Similarity solutions to the second boundary value problem of unsaturated flow through porous media

Similarity solutions to the second boundary value problem of unsaturated flow are studied in one-dimensional, semi-infinite porous media with the soil-water diffusivity proportional to some power of the water content. The existence and uniqueness of two types of similarity solutions to the problem are investigated and the properties of these solutions are presented. It is shown that these two types of similarity solutions exist and that they may not be unique for every parameter range studied. The use of the similarity solutions is discussed for the experimental determination of soil-water diffusivity.     

CHIME dating of monazite, xenotime, zircon and polycrase: Protocol, pitfalls and chemical criterion of possibly discordant age data

This paper outlines the CHIME (chemical Th–U-total Pb isochron method) dating method, which is based on precise electron microprobe analyses of Th, U and Pb in Th- and U-bearing accessory minerals such as monazite, xenotime, zircon and polycrase. The age-mapping technique that is applicable to young monazite and zircon is also described. CHIME dating consists of analyzing multiple spots within homogeneous age domains that show sufficient compositional variation, and then these data are used to construct a “pseudo-isochron” from which an age can be obtained via regression. This method, when coupled with discrimination of possibly concordant age data by chemical criteria such as the (Ca + Si)/(Th + U + Pb + S) ratio for monazite and Ca and S contents for zircon, has the potential advantage of significant precision, and the ability to work with minerals that have a significant initial common Pb component. This technique can identify two or more homogeneous domains that are separated by age gaps smaller than the error on individual spot age analysis. Many features that are insignificant in major element analysis can have major impact in the acquisition of trace element data. Critical factors include the roles of collimator slit, detector gas, background estimation, accelerating voltage, probe current, X-ray interferences and count rate in affecting the accuracy, and a way to apply the Th and U interference correction without pure Th- and U-oxides or synthesized pure ThSiO₄. The age-mapping procedure for young monazite and zircon includes acquiring PbMα (or PbMβ) intensity of individual pixels with multiple spectrometers, correcting background with background maps computed from a measured background intensity by the intensity relationships determined in advance of the measurement, calibrating of intensity with standards and calculating of ages from the Th, U and Pb concentrations. This technique provides age maps that show differences in age domains on the order of 20 Ma with in monazite as young as 100 Ma. The effect of sample damage by irradiation of intense and prolonged probe measurement is also described.     

Internal textures and chemical compositions of anti-rapakivi mantled feldspars from Oki-Dogo Island,Japan

Summary The cooling history of the feldspars of a hypersthene-augite trachyte lava of Oki-Dogo island, Japan was investigated by optical microscope, electron microscope and X-ray microanalyzer. Anti-Rpakivi mantled feldspars in the alkaline volcanic rocks consist of anhedral plagioclase cores and subhedral to euhedral sanidine mantles. The interfaces between the cores and mantles are wavy, saw-tooth-like, or comb-like under the optical microscope, suggesting sanidine overgrowth after plagioclase was partially resorbed. Perthitic lenses or lamellae of plagioclase are also observed in the sanidine near the interfaces. After the formation of such mantled feldspars at the magmatic stage, perthitic lamellae were produced in sanidine due to subsolidus exsolution. Periodicity of the perthitic lamellae is below 10 nm.[/ab]

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Zusammenfassung Die Abkühlungs-Geschichte von Feldspäten einer Hypersthen-Augit-Trachyt-Lava von der Insel Oki-Dogo, Japan, wurde mikroskopisch, elektronenmikroskopisch und mit der Mikrosonde untersucht. Anti-Rapakivi-Feldspate in den Alkali-Vulkaniten bestehen aus anidiomorphen Plagioklas-Kernen and idiomorphen Sanidin-Rändern. Die Grenzen zwischen Kernen and Randern erscheinen unter dem Mikroskop gewellt, sägezahnartig oder kammartig. Dies deutet darauf hin, daß Überwachsung mit Sanidin nach teilweiser Resorption von Plagioklas stattgefunden hat. Perthitische Linsen oder Lamellen von Plagioklas im Sanidin wurden im Grenzbereich der beiden Feldspäte beobachtet. Perthit-Lamellen im Sanidin entstanden durch Subsolidus-Entmischung nachdem die Feldspäte wahrend der magmatischen Phase gebildet worden waren. Die Periodizität der Perthit-Lamellen liegt unter 10 nm.

     

Formation Process of North Pacific Intermediate Water Revealed by Profiling Floats Set to Drift on 26.7 σθ Isopycnal Surface

Six newly developed floats, which were set to drift on the 26.7 σ_θ isopycnal surface and to profile temperature, salinity and pressure above 1000 dbar once a week, were deployed in the Oyashio and Kuroshio Extension (KE) in order to examine the circulation, formation site and time scale of newly formed North Pacific Intermediate Water (NPIW). The floats were deployed in February or May 2001, and the data from their deployments to December 2002 are analyzed here. Four of the six floats were deployed near the KE axis at around the first meander crest, and they moved eastward to 157°E–176°W at latitudes of 30°N–45°N. The other two floats deployed in the Oyashio water with low-potential vorticity near the south coast of Hokkaido moved southward to reach the KE front and then moved eastward to the same region as the first four floats. The temperature and salinity at 26.7 σ_θ measured by the profiling floats indicate that the source waters of NPIW, Oyashio and Kuroshio waters are drastically mixed and modified in the mixed water region west of 160°E. The floats were separated into the three paths east of 160°E between the Kuroshio Extension front and the north of Water-Mass front (nearly subarctic front). New NPIW is judged to be formed along these three paths since the vertical profiles of temperature and salinity are quite smooth, having a salinity minimum at about 26.7σ_θ along each path. Kuroshio-Oyashio isopycnal mixing ratios of the new NPIW are 7:3, 6:4 and 5:5 at 26.7σ_θ along the southern, middle and northern paths, respectively. Potential vorticity converges to about 14–15 × 10⁻¹¹ m⁻¹s⁻¹ along these paths. The time scale of new NPIW formation is estimated to be 1–1.5 years from the merger of Oyashio and Kuroshio waters to the formation of the new NPIW. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Three-year investigations into sperm whale-fall ecosystems in Japan

We report the first study of sperm whale‐fall ecosystems, based on mass sinking of whale carcasses at shelf depths in the northwest Pacific. We conducted three observations over a 2‐year period on replicate sperm‐whale carcasses implanted at depths of 219–254 m off the southern part of Japan from July 2003 to August 2005. The study was made possible by a mass stranding of sperm whales in January 2002, and the subsequent sinking of 12 carcasses in the waters off Cape Nomamisaki. Dense aggregations of unique chemosynthesis‐based fauna had formed around the whale carcasses after 18 months (July 2003). The mytilid mussel Adipicola pacifica was the most abundant macrofaunal species and covered most of the exposed bone surfaces. The general composition of the fauna was similar to that of deep‐water reducing habitats, but none of the species appearing in this study has been found at hydrothermal vents, cold seeps or deep‐water whale falls. A new species of lancelet, which was the first record of the subphylum Cephalochordata from reducing environments, a new species of Osedax; a rarely encountered benthic ctenophore, and a rare gastropod species were discovered at this sperm whale‐fall site. Benthic communities were similar across all the carcasses studied, although the body sizes of the whales were very different. The succession of epifaunal communities was relatively rapid and the sulphophilic stage was considerably shorter than that of other known whale falls.     

On the mean sea levels at various locations along the coasts of Japan

The yearly variations of mean sea levels at various locations along the coasts of Japan have been investigated, based upon the data of observation taken at 55 tide-gauge stations from 1953 to 1970, and some discussions have been made on the relationships between those variations and meteorological and oceanographical conditions, etc. The results obtained are as follows:

1. In cases covering 90% of all the tide-gauge stations, the magnitude of the annual mean rate of variation of ground level is less than 10 mm/year, and the mean value of the magnitude for all the stations is ?3.17 mm/year, while that exclusive of Osaka is ?1.7 mm/year.
2. The effect of atmospheric pressure variation on the height of annual mean sea level is of the order of several centimeters in view from both time and place.
3. In view of the characteristic types of variations, the coasts of Japan may be divided into five regions of similar mean sea level deviations. And in the yearly variations of mean sea levels, there can be seen a kind of variation which corresponds to the variation of oceanographical conditions such as abnormal fall of seawater temperature.
4. The mean sea level deviations at various locations along the coasts of Japan, referred to the standard sea level “T.P.” are different for different places. Namely, (1) on the coast of the Japan Sea, the west coast of Kyushu, the coast of Sanriku and the coast of Hokkaido, the mean sea level is higher than on the Pacific coasts from Southern Kyushu to Southern Honshu. (2) Along the coast of the Seto-Inland Sea, the mean sea level is generally higher.

As for the leading causes of the above deviations, we may safely enumerate the following ones, viz. (a) the effect of the deflecting force of the earth's rotation on currents, and (b) the effect of variation of seawater density. However, as regards the relative importance of these two effects, no decisive conclusion can yet be given for the present.     

Magmatic processes forming replacement textures with fluorite alignments in feldspars in an evolved trachyte from Oki-Dogo Island,Sea of Japan

Internal microtextures of ternary alkali feldspars in sanidine trachyte from Oki-Dogo Island were examined using an electron microprobe analyzer, a scanning electron microscope, a transmission electron microscope and cathodoluminescence instruments, to develop the understanding of volcanic processes of alkaline magmas related to feldspar crystallization. The examined trachyte is an evolved rock of the Oki-Dogo Pliocene trachyte group. Its phenocryst feldspars are commonly associated with lamellar-wavy-domain textures with scales approximately from 100 nm up to several hundreds of μm that show complex and gradual variations in composition: however, anti-rapakivi zoning textures common in other Oki-Dogo alkaline rocks are almost completely absent in the trachyte. These textures are produced by extensive magmatic ion-exchange replacement reactions progressively advanced in the evolved magma. Characteristic braided fluorite alignments are developed consistently with lamellar-wavy-domain textures in phenocryst feldspars, and similar braided alignments are also present in groundmass feldspars with complicated microtextures. Most of fluorite grains are <100 nm in diameter, and the patterns of braided fluorite alignments vary greatly in individual feldspars. The whole occurrence of the feldspar microtextures represents an extreme example of diffusion-controlled replacement reactions, progressively advanced in the dry (relatively anhydrous) trachyte magma. The genetic processes forming fluorite alignments in feldspars are related to magma compositions, especially F and P contents, and the crystallization of F-bearing minerals, especially of fluorapatite.     

A multi‐geochronological study of the Hakusan volcano,central Japan

The Hakusan volcano, central Japan, is located in a region where two subducting plates (the Pacific Plate and the Philippine Sea Plate) overlap near the junction of four plates adjacent to the Japanese Islands (the Pacific Plate, the Philippine Sea Plate, the Eurasia Plate, and the North American Plate). The Hakusan volcano consists of products from four major volcanic episodes: Kagamuro, Ko‐hakusan, and Shin‐Hakusan I and II. To date the eruption events of the Hakusan volcano we applied thermoluminescence and fission track methods. ²³⁸U(²³⁴U)–²³⁰Th disequilibrium and ²⁰⁶Pb/²³⁸U methods were applied to date the zircon crystallization ages for estimating the magma residence time before the eruptions. The eruption ages we obtained are ca 250 ka for Kagamuro, ca 100 ka and ca 60 ka for Ko‐Hakusan, ca 50 ka for Shin‐Hakusan I, and <10 ka for Shin‐Hakusan II. They are concordant with previous reports based on K–Ar dating. Some of the pyroclastic rocks, possibly originating from Shin‐Hakusan II activities, are dated to be ca 36 ka or 50 ka, and belong to the Shin‐Hakusan I activity. The zircon crystallization ages show several clusters prior to eruption. The magma residence time was estimated for each volcanic activity by comparing the major crystallization events and eruption ages, and we found a gradual decrease from ca. 500 ky for the Kagamuro activity to ca. 5 ky for the Shin‐Hakusan II activity. This decrease in residence time may be responsible for the decrease in volume of erupted material estimated from the current topography of the region. The scale of volcanic activity, which was deduced from the number of crystallized zircons, is more or less constant throughout the Hakusan volcanic activity. Therefore, the decrease in magma residence time is most likely the result of stress field change.