Short-Term Stability Evaluation of an Embankment Constructed on Marine Clay Foundation at Kobe Airport

This article introduces the application of a stability analysis method that accounts for strength anisotropy on the embankment constructed at the Kobe airport. Shear strength anisotropy is induced by the in-situ state of stress along a potential slip surface of the embankment. In addition, the effects of the shearing rate on the undrained shear strength of the marine clay are examined in detail based on the results of a series of constant-volume direct shear box (DSB), triaxial compression (TC), and triaxial extension (TE) tests varying shearing rates. The most critical slip surface was selected from the deterministic slope stability analysis using unconfined compression tests of undisturbed clay samples from the field. For the most critical slip surface, the potential factor of safety of the embankment is estimated to be within the range of 1.21 to 1.28, as indicated by the results of the stability analyses using the strengths obtained from the DSB, TC, and TE tests and varying shearing rates.     

Meridional and seasonal footprints of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation on phytoplankton biomass in the northwestern Pacific Ocean

We used 16 years of multiplatform-derived biophysical data to reveal the footprint of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) on the phytoplankton biomass of the northwestern Pacific Ocean in terms of chlorophyll a concentration (Chl), and to discern the probable factors causing the observed footprint. There were meridional differences in the response of phytoplankton to changes of environmental conditions associated with deepening of the mixed layer during the positive phase of the PDO. In general, deepening of the mixed layer increased phytoplankton biomass at low latitudes (increase of Chl due to increase of nutrient supply), but lowered phytoplankton at high latitudes (decrease of Chl due to reduction of average irradiance and temperature in the mixed layer). The areas where Chl increased or decreased changed meridionally and seasonally in accord with regulation of nutrient and light/temperature limitation by changes of mixed layer depth. The observed PDO footprint on Chl in the northwestern Pacific is likely superimposed on the high-frequency component of the PDO excited by El Niño/Southern Oscillation interannual variability. On a decadal time scale, however, Chl in the northwestern Pacific were more strongly associated with the recently discovered North Pacific Gyre Oscillation.     

40Ar/39Ar geochronology of mafic rocks from the granite—rhyolite terrane of southeastern Missouri

The predominant 1480 Ma granites and rhyolites of the St. Francois Mountains, southeastern Missouri, are intruded by mafic rocks. A ⁴⁰Ar—³⁹Ar study of some of these, the Skrainka Mafic Group, indicates an age of ～ 1240 Ma, significantly younger than the host rocks, significantly older than Grenville/Keweenawan age, and close to the age of similar rocks in Labrador.     

40Ar—39Ar ages of guyots in the western Pacific and discussion of their evolution

Summary. Six submarine rocks dredged from guyots in the western Pacific were dated by means of ⁴⁰Ar–³⁹Ar step heating dating technique. All ages show mid- to late-Cretaceous ages in accordance with the generally supposed age of the ocean crust estimated from the magnetic anomaly pattern.
The back-tracked paths were calculated for the guyots with the use of their absolute ages, for both the Pacific plate movements proposed by Morgan and by Clague & Jarrard. In both cases these show birth places for the guyots, which are located near the equator.
Fossil ages are nearly concordant with the ⁴⁰Ar–³⁹Ar ages for the guyots which are older than 95 Myr, whereas the fossil ages are considerably younger than the ⁴⁰Ar–³⁹Ar ages for the guyots younger than 90 Myr. This contrast may be due to the world-wide marine transgression, whose climax is believed to have occurred at about 85 Myr BP.     

An interpretation of the Nusselt-Rayleigh number relationship for convection in a spherical shell

Recent studies on the relationship between the Nusselt ( Nu ) and Rayleigh ( Ra ) numbers for base-heated convection in a spherical shell with a constant viscosity show that the power-law index is around 1/4, which is different from the value of 1/3 predicted by a simple boundary layer theory. We show that such a difference may be caused by the flow pattern due to the geometry. The flow pattern of the convection in a spherical shell at relatively low Ra , at least, less than 10⁶, is characterized by narrow upwelling and broad downwelling, which is similar to the opposite flow pattern of internally heated convection. Convection in the internally heated case predicts the power-law index of 1/4. We demonstrate this relationship based on the concept of 'local' Rayleigh ( Ra1 ) and Nusselt ( Nu1 ) numbers     

Chemical modification of sea water by submarine volcanism at Nishinoshima-Shintô Island

Sea water samples, still hot from volcanic emanations were taken in a bay of Nishinoshima-Shintô Island just after volcanic activity had ceased and were analysed for borate-B, fluoride-F and bromide-Br. The hot water is considered to be formed by the conservative mixing of volcanic emanations with sea water, and the emanations containedCl, B, F andBr in the ratio of 1∶1.84×10^?3∶0.474×10^?3∶6.47×10^?3 by weight. RatiosB/Cl andF/Cl can be used as effective measures of the contribution of volcanic emanations to sea water.     

The estimation of annual production by phytoplankton in Akkeshi Bay,Japan

The annual net and gross primary production by phytoplankton in Akkeshi Bay Hokkaido, are estimated to be 146±25 g C m^–2y^–1 and 416±53 g C m^–2y^–1, respectively. The annual means of the net and gross efficiency between primary production and solar radiation are estimated to be 0.26 % and 0.79 %, respectively.     

Dredge petrology of the boninite‐ and adakite‐bearing Hahajima Seamount of the Ogasawara (Bonin) forearc: An ophiolite or a serpentinite seamount?§

Abstract During the Hakuho‐Maru KH03‐3 cruise and the Tansei‐Maru KT04‐28 cruise, more than 1000 rock samples were dredged from several localities over the Hahajima Seamount, a northwest–southeast elongated, rectangular massif, 60 km × 30 km in size, with a flat top approximately 1100 m deep. The rocks included almost every lithology commonly observed among the on‐land ophiolite outcrops. Volcanic rocks included mid‐oceanic ridge basalt (MORB)‐like tholeiitic basalt and dolerite, calc‐alkaline basalt and andesite, boninite, high‐Mg adakitic andesite, dacite, and minor rhyolite. Gabbroic rocks included troctolite, olivine gabbro, olivine gabbronorite (with inverted pigeonite), gabbro, gabbronorite, norite, and hornblende gabbro, and showed both MORB‐type and island arc‐type mineralogies. Ultramafic rocks were mainly depleted mantle harzburgite (spinel Cr? 50–80) and its serpentinized varieties, with some cumulate dunite, wehrlite and pyroxenites. This rock assemblage suggests a supra‐subduction zone origin for the Hahajima Seamount. Compilation of the available dredge data indicated that the ultramafic rocks occur in the two northeast–southwest‐oriented belts on the seamount, where serpentinite breccia and gabbro breccia have also developed, but the other areas are free from ultramafic rocks. Although many conical serpentinite seamounts 10 km in size are aligned along the Izu–Ogasawara (Bonin)–Mariana forearc, the Hahajima Seamount may be better interpreted as a fault‐bounded, uplifted massif composed of ophiolitic thrust sheets, resembling the Izki block of the Oman ophiolite in its shape and size. The ubiquitous roundness of the dredged rocks and their thin Mn coating (<2 mm) suggest that the Hahajima Seamount was uplifted above sealevel and wave‐eroded, like the present Macquarie Is., a rare example of ophiolite exposure in an oceanic setting. The Ogasawara Plateau on the Pacific Plate is adjacent to the east of the Hahajima Seamount, and collision and subduction of the plateau may have caused uplift of the forearc ophiolite body.