Takeshi Hashimoto

Magnetic and electric field observations during the 2000 activity of Miyake-jima volcano, Central Japan

Magnetic and electric field variations associated with the 2000 eruption of Miyake-jima volcano are summarized. For about 1 week prior to the July 8 phreatic explosion, significant changes in the total intensity were observed at a few stations, which indicated uprising of a demagnetized area from a depth of 2 km towards the summit: this nonmagnetic source can be regarded as a vacant space itself. Electric and magnetic field variations were observed simultaneously associated with the tilt-step event, which was the abrupt (V50 s) inflation at a few km depth within the volcano followed by gradual recovery (Vseveral hours). The electric field is ascribed to the electrokinetic effect most probably due to forced injection of fluids from the source, while the magnetic field to the piezomagnetic effect due to increased pressure. Large magnetic variations amounting to a few tens of nT were observed at several stations since July 8, and they turned almost flat after the August 18 largest eruption. Magnetic changes are explained mostly by the vanishing of magnetic mass in the summit and additionally by the thermal demagnetization at a rather shallow depth. A large increase in the self-potential by 130 mV was also observed near the summit caldera associated with the August 18 eruption, which suggests that the hydrothermal circulation system sustained within the volcano for the past more than 10 years was destroyed by this eruption. 9 2002 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.

Seismic activity and ground deformation associated with 1995 phreatic eruption of Kuju Volcano, Kyushu, Japan

Abstract Kuju Volcano lies near Aso Caldera in central Kyushu. After a few hundred years of dormancy, a phreatic eruption began with the ejection of about 20,000 m 3 ash on 11 October 1995. A number of new vents have opened on a series of lines striking east–west on the eastern slope of Mt. Hossho, one of the domes of the Kuju complex, a few hundred meters from a pre-existing fumarolic area. After the eruption, there has been continuous steam emission from the new vents. There was the second ash eruption in December 1995. Before these eruptions, seismic events were rarely observed, either near the site of the new vents, or elsewhere under Kuju Volcano. In the nearly 2 years since the first eruption, several thousand earthquakes have been recorded. These events have been very horizontally concentrated just to the north of the new vents vertically between 800 m above sea level and 1000 m below sea level. Very few earthquakes have been located on the southern side of the new vents. There was clearly a strong high-frequency attenuation affecting the seismic waves which passed through the region beneath the new vents to the seismometers south of Mt. Hossho. This evidence possibly indicates a thermal fluid content beneath the new vents, suggesting that there is a seismic attenuating zone in the feeding area of the new vents. Nearly all the earthquake spectra were of dominantly high-frequency, but the percentage of earthquakes with predominantly low-frequency spectra increased at times of enhanced volcanic activity. Volcanic tremors were also observed around the times of peak activity. Slope distance measurements have been made since the eruption. The main results of these measurements are a contraction of more than 200 ppm in distances between Mt. Hossho and points further north. The significant distance changes occurred during seismic swarms. This indicated that the seismic activities influenced ground deformation, even though some of these swarms were 3 or 5 km from Mt. Hossho. The slope distance changes indicate that an area near the top of Mt. Hossho has been moving to the northeast.

Continuing deflation by fumaroles at Kuju Volcano, Japan

[1]xa0A phreatic eruption occurred at Kuju Volcano in October 1995. We deployed an EDM network around the active craters of the volcano just after the eruption. Slope distances of the survey lines in the northern network have tended to contract, whereas those in the southern one extended. The maximum contraction observed in the northern network was 70 cm over 6 years. A spherical volume decrease just beneath a fumarolic area called Iwoyama 700 m north of the new craters is a plausible model for these changes in slope distances. A noteworthy feature is that over 6 years after the phreatic eruption ended, the deflation rate is still approximately linear. We also estimated the thermal energy discharge by fumaroles in the new craters, which proved to be well correlated with the observed deflation rate. It is strongly suggested that deflation of a geothermal reservoir, not any magmatic effect, causes the ground deformation around Iwoyama.

Alterations in the expression of myosin heavy chain isoforms in hypoxia-induced hypertrophied ventricles in rats

This study was designed to characterize cardiac changes in myosin heavy chain (MHC)-beta, capacity for oxidative metabolism and muscle mass in hearts of rats born and raised at simulated altitudes (2200 m or 4000 m) compared to age-matched sea level controls. On the basis of electrophoretic analyses, we found that the hypoxia-induced ventricular hypertrophy produces a significant increase in MHC-beta in both ventricles. Furthermore, we observed an exponential relationship between the mass of right ventricular muscle and percentages in the expression of MHC-beta (r=0.928, P<0.001). We also observed the reduction in the citrate synthase (CS) and 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase (HAD) activities in both hypertrophied ventricles (P<0.001). As a consequence, there were negative correlations between the percentage expression of MHC-beta and the CS or HAD activities (P<0.001). In contrast, there were no significant correlations between the relative expressions of MHC-beta and either CS or HAD enzymatic activities in both ventricles after adjusting for the relative wet mass. In conclusion, the observed increases in MHC-beta may be a compensation to augment efficiency if muscles contract in hypertrophied hearts where mitochondria fail to respond to increases in tissue mass. These findings suggest that the increased relative expression of MHC-beta is a compensation to sustain cardiac contractile efficiency in response to impaired oxidative metabolism in the hypoxia-induced hypertrophied ventricles of rats.

Three‐dimensional resistivity structure in Ishikari Lowland, Hokkaido, northeastern Japan—Implications to strain concentration mechanism

Rights Copyright 2017 American Geophysical Union. Yamaya, Y., T. Mogi, R. Honda, H. Hase, T. Hashimoto, and M. Uyeshima (2017), Three-dimensional resistivity structure in Ishikari Lowland, Hokkaido, northeastern Japan̶Implications to strain concentration mechanism, Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst., 18, 735‒754, doi:10.1002/2016GC006771. To view the published open abstract, go to http://dx.doi.org and enter the DOI. Type article