In situ strength measurements on natural upper-mantle minerals

Using in situ strength measurements at pressures up to 10 GPa and at room temperature, 400, 600, and 700°C, we examined rheological properties of olivine, orthopyroxene, and chromian-spinel contained in a mantle-derived xenolith. Mineral strengths were estimated using widths of X-ray diffraction peaks as a function of pressure, temperature, and time. Differential stresses of all minerals increase with increasing pressure, but they decrease with increasing temperature because of elastic strain on compression and stress relaxation during heating. During compression at room temperature, all minerals deform plastically at differential stress of 4–6 GPa. During subsequent heating, thermally induced yielding is observed in olivine at 600°C. Neither orthopyroxene nor spinel shows complete stress relaxation, but both retain some stress even at 700°C. The strength of the minerals decreases in the order of chromian-spinel ≈ orthopyroxene > olivine for these conditions. This order of strength is consistent with the residual pressure of fluid inclusions in mantle xenoliths.     

Decadal Variability of Subsurface Temperature in the Central North Pacific

Decadal variability of subsurface temperature in the North Pacific has been investigated. Two dominant regions were found; the central subarctic region (CSa) and the north-eastern subtropical region (NESt). In CSa, cooling (warming) of wintertime subsurface temperature corresponds to the large (small) temperature gradient and southward (northward) shift of subsurface temperature front, associated with the increase (decrease) of positive wind stress curl and the southward (northward) shift of curl τ zero line with 2 years delay. It is suggested that the relocation of subtropical-subarctic boundary plays an important role. In NESt, importance of heat flux through the sea surface and heat divergence in the Ekman layer is also discussed. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Processes Causing the Temporal Changes in Si/N Ratios of Nutrient Consumptions and Export Flux during the Spring Diatom Bloom

Two processes are generally explained as causes of temporal changes in the stoichiometric silicon/nitrogen (Si/N) ratios of sinking particles and of nutrient consumption in the surface water during the spring diatom bloom: (1) physiological changes of diatom under the stress of photosynthesis of diatom and (2) differences of regeneration between silicon and nitrogen. We investigated which process plays an important role in these changes using a one-dimensional ecosystem model that explicitly represents diatom and the other non-silicious phytoplankton. The model was applied to station A7 (41°30′ N, 145°30′ E) in the western North Pacific, where diatom regularly blooms in spring. Model simulations show that the Si/N ratios of the flux exported by the sinking particles at 100 m depth and of nutrient consumptions in the upper 100 m surface water have their maxima at the end of the spring diatom bloom, the values and timings of which are significantly different from each other. Analyses of the model results show that the differences of regeneration between silicon and nitrogen mainly cause the temporal changes of the Si/N ratios. On the other hand, the physiological changes of diatoms under stress can hardly cause these temporal changes, because the effect of the change in the diatom's uptake ratio of silicon to nitrogen is cancelled by that in its sinking rate.     

An Ecosystem Model Coupled with Nitrogen-Silicon-Carbon Cycles Applied to Station A7 in the Northwestern Pacific

A model based on that of Kishi et al. (2001) has been extended to 15 compartments including silicon and carbon cycles. This model was applied to Station A7 off Hokkaido, Japan, in the Northwestern Pacific. The model successfully simulated the observations of: 1. a spring bloom of diatoms; 2. large seasonal variations of nitrate and silicate concentrations in the surface water; and 3. large inter-annual variations in chlorophyll-a. It also reproduced the observed features of the seasonal variations of carbon dioxide partial pressure (pCO₂)—a peak in pCO₂ in winter resulting from deep winter convection, a rapid decrease in pCO₂ as a result of the spring bloom, and an almost constant pCO₂ from summer through fall (when the effect of increasing temperature cancels the effect of biological production). A comparison of cases with and without silicate limitation shows that including silicate limitation in the model results in: 1. decreased production by diatoms during summer; and 2. a transition in the dominant phytoplankton species, from diatoms to other species that do not take up silicate. Both of these phenomena are observed at Station A7, and our results support the hypothesis that they are caused by silicate limitation of diatom growth. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Stability of Temperature and Conductivity Sensors of Argo Profiling Floats

After recalibration of the temperature and conductivity sensors of three Argo profiling floats recovered after operations for four to nine months, the results indicate that the floats basically showed no significant drift, either in temperature or salinity, and adequately fulfilled the accuracy requirement of the Argo project (0.005°C for temperature and 0.01 psu for salinity). Only the third float showed a significant offset in salinity of about −0.02 psu, as expected from comparison between the float data and the shipboard conductivity-temperature-depth data. This offset was caused by the operational error of the PROVOR-type float, in which the surface water was pumped immediately after the launch, fouling the conductivity sensor cell. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Validity of sea surface temperature observed with the TRITON buoy under diurnal heating conditions

In order to investigate the validity of buoy-observed sea surface temperature (SST), we installed special instruments to measure near-surface ocean temperature on the TRITON buoy moored at 2.07°N, 138.06°E from 2 to 13 March 2004, in addition to a standard buoy sensor for the regular SST measurement at 1.5-m depth. Large diurnal SST variations were observed during this period, and the variations of the temperatures at about 0.3-m depth could be approximately simulated by a one-dimensional numerical model. However, there was a notable discrepancy between the buoy-observed 1.5-m-depth SST (SST_1.5m) and the corresponding model-simulated temperature only during the daytime when the diurnal rise was large. The evaluation of the heat balance in the sea surface layer showed that the diurnal rise of the SST_1.5m in these cases could not be accounted for by solar heating alone. We examined the depth of the SST_1.5m sensor and the near-surface temperature observed from a ship near the buoy, and came to the conclusion that the solar heating of the buoy hull and/or a disturbance in the temperature field around the buoy hull would contribute to the excessive diurnal rise of the SST_1.5m observed with the TRITON buoy. However, the temperature around the hull was not sufficiently homogenized, as suggested in a previous paper. For the diurnal rise of the SST_1.5m exceeding 0.5 K, the daytime buoy data became doubtful, through dynamics that remain to be clarified. A simple formula is proposed to correct the unexpected diurnal amplitude of the buoy SST_1.5m.     

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.     

Viscosity of peridotite liquid up to 13 GPa: Implications for magma ocean viscosities

The viscosity of synthetic peridotite liquid has been investigated at high pressures using in-situ falling sphere viscometry by combining a multi-anvil technique with synchrotron radiation. We used a newly designed capsule containing a small recessed reservoir outside of the hot spot of the heater, in which a viscosity marker sphere is embedded in a forsterite + enstatite mixture having a higher solidus temperature than the peridotite. This experimental setup prevents spheres from falling before a stable temperature above the liquidus is established and thus avoids difficulties in evaluating viscosities from velocities of spheres falling through a partially molten sample.

Experiments have been performed between 2.8 and 13 GPa at temperatures ranging from 2043 to 2523 K. Measured viscosities range from 0.019 (± 0.004) to 0.13 (± 0.02) Pa s. At constant temperature, viscosity increases with increasing pressure up to  8.5 GPa but then decreases between  8.5 and 13 GPa. The change in the pressure dependence of viscosity is likely associated with structural changes of the liquid that occur upon compression. By combining our results with recently published 0.1 MPa peridotite liquid viscosities [D.B. Dingwell, C. Courtial, D. Giordano, A. Nichols, Viscosity of peridotite liquid, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 226 (2004) 127–138.], the experimental data can be described by a non-Arrhenian, empirical Vogel-Fulcher-Tamman equation, which has been modified by adding a term to account for the observed pressure dependence of viscosity. This equation reproduces measured viscosities to within 0.08 log₁₀-units on average. We use this model to calculate viscosities of a peridotitic magma ocean along a liquid adiabat to a depth of  400 km and discuss possible effects on viscosity at greater pressures and temperatures than experimentally investigated.