Relationship of topography to surface water chemistry with particular focus on nitrogen and organic carbon solutes within a forested watershed in Hokkaido,Japan

We studied the relationships between streamwater chemistry and the topography of subcatchments in the Dorokawa watershed in Hokkaido Island, northern Japan, to examine the use of topography as a predictor of streamwater chemistry in a watershed with relatively moderate terrain compared with other regions of Japan. Topographic characteristics of the Dorokawa watershed and its subcatchments were expressed as topographic index (TI) values, which ranged from 4·5 to 20·4 for individual grid cells (50 × 50 m²), but averaged from 6·4 to 7·4 for the 20 subcatchments. Streamwater samples for chemical analyses were collected four times between June and October 2002 from 20 locations in the watershed. The pH of water that passed through the watershed increased from ～5·0 to 7·0, with major increases in Na⁺ and Ca²⁺ and marked decreases in NO₃^? and SO . Distinctive spatial patterns were observed for dissolved organic carbon (DOC), dissolved organic nitrogen (DON), and NO₃^? concentrations of streamwater across the watershed. Statistical analyses indicated significant linear relationships between the average TI values of subcatchments and DOC, DON, and NO₃^? concentrations. Furthermore, the proportion of DOC in streamwaters in the wet season increased with TI values relative to other nitrogen species, whereas NO₃^? concentrations decreased with TI. The gradients of soil wetness and the presence of wetlands explained many of the observed spatial and temporal patterns of DOC, DON, and NO₃^? concentrations in the surface waters of the Dorokawa watershed. Our results suggest that the TI is especially useful for predicting the spatial distribution of DOC, DON and NO₃^? in the surface waters of Hokkaido, where topographical relief is moderate and wetlands more common than in other regions of Japan. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Total amount of oceanic excess CO2 taken from the North Pacific subpolar region

Concentrations of total carbonate, alkalinity and dissolved oxygen were obtained near the 1973 GEOSECS stations in the North Pacific subpolar region north of 40°N along 175°E between 1993 and 1994. A difference of excess CO₂ content between the GEOSECS and our expeditions was estimated. The maximum difference in water column inventory of excess CO₂ has increased by about 280 gC m^–2 above 2000 m depth which apparently means an uptake of excess CO₂ taken from air to sea during the last two decades. An averaged value of the annual flux of excess CO₂ at 75–1000 m depth was 8.63±2.01 gC m^–2yr^–1 in the North Pacific subpolar region. By introducing the annual flux of excess CO₂ into a two-box model for the North Pacific subpolar region, a penetration factor of excess CO₂ from air to sea was obtained to be 1.08×10^–2 gC m^–3ppm^–1 in the North Pacific subpolar region. Based on this factor, the surface concentration of excess CO₂ in the North Pacific subpolar region was estimated to be 68 mole I^–1, suggesting that the North Pacific subpolar region absorbed atmospheric excess CO₂ more than the saturated concentration of excess CO₂. Total amount of excess CO₂ taken from the North Pacific subpolar region by 1993 was estimated to be 36.2×10¹⁵ gC, which was equal to about one tenth of that released by human activities after the preindustrial era.     

Effect of emersion and immersion on the porewater nutrient dynamics of an intertidal sandflat in Tokyo Bay

Porewater nutrient dynamics during emersion and immersion were investigated during different seasons in a eutrophic intertidal sandflat of Tokyo Bay, Japan, to elucidate the role of emersion and immersion in solute transport and microbial processes. The water content in the surface sediment did not change significantly following emersion, suggesting that advective solute transport caused by water table fluctuation was negligible. The rate of change in nitrate concentration in the top 10 mm of sediments ranged from −6.6 to 4.8 μmol N l⁻¹ bulk sed. h⁻¹ during the whole period of emersion. Steep nutrient concentration gradients in the surface sediment generated diffusive flux of nutrients directed downwards into deeper sediments, which greatly contributed to the observed rates of change in porewater nutrient concentration for several cases. Microbial nitrate reduction within the subsurface sediment appeared to be strongly supported by the downward diffusive flux of nitrate from the surface sediment. The stimulation of estimated nitrate production rate in the subsurface layer in proportion to the emersion time indicates that oxygenation due to emersion caused changes in the sediment redox environment and affected the nitrification and/or nitrate reduction rates. The nitrate and soluble reactive phosphorus pools in the top 10 mm of sediment decreased markedly during immersion (up to 68% for nitrate and up to 44% for soluble reactive phosphorus), however, this result could not be solely explained by molecular diffusion.     

Wide-Field Camera for Gravitational Microlensing Survey: MOA-cam2

We have constructed a large, mosaic CCD camera called MOA-cam2 which has 4096 × 6144-pixelsto search for gravitational microlensing events. MOA-cam2 has three4096 × 2048-pixel SITe CCD chips, which have a very high quantum efficiency (nearly 80% in the wave region 500 to 800 nm),and three buttable sides. We have placed the threechips side by side with 100 m dead space. MOA-cam2 has been installed on the 61 cm Boller and Chivens telescope of the MOA collaboration at the Mt. John University Observatory (MJUO) in NewZealand since July 1998. The field coverage is 0.92° × 1.38° per exposure. The technical details of MOA-cam2 and the first images obtained with the Boller and Chivens telescope are presented. MOA-cam2 introduces a second phase of research on gravitational microlensing by the MOA collaboration.     

Magma mingling in the Tungho area,Coastal Range of eastern Taiwan

Complex rocks, consisting of different lithologic breccias and sediments in the Tungho area of the southern Coastal Range, eastern Taiwan, were formed by magmas and magma–sediment mingling. Based on field occurrences, petrography, and mineral and rock compositions, three components including mafic magma, felsic magma, and sediments can be identified. The black breccias and white breccias were consolidated from mafic and felsic magma, respectively. Isotopic composition shows these two magmas may be from the same source. Compared to the white breccias, the black breccias show clast-supported structures, higher An values in plagioclase, higher contents of MgO, CaO, and Fe₂O₃ and lower SiO₂, greater enrichment in the light rare earth elements (LREE), and depletion in the heavy rare earth elements (HREE). The white breccias show matrix-supported blocks and mingling with tuffaceous sediments to form peperite. Physical and chemical evidence shows that the characteristics of these two components (mafic and felsic magmas) are still apparent in the mingled zone. According to their petrography, mafic and felsic magmas did not have much time for mingling. White intrusive structures and black flow structures show that mingling occurred before they solidified. Finally, the occurrence of mingling between magmas and sediments suggests that the mingling has taken place at the surface and not in the magma chamber.     

New record of occurrence ofSergia lncens (Hansen) (crustacea,sergestidae) off Tung-kang,Taiwan, with special reference to phylogeny and distribution of the species

The commercially important sergestid shrimp,Sergia lucens (Hansen), has long been considered an endemic species of Japan because it had been found only in Suruga Bay and neighbouring waters. Recently, however, a considerable amount of a similar shrimp was caught by trawl nets off Tung-kang, southwestern Taiwan. This shrimp is distributed at depths of 100–300 m on the continental slope, around a deep submarine canyon adjacent to the mouth of the Kao-ping River. A morphological comparison with specimens from Suruga Bay reveals that the shrimp is identical toS. lucens. However, a slight difference in the patterns of water-soluble proteins was observed in a thin layer isoelectrophoretic examination. A difference was also observed in the spawning season of the two populations, indicating sexual and geographic isolation. Considering the distribution and phylogeny of the family Sergestidae, based on a possible evolutionary development from a benthic neritic organism to a pelagic oceanic one along the generaSicyonella-Sergestes-Sergia, it is assumed thatS. lucens entered a lower epipelagic habitat in the coastal waters from the warm oceanic mesopelagic habitat of the original stock. A hypothesis is proposed that speciation ofS. lucens from the original stock occurred when it was trapped in a semi-enclosed inlet (the paleo-East China Sea Gulf) that existed at the present Okinawa Trough during the late Pliocene to early Pleistocene. The inlet was deep, but had a neritic environment due to drainage from ancient large river systems, including the paleo-Yangtze River. The species expanded its distribution to the neighbouring waters during the warm interglacial period. However, a rapid rise in sea level after 14,000 years significantly changed the environmental conditions in the distributional area and the species could not expand into a neritic environment, which was too shallow for survival. Accordingly,S. lucens populations remained only in Suruga Bay and Tung-kang waters, where the environment has remained stable for the last 17,000 years or more. The two areas have the following common characteristics:

1. A large amount of fresh water is discharged into the deep submarine canyon adjacent to the river mouth.
2. The northeastern part is surrounded by land so that a direct inflow of boreal water into the environment is blocked.
3. Warm Kuroshio extension water intrudes and mixes with water from the rivers, and for Suruga Bay there is a current system that keeps distribution of the eggs and larvae restricted to the local habitats.

Taiwan annually exported some tens of metric tons of the driedS. lucens to Japan for the last few years, but the standing stock of Tung-kang waters is probably not as large as that in Suruga Bay.     

Tectonics and sedimentation around Kashinosaki Knoll: A subducting basement high in the eastern Nankai Trough

Abstract   When seamounts and other topographic highs on an oceanic plate are subducted, they cause significant deformation of the overriding plate and may act as asperities deeper in the seismogenic zone. Kashinosaki Knoll (KK) is an isolated basement high of volcanic origin on the subducting Philippine Sea Plate that will soon be subducted at the eastern Nankai Trough. Seismic reflection imaging reveals a thick accumulation of sediments (∼1200 m) over and around the knoll. The lower portion of the sedimentary section has a package of high-amplitude, continuous reflections, interpreted as turbidites, that lap onto steep basement slopes but are parallel to the gentler basement slopes. Total sediment thickness on the western and northern slopes is approximately 40–50% more than on the summit and southeastern slopes of KK. These characteristics imply that the basal sedimentary section northwest of KK was deposited by infrequent high-energy turbidity currents, whereas the area southeast of KK was dominated by hemipelagic sedimentation over asymmetric basement relief. From the sediment structure and magnetic anomalies, we estimate that the knoll likely formed near the spreading center of the Shikoku Basin in the early Miocene. Its origin differs from that of nearby Zenisu Ridge, which is a piece of the Shikoku Basin crust uplifted along a thrust fault related to the collision of the Izu–Bonin arc and Honshu. KK has been carried into the margin of the Nankai Trough, and its high topography is deflecting Quaternary trench turbidites to the south. When KK collides with the accretionary prism in about 1 My, the associated variations in sediment type and thickness around the knoll will likely result in complex local variations in prism deformation.     

Rutile inclusions in garnet from a dissolution‐reprecipitation mechanism

Metamorphic garnet commonly contains needle‐like rutile inclusions as well as equant rutile inclusions that surround quartz inclusions and range in size from submicrometer to nanometer. Although the origin of these equant rutile inclusions, that is, exsolution or non‐exsolution, has important implications for petrological and tectonic processes, the crystallographic characteristics of these inclusions have rarely been studied because of the small sizes and analytical difficulties involved. Here, we report the crystallographic characteristics pertinent to the genetic origin of minute equant rutile inclusions in cloudy, nearly spherically shaped garnet domains with Ti‐depleted compositions surrounding quartz inclusions in ultrahigh‐pressure garnet from several diamondiferous Erzgebirge quartzofeldspathic gneissic rock samples. TEM analyses show that the equant rutile crystals in cloudy garnet domains are partially bounded by the low‐energy {100}_rt ± {110}_rt ± {101}_rt facets and have rather random crystallographic orientation relationships (CORs) with the garnet host, with preferential alignment of low‐energy lattice planes, for example, {100}_rt//{112}_grt, for some rutile crystals. Although the rather random CORs are unlikely to be attributed to solid‐state exsolution subjected to the stringent topotactic garnet lattice constraints, the characteristic subhedral {100}_rt ± {110}_rt ± {101}_rt crystal forms of rutile can be rationalized by a metasomatic dissolution‐reprecipitation mechanism via a fluid phase. In this scenario, the quartz+fluid inclusions in garnet were first subjected to decompression microcracking during rock exhumation, followed by dissolution of Ti‐bearing garnet matrix at the crack tips or along the crack surfaces and subsequent reprecipitation of rutile, apatite, gahnite, akdalaite, and Ti‐depleted garnet. The rapid coalescence between rutile and garnet crystals in fluid or direct attachment of rutile crystals onto the dissolving crack surfaces would then yield the rather random CORs as reported here. These results, along with previous work on rutile needles, indicate rather diverse genesis of rutile inclusions in various crystal forms, thus shedding light on the controversial exsolution origin for other inclusion suite/microstructure in minerals.