This is the first report of its existence in an island arc, which is identified in a deep drill core of the Toki Cretaceous granite distributed in central Japan. In order to understand the petrographical features of the episyenite, neutron porosity measurement, geochemical analysis, microscopic observation, and X-ray computed tomography scanning were carried out. The results show remarkably high porosity (35.4 %) due to interconnecting vugs and the removal of quartz, plagioclase, and biotite. The Rb–Sr isotopic results and the paragenetic sequence of secondary minerals in the vugs suggest that the hydrothermal alteration process can be divided into an episyenitization stage and a later hydrothermal stage. At the episyenitization stage (70.6 ± 3.1 Ma) ca. 6 million years after the emplacement of the unaltered granite (76.3 ± 1.5 Ma), dissolution of quartz, biotite, and plagioclase occurred and was followed by the precipitation of albite, vermicular chlorite, and platy calcite. The episyenitization is considered as a local alteration of the Toki granite in an isotopically closed system. At the later hydrothermal stage, illite and secondary quartz precipitated from circulating meteoric-derived water in the dissolution vugs. Superimposing alteration at the later hydrothermal stage is limited, which results in the preservation of the episyenite in an almost primitive condition.     

Thermochronology and the three-dimensional cooling pattern of a granitic pluton: an example from the Toki granite,Central Japan

The three-dimensional spatial variations in the cooling pattern of the Toki granitic body, a zoned pluton in Central Japan, have been evaluated quantitatively by thermochronology using cooling age determination based on the different closure temperatures for target mineral species. The Toki granite has hornblende K–Ar ages of about 74.3 ± 3.7 Ma (N = 2; closure temperature of 510 ± 25°C), biotite K–Ar ages of 78.5 ± 3.9 to 59.7 ± 1.5 Ma (N = 33; 300 ± 50°C), and zircon fission-track ages of 75.6 ± 3.3 to 52.8 ± 2.6 Ma (N = 44; 240 ± 50°C). The spatial variation in the biotite K–Ar age is similar to that in the zircon fission-track age in samples collected from 11 boreholes and seven outcrop sites in the Toki granite, indicating that cooling was effectively from the roof and also from the northwest margin. This cooling pattern shows a strong correlation with the Alumina Saturation Index (ASI) distribution of the body. Larger ASI values correspond to earlier and more rapid cooling after emplacement and smaller value to slower cooling. Toki granite was effectively cooled from the peraluminous regions where assimilation of country sedimentary rock was most extensive.     

URCA shells in dense stellar interiors

Thermal and vibrational energy losses due to URCA shells in stellar interiors are calculated. Analytic expressions are derived for semidegenerate, relativistic electrons. Results are given for more general cases calculated with a computer. The calculations are carried out for a large number of nuclei that may contribute to URCA energy losses in various stages of stellar evolution. An illustration is given of the cooling and vibrational damping of a white dwarf. For a central Fermi energy 5 MeV, the internal temperature of the star should be reduced to the order of 10⁶ K and the relative vibrational amplitude should be reduced to the order of 10^–5 on a time scale of 10⁹ yr. URCA shells are present, the URCA neutrino energy loss dominates in the temperature region up to about 2×10⁹ K.