Nucleation,growth and stability of CaAl2Si2O8 polymorphs

By means of in situ observation, the nucleation and growth of triclinic, pseudo-orthorhombic and pseudo-hexagonal CaAl₂Si₂O₈ were investigated and their relative stabilities established. Pseudo-hexagonal and pseudo-orthorhombic CaAl₂Si₂O₈ nucleate prior to anorthite and grow in a supercooled anorthite melt before the latter appears. They either dissolve or transform to anorthite once the latter nucleates and starts to grow. Corundum and mullite also nucleate metastably prior to anorthite in this melt. The liquidus temperatures of the four metastably nucleated phases were determined precisely by in situ measurements of the transformation temperatures from a polyhedral to a rounded morphology. On the basis of the supercooling thus determined, the growth rate versus supercooling relations were measured and analysed for the respective phases. The growth rate of the stable phase is one order of magnitude higher than those of any metastable phases. However, the growth rates of the three CaAl₂Si₂O₈ polymorphs normalized by the viscosities are nearly the same.     

BALLOON-BORNE MEASUREMENTS OF AEROSOL VERTICAL DISTRIBUTIONS OVER BEIJING DURING THE SUMMER AND AUTUMN OF 1993

The results of two balloon soundings during the summer and autumn of 1993 from the Xianghe Observation Station are being utilized in a study of the temporal and spatial distribution of the atmospheric aerosols.The balloon,gondola,instrumentation and atmospheric conditions during the observation period are described.The temporal and spatial characteristics of aerosol concentration,size ratio,mixing ratio,and size distribution for both troposphere and strato-sphere are presented and analyzed.     

Re-evaluation of the large deep earthquake of January 21, 1906

The large deep earthquake of January 21, 1906 is re-evaluated using old seismogram data and updated analysis techniques. From the P and pP-P time data the hypocentre parameters are determined as follows: origin time, 13h 49min 35s; latitude, 33.8°N; longitude, 137.5°E; depth, 340 km. The body-wave magnitude m_B is re-evaluated from the amplitude and periods of P, PP and S waves. The average value of 7.4 is obtained. This value is the smallest among any values assigned previously to this shock, and it is denied that the earthquake is the world's largest deep shock in this century. The focal mechanism is estimated from the P-wave first motions and amplitude distribution of P and S waves. Synthetic body waves are used to constrain the mechanism and to determine the seismic moment. The mechanism solution suggests the down-dip compression typical of this region. A seismic moment of 1.5 × 10²⁷ dyn · cm is obtained. This value and the re-evaluated value of m_B are consistent with the moment-_B relation obtained for other deep earthquakes.     

Modeling of the runup heights of the Hokkaido-Nansei-Oki tsunami of 12 July 1993

The Hokkaido-Nansei-Oki earthquake (M _w 7.7) of July 12, 1993, is one of the largest tsunamigenic events in the Sea of Japan. The tsunami magnitudeM _t is determined to be 8.1 from the maximum amplitudes of the tsunami recorded on tide gauges. This value is larger thanM _w by 0.4 units. It is suggested that the tsunami potential of the Nansei-Oki earthquake is large forM _w . A number of tsunami runup data are accumulated for a total range of about 1000 km along the coast, and the data are averaged to obtain the local mean heightsH _n for 23 segments in intervals of about 40 km each. The geographic variation ofH _n is approximately explained in terms of the empirical relationship proposed byAbe (1989, 1993). The height prediction from the available earthquake magnitudes ranges from 5.0–8.4 m, which brackets the observed maximum ofH _n , 7.7 m, at Okushiri Island.     

Revision of magnitudes of large shallow earthquakes, 1897–1912

In previous research, trace amplitudes of surface wave maxima recorded by undamped Milne seismographs were used to determine the surface-wave magnitudes M_s of large shallow earthquakes which occurred prior to 1912. For this purpose, the effective gain of these instruments was calibrated by using the surface-wave magnitudes M_s(GR) which were calculated from the unpublished worksheets for Seismicity of the Earth of Gutenberg and Richter. In this paper, the real quality of M_s(GR) is critically re-evaluated by using independent sets of data. It is found that M_s(GR) for the period 1904–1909 is considerably overestimated. The average excess from the real M_s is 0.5 units for 1904–1906, 0.4 for 1907, 0.3 for 1908–1909 and 0.0 for 1910–1912. This overestimation is so systematic and large that the previous results are all redetermined. The average effective gain of Milne instruments is revised to be 21.9; previously, the gain depended on M_s. This revision results in systematic reduction in the previously assigned magnitudes. The revised values of M_s for 264 shallow earthquakes, with M_s=6.8 and over in the period 1897–1912 inclusive, are listed. The present revision is large enough to preclude the possibility of the high activity of large shallow earthquakes around the turn of the century. The present results have a direct effect on all the magnitude catalogues of shallow earthquakes which occurred prior to 1909.     

Phases Representing Source Lengths of Tsunami in Tide Gauge Records

We identified a phase representing the source length of tsunami's in the tide gauge records around Japan. This phase was observed at tide stations, located in the direction of the long axis of the sources, for four large tsunamis: 1964 Niigata, 1968 Tokachi-oki, 1983 Nihonkaichubu, and 1993 Hokkaido-nanseioki. The phase consists of two continuous crests starting as the initial arrival and has a time length of 15–47 minutes. This is the time required to propagate across the source area along the long axis. Strong evidence that the phase is generated at the source is the good correlation between waveform observed at one side and time-inversed waveform at another side. The correlation results from the instantaneous generation of the source. The source lengths of 74–254 km were obtained under an assumption of sea depths at the sources and verified to coincide with ones within a relative error of 15% that were previously obtained by other methods.     

Influence of surface and vegetation characteristics on C-band radar measurements for soil moisture content

Soil moisture estimation using microwave remote sensing faces challenges of the segregation of influences mainly from roughness and vegetation. Under static surface conditions, it was found that Radarsat C-band SAR shows reasonably good correlation and sensitivity with changing soil moisture. Dynamic surface and vegetation conditions are supposed to result in a substantial reduction in radar sensitivity to soil moisture. A C-band scatterometer system (5.2 GHz) with a multi-polarization and multi-angular configuration was used 12 times to sense the soil moisture over a tall vegetated grass field. A score of vegetation and soil parameters were recorded on every occasion of the experiment. Three radar backscattering models Viz., Integral Equation Model (IEM), an empirical model and a volume scattering model, have been used to predict the backscattering phenomena. The volume scattering model, using the Distorted Born Approximation, is found to predict the backscattering phenomena reasonably well. But the surface scattering models are expectedly found to be inadequate for the purpose. The temporal variation of soil moisture does show good empirical relationship with the observed radar backscattering. But as the vegetation biomass increases, the radar shows higher sensitivity to the vegetation parameters compared to surface characteristics. A sensitivity analysis of the volume scattering model for all the parameters also reveals that the radar is more sensitive to plant parameters under high biomass conditions, particularly vegetation water content, but the sensitivity to surface characteristics, particularly to soil moisture, is also appreciable.     

Thermal diffusivity of lunar rocks under atmospheric and vacuum conditions

Thermal diffusivity, k, of three lunar rocks (10049 and 10069; Type A, Apollo 11 and 14311; Apollo 14) and a terrestrial basalt (alkaline olivine basalt, Oki-do?go, Japan) was measured under one atmosphere and in vacuum conditions (10^?3 ～ 10^?5 mmHg) in the temperature range from 85 to 850°K. The semi-empirical curve of k =A + B/T +CT³ is fitted to the data in each condition. The porosity of rocks strongly affects the thermal diffusivity at low temperature ( T ? 500°K) in vacuum condition. At 150°K, thermal diffusivity of lunar rocks with porosity of 5.5% (10049) and 11% (10069) at one atmosphere is about 1.7 and 3.2 times of that in vacuum, respectively. The difference between the values at one atmosphere and those in vacuum decreases as the temperature increases. Measurements of k should be made at gas pressures at least lower than 10^?3 mmHg to estimate the value under lunar surface conditions.     

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.     

On-going orogeny in the outer-arc of the Timor–Tanimbar region, eastern Indonesia

The Timor–Tanimbar islands of eastern Indonesia form a non-volcanic arc in front of a 7 km deep fore-arc basin that separates it from a volcanic inner arc. The Timor–Tanimbar Islands expose one of the youngest high P/T metamorphic belts in the world, providing us with an excellent opportunity to study the inception of orogenic processes, undisturbed by later tectonic events.Structural and petrological studies of the high P/T metamorphic belt show that both deformation and metamorphic grade increase towards the centre of the 1 km thick crystalline belt. Kinematic indicators exhibit top-to-the-north sense of shear along the subhorizontal upper boundaries and top-to-the-south sense in the bottom boundaries of the high P/T metamorphic belt. Overall configuration suggests that the high P/T metamorphic rocks extruded as a thin sheet into a space between overlying ophiolites and underlying continental shelf sediments. Petrological study further illustrates that the central crystalline unit underwent a Barrovian-type overprint of the original high P/T metamorphic assemblages during wedge extrusion, and the metamorphic grade ranged from pumpellyite-actinolite to upper amphibolite facies.Quaternary uplift, marked by elevation of recent reefs, was estimated to be about 1260 m in Timor in the west and decreases toward Tanimbar in the east. In contrast, radiometric ages for the high P/T metamorphic rocks suggest that the exhumation of the high P/T metamorphic belt started in western Timor in Late Miocene time and migrated toward the east. Thus, the tectonic evolution of this region is diachronous and youngs to the east. We conclude that the deep-seated high P/T metamorphic belt extrudes into shallow crustal levels as a first step, followed by doming at a later stage. The so-called ‘mountain building’ process is restricted to the second stage. We attribute this Quaternary rapid uplift to rebound of the subducting Australian continental crust beneath Timor after it achieved positive buoyancy, due to break-off of the oceanic slab fringing the continental crust. In contrast, Tanimbar in the east has not yet been affected by later doming. A wide spectrum of processes, starting from extrusion of the high P/T metamorphic rocks and ending with the later doming due to slab break-off, can be observed in the Timor–Tanimbar region.