Last glacial emplacement of methane-derived authigenic carbonates in the Sea of Japan constrained by diatom assemblage,carbon-14, and carbonate content

We studied diatom assemblages and CaCO₃ contents of methane-derived authigenic carbonates from the eastern margin of the Sea of Japan and assessed the formation time of these samples. Radioactive ¹⁴C date was determined in selected samples to obtain the maximum age of the time. The results of our study suggest mass formation of carbonate nodules in a glacial period within ∼40 ky, consistent with a published U/Th dating result of carbonate nodules in the study area. Diatom assemblages and contents in the carbonate nodules (abundance of ∼10⁶/g, dominance of neritic-littoral species, warm/cold water species ratio lower than ∼25) differ from the near-seafloor sediments in the study area, which have characteristics of Holocene sediments in the Sea of Japan, and suggest cementation of glacial sediments. Laminated sediments in some nodule samples are glacial sediments because laminations are records of a low sea level period in the semi-enclosed ocean. Similarity of diatom assemblages and contents in all carbonate samples is another evidence of glacial sediments in nodules. Glacial sediments with oceanic cold water species as low as Holocene sediments restricts the sediment age to before 20 cal. ky BP. Carbonate contents higher than 78 wt% suggest the cementation of poorly compacted sediments near the seafloor, and the date of carbonate cementation is, therefore, close to that of the cemented sediments. Most carbonate nodule samples in this study were formed in a glacial period and detection of ¹⁴C restricts this period to within ∼40 ky.     

ON PHYTOGEOGRAPHICAL AFFINITIES OF THE FOREST FLORAS BETWEEN EAST CHINA AND JAPAN

EastChinaisoneoftherichestregionsinplantlifeinEastAsiaanditsfloraisthemainpartofSino-Japanesefloristicregion,whichhasattractedtheattentionofmanybotanistsbothathomeandabroad,suchasHuXiansu(1936),LiHuilin(1950,1953),StewardA.N.(1958),WangJingkiang(1988),WangWencai(1992),Wusugong(1987),WuZhengyi(1979)andXieGuowen(1991a,1993),etal.AnumberofpapersdealingwithEastAsian-EasternNorthAmericanphytogeographicalrelationshipshavebeenpublished(Bouffordf1983).However,thefloristicrelationsbetweenEas…     

利用GRACE数据检测日本Mw9.0地震同震和震后重力变化

基于德国地学中心（GFZ）发布的GRACE RL05月重力场模型数据,考虑全球陆地同化系统陆地水储量的影响,采用300 km的扇形滤波,利用叠积法提取了日本Mw9.0地震的同震和震后重力时变信号,并利用最小二乘拟合的方法计算了两个同震重力变化极值点在地震前后85个月的重力年变率。结果表明：土壤水分和雪水引起的重力变化为-0.34~0.09 μgal;利用GRACE数据检测到的同震重力变化为-5.3~4.2 μgal,与基于PSGRN/PSCMP模型计算的结果在空间分布和量级上具有较好的一致性;震后5 a震中附近区域的重力整体上呈现增加趋势,断层上盘所在的日本海域与下盘所在的太平洋区域重力增加的最大值分别为2.6、4.5 μgal,下盘重力增加较大,可能与断层下盘所在地层的黏滞性相对较低有关。     

Luminescence dating reveals a rapid response to climate change of fluvial terrace formation along the Ani River,northeastern Japan,during the last glacial period

Fluvial terraces along the middle reaches of many Japanese rivers were formed during the last glacial period as a result of changes in sediment discharge related to cooler temperatures and/or reduced water discharge because of lower precipitation. The influence of climate change on these fluvial terraces is not yet fully understood because most previous studies lacked detailed reconstructions of the chronology of terrace development. This study provides a detailed luminescence chronology of fluvial terrace deposits along the Ani River, northeastern Honshu, Japan, and compares that chronology to paleoclimatic records. Eight samples for luminescence dating were obtained from an outcrop of terrace deposits (∼10 m thick) in the Ani River valley. The fading-corrected infrared stimulated luminescence (IRSL) ages are consistent with the fading-corrected post-IR IRSL ages for some samples, which suggests that fading corrections were effective despite the higher fading rates of the IRSL signal. However, for the other samples, the post-IR IRSL ages are significantly older than the fading-corrected IRSL ages due to incomplete bleaching. The pulsed IRSL signals are close to field saturation for older samples, which might have resulted in a greater variation of the ages. Fading-corrected IRSL ages demonstrate periods of rapid aggradation during 105–90 ka and 75–60 ka. Comparison of terrace development with paleoclimatic records indicates that the two periods of fluvial deposition correspond to decreases in precipitation caused by weakened East Asian summer monsoon precipitation and possibly decreases in temperature. The results of this study show that the Ani River responded rapidly to climate change on a time scale of a few tens of thousands of years during the last glacial period.     

Working towards conceptual consistency in discussing “diaspora” and “diaspora strategies”: Ethnicity and affinity in the case of Japan

The terms “diaspora” and “diaspora strategies” are both used in inconsistent, and often, conflicting ways. Who encompasses “the diaspora” and what are “diaspora strategies”? What roles do ethnicity and affinity play in conceptualizing relationships between diasporas and homeland governments? This paper extrapolates from programs and organizations that link overseas coethnic and former resident non-coethnic populations to Japan to offer clarity and consistency in usage by bringing together concepts not typically put in conversation with each other and introducing new terms that conceptualize more specific aspects of who we are referring to as “diaspora” and what we are referring to as “diaspora strategies”. Conceptualizations of diaspora often gloss over internal differences, including whether or not people deemed members of a diaspora actually demonstrate a homeland orientation. Focusing on the difference between ethnicity-based and affinity-based definitions of diaspora, I distinguish between three types of diaspora strategies: “diaspora-connecting”, “diaspora-cultivating”, and “diaspora-creating strategies”. Finally, as a way to discuss the potential contributions of both overseas coethnic and non-coethnic populations to a given nation, I conclude by considering Joseph Nye’s notion of “soft power” in relation to diaspora strategies. By engaging these concepts together, the paper highlights the tensions between considering ethnicity and affinity as factors for deciding who to target for diaspora strategies, and demonstrates how diaspora strategies can also target non-coethnics.     

The origin of strain patterns resulting from contemporaneous deformation and metamorphism in the Sambagawa metamorphic belt

Abstract The magnitudes of plastic strains of 104 metacherts were determined from the deformed shape of initially spherical radiolarians in the Sambagawa high- P type metamorphic belt of Western Shikoku, Japan. The strain magnitude increases with increasing metamorphic temperature from several per cent to 250%. The a₂/a₃ ratio of strain ellipsoids in the higher metamorphic grades decreases with increasing metamorphic grade while the a₁/a₂ ratio increases rapidly. The long axis of the strain ellipsoid for every grade is nearly parallel to the length of the metamorphic belt, suggesting that the flow direction of the synmetamorphic deformation was uniform along the belt. A map of strain zones within the Sambagawa high- P type metamorphic belt reveals that the metamorphic belt underwent a progressive bulk inhomogeneous shear deformation and that the high-grade zones represent a deep-seated boundary shear zone on the accretionary wedge between a subducting oceanic plate and the immobile rigid continental plate.     

记联合国亚太经社会(ESCTP)第一次浅成热液型金矿讨论会

联合国亚太经社会主持召开的第一次浅成热液型金矿讨论会,于1989年5月9—12日在日本筑波市举行。亚太地区的16国代表参加了会议,分别就亚大地区的黄全地质勘查、开发工作的现状及前景,各国黄金工作开展情况和浅成热液型金矿代表矿床地质特征进行了交流。会后于5月13～18日前往九州进行野外考察,并现场讨论了菱刈、岩户金矿的找矿标志、成因和勘查方法。     

GPS测定的2011年日本9.0级地震的中国大陆地区同震位移场

利用陆态网络东北地区的6个GPS基准站地震期间的观测数据反演了日本本州东海岸9.0级强震区域地表的瞬时形变过程,应用160多个陆态网络基准站以及IGS跟踪站的GPS观测数据解算获得中国大陆地区的远场同震位移。将测站按照中国大陆主要构造带(区)进行分配统计可知,东北地区同震位移最大,平均接近20mm;首都圈与郯-庐带及周围地区平均同震位移也在10mm左右;距离震中比较远的鄂尔多斯及周围、阿尔金-祁连山-阿拉善、新疆等地区也受到了该地震的影响,在东方向发生了5mm左右的位移,并且以上地区的优势方向都为东方向;而本次地震对中国的华南(包括南海)以及青藏等地区基本没有影响。这些解算结果对进一步研究地震动力学特征及判定未来地震趋势提供了详实的实测依据。     

Contextualizing other political ecologies: Japan's environmental aid to the Philippines

This paper argues for the utility of a focus on contextualized sources of environmental change to address the ever more diverse contexts of political ecology. In order to overcome the conventional approach to contextual sources that has tended to be analytically one‐dimensional and limited, I seek to provide a more nuanced account, notably by examining the neglected case of green aid of a nonwestern aid donor, Japan. Using conceptual tools that are both conjuncture‐based and multiscalar, the paper examines the way in which a post‐Rio international policy drive to promote so called green aid during the 1990s was translated into and conditioned by the historically and geographically specific contexts of Japan and the aid recipient featured herein, the Philippines. This focus on contextual sources helps to elucidate (i) how the ambiguous nature of international aid criteria combined together with Japan's own domestic political economy to render problematic an ostensibly environmental project, (ii) the manner in which neoliberal economic restructuring was translated into one of Japan's key policy initiatives in the 1990s and formed the backdrop to the specific aid case project discussed here, (iii) how Japan's environmental aid process in the Philippines was shaped through a repoliticization of various green discourses, and (iv) how the complex dynamics among stakeholders ended up compromising the very nature of the case study project.