Intra-crater deposits of the Toga tuff ring, Oga Peninsula, NE Japan

The Toga tuff ring is a large, dissected tuff ring located on the modern shoreline of the Oga Peninsula, NE Japan. The crater measures 2 km by 2.4 km and the inner crater walls are inclined inward at 40–50° to form a funnel shape. Intra-crater beds are mainly composed of platy or blocky, non- to variably vesicular glass shards and pumice lapilli of K-rich rhyolite composition and dip inward at 10°–30° or less. A gravity model suggests they fill the downward-tapering conduit to a depth of 548 m below sea level. Fission-track dates from the intra-crater deposits indicate the age of the Toga tuff ring is ca. 420 ka, likely corresponding to a stage of global sea-level fall, MIS 12. Subsequent sea-level rise and marine transgression is inferred to have resulted in erosion of almost the entire outer tuff ring by post-eruptive wave action.The intra-crater deposit`s are exposed over a thickness of 50 m in the deeply incised crater floor. They comprise mainly monomictic tephra of phreatomagmatic origin and are similar in grain-size distribution and sedimentary structures to relatively high and low density turbidites, although the constituents, sparse block-sag structures, and multiple fluid-escape dikes suggest that they are the subaqueous equivalents of high- and low-density pyroclastic currents with similar grain-sizes and degree of grain-size sorting. Marine diatom frustules sparsely contained in the deposits suggest that the crater was likely open to the sea, enabling rapid access of seawater to the vent. Pyroclasts ejected through the water flowed back into the crater to form eruption-fed oscillatory or circular turbidity currents and were repeatedly recycled and variably abraded by subsequent explosions, while many juvenile pumice lapilli and ash grains were carried beyond the crater rim to form relatively dilute pyroclastic currents. The Toga example suggests that primary deposits emplaced in crater lakes are well sorted, graded and stratified with polymodal flow directions, sparse block-sags, and vesicular and fragile fragments that are more or less abraded by repeated explosions and recycling.     

日本油气发展战略及其对中国油气行业的启示

总结了日本在不同时期根据国际油气市场结构的变化而采取的相应的油气政策,重点对日本的石油天然气和金属矿物资源机构的职能、石油和液化石油气的储备体系、油气自主开发和能源外交政策,以及最新颁布的《新国家能源战略》作了介绍和分析。最后结合中国油气发展的现状,提出了一些针对性的建议。     

New evidence for reorientation of the Razdol’naya River flow in the Pleistocene (southern Primor’e region)

Taking into consideration additional data indicating the reorientation of the Razdol’naya River flow in the Pleistocene, a new model of its capture is proposed. The latter is based on the principle of the more aggressive behavior of rivers draining the eastern megaslope of the Sikhote Alin mountainous system, including the river that captured the Razdol’naya River flow.     

日本防灾减灾与地震应急工作现状

介绍了日本目前的防灾减灾、 地震灾害应急工作体系和地震应急技术。 文中以日本最具有代表性的兵库县防灾中心和东京都防灾中心为例, 介绍并论述了日本地震应急工作的现状, 为我国更好地开展防震减灾和地震应急工作提供了一定的借鉴经验。     

基于格网数据的洪水灾害风险评估方法——以日本新川洪灾为例

本文对日本格网统计数据的历史、体系以及结构进行了介绍 ,并应用地理信息技术给出了各级格网的自动生成方法。同时以 2 0 0 0年日本新川洪水灾害为案例 ,建立了二维洪水演进水动力学模型 ,并采用地理信息系统与水动力学模型结合的方法对新川破堤洪水泛滥进行了模拟 ,同时对洪泛区灾害损失进行了评估 ,得到的结果为进一步评估洪水灾害风险以及确定合理的洪灾保险费率奠定了基础 ,对于格网统计数据在城市规划以及城市减灾等领域的应用也有一定的借鉴意义。     

Density variations of Cr-rich garnets in the upper mantle inferred from the elasticity of uvarovite garnet

The thermoelastic parameters of Ca₃Cr₂Si₃O₁₂ uvarovite garnet were examined in situ at high pressure up to 13 GPa and high temperature up to 1100 K by synchrotron radiation energy-dispersive X-ray diffraction within a 6-6-type multi-anvil press apparatus. A least-square fitting of room T data to a third-order Birch–Murnaghan (BM3) EoS yielded K₀ = 164.2 ± 0.7 GPa, V₀ = 1735.9 ± 0.3 ų (K’₀ fixed to 4.0). P–V–T data were fitted simultaneously by a modified HT-BM3 EoS, which gave the isothermal bulk modulus K₀ = 163.6 ± 2.6 GPa, K’₀ = 4.1 ± 0.5, its temperature derivative (?K_0,T/?T)_P = –0.014 ± 0.002 GPa K^?1, and the thermal expansion coefficients a₀ = 2.32 ± 0.13 ×10^?5 K^?1 and b₀ = 2.13 ± 2.18 ×10^?9 K^?2 (K’₀ fixed to 4.0). Our results showed that the Cr³⁺ enrichment in natural systems likely increases the density of ugrandite garnets, resulting in a substantial increase of mantle garnet densities in regions where Cr-rich spinel releases chromium through a metasomatic reaction.     

Nine requirements for the origin of Earth's life:Not at the hydrothermal vent,but in a nuclear geyser system

The origin of life on Earth remains enigmatic with diverse models and debates.Here we discuss essential requirements for the first emergence of life on our planet and propose the following nine requirements:(1)an energy source(ionizing radiation and thermal energy);(2)a supply of nutrients(P.K.REE.etc.);(3)a supply of life-constituting major elements;(4)a high concentration of reduced gases such as CH_4,HCN and NH_3;(5)dry-wet cycles to create membranes and polymerize RNA;(6)a non-toxic aqueous environment;(7)Na-poor water;(8)highly diversified environments,and(9)cyclic conditions,such as dayto-night,hot-to-cold etc.Based on these nine requirements,we evaluate previously proposed locations for the origin of Earth's life,including:(1)Darwin's "warm little pond",leading to a "prebiotic soup" for life;(2)panspermia or Neo-panspermia(succession model of panspermia);(3)transportation from/through Mars;(4)a deepsea hydrothermal system;(5)an on-land subduct ion-zone hot spring,and(6)a geyser systems driven by a natural nuclear reactor.We conclude that location(6)is the most ideal candidate for the o rigin point for Earth's life because of its efficiency in continuously supplying both the energy and the necessary materials for life,thereby maintaining the essential "cradle" for its initial development.We also emphasize that falsifiable working hypothesis provides an important tool to evaluate one of the biggest mysteries of the universe-the origin of life.     

日本开发历史地震信息资源

阪神大震后,日本地震学界有计划有组织地开发历史地震信息资源,应用地震科学研究成果和最新科学技术与方法,在地震强震动、地震烈度、地震震级和区域构造特性等方面的研究取得进展,其成果已广泛应用于地震科学研究和地震防灾等方面。本文主要介绍日本地震学界开发历史地震信息资源的一些思路、做法和成果。     

利用电离层层析技术探测日本9.0级地震前电离层异常

利用电离层层析技术对日本Ms9.0地震前21天震中区域附近上空电离层进行了三维重构,并通过2倍标准差方法对反演出的各时刻电离层各格网点电子密度值进行了异常探测。在排除太阳和地磁活动影响后分析得出：2月28日UT14:00—16:00出现的电离层电子密度值异常减小、3月2日UT08:00—14:00、3日UT00:00—06:00和4日UT12:00—20:00出现的电离层电子密度值异常增大极有可能与日本地震有关。     

Spatiotemporal Continuity of Sequential Rain Suggested by 3-D Variogram

A series of rainfalls observed in central Japan from noon on the 13th to midnight on the 14th, August 1999 (36 h), has been analyzed by spatiotemporal variograms in order to reveal the continuity of rain precipitation in a 3-D space defined by geographic coordinates and time. All instances of zero precipitation are considered, but have been treated as four different cases: case 0 excludes all zero data, case 1 includes a zero datum neighboring to each finite value, case 2 includes a zero neighboring to each finite value and the next neighboring zero, and a fourth case (termed case A) includes all zeros. Hourly precipitation has a statistical distribution best approximated by a Weibull model, and somewhat less well by a normal distribution, in all four cases. A rectangular variogram of measured values of total precipitation shows that the best continuity appears approximately along the N-S direction (the ranges given by directional variograms are 500 and 80 km in the N-S and W-E directions, respectively). In contrast, temporally stacked rectangular variograms of hourly precipitation shows that the best continuity direction is W-E in all cases (the ranges in case A are 50 and 100 km along the N-S and W-E directions, respectively). A spatial variogram gives a spatial range independently of time, whereas a temporal variogram gives a temporal range. When geographic coordinates are normalized by the spatial range (here 80 km given by the temporally stacked omnidirectional variogram in case A), and time is normalized by the temporal range (here 7 h given by the spatially stacked temporal variogram), geographic coordinates and time can be treated as equivalent variables. Consequently, a spatiotemporal variogram can be calculated along a given direction in 3-D space using the normalized coordinates. The continuity direction of a series of rainfalls can be best understood by display on a Wulff net, where each range value is written at a point corresponding to the direction. The direction of the best continuity is N0°W+20° in the normalized space. A rectangular variogram in the normalized space, in which the horizontal and vertical axes represent N-S direction and time, respectively, suggests that the series of heavy rainfalls examined here had a continuity pattern that was elongated from west to east (the range values are 20–30 km and 100 km along N-S and W-E, respectively), and that migrated from south to north with a speed of 30 km/h.