Sedimentation of terrigenous red soils in coastal area adjacent to an estuary and coral reefs,the Okkubi River estuary,Okinawa Island,Japan

Sedimentation process of fine-grained terrigenous red soils was observed on the seafloor by coral reefs near an estuary using a paired mooring of turbidity meter and sediment trap or a mooring of sediment trap and current meter. Silty clays contained in the bottom calcareous sands were mainly resuspended and trapped in both surface and bottom layer traps, at noncatastrophic normal sedimentation periods. In addition, silty clays were supplied to this mooring site by inflowing river. Turbidity and the flux rate determined by sediment traps show certain relationship accompanied with the coefficient, which is changed by precipitation, current, and other conditions. Resuspension process caused by a typhoon was recorded as both core sequence of sediment trap and time-series data of bottom current. Maximum velocity of 49.5 cm/s was recorded from bottom currents resulting from the passing of attyphoon at the mooring site. A graded sand layer is interbedded in dark-gray, silty clay and considered to be a resuspended sediment resulting from the passing of the typhoon. Flux of the resuspended sediments by the typhoon was estimated from this core sequence and compared to the flux observed at the normal sedimentation.     

The effects of the reed,Phragmites australis (Trin.), on substratum grain-size distribution in a salt marsh

The effects of the reed,Phragmites australis (Trin.), growing in a brackish water lagoon, were studied in relation to the grain-size distribution of the substratum. At the salt marshes near the lagoon, the upper soils from the surface to a depth of 20 cm contained much silt-clay. These fine particles were found to be transferred from the river and fish ponds near the lagoon, and to be deposited when the tidal rhythm changed, that is, when the water current stopped. In addition, the fine particles, which were deposited on the bottom of the lagoon adjacent to the marshes, became resuspended as a result of wind-caused wave action, and then were transported and redeposited in the salt marshes at the flood tide. Since the reeds further reduced the water current caused by the waves and tide, the reeds were thought to promote redeposition of the resuspended matter. In other words, the reeds were considered to protect deposited and redeposited particles such as silt and clay from resuspension as a result of wave action by reducing the effects of waves and wind. These processes suggested that silt-clay will become abundant in the substratum of the salt marsh adjacent to the lagoon.     

Concentration and behavior of detrital mineral grains suspended in the water column of the open sea in the western Pacific

The pattern of distribution of detrital mineral grains in the water column was investigated at three stations in the western Pacific during July through August of 1979. The sedimentation of detrital mineral grains was also studied using piston cores from two sites adjacent to the three stations. The concentration of suspended detrital mineral grains in the subsurface waters becomes lower with increasing distance from the land, and shows a prominent peak in the intermediate zone of the water column. The sharp increase in water density and viscosity in the pycnocline in the intermediate zone decreases the settling velocity of grains, and may result in the accumulation of falling grains in the intermediate layer. Proportion of detrital mineral grains to organic remains in the sediment was more than two orders of magnitude larger than in the overlying water column, and reasons for this are briefly discussed.     

Estimating the geostrophic velocity obtained by HF radar observations in the upstream area of the Kuroshio

A method to extract geostrophic current in the daily mean HF radar data in the Kuroshio upstream region is established by comparison with geostrophic velocity determined from the along-track altimetry data. The estimated Ekman current in the HF velocity is 1.2% (1.5%) and 48° (38°)-clockwise rotated with respect to the daily mean wind in (outside) the Kuroshio. Furthermore, additional temporal smoothing is found necessary to remove residual ageostrophic currents such as the inertial oscillation. After removal of the ageostrophic components, the HF geostrophic velocity agrees well with that from the altimetry data with rms difference 0.14 (0.12) m/s in (outside) the Kuroshio.     

Deep structure of the northeastern Japan arc and its implications for crustal deformation and shallow seismic activity

Seismic tomography studies in the northeastern Japan arc have revealed the existence of an inclined sheet-like seismic low-velocity and high-attenuation zone in the mantle wedge at depths shallower than about 150 km. This sheet-like low-velocity, high-attenuation zone is oriented sub-parallel to the subducted slab, and is considered to correspond to the upwelling flow portion of the subduction-induced convection. The low-velocity, high-attenuation zone reaches the Moho immediately beneath the volcanic front (or the Ou Backbone Range) running through the middle of the arc nearly parallel to the trench axis, which suggests that the volcanic front is formed by this hot upwelling flow. Aqueous fluids supplied by the subducted slab are probably transported upward through this upwelling flow to reach shallow levels beneath the Backbone Range where they are expelled from solidified magma and migrate further upward. The existence of aqueous fluids may weaken the surrounding crustal rocks, resulting in local contractive deformation and uplift along the Backbone Range under the compressional stress field of the volcanic arc. A strain-rate distribution map generated from GPS data reveals a notable concentration of east–west contraction along the Backbone Range, consistent with this interpretation. Shallow inland earthquakes are also concentrated in the upper crust of this locally large contraction deformation zone. Based on these observations, a simple model is proposed to explain the deformation pattern of the crust and the characteristic shallow seismic activity beneath the northeastern Japan arc.     

Fluorine contents of some hydrous minerals derived from upper mantle and lower crust

Fluorine contents have been determined in about forty samples of amphibole, mica and apatite in alkali basalt and kimberlite and their incorporated xenoliths. They show a wide variation ranging from 15,000 to 100 ppm, corresponding to about 40 to 0.2 per cent substitution of F for OH in hydroxyl site of hydrous minerals. Fluorine abundances in these minerals reflect those of their host magmas or rocks; Itinome-gata xenoliths are the lowest and South African kimberlites and their xenoliths are the highest. F/OH and also. D/H (Kuroda et al. 1975) ratios in coexisting phlogopite-potassic richterite from peridotite and mica nodules are thoughts to have formed under no simple equlibrium conditions.     

Field observations of debris-flow initiation processes on sediment deposits in a previous deep-seated landslide site

Although information regarding the initiation processes of debris flows is important for the development of mitigation measures,field data regarding these processes are scarce.We conducted field observations of debris-flow initiation processes in the upper Ichinosawa catchment of the Ohya landslide,central Japan.On 19 June 2012,our videocamera monitoring systems recorded the moment of debris-flow initiation on channel deposits(nine surges) and talus slopes(eight surges).The initiation mechanisms of these surges were classified into three types by analyzing the video images: erosion by the surface flow,movement of deposits as a mass,and upward development of the fluid area.The first type was associated with the progress of surface flow from the upper stream on unsaturated channel deposits.The second type was likely caused by an increase in the pore water pressure associated with the rising in the groundwater level in channel deposits;a continuous water supply from the upper stream by the surface flow might have induced this saturation.The third type was associated with changes in the downstream topography caused by erosion.The flow velocity of most surges was less than 3 m s~(-1) and they usually stopped within 100 m from the initiation point.Surges with abundant pore fluid had a higher flow velocity(about 3- 5 m s~(-1)) and could travel for alonger duration.Our observations indicate that the surface flow plays an important role in the initiation of debris flows on channel deposits and talus slopes.     

High-reliability zircon separation for hunting the oldest material on Earth: An automatic zircon separator with image-processing/microtweezers-manipulating system and double-step dating

Despite the recent development in radiometric dating of numerous zircons by LA-ICPMS, mineral separation still remains a major obstacle, particularly in the search for the oldest material on Earth. To improve the efficiency in zircon separation by an order of magnitude, we have designed/developed a new machine-an automatic zircon separator(AZS). This is designed particularly for automatic pick-up of100 μm-sized zircon grains out of a heavy mineral fraction after conventional separation procedures. The AZS operates in three modes:(1) image processing to choose targeted individual zircon grains out of all heavy minerals spread on a tray,(2) automatic capturing of the individual zircon grains with microtweezers, and(3) placing them one-by-one in a coordinated alignment on a receiving tray. The automatic capturing was designed/created for continuous mineral selecting without human presence for many hours. This software also enables the registration of each separated zircon grain for dating, by recording digital photo-image, optical(color) indices, and coordinates on a receiving tray. We developed two new approaches for the dating; i.e.(1) direct dating of zircons selected by LA-ICPMS without conventional resin-mounting/polishing,(2) high speed U-Pb dating, combined with conventional sample preparation procedures using the new equipment with multiple-ion counting detectors(LA-MIC-ICPMS).With the first approach, Pb-Pb ages obtained from the surface of a mineral were crosschecked with the interior of the same grain after resin-mounting/polishing. With the second approach, the amount of time required for dating one zircon grain is ca. 20 s, and a sample throughput of 150 grains per hour can be achieved with sufficient precision(ca. 0.5%).We tested the practical efficiency of the AZS, by analyzing an Archean Jack Hills conglomerate in Western Australia with the known oldest(4.3 Ga) zircon on Earth. Preliminary results are positive; we were able to obtain more than 194 zircons that are over 4.0 Ga out of ca. 3800 checked grains, and 9 grains were over 4300 Ma with the oldest at 4371 ± 7 Ma. This separation system by AZS, combined with the new approaches, guarantees much higher yield in the hunt for old zircons.     

Molecular and isotopic characteristics of gas hydrate-bound hydrocarbons in southern and central Lake Baikal

We investigated the molecular composition (methane, ethane, and propane) and stable isotope composition (methane and ethane) of hydrate-bound gas in sediments of Lake Baikal. Hydrate-bearing sediment cores were retrieved from eight gas seep sites, located in the southern and central Baikal basins. Empirical classification of the methane stable isotopes (δ¹³C and δD) for all the seep sites indicated the dominant microbial origin of methane via methyl-type fermentation; however, a mixture of thermogenic and microbial gases resulted in relatively high methane δ¹³C signatures at two sites where ethane δ¹³C indicated a typical thermogenic origin. At one of the sites in the southern Baikal basin, we found gas hydrates of enclathrated microbial ethane in which ¹³C and deuterium were both highly depleted (mean δ¹³C and δD of –61.6‰ V-PDB and –285.4‰ V-SMOW, respectively). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of C₂ δ¹³C–δD classification for hydrate-bound gas in either freshwater or marine environments.