3-D Viscoelastic FEM Modeling of Crustal Deformation in Northeast Japan

-- As a first step toward establishing a standard earthquake cycle model in Japan, we simulate the crustal deformation during the past 100 years in northeast Japan, using a 3-D FEM based on the kinematic model. Then, we compare the computed results with the observed long-term leveling data and the recent GPS data. On the whole, although the effect of the subducting PAC is dominant, coseismic deformation of the interplate earthquakes can be clearly seen in the inland. Moreover, the postseismic deformation of the earthquakes due to the viscoelastic upper mantle seriously affects the inland movements, and continues for a few decades. Our modeling, including the effects of the interplate earthquakes and the three-dimensional viscoelastic inhomogeneity, reasonably explains the observed movement. Finally, we stress that the viscoelastic effect should be taken into consideration in the analyses, even if no earthquakes occur in the analyzed period.     

Thermoelastic model of minerals: application to Al2O3

 A thermoelastic model for calculating the high-pressure and high-temperature properties of isotropic solids is presented by extending the formalism by Thomsen and combining the resulting one with the Vinet model for static lattice and the Debye model for lattice vibration. Applying it to polycrystalline corundum, we have shown that the calculated values of entropy and heat capacity at constant pressure are in agreement with literature values to 2325 K at zero pressure and that the calculated values of thermal expansivity agree reasonably with experimental data to 1100 K at zero pressure. The model reproduces experimental data of sound velocities v _p and v _s of compressional and shear waves to 1825 K at zero pressure and those to 62 GPa at room temperature, and it reproduces also experimental shock-wave equation of state to 150 GPa. The velocity correlation (∂ln v _s /∂ln v _p ) _S was found to have weak pressure and temperature dependences and the results under lower mantle conditions are compared with those of magnesian and calcium silicate perovskites and magnesiowüstite, and the PREM values of the Earth's lower mantle. Received: 12 February 2000 / Accepted: 15 July 2000     

North-south asymmetries of solar particle events in upper stratospheric ozone

Stratospheric ozone depressions, following intense solar particle events (SPE) observed by the backscattered ultraviolet (BUV) experiment on the Nimbus-4 satellite, indicate the existence of distinct asymmetries between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. These asymmetries are observed in the magnitude of the depressions above the 5-mb level, their temporal variations, and the spatial (i.e., latitude and longitude) dependence of these variations. Possible causes of asymmetries, shown by two events on 4 August 1972 and 25 January 1971, can be attributed to: (1) tilt of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) with respect to the Earth's dipole magnetic field which influences the precipitation of energetic solar particles into the polar atmospheres; (2) differences in ozone chemistry caused by the large change in atmospheric temperature between summer and winter hemispheres; (3) seasonal differences of the stratosphere's dynamic states which are affected by upward propagating planetary waves in winter in contrast to the relatively undisturbed zonal flow in summer; (4) topographic asymmetry between Northern and Southern Hemispheres.These effects are shown by three-dimensional plots of the events in geographic coordinates and by color contour plots of the stratospheric ozone distributions in geomagnetic and geographic polar coordinates, respectively.     

Synthesis of γ-Mg2SiO4

Magnesium orthosilicate with spinel structure (γ-Mg₂SiO₄) was synthesized at about 250 kbar and 1000°C. Unit cell dimension was established to be 8.076 ± 0.001Å. X-ray powder diffraction pattern revealed a significant difference between γ-Mg₂SiO₄ and other γ-M₂SiO₄ spinels (M = Fe, Co, and Ni) in the intensities of (111) and (331) reflections, both of which are virtually absent in the Mg₂SiO₄ spinel. This feature could be thoroughly understood by the calculation of the intensities for several silicate spinels.     

Cyclotron side-band emissions from ring-current electrons

VLF-emissions with subharmonic cyclotron frequency from magnetospheric electrons have been detected by the S³-A satellite (Explorer 45) whose orbit is close to the magnetic equatorial plane where the wave-particle interaction is most efficient. These emissions are observed during the main phase of a geomagnetic storm in the nightside of the magnetosphere outside of the plasmasphere around L = 3–5. The emissions consist essentially of two frequency regimes, one below the equatorial electron gyro-frequency, , and the other above . The emissions below are whistler mode and there is a sharp band of “missing emissions” along . The emissions above are electrostatic mode and the frequency ranges up to . It is concluded that these emissions are generated by the enhanced relativity low energy (1–5 keV) ring current electrons, penetrating into the nightside magnetosphere during the main phase of a magneto storm. Although the high energy (50–350 keV) electrons showed remarkable changes of pitch angle distribution, their associations with VLF-emissions are not so significant as those of low energy electrons.     

Research on the evolution law of permafrost under the influence of urbanization based on remote sensing technology

The permafrost of Mohe County and its suburbs in the Daxing′an Mountains has been influenced by the urbanization. Remote sensing, GIS technology and numerical simulation was used to study the temperature variations of permafrost with the changes in surface vegetation that cover Mohe County and suburban areas, and the law of permafrost degradation on the study area was analyzed. The research results show that the urban area of the study area increased 114.42%from 2000 to 2016, and the urbanization process is continuing to accelerate. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index map of 2017 in Mohe County and its suburbs was studied and the maximum proportion of vegetation coverage was different in the four seasons. The numerical calculation model results show that the permafrost temperature change in the study area cyclically fluctuates in a cosine form. The annual variation curve of permafrost temperature gradually decreased and its accompanying phase lag increased with depth. The annual temperature change value with the different depths of the town was greater than the natural ground. The maximum permafrost thawing depths of the town and natural ground were 4.2 m and 2.82 m in 50 a, and the degradation rates of the two permafrost are, respectively, 0.88 cm/a and 0.46 cm/a. These results show that urbanization has accelerated the degradation of permafrost.     

日本东北9.0级地震的同震与震后滑动

大部分强震都发生在海沟,那里是海洋板块向大陆板块俯冲的地方.大量矩震级MW9.0以上的地震发生在若干区域,包括智利,阿拉斯加,堪察加半岛和苏门答腊岛等.位于太平洋板块俯冲鄂霍茨克板块的日本海沟,历史记载上没有发生过MW9.0地震,除了至今震级还有争议的公元869年Jogan大地震[1](可能超过MW9.0).然而,根据...     

多年冻土区土壤多环芳烃污染研究进展

多环芳烃（polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons,PAHs）是一种难降解、毒性强的致癌性污染物,其广泛分布于各环境介质中,陆地环境中90%的PAHs累积在土壤中。随着资源的开发,由油品泄漏、垃圾渗滤、污水排放等行为造成的多年冻土区PAHs土壤污染问题日益突显,并且在气候变化背景下,多年冻土中的PAHs具有重新释放而造成二次污染的风险,多年冻土区土壤多环芳烃污染分布特征和迁移规律研究对评估多年冻土区生态环境风险,防治土壤持久性有机物污染,保障广大多年冻土居民生命健康安全具有重要意义。通过回顾目前国内外多年冻土区土壤中PAHs污染的相关研究,分析发现多年冻土区未受污染的土壤中PAHs的污染水平远低于中低纬度人口密集区域,可代表地球土壤中PAHs的背景值;高纬度或高海拔的地理位置以及严寒的气候使得冻土区土壤中PAHs一个普遍且最重要的来源是大气远距离传输;活动层的冻融作用主要通过改变土壤理化性质和控制水分运移方向影响PAHs在多年冻土区土壤中的垂向分布特征,多年冻土的低渗透性具有阻碍PAHs垂向迁移的作用。综合分析已有研究成果,表明目前冻土区土壤PAHs污染研究还是大量集中于表层土壤中的污染分布调查和来源解析,而关于PAHs在活动层和多年冻土层中的垂向迁移研究还仅限于对其在土壤剖面中分布状况的解释性分析,冻融作用对PAHs在土壤中的迁移、转化和归宿的影响机制还不清楚。未来多年冻土区土壤中PAHs的研究将集中于迁移转化机理与污染治理技术两方面,针对PAHs在多年冻土区土壤中迁移行为的模拟模型亟待研究开发,以实现PAHs污染储量和迁移通量的定量预测;此外,多年冻土区土壤污染问题的深入研究还需要紧密联系多圈层、多界面、多介质、多要素以及多目标污染物而开展。     

VLF-emissions associated with ring current electrons: Off-equatorial observations

The combination of a small inclination of the orbit (～4°) with the tilt angle (～11°) of the Earth's magnetic dipole axis enabled the S³-A satellite (Explorer 45) to make simultaneous observations of magnetospheric VLF-emissions and the associated enhancement of ring current electrons not only at the magnetic equator but also up to 15° geomagnetic latitudes. Microdensitometer scanning of the wideband data of these emissions reveals that the band of missing emission in the off-equatorial whistler mode emissions (chorus) appears at $\text{f}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>Ho</mtext>}}\text{2}$ and that the intensities of the off-equatorial emission above $\text{f}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>Ho</mtext>}}\text{2}$ are very weak in contrast to those of the near equatorial emissions, where $\text{f}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>Ho</mtext>}}\text{2}$ is the equatorial electron gyrofrequency corresponding to the local gyrofrequency f_H at the satellite. Ray-tracing of whistler mode waves produced by the enhanced ring-current electrons at the geomagnetic equator just outside of the plasmapause has shown that some of these waves are reflected from high latitudes back to the Equator inside the source region. This process had been previously speculated to explain the formation of the bimodal intensity distribution with a gap at half the gyrofrequency (the two-band chorus) in the equatorial emission data. The intensities of those reflected waves, however, are shown to be insufficient to explain the observed emissions below $\text{f}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>Ho</mtext>}}\text{2}$ at the Equator. These results indicate that the superposition of two types of emissions produced by the same processes but from different locations is not the main mechanism for the formation of the two-band chorus and that the dominant sources of these choruses are located around ± 5° geomagnetic latitude.     

The ZnSiO3 clinopyroxene-ilmenite transition: Heat capacity,enthalpy of transition,and phase equilibria

ZnSiO₃ clinopyroxene stable above 3 GPa transforms to ilmenite at 10–12 GPa, which further decomposes into ZnO (rock salt) plus stishovite at 20–30 GPa. The enthalpy of the clinopyroxene-ilmenite transition was measured by high-temperature solution calorimetry, giving ΔH⁰=51.71 ±3.18 kJ/mol at 298 K. The heat capacities of clinopyroxene and ilmenite were measured by differential scanning calorimetry at 343–733 and 343–633 K, respectively. The C _p of ilmenite is 3–5% smaller than that of clinopyroxene. The entropy of transition was calculated using the measured enthalpy and the free energy calculated from the phase equilibrium data. The enthalpy, entropy and volume changes of the pyroxene-ilmenite transition in ZnSiO₃ are similar in magnitude to those in MgSiO₃. The present thermochemical data are used to calculate the phase boundary of the ZnSiO₃ clinopyroxene-ilmenite transition. The calculated boundary,