Ecologic and taxonomic diversification in the Mesozoic brackish-water bivalve faunas in Japan, with emphasis on infaunalization of heterodonts

Mesozoic brackish-water bivalve faunas in Japan diversified in three steps: at the beginning of the Early Jurassic, Early and Late Cretaceous. The Hettangian Niranohama Fauna in northeastern Honshu represents the establishment of a heterodont-dominated brackish-water fauna that persisted until the early Late Cretaceous. No similar composition is known from the Triassic. The infauna consists mostly of non-siphonate and some short-siphonate heterodonts, while the epifauna is represented by diverse pteriomorphian families. In the Early Cretaceous Tetori Group in central Honshu, the long-siphonate heterodonts Tetoria (Corbiculidae) and the semi-infaunal soft-bottom oyster Crassostrea appeared. The evolutionary diversification of the latter, known as the most important element of modern brackish-water faunas, may thus originate at that time. In the early Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) of the Goshoura and Mifune Groups in west Kyushu, several euryhaline deep-burrowing heterodont families, such as Veneridae and Tellinidae, further diversified in the brackish and marine environments. The Late Cretaceous is characterized by massive shell biolithic beds in which large Crassostrea species are common, a feature common for Cenozoic brackish-water faunas. The long-term changes in the composition of the brackish-water faunas in Japan represents thus an evolutionary record, irrespective of the severe physiological and environmental conditions imposed on the highly conservative nature of the fauna.     

Redistribution of REE, Pb and U by supergene weathering studied from in-situ isotopic analyses of the Bangombé natural reactor, Gabon

The isotopic analyses of rare earth elements (REE), Pb and U in several kinds of minerals from the clay and black shale layers above the Bangombé natural reactor, Gabon, were performed using a sensitive high-resolution microprobe (SHRIMP) to investigate the migration and retardation processes of fission products released from the reactor. REE isotopic data of the secondary minerals found in clays and black shales show that most of fission products were effectively trapped in the clays and not distributed into the black shales over the clays, which reveals that the clays play an important role in preventing fission products from spreading.Zircon crystals in the clays heterogeneously contain high-U regions (up to 28.3 wt%) with normal ²³⁵U/²³⁸U ratios (=0.00725) and significant amounts of fissiogenic REE, which suggest the occurrence of significant chemical fractionation between REE and U during the dissolution of reactor uraninite and the recrystallization of secondary U minerals. The Pb data suggest that galena grains in the clays were also formed by the mixing of the two components during a recent alteration event, and that a significant amount of Pb was derived from 2.05-Ga-old original uraninite rather than reactor uraninite. The U-Pb systematics of zircon provide chronological information on the old igneous activity associated with the basement rock formation at 2.8 Ga and geochemical evidence of the incomplete mixing of independent Pb and U sources. This result is consistent with previous chronological results in this area.     

Topographic Effect of Izu Ridge on the Distribution of the North Pacific Intermediate Water South of Japan

The topographic effect of the Izu Ridge on the horizontal distribution of the North Pacific Intermediate Water (NPIW) south of Japan has been studied using observational data obtained by the Seisui-Maru of Mie University (Mie Univ. data) and those compiled by Japan Oceanographic Data Center (JODC data). Both data sets show that water of salinity less than 34.1 psu on potential density () surface of 26.8 is confined to the eastern side of the Izu Ridge, while water of salinity less than 34.2 psu is confined to the southern area over the Izu Ridge at a depth greater than 2000 m and to the southeastern area in the Shikoku Basin. It is also shown by T-S analysis of Mie Univ. data over the Izu Ridge that water of salinity less than 34.2 psu dominates south of 30°N, where the depth of the Izu Ridge is deeper than 2000 m and NPIW can intrude westward over the Izu Ridge. JODC data reveal that relatively large standard deviations of the salinity on surface of 26.7, 26.8 and 26.9 are detected along the mean current path of the Kuroshio and the Kuroshio Extension. Almost all of the standard deviations are less than 0.05 psu in other area with the NPIW, which shows that the time variation in the salinity can be neglected. This observational evidence shows that the topographic effect of the Izu Ridge on the horizontal distribution of the NPIW, which is formed east of 145°E by the mixing of the Kuroshio water and the Oyashio water, is prominent north of 30°N with a depth shallower than 2000 m.     

Statistical properties of metal abundances of the intracluster medium in the central region of clusters

We measured metal abundances of the intracluster medium in the central regions of 34 nearby clusters of galaxies, using ASCA data. Clusters that have a sharp X-ray emission centred on a cD galaxy are commonly found to exhibit a central increment in the Fe abundance, which is more pronounced in lower temperature clusters; +(0.1–0.2) solar at kT >5 keV, compared with +(0.2–0.3) solar at 1.5< kT <4 keV. These central excess metals are thought to be ejected from cD galaxies. Several low-temperature cD type clusters also show significant Si abundance increase by +(0.1–0.2) solar at the central region. Compared with the Si-rich abundances observed in the outer regions of rich clusters, the Si to Fe abundance ratio of central excess metals tends to be near the solar ratio, implying that type Ia products from cD galaxies are dominant for the central excess metals. On the other hand, some other clusters do not show the central Fe abundance increase. As these clusters tend to contain two or three central giant galaxies, it is suggested that galaxy interactions have removed the central abundance increase.     

Application of the global modal approach to the spiral galaxies

We have tested the applicability of the global modal approach in the density wave theory of spiral structure for a sample of spiral galaxies with measured axisymmetric background properties. We report here the results of the simulations for four galaxies: NGC 488, NGC 628, NGC 1566, and NGC 3938. Using the observed radial distributions for the stellar velocity dispersions and the rotation velocities we have constructed the equilibrium models for the galactic disks in each galaxy and implemented two kinds of stability analyses - the linear global analysis and 2D-nonlinear simulations. In general, the global modal approach is able to reproduce the observed properties of the spiral arms in the galactic disks. The growth of spirals in the galactic disks can be physically understood in terms of amplification by over-reflection at the corotation resonance. Our results support the global modal approach as a theoretical explanation of spiral structure in galaxies. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Spatial changes in a macrozoobenthic community along environmental gradients in a shallow brackish lagoon facing Sendai Bay, Japan

The spatial distribution, abundance, and assemblage structure of macrozoobenthos were examined at 45 stations in a brackish lagoon (Idoura Lagoon, Japan) to examine the animal–environmental relations in estuarine soft-bottom habitats. We found a total of 23 taxa; the polychaetes Heteromastus sp., Hediste spp., and Prionospio japonica and the isopod Cyathura muromiensis numerically dominated the community. Cluster analysis and one-way analysis of similarity (ANOSIM) identified seven groups of stations that had significantly different macrozoobenthic communities; these were subsequently consolidated into five habitat groups according to their association with environmental characteristics. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) showed that salinity, silt-clay content, and the oxidation–reduction potential (ORP) of the sediment strongly affected the macrozoobenthos distribution pattern in the lagoon, whereas other factors (e.g., relative elevation of the habitat and sediment organic content) had much weaker effects. Similarity percentages (SIMPER) procedures indicated that the polychaete Notomastus sp. and the bivalve Macoma contabulata were specific to habitats with low salinity and reduced mud, whereas the bivalve Nuttallia olivacea was specific to sandy bottoms. Heteromastus sp. and Hediste spp. achieved their highest densities in rather oxidized sediments. The acid-volatile sulfide (AVS) content in the sediment was suggested as another possible factor affecting macrozoobenthic density. Our results clearly demonstrate that macrozoobenthic assemblages in estuarine soft-bottoms have high spatial heterogeneity on a small scale (e.g., hundreds of meters) related to physical and chemical environmental changes. Our data also suggested the importance of sediment redox condition (e.g., ORP and AVS content) and sediment grain size as structuring factors in estuarine soft-bottom communities as well as the salinity in the habitat.     

Diagnostic metrics for evaluation of annual and diurnal cycles

Two sets of diagnostic metrics are proposed for evaluation of global models?? simulation of annual and diurnal cycles of precipitation. The metrics for the annual variation include the annual mean, the solstice and equinoctial asymmetric modes of the annual cycle (AC), and the global monsoon precipitation domain and intensity. The metrics for the diurnal variation include the diurnal range, the land?Csea contrast and transition modes of the diurnal cycle (DC), and the diurnal peak propagation in coastal regions. The proposed modes for the AC and DC represent faithfully the first two leading empirical orthogonal functions and explain, respectively, 82% of the total annual variance and 87% of the total diurnal variance over the globe between 45°S and 45°N. The simulated AC and DC by the 20-km-mesh MRI/JMA atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) are in a wide-ranging agreement with observations; the model considerably outperforms any individual AMIP II GCMs and has comparable performance to 12-AMIP II model ensemble simulation measured by Pearson??s pattern correlation coefficient. Comparison of four versions of the MRI/JMA AGCM with increasing resolution (180, 120, 60, and 20?km) reveals that the 20-km version reproduces the most realistic annual and diurnal cycles. However, the improved performance is not a linear function of the resolution. Marked improvement of the simulated DC (AC) occurs at the resolution of 60?km (20?km). The results suggest that better represented parameterizations that are adequately tuned to increased resolutions may improve models?? simulation on the forced responses. The common deficiency in representing the monsoon domains suggests the models having difficulty in replicating annual march of the Subtropical Highs that is largely driven by prominent east-west land?Cocean thermal contrast. Note that the 20-km model reproduces realistic diurnal cycle, but fails to capture realistic Madden-Julian Oscillation.     

Anisotropic phase transition of rutile under shock compression

Shock recovery experiments for single crystal and powdered specimens of TiO₂ with the rutile structure were performed in the pressure range up to 72 GPa. Single crystal specimens were shocked parallel to [100], [110] and [001] directions. X-ray powder diffraction analysis showed that the amount of -PbO₂ type TiO₂ produced by shock-loading depended strongly on the shock propagation direction. The maximum yield (about 70%) was observed for shock loading to 36 GPa parallel to the [100] direction. In the [001] shock direction, the yield is much smaller than that of the [100] direction. This anisotropic yield was consistent with the observed anisotropy of the phase transition pressure in shock compression measurements. However, transformation to the -PbO₂ type cannot explain the large volume change observed above about 20 GPa. On the basis of the high pressure behavior of MnF₂, we assumed that the high pressure phase was either fluorite or distorted fluorite type and that the phase conversion to the -PbO₂ type was induced spontaneously in the pressure reduction process.We present a displacive mechanism of phase transition under shock compression from the rutile structure to the fluorite structure, in which the rutile [100] is shown to correspond to the fluorite [001] or [110] and the rutile [001] to the fluorite [110]. Direct evidence is obtained by examining the [100] shocked specimen by high resolution electron microscopy.