Application of lattice imagery to radiation damage investigation in natural zircon

High-, intermediate-, and low-type zircon crystals of natural origin were investigated using a 1,000 kV high-resolution electron microscope. The lattice images obtained successfully for high zircon were in good accordance with computer simulated ones, and 1.5 Å separations, the nearest distance between zirconium atoms projected along the a axis, were clearly resolved under a certain instrumental condition. The images of fission tracks and surrounding areas show nearly perfect lattice images and that within the fission tracks, with a width of 20 ～ 30 Å and length of ca. 1,000 Å, the structure is heavily disordered, almost amorphous; that both sides of the tracks the lattices are displaced or dislocated, and that in the area adjacent to the tracks, bright and dark spot images occur, corresponding to vacancies and their interstitial atoms. In low zircon, the structure is completely destroyed to show an entirely amorphous state, whereas an intermediate type consists of domains of the order of 50 ～ 100 Å across with nearly regular lattices, along whose boundaries strongly disordered areas with widths of few tens of angstroms appear, but the relative orientations of the neighbouring domains are almost continuous. Thus a whole process of metamictization is visualized on a lattice scale. Metamictization proceeds principally by the formation of fission tracks, the direct result of fast movement of nuclear particles; recoil nuclei therefrom seem to play a less important role in the destruction of the structure.     

Deep water observations of extreme waves with moored and free GPS buoys

Point-positioning GPS-based wave measurements were conducted by deep ocean (over 5,000 m) surface buoys moored in the North West Pacific Ocean in 2009, 2012, and 2013. The observed surface elevation bears statistical characteristics of Gaussian, spectrally narrow ocean waves. The tail of the averaged spectrum follows the frequency to the power of ?4 slope, and the significant wave height and period satisfies the Toba’s 3/2 law. The observations compare well with a numerical wave hindcast. Two large freak waves exceeding 13 m in height were observed in October 2009 and three extreme waves around 20 m in height were observed in October 2012 and in January 2013. These extreme events are associated with passages of a typhoon and a mid-latitude cyclone. Horizontal movement of the buoy revealed that the orbital motion of the waves at the peak of the wave group mostly exceed the weakly nonlinear estimate. For some cases, the orbital velocity exceeded the group velocity, which might indicate a breaking event but is not conclusive yet.     

Thermo-tectonic history of Ryoke Basement in Hohi volcanic zone, northeast Kyushu, Japan: Constraints from fission track thermochronology

Abstract Apatite and zircon fission track ages from Ryoke Belt basement in northeast Kyushu show late Cretaceous, middle to late Eocene, middle Miocene and Quaternary groupings. The basement cooled through 240 ± 25°C, the closure temperature for fission tracks in zircon, mainly during the interval 74-90 Ma as a result of uplift and denudation, the pattern being uniform across northeast Kyushu. In combination with published K-Ar ages and the Turonian-Santonian age of sedimentation in the Onogawa Basin, active suturing along the Median Tectonic Line from 100-80 Ma, at least, is inferred. Ryoke Belt rocks along the northern margin of Hohi volcanic zone (HVZ) cooled rapidly through ∼100°C to less than 50°C during the middle Eocene to Oligocene, associated with 2.5-3.5 km of denudation. The timing of this cooling follows peak heating in the Eocene-Oligocene part (Murotohanto subbelt) of the Shimanto Belt in Muroto Peninsula (Shikoku) inferred previously, and coincides with the 43 Ma change in convergence direction of the Pacific-Eurasian plate and the demise of the Kula-Pacific spreading centre. Ryoke Belt rocks along the southern margin of HVZ have weighted mean apatite fission track ages of 15.3 ± 3.1 Ma. These reset ages are attributed to an increase in geothermal gradient in the middle Miocene combined with rapid denudation and uplift of at least 1.4 km. These ages indicate that heating of the overriding plate associated with the middle Miocene start of subduction of hot Shikoku Basin lithosphere extended into the Ryoke Belt in northeast Kyushu. Pleistocene apatite fission track ages from Ryoke Belt granites at depth in the centre of HVZ are due to modern annealing in a geothermal environment.     

Two extraterrestrial dust horizons found in the Dome Fuji ice core,East Antarctica

Two silicate-rich dust layers were found in the Dome Fuji ice core in East Antarctica, at Marine Isotope Stages 12 and 13. Morphologies, textures, and chemical compositions of constituent particles reveal that they are high-temperature melting products and are of extraterrestrial origin. Because similar layers were found ～ 2000 km east of Dome Fuji, at EPICA (European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica)-Dome C, particles must have rained down over a wide area 434 and 481 ka. The strewn fields occurred over an area of at least 3 × 10⁶ km². Chemical compositions of constituent phases and oxygen isotopic composition of olivines suggest that the upper dust layer was produced by a high-temperature interaction between silicate-rich melt and water vapor due to an impact explosion or an aerial burst of a chondritic meteoroid on the inland East Antarctic ice sheet. An estimated total mass of the impactor, on the basis of particle flux and distribution area, is at least 3 × 10⁹ kg. A possible parent material of the lower dust layer is a fragment of friable primitive asteroid or comet. A hypervelocity impact of asteroidal/cometary material on the upper atmosphere and an explosion might have produced aggregates of sub-μm to μm-sized spherules. Total mass of the parent material of the lower layer must exceed 1 × 10⁹ kg. The two extraterrestrial horizons, each a few millimeters in thickness, represent regional or global meteoritic events not identified previously in the Southern Hemisphere.     

Interlayer proton transfer in brucite under pressure by polarized IR spectroscopy to 5.3 GPa

In order to investigate the behaviour of proton in brucite under pressure, polarized IR absorption spectra and polarized absorbance distributions of (001) and (110) oriented single crystal of brucite under high pressure were measured by Fourier transform polarized infrared microspectroscopy with diamond anvil cell. A pressure-induced absorption peak at 3645 cm⁻¹ observed under pressures over 2.9 GPa was confirmed to be due to a secondarily formed OH dipole. Polarized absorbance distribution measured under pressure of (110) suggests that the secondary OH dipole is oriented 136.0° to c-axis under 5.3 GPa. Isotropic absorbance distribution of (001) suggests that the secondary OH dipole is disorderly trifurcated. Abrupt onset of the secondary peak and its reverse pleochroism suggest that the process of secondary OH dipole formation is due to proton transfer between layers in brucite. The calculated orientation of the secondary OH dipole consistent with the O-H···O′ angle revealed by neutron diffraction supports the existence of proton transfer along H···O′. The secondary OH dipole implies a new site of proton in brucite under pressure. Received: 6 March 1997 / Revised, accepted: 9 June 1997     

Crack-filling clays and weathered cracks in the DPRI 1800 m core near the Nojima Fault, Japan: Evidence for deep surface-water circulation near an active fault

Abstract Crack-filling clays and weathered cracks were observed in the Disaster Prevention Research Institute, Kyoto University (DPRI) 1800 m cores drilled from the Nojima Fault Zone, which was activated during the 1995 Hyogo-ken Nanbu earthquake (Kobe earthquake). The crack-filling clays consist mainly of unconsolidated fine-grained materials that fill opening cracks with no shear textures. Most of the cracks observed in the DPRI 1800 m cores are yellow-brown to brown in color due to weathering. Powder X-ray diffraction analyses show that the crack-filling clays are composed mainly of clay minerals and carbonates such as siderite and calcite. Given that the top of the borehole is approximately 45 m above sea level, most of the core is far below the stable groundwater table. Hence, it is suggested that the crack-filling clays and weathered cracks in the cores taken at depths of 1800 m were formed by the flow of surface water down to the deep fractured zone of the Nojima Fault Zone during seismic faulting.     

The influence of weathering on the geotechnical properties and slope angles of mudstone in the Mineoka earth-slide area,Japan

Three active earth-slide slopes of Tertiary mudstone were investigated: Slope 1 has an angle of 17 ?4°, Slope 2 of 12.9°, and Slope 3 of 11.6°. Infinite slope analysis indicated that the instability of these three slopes can be well explained by using the residual strength parameters of earth-slide soils near the sliding surface in conjunction with the highest ground water table. The residual angle of shearing resistance, ø'_r, plays an important role in the determination of slope angle because it differs greatly among slopes. Mineralogical studies and X-ray diffraction analyses were performed for the clay minerals included in the slope material. The results showed that illite and chlorite were found in Slope 1, and also in Slopes 2 and 3 together with interstratified illite/montmorillonite and montmorillonite. The degree of weathering is progressive in order of Slopes 1, 2 and 3. The alteration of clay minerals by weathering causes the reduction in ø'_r -values, i.e., 19.4° in Slope 1 (steep, less weathered) and 12.1-9.2° in Slopes 2 and 3 (gentle, much more weathered). This result indicates that the degree of weathering has a great influence on the value of ø'_r, which in turn determines the slope angle.