Department of Earth System Science

As of April 2019

Research Area : Dynamic Geology

(URL:http://earth.desc.okayama-u.ac.jp/en/research/research.html)

Shigeyuki SUZUKI, Professor
Daisuke NAKAMURA, Associate Professor
Toshio NOZAKA, Associate Professor
Junji YAMAKAWA, Assistant Professor

Research Themes:

  • Structural development of island arc [Suzuki]
  • Deciphering of evolutional history of orogenic belts from the petrological study of ultrahigh-pressure metamorphic rocks [Nakamura]
  • Petrology of oceanic lithosphere and ophiolites [Nozaka]
  • Estimation of the spatial statistical distributions of the chemical and physical properties of minerals by geostatistics [Yamakawa]

Representative Publication :

  • Walia, M., Knittel, U., Suzuki, S., Chung, S-L., Pena, R.E., Yang, T.F., No Paleozoic metamorphics in Palawan (the Philippines)? Evidence from single grain U-Pb dating of detrital zircons., Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 52, 134-145. (2012)
  • Miyazaki, T., Nakamura, D., Tamura, A., Svojtka, M., Arai, S. & Hirajima, T., Evidence for partial melting of eclogite from the Moldanubian Zone of the Bohemian Massif, Czech Republic., J. Mineral. Petrol. Sci. 111, 405–419 (2016)
  • Nozaka, T., Metasomatic hydration of the Oeyama forearc peridotites: Tectonic implications., Lithos 184-187, 346-360. (2014)
  • Kawase, M., Yamamoto, K., Takagi, K., Yasuda, R., Ogawa, M., Hatsuda, Y., Kawanishi, S., Hirotani, Y., Myotoku, M., Urashima, Y., Nagai, K., Ikeda, K., Konishi, H., Yamakawa, J., Tani, M., Non-Destructive Evaluation Method of Pharmaceutical Tablet by Terahertz-Time-Domain Spectroscopy: Application to Sound-Alike Medicines. ,J. Infrared Milli Terahz Waves. DOI 10.1007/s10762-013-9994-2(2013)

Research Area : Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interior

(URL:https://www.gnst.okayama-u.ac.jp/en/about_us/stafflist_elms_en/)

Hiroshi TAKENAKA, Professor
Satoru URAKAWA, Professor
Takashi KUMAMOTO, Professor

Research Themes:

  • Modeling of seismic waves and study on strong motion [Takenaka]
  • Evolution of the Earth and planetary interior [Urakawa]
  • Mineral physics at high-pressure and temperature [Urakawa]
  • Tectonics of the Asian continent from paleomagnetism [Uno]
  • Neotectonics and Tectonic geomorphology [Matta]
  • Seismic hazard assessment of active faults in Japan [Kumamoto]

Representative Publication :

  • H. Takenaka, M. Komatsu, G. Toyokuni, T. Nakamura, and T. Okamoto, Quasi-Cartesian finite-difference computation of seismic wave propagation for a three-dimensional sub-global model, Earth, Planets and Space, 69:67, doi:10.1186/s40623-017-0651-1 (2017).
  • Y. Shimoyama, H. Terasaki, S. Urakawa, Y. Takubo, S. Kuwabara, S. Kishimoto, T. Watanuki, A. Machida,Y. Katayama, T. Kond, Thermoelastic properties of liquid Fe-C revealed by sound velocity and density measurements at high pressure, Journal of Geophysical Research, 121, 7984-7995 (2016)
  • K. Uno, K. Furukawa, and Y. Hatanaka, An analysis of apparent polar wander path for southwest Japan suggests no relative movement with respect to Eurasia during the Cretaceous, Phys. Earth Planet. Inter. 267, pp. 19–30 (2017).
  • N. Matta, Y. Ota, WS Chen, Y Nishikawa, M. Ando, LH Chung, Finding of Probable Tsunami Boulders on Jiupeng Coast in Southeastern Taiwan. Terrestrial, Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, 24, pp.159-163. (2013).
  • T. Kumamoto, K. Oonishi, Y. Futagami and M. W. Stirling, Examination of the correlation between tectonic landforms and shallow subsurface structural datasets for the estimation of seismic source faults. Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear Risk-Beyond the Fukushima Springer, 3-30. (2016).

Research Area : Geochemistry and Cosmochemistry

(URL:http://earth.desc.okayama-u.ac.jp/)

Katsuyuki YAMASHITA, Associate Professor
Mayuri INOUE, Associate Professor

Research Themes:

  • Time-scale on meteorite parent body and planet formation [Yamashita]
  • Isotopic study on origin and evolution of solar system materials [Yamashita]
  • Reconstruction of paleo-climate and paleo-environments using coral skeletons [Inoue]
  • Study of biomineralization of marine biogenic carbonates [Inoue]
  • Chemical differentiation processes in the formation of chondrite parental bodies [Okano]
  • Geochemical characteristics and petrogenesis of Cenozoic igneous rocks in Southwest Japan [Okano]

Representative Publication :

  • • Onoue, T, Zonneveld, J-P., Orchard, M. J., Yamashita, M., Yamashita, K. Sato, H. and Kusaka, S., Paleoenvironmental changes across the Carnian/Norian boundary in the Black Bear Ridge section, British Columbia, Canada, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 441, 721–733 (2015).
  • Inoue, M., Gussone, N., Koga, Y., Iwase, A., Suzuki, A., Sakai, K. and Kawahata, H. Controlling factors of Ca isotope fractionation in scleractinian corals evaluated by temperature, pH and light controlled culture experiments. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 167, 80–92 (2015).
  • Inoue, M., Ishikawa, D., Miyaji, T., Yamazaki, A., Suzuki, A., Yamano, H., Kawahata, H. and Watanabe T. Evaluation of Mn and Fe in coral skeletons (Porites spp.) as proxies for sediment loading and reconstruction of 50 yrs of land use on Ishigaki Island, Japan. Coral Reefs 33, 363–373 (2014).
  • Yokoyama, T., Misawa, K., Okano, O., Shih, C.-Y. Nyquist, L.E., Simon, J.I., Tappa, M.J.,and Yoneda, S. Rb–Sr isotopic systematics of alkali-rich fragments in the Yamato-74442 LL-chondritic breccias., Earth and Planetary Science Letters 366, 38–48(2013).
  • Yamashita, K., Maruyama, S, Yamakawa, A. and Nakamura, E., 53Mn-53Cr chronometry of CB chondrite: evidence for uniform distribution of 53Mn in the early solar system, Astrophysical Journal, 723, 20-24 (2010).

Research Area : Atmospheric and Hydrospheric Sciences

(URL:https://www.gnst.okayama-u.ac.jp/en/about_us/stafflist_elms_en/)

Toru NOZAWA, Professor
George L. HASHIMOTO, Associate Professor

Research Themes:

  • Mechanism Analysis on Climate Change and Variability [Nozawa]
  • Climate Modeling and Global Warming Projection [Nozawa]
  • Radiation process in cryosphere [Aoki]
  • Satellite Remote Sensing of Snow/ice surface [Aoki]
  • Multi-scale Weather and Climate System, Related Extreme Events and Climate Variability in East Asia [Kato]
  • Interdisciplenary Research on Climate, its Variability and Cultural Understanding Education [Kato]
  • Evolution of Planetary Surface Environment [Hashimoto]
  • Planetary Climatology [Hashimoto]

Representative Publication :

  • H. Kawase, T. Takemura, and T. Nozawa, Impact of carbonaceous aerosols on precipitation in tropical Africa during the austral summer in the twentieth century, J. Geophys. Res., 116, D18116, doi:10.1029/2011JD015933 (2011).
  • M. Abe, T. Nozawa, T. Ogura, and K. Takata, Effect of retreating sea ice on Arctic cloud cover in simulated recent global warming, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, pp.14343-14356, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-14343-2016 (2016).
  • T. Aoki, K. Kuchiki, M. Niwano, Y. Kodama, M. Hosaka, and T. Tanaka, Physically based snow albedo model for calculating broadband albedos and the solar heating profile in snowpack for general circulation models, J. Geophys. Res., 116, D11114, doi:10.1029/2010JD015507 (2011).
  • T. Aoki, S. Matoba, S. Yamaguchi, T. Tanikawa, M. Niwano, K. Kuchiki, K. Adachi, J. Uetake, H. Motoyama, and M. Hori, Light-absorbing snow impurity concentrations measured on northwest Greenland ice sheet in 2011 and 2012, Bull. Glaciol. Res., 32, pp.21-31, doi:10.5331/bgr.32.21 (2014).
  • K. Otani, and K. Kato, Decrease in Baiu precipitation and heavy rainfall days in late June of the 2000s in northwestern Kyushu, western Japan, SOLA,11, pp.10-13, doi:10.2151/sola.2015-003 (2015).
  • H. Kato, and K. Kato, Climate and Music -Spring and songs in Japan and Germany- (in Japanese), Kyodo Shuppan (2014).
  • G. L. Hashimoto, M. Roos-Serote, S. Sugita, M. S. Gilmore, L. W. Kamp, R. W. Carlson, and K. H. Baines, Felsic highland crust on Venus suggested by Galileo Near-Infrared Mapping Spectrometer data, J. Geophys. Res., 113, E00B24, doi:10.1029/2008JE003134 (2008).
  • K. Hamano, H. Kawahara, Y. Abe, M. Onishi, G. L. Hashimoto, Lifetime and spectral evolution of a magma ocean with a steam atmosphere: its detectability by future direct imaging, Astrophys. J., 806, article id. 216, 17pp (2015).