Zircon U–Pb ages of granitic and mafic dikes associated with granitoids and metamorphic rocks of the Ryoke Belt in the eastern Kii Peninsula,southwest Japan

Zircon U–Pb dates for felsic and intermediate to mafic dikes intruding into the Ryoke granitoids and metamorphic rocks at selected outcrops in the Takamiyama area of the eastern Kii Peninsula, southwest Japan, were determined along with their geology and petrography to reveal the history of Cretaceous magmatism. At each outcrop, the felsic and intermediate to mafic dikes exhibit specific structures that are indicative of magma intermingling and have coeval intrusion ages of ca. 81–77 Ma. Our zircon U–Pb data complement previously published data, suggesting that the mafic magmatism continued intermittently from 83 to 76 Ma in the Takamiyama area and that magmatism migrated eastward within the Ryoke Belt. A comparison of intrusion ages between a dike and a host Ryoke granitoid at one outcrop indicates that the host rock experienced ductile deformation at ~88 to ~83 Ma. Judging from the small number of zircons and the concordant date distributions, we didn't recognize the evidence suggesting the partial melting of the host rocks, as Nakajima et al. (Journal of the Geological Society of Japan, 2021, 127, 69–78) reported.     

Review of Mercury's dynamic magnetosphere:Post-MESSENGER era and comparative magnetospheres

This review paper summarizes the research of Mercury’s magnetosphere in the Post-MESSENGER era and compares its dynamics to those in other planetary magnetospheres,especially to those in Earth’s magnetosphere.This review starts by introducing the planet Mercury,including its interplanetary environment,magnetosphere,exosphere,and conducting core.The frequent and intense magnetic reconnection on the dayside magnetopause,which is represented by the flux transfer event"shower",is reviewed on how they depend on magnetosheath plasma β and magnetic shear angle across the magnetopause,followed by how it contributes to the flux circulation and magnetosphere-surface-exosphere coupling.In the next,Mercury’s magnetosphere under extreme solar events,including the core induction and the reconnection erosion on the dayside magnetosphere,as well as the responses of the nightside magnetosphere,are reviewed.Then,the dawn-dusk properties of the plasma sheet,including the features of the ions,the structure of the current sheet,and the dynamics of magnetic reconnection,are summarized.The last topic is devoted to the particle energization in Mercury’s magnetosphere,which includes the energization of the Kelvin-Helmholtz waves on the magnetopause boundaries,reconnection-generated magnetic structures,and the cross-tail electric field.In each chapter,the last section discusses the open questions related to each topic,which can be considered by the simulations and the future spacecraft mission.We end this paper by summarizing the future Bepi Colombo opportunities,which is a joint mission of ESA and JAXA and is en route to Mercury.