Influence of interaction between small asperities on various types of slow earthquakes in a 3-D simulation for a subduction plate boundary

Recently, the occurrence of slow earthquakes such as low-frequency earthquakes and very low-frequency earthquakes have been recognized at depths of about 30 km in southwest Japan and Cascadia. These slow earthquakes occur sometimes in isolation and sometimes break into chain-reaction, producing tremor that migrates at a speed of about 5–15 km/day and suggesting a strong interaction among nearby small asperities. In this study, we formulate a 3-D subduction plate boundary model with two types of small asperities chained along the trench at the depth of 30 km. Our simulation succeeds in representing various types of slow earthquakes including low-frequency earthquakes and rapid slip velocity in the same asperity, and indicates that interaction between asperities may cause the very low-frequency earthquakes. Our simulation also shows chain reaction along trench with propagation speed that can be made consistent with observations by adjusting model parameters, which suggests that the interactions also explain the observed migration of slow earthquakes.     

Detailed Observation of Spatial Abundance of Clam Larva Ruditapes philippinarum in Tokyo Bay, Central Japan

The spatial distribution of the larval abundance of the clam Ruditapes philippinarum has been investigated at 65 stations throughout Tokyo Bay on August 2, 2001. The large number of small D-shaped larvae that were found shortly after hatching in the waters around the Banzu, Futtu, and Sanmaizu-Haneda areas indicates that spawning populations in these areas probably contribute greatly to the larval supply in the bay. Small larvae also occurred abundantly around the Yokohama and Ichihara port areas, suggesting that these port regions play a role in the transport of larvae into Tokyo Bay. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

冲绳海槽海底热液喷出口附近海水中~(210)Pb和~(210)Po的行为

讨论了在冲绳海槽伊平屋海岭和南奄西海丘两处海底热液喷出口附近海水中的铀系子体放射性核素2 10 Pb和2 10 Po浓度的垂直分布剖面 .在伊平屋海岭 ,甲烷及2 2 2 Rn的数据表明海底热液活动不强 ,总2 10 Pb和2 10 Po放射性均低于它们各自母体的放射性 ,2 10 Pb和2 10 Po在海水中的平均停留时间分别为 2 0和 2～ 5a ,而在以“黑色烟雾”为特征的海底热液活动强烈的南奄西海丘 ,在”烟雾”中的总2 10 Pb含量 ( 0 1 6 7× 1 0 -3～ 2 50× 1 0 -3Bq/kg)相对其母体2 2 6Ra贫乏 ,而总2 10 Po含量 ( 1 83× 1 0 -3～ 2 83×1 0 -3Bq/kg)则相对其母体2 10 Pb过剩 .该处海水中的2 10 Po的放射性高于东海陆架区及冲绳海槽其他海区 ,并且显示了2 10 Po过剩 .2 10 Pb/ 2 2 6Ra以及2 10 Po/ 2 10 Pb放射性比值的范围分别为 0 1～ 0 4和 1 1～ 7 8.在热液扩散带中2 10 Pb被优先从海水中清除 .控制南奄西海丘海水中2 10 Pb浓度的可能机制涉及到2 10 Pb通过扩散作用的横向输送 .在热液扩散带中高2 10 Po/ 2 10 Pb放射性比值表明2 10 Pb的耗尽及2 10 Po从海底热液喷出口的加入 .     

The study of lead-210 in the marine environment

This article summarizes the author's work on²¹⁰Pb and²¹⁰Po distributions in the marine environment for which the Okada Prize of the Oceanographical Society of Japan was awarded. In this review, the work of other investigators and the studies now going on are also included. The²¹⁰Pb concentration in the surface water of the ocean is controlled by the atmospheric flux of²¹⁰Pb and productivity. The disequilibrium between²²⁶Ra and²¹⁰Pb in the deep sea reveals that the oceanic residence time of lead is less than a hundred years rather than of the order of thousands of years as thought before based on stable lead measurement in ocean water. Particulate removal of²¹⁰Pb from the water column is likely to be the major cause of the deficiency of²¹⁰Pb in the water, however more investigations would be needed to clarify the detailed removal mechanism of²¹⁰Pb. The experiments on particulate flux by using sediment traps will provide an unique opportunity to examine this. ²¹⁰Pb in excess of²²⁶Ra in sediment is useful for geochronology of shallow water sediments and the study on bioturbation rates on the deep sea sediments.     

Evaluation of spatial correlation between nutrient exchange rates and benthic biota in a reef-flat ecosystem by GIS-assisted flow-tracking

A Geographic Information System (GIS)-aided flow-tracking technique was adopted to investigate nutrient exchange rates between specific benthic communities and overlying seawater in a fringing reef of Ishigaki Island, subtropical Northwestern Pacific. Net exchange rates of NO₃ ⁻, NO₂ ⁻, NH₄ ⁺, PO₄ ³⁻, Total-N and Total-P were estimated from concentration changes along the drogue trajectories, each of which was tracked by the Global Positioning System and plotted on a benthic map to determine the types of benthic habitat over which the drogue had passed. The observed nutrient exchange rates were compared between 5 typical benthic zones (branched-coral (B) and Heliopora communities (H), seaweed-reefrock zone (W), bare sand area (S), and seagrass meadow (G)). The dependence of nutrient exchange rates on nutrient concentrations, physical conditions and benthic characteristics was analyzed by multiple regression analysis with the aid of GIS. The spatial correlation between nutrient exchange rates and benthic characteristics was confirmed, especially for NO₃ ⁻ and PO₄ ³⁻, which were usually absorbed in hydrographically upstream zones B and W and regenerated in downstream zones H and G. NO₃ ⁻ uptake in zones B and W was concentration-dependent, and the uptake rate coefficient was estimated to be 0.58 and 0.67 m h⁻¹, respectively. Both nutrient uptake in zone W and regeneration in zone H were enhanced in summer. The net regeneration ratio of NO₃ ⁻/PO₄ ³⁻ in zone H in summer ranged 5.2 to 34 (mean, 17.4), which was somewhat higher than previously measured NO₃ ⁻/PO₄ ³⁻ for sediment pore waters around this zone (1.1–8.5). Nutrient exchanges in zone S were relatively small, indicating semi-closed nutrient cycling at the sediment-water interface of this zone. NH₄ ⁺ efflux from sediments was suggested in zone G. The data suggest that the spatial pattern of nutrient dynamics over the reef flat community was constrained by zonation of benthic biota, and that abiotic factors such as nutrient concentrations and flow rates, influenced nutrient exchange rates only in absorption-dominated communities such as zones B and W.     

冲绳海槽海底热液喷出口附近海水中210Pb和210Po的行为

讨论了在冲绳海槽伊平屋海岭和南奄西海丘两处海底热液喷出口附近海水中的铀系子体放射性核素210Pb和210Po浓度的垂直分布剖面.在伊平屋海岭,甲烷及222Rn的数据表明海底热液活动不强,总210Pb和210Po放射性均低于它们各自母体的放射性,210Pb和210Po在海水中的平均停留时间分别为20和2～5a,而在以“黑色烟雾”为特征的海底热液活动强烈的南奄西海丘,在”烟雾”中的总210Pb含量(0.167×10-3～2.50×10-3Bq/kg)相对其母体226Ra贫乏,而总210Po含量(1.83×10-3～2.83×10-3Bq/kg)则相对其母体210Pb过剩.该处海水中的210Po的放射性高于东海陆架区及冲绳海槽其他海区,并且显示了210Po过剩.210Pb/226Ra以及210Po/210Pb放射性比值的范围分别为0.1～0.4和1.1～7.8.在热液扩散带中210Pb被优先从海水中清除.控制南奄西海丘海水中210Pb浓度的可能机制涉及到210Pb通过扩散作用的横向输送.在热液扩散带中高210Po/210Pb放射性比值表明210Pb的耗尽及210Po从海底热液喷出口的加入.     

Are measurements from excised leaves suitable for modeling diurnal patterns of gas exchange of intact leaves?

To examine the feasibility of using ecophysiological data from excised leaves for a meteorological simulation model of gas exchange, we compared the obtained gas exchange rates and the modelled ones using excised leaves and those using intact leaves. Instantaneous gas exchange rates of excised leaves and stomatal control in response to environmental conditions were not significantly different from those of attached leaves. Modelled gas exchange rates based on excised leaf data showed a good fit to the diurnal patterns of in situ measurements. This suggests that use of excised leaf data to predict gas exchange of intact leaves is permissible as long as the effects of excision are pre‐screened as described in this paper. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Silica and pyroxene in IVA irons; possible formation of the IVA magma by impact melting and reduction of L-LL-chondrite materials followed by crystallization and cooling

Group IVA is a large magmatic group of iron meteorites. The mean Δ¹⁷O (=δ¹⁷O − 0.52·δ¹⁸O) of the silicates is ∼+1.2‰, similar to the highest values in L chondrites and the lowest values in LL chondrites; δ¹⁸O values are also in the L/LL range. This strongly suggests that IVA irons formed by melting L-LL parental material, but the mean Ni content of IVA irons (83 mg/g) is much lower than that of a presumed L-LL parent (∼170 mg/g) and the low-Ca pyroxene present in two IVA meteorites is Fs13, much lower than the Fs20-29 values in L and LL chondrites. Thus, formation from L-LL precursors requires extensive addition of metallic Fe, probably produced by reduction of FeS and FeO. Group IVA also has S/Ni, Ga/Ni, and Ge/Ni ratios that are much lower than those in L-LL chondrites or any chondrite group that preserves nebular compositions, implying loss of these volatile elements during asteroidal processing. We suggest that these reduction and loss processes occurred near the surface of the asteroid during impact heating, and resulted partly from reduction by C, and partly from the thermal dissociation of FeS and FeO with loss of O and S. The hot (∼1770 K) low-viscosity melt quickly moved through channels in the porous asteroid to form a core. Two members of the IVA group, São João Nepomuceno (hereafter, SJN) and Steinbach, contain moderate amounts of orthopyroxene and silica, and minor amounts of low-Ca clinopyroxene. Even though SJN formed after ∼26% crystallization and Steinbach formed after ∼77% crystallization of the IVA core, both could have originated within several tens of meters of the core-mantle interface if 99% of the crystallization occurred from the center outwards. Two other members of the group (Gibeon and Bishop Canyon) contain tabular tridymite, which we infer to have initially formed as veins deposited from a cooling SiO-rich vapor. The silicates were clearly introduced into IVA irons after the initial magma crystallized. Because the γ-iron crystals in SJN are typically about 5 cm across, an order of magnitude smaller than in IVA irons that do not contain massive silicates, we infer that the metal was in the γ-iron field when the silicates were injected. The SJN and Steinbach silicate compositions are near the low-Ca-pyroxene/silica eutectic compositions. We suggest that a tectonic event produced a eutectic-like liquid and injected it together with unmelted pyroxene grains into fissures in the solid metal core. Published estimates of IVA metallographic cooling rates range from 20 to 3000 K/Ma, leading to a hypothesized breakup of the core during a major impact followed by scrambling of the core and mantle debris [Haack, H., Scott, E.R.D., Love, S.G., Brearley, A. 1996. Thermal histories of IVA stony-iron and iron meteorites: evidence for asteroid fragmentation and reaccretion. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta60, 3103-3113]. This scrambling model is physically implausible and cannot explain the strong correlation of estimated cooling rates with metal composition. Previous workers concluded that the low-Ca clinopyroxene in SJN and Steinbach formed from protopyroxene by quenching at a cooling rate of 10¹² K/Ma, and suggested that this also supported an impact-scrambling model. This implausible spike in cooling rate by a factor of 10¹⁰ can be avoided if the low-Ca clinopyroxene were formed by a late shock event that converted orthopyroxene to clinopyroxene followed by minimal growth in the clinopyroxene field, probably because melt was also produced. We suggest that metallographic cooling-rate estimates (e.g., based on island taenite) giving similar values throughout the metal compositional range are more plausible, and that the IVA parent asteroid can be modeled by monotonic cooling followed by a high-temperature impact event that introduced silicates into the metal and a low-temperature impact event that partially converted orthopyroxene into low-Ca clinopyroxene.     

Geochemical diversity in submarine HIMU basalts from Austral Islands, French Polynesia

We present the first report of geochemical data for submarine basalts collected by a manned submersible from Rurutu, Tubuai, and Raivavae in the Austral Islands in the South Pacific, where subaerial basalts exhibit HIMU isotopic signatures with highly radiogenic Pb isotopic compositions. With the exception of one sample from Tubuai, the ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages of the submarine basalts show no significant age gaps between the submarine and subaerial basalts, and the major element compositions are indistinguishable at each island. However, the variations in Pb, Sr, Nd, and Hf isotopic compositions in the submarine basalts are much larger than those previously reported in subaerial basalts. The submarine basalts with less-radiogenic Pb and radiogenic Nd and Hf isotopic compositions show systematically lower concentrations in highly incompatible elements than the typical HIMU basalts. These geochemical variations are best explained by a two-component mixing process in which the depleted asthenospheric mantle was entrained by the mantle plume from the HIMU reservoir during its upwelling, and the melts from the HIMU reservoir and depleted asthenospheric mantle were then mixed in various proportions. The present and compiled data demonstrate that the HIMU reservoir has a uniquely low ¹⁷⁶Hf/¹⁷⁷Hf decoupled from ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd, suggesting that it was derived from an ancient subducted slab. Moreover, the Nd/Hf ratios of the HIMU basalts and curvilinear Nd–Hf isotopic mixing trend require higher Nd/Hf ratios for the melt from the HIMU reservoir than that from the depleted mantle component. Such elevated Nd/Hf ratios could reflect source enrichment by a subducted slab during reservoir formation.