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PREMISE In temperate sand dunes, rising air temperature owing to climate change could not only further elevate surface soil temperatures during summers but also drastically change the range of soil temperatures in other seasons. Winter warming may shift the timing of seed germination of dune species that require cold stratification for dormancy release. METHODS We assessed the effects of temperature on dormancy and germination of Viola grayi seeds and evaluated whether winter warming could affect its germination phenology by conducting germination experiments and analyzing soil temperature data in cold and warm winters. RESULTS Viola grayi seeds were dormant when dispersed in spring. One-month moist-chilling treatment (4°C) effectively released dormancy, while short, intermittent lower temperatures (alternating 20/5°C) did not. Continuous higher temperatures induced secondary dormancy in non-dormant seeds. During a cold, snowy winter, the surface soil temperatures of the sand dune remained at 0-2°C for approximately one month owing to the accumulated snow, while the period of such stable low soil temperatures was much shorter during a warm, less snowy winter, and the highest soil temperature class reached 20-25°C. These results suggest that dispersed seeds germinate in the following spring after winter chilling, but they may remain dormant after warm winters. CONCLUSIONS With winter warming, prolonged seed dormancy and associated germination delay could occur in V. grayi seeds. Assessing the minimum requirements for dormancy release and the potential to form persistent soil seed banks is important for judging the necessity and urgency of conservation efforts for temperate dune species. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Previous studies have reported that older people are more knowledgeable about nature than the younger generation. The relationship between people’s age and level of knowledge can be explained via two mechanisms: knowledge increases with age (wisdom of the elders), and opportunities to acquire knowledge decrease with successive generations (loss of experience). In this study, we examined the association between age and knowledge regarding the use of wild fruits among people living on Awaji Island in Japan. Analysis of the results revealed that the decline in knowledge among young people can be attributed to loss of experience. Furthermore, we found that the channels of knowledge transfer have changed between generations, earlier, children received it from their peers, but in recent years, it has been coming to them from older people and teachers.

The Tomakomai CCS Demonstration Project was launched in April 2012 by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), aiming for the practical use of CCS in Japan by around 2020. It required 4 years for EPC work of the demonstration facilities and CO2 injection was started on April 6, 2016. On November 22, 2019, the project achieved the target of 300,000 tonnes of cumulative injection and injection was terminated, whereas monitoring operations are being continued. Many important results were obtained through the demonstration, and those regarding capture and compression processes are summarized as follows: • The capture process of the Tomakomai demonstration consists of an absorber, a stripper and a low-pressure flash tower with the absorber having a dual function of bulk absorption (lower part) and lean absorption (upper part). This process configuration, called a two-stage absorption process, achieved an average amine reboiler heat of 0.9 GJ/t-CO2, which is 1/2 to 1/3 of a conventional one stage absorption process that ranges from 2 to 3 GJ/t-CO2. Furthermore, process simulation studies of an “innovative process layout” suggested that the amine reboiler heat could be reduced to 0.487 GJ/t-CO2, which is 1/4 to 1/6 of the conventional heat requirement. • The CO2 control system of two serial compressors which increases the pressure of captured CO2 up to 9.7 MPaG was able to achieve fully automatic control against periodic fluctuation of the CO2 flow rate after modification. The pressure of the captured CO2 (50 kPaG) upstream of the CO2 compressors could be stabilized; consequently, the CO2 flash of the low-pressure flash tower could also be stabilized, • It was verified that the pressure control of the captured CO2 is very important in maintaining the steady flash effect of the low-pressure flash tower and subsequent stable performance of the bulk absorption in the absorber. • The CO2 partial pressure of the absorber inlet was adjusted to conditions similar to those of a hydrogen production unit (HPU), ammonia production unit (APU) and integrated coal gasification combined cycle (Air Blown IGCC). The low amine reboiler heat obtained by the two-stage absorption process and the innovative process layout have the potential to be applicable to these processes, and greatly reduce the fuel cost as well as the corresponding avoided cost of CCS.

The Tomakomai CCS Demonstration Project is being conducted over a nine-year period from JFY* 2012 to 2020. The original plan comprised a four years construction, three years CO2 injection and two years post-injection monitoring period, aiming to establish CCS technology for practical use by around 2020. The main objectives and tasks of the project were; 1) demonstrate a full-chain CCS system from capture to storage, 2) demonstrate that the CCS system is safe and reliable, 3) remove concerns about earthquakes by the data collected (As Japan is an earthquake-prone country, removing concerns regarding earthquakes by establishing that natural earthquakes will not affect the CO2 stored, and conversely that the CO2 injection will not induce perceptible tremors is vital), 4) enhance the understanding of CCS through information disclosure and public engagement activities and, 5) acquire operational technology as well as strive towards practical implementation. The project achieved the following results. 1) The operation of a full chain CCS system from capture to storage was conducted successfully, and the target of 300,000 tonnes of CO2 injection was achieved in November 2019. 2) No micro-seismicity or natural earthquakes attributable to CO2 injection were detected in the vicinity of the injection area. 3) 2018 Hokkaido Eastern Earthquake of moment magnitude (Mw) 6.6 did not affect the CO2 stored. 4) The public outreach program has been largely successful, with no major opposition to the project. Information disclosure and diligent efforts to secure the understanding of local stakeholders were of utmost importance. As a future step, the Japanese government plans to implement a CCU demonstration project making efficient use of the Tomakomai facilities. JCCS is presently supporting a feasibility study being conducted by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO). (*JFY denotes April of calendar year to following March)

Sexual size dimorphism in the African fossil ape Proconsul nyanzae (18 million years ago, 18 Ma) has been previously documented. However, additional evidence for sexual dimorphism in Miocene hominoids can provide great insight into the history of extant hominoid mating systems. The present study focused on body mass (BM) sexual dimorphism in Nacholapithecus kerioi from the Middle Miocene (16–15 Ma) in Africa. Bootstrap analysis revealed that P. nyanzae BM sexual dimorphism was lower than that in Pan troglodytes, which exhibits moderate sexual dimorphism, as reported previously. The same simulation revealed that BM sexual dimorphism of N. kerioi was comparable with that in Gorilla spp.; i.e., the males were approximately twice as large as the females. High sexual dimorphism in extant apes is usually indicative of a polygynous social structure (gorilla) or solitary/fission-fusion social system (orangutan). However, because of the high proportion of adult males in this fossil assemblage, the magnitude of dimorphism inferred here cannot be associated with a gorilla-like polygynous or oranguran-like solitary/fission-fusion social structure, and may reflect either taphonomic bias, or some other social structure. Extant hominoids have a long evolutionary history owing to their deep branching, comprising only a few existing members of the original highly successful group. Therefore, it is not surprising that the mating systems of extant hominoids fail to provide fossil apes with a perfect “model”. The mating systems of extinct hominoids may have been more diverse than those of extant apes.

A large-scale CCS demonstration project is being undertaken by the Japanese government in the Tomakomai area, Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan. The objective is to demonstrate the viability of a full CCS system, from CO2 capture to injection and storage. One hundred thousand tonnes/year or more of CO2 is being injected and stored in offshore saline aquifers in the Tomakomai port area. The implementation of this project has been commissioned to Japan CCS Co., Ltd. (JCCS) by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) with the subsidies for the operating expenses by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). The CO2 source is a pressure swing adsorption offgas from a hydrogen production unit (HPU) of an oil refinery located in the coastal area of Tomakomai Port. The HPU provides CO2 rich offgas to the Tomakomai demonstration project CO2 capture facility via a 1.4 km pipeline. In the capture facility, gaseous CO2 of 99% or higher purity is recovered from the offgas by a commercially proven amine scrubbing process with a design capacity of 200,000 tonnes per year. At the injection facility, the gaseous CO2 is compressed and injected into two different offshore reservoirs (Moebetsu Formation/sandstone layers and Takinoue Formation/volcanic rocks layers) by two dedicated deviated injection wells. The storage points are located at 3 to 4 km offshore. The project is scheduled to run between the period of JFY 2012 - 2020 (JFY is from April of calendar year to following March). The injection of CO2 began in April 2016. The injection of CO2 will be conducted for three years and monitoring for five years. The injection target is 300,000 tonnes in total over three years. The main features of this project are: 1) Extensive monitoring system in seismically active country, 2) Deviated CO2 injection wells drilled from onshore to offshore, 3) Marine environmental survey by domestic law reflecting London Protocol, 4) Low energy CO2 capture process, 5) Injection of CO2 near urban area.

After a long period of inactivity, recent excavations at the late Miocene Maragheh Formation unexpectedly resulted in the discovery of the first fossil hominoid and second Mesopithecus remains from this area. The discovery motivated a new international initiative to conduct research in these rich fossil sites. These studies focused on the fossil hominoid and its locality, aiming to reveal more about the context of this fossil discovery. Detailed stratigraphy, sedimentology and magnetostratigraphy studies were conducted. New samples from volcaniclastic key horizons (pumice beds) in Dareh Gorg, where the hominoid fossil site is located, were dated by radiometric methods. The radiometric age determinations provide a firm tie-point for the geochronology. The polarity pattern in the palaeomagnetically investigated section corroborates the K-Ar results. The preliminary magnetostratigraphic results suggest that the hominoid locality can be correlated to the normal polarity chron C4n.2n (8.108–7.695 Ma), C4n.1n (7.642–7.528 Ma) or C3Br.1n (7.285–7.251 Ma), placing it at intervals corresponding to the mammal units MN11 or possibly early MN12. The study of fossil hominoid indicates broad affinities with a number of contemporaneous taxa from the Balkan-Iranian palaeoprovince, as well as Siwaliks and southeast Asia. A preliminary analysis of the accompanying (in situ) fauna at the hominoid site indicates the highest similarity of this level to Turolian hominoid- and Mesopithecus-bearing localities in Turkey, Greece and Bulgaria. However, some environmental differences are observed among these localities, based on their faunal structure and taxon properties, as well as in the different masticatory adaptations of their hominoids.

The Maragheh Formation is an important deposit, which yields the savanna-type large mammal assemblage known as the “Pikermian Fauna.” Our high-resolution facies analysis of the interval between the Lower Pumice and the White Tuff demonstrated that debris-flow deposits and paleosols are dominant in the studied sequence. Fluvial channel-fill and small pond facies are the subordinate components in this interval. Most of the channel-fill deposits are interpreted as having been accumulated from ephemeral streams. The wide distribution of the Middle Pumice, the fact that it contains grains with older ages than those of the Lower Pumice, and the presence of “traction carpet” deposits allow the interpretation of the pumice interval as having been deposited from a hyperconcentrated flow probably caused by crater-lake destruction around the peak of Mt. Sahand, which supplied older rocks to the flow. The internal architecture of fluvial channel-fill deposits and the structures of paleosols (rhizoliths, cracks and slickensides: probable Vertic Inceptisols) imply a seasonal climate during deposition of the studied interval. This is consistent with previous environmental reconstructions based on mammal fossils (woodland-dominated savannah) as well as the results of phytolith analysis and δ18O data obtained from northern Iran. However, flood deposits covering the paleosols, showing sheet-like geometry, may not have been affected by large trees on the flood plain: the extent of woodland around the study site appears to have been limited.

Pumice beds of the Maragheh Formation, which is distributed on the plains at the foot of the late Cenozoic Sahand volcano, NW Iran, consist of the Mordaq tuff bed, lower pumice beds (A and B), middle pumice bed and upper pumice bed, in ascending order. New hornblende and plagioclase K–Ar ages of the pumices from these are: Mordaq tuff bed: 8.14 ± 0.27 Ma, lower pumice beds (A): 7.54 ± 0.22 Ma, lower pumice beds (B): 6.95 ± 0.28 Ma, middle pumice bed: 7.87 ± 0.29 Ma, upper pumice bed: 6.96 ± 0.31 Ma. The middle pumice bed is a flood deposit, and the chemical compositions of glass, hornblende and biotite in pumices overlap those from the lower pumice beds (A). These features indicate that the pumices of the middle pumice bed were derived from a similar source to the lower pumice beds (A). Chemical compositions of pumices from the Maragheh Formation fall in the dacite field of the total alkali-silica (TAS) classification diagram and slightly differ from those of the Plio–Pleistocene rocks from the Sahand volcano. Chemical compositions of late Miocene Maragheh Formation pumices show adakitic features with high Sr contents (698–545 ppm), and low Y (12–8 ppm). It is inferred that the source materials of the adakitic dacite magma were amphibole eclogite or garnet amphibolite originating from the Neo-Thetys plate subducted beneath the Eurasia plate.

Most Plio-Pleistocene sites in the Gregory Rift Valley that have yielded abundant fossil hominins lie on the Rift Valley floor. Here we report a new Pliocene site, Kantis, on the shoulder of the Gregory Rift Valley, which extends the geographical range of Australopithecus afarensis to the highlands of Kenya. This species, known from sites in Ethiopia, Tanzania, and possibly Kenya, is believed to be adapted to a wide spectrum of habitats, from open grassland to woodland. The Kantis fauna is generally similar to that reported from other contemporaneous A. afarensis sites on the Rift Valley floor. However, its faunal composition and stable carbon isotopic data from dental enamel suggest a stronger C4 environment than that present at those sites. Although the Gregory Rift Valley has been the focus of paleontologists' attention for many years, surveys of the Rift shoulder may provide new perspective on African Pliocene mammal and hominin evolution, ケニア・ナイロビ郊外で初めて発見されたアウストラロピテクス. 京都大学プレスりリス. 2016-03-24.

Damageless and conformal doping process for FinFETs is demonstrated by solid diffusion utilizing cost-effective spin-coated phosphorus dopes silica (PDS). Damageless nature of the PDS diffusion doping is confirmed by TEM characterization of the doped fin. The PDS diffusion is successfully implemented in the extension doping of the FinFETs. The fabricated FinFETs with the PDS diffusion doping exhibit suppression of the series resistance and its fluctuation in comparison with the phosphorus I/I reference, showing effectiveness of the PDS diffusion as the damageless and conformal doping solution required for the further-scaled FinFETs in future.

A large-scale CCS demonstration project is currently being undertaken by the Japanese government in the Tomakomai area, Hokkaido prefecture, Japan. The project is scheduled to run for the period JFY 2012 - 2020 to demonstrate the viability of CCS system from CO 2 capture through to injection and storage. 100,000 tonnes per year or more of CO 2 derived from an industrial source will be injected and stored in two different saline aquifers under the seabed in the offshore area of the Tomakomai Port. Construction of ground facilities and preparation of monitoring systems are progressing on schedule for planned CO 2 injection startup in 2016.

We investigated alkali series volcanic rocks newly discovered in the southern Mongolia volcano-plutonic belt of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB) and classified as basalt, basaltic trachyandesite, andesite, trachyandesite, and trachyte, mainly showing andesitic-dacitic compositions. In Harker diagrams, the TiO2, FeO, MnO, Al2O3, CaO, and MgO contents generally decrease with increasing SiO2, representing a series of differentiated volcanic rocks. The primitive mantle-normalized trace element spider diagram is characterized by incompatible element-rich patterns and negative Nb anomalies. The tectonic discrimination diagrams show that the volcanic rocks were formed by arc-related volcanism rather than within-plate volcanism. K-Ar dating of feldspars from six volcanic rocks yields ages ranging from 270 to 239 Ma, indicating that andesitic and dacitic magmatism occurred during this period. These geochemical and geochronological data indicate that the differentiated volcanic rocks intruding middle to late Palaeozoic volcanic sediments were formed by back-arc type subduction ca. 270–240 Ma. Based on detrital zircon U-Pb ages, the terrigenous sandstones underlain by the volcanic sediments record a maximum depositional age of Late Triassic (ca. 205 Ma), and abundant detrital zircons of ca. 250–210 Ma imply the Early Triassic felsic volcanism near this region. They also include a main cluster of Early Devonian ages (ca. 440–380 Ma) and Late Carboniferous to Early Permian (ca. 330–280 Ma), possibly derived from the Devonian-Carboniferous arc complex and Early Permian granites observed surrounding this study area. These results from the volcanic and sedimentary rocks in this study, combined with investigations in previous studies, imply that subduction beneath the eastern segments of the CAOB to consume the Palaeo-Asian Ocean continued until Late Permian to Early Triassic.

Strain monitoring of resin during cure process is an effective method to manufacture high-quality FRP products because it is known that residual stress generated during molding decreases strength of final products. Although both cure and thermal shrinkage occur during cure process, it is difficult to measure cure shrinkage of FRP products due to dramatic changes in mechanical properties of resin by cure reaction. Among cure monitoring methods, it is proven that fiber optic embedded strain sensors can measure cure shrinkage of resin. However, quantitative evaluation of cure shrinkage strain measured by optical fiber strain sensors has not been conducted. In the present paper, we monitored curing shrinkage of epoxy resin by an embedded EFPI sensor. Mechanical and thermochemical properties of the resin during cure process were experimentally obtained by several methods. Volume shrinkage of resin during cure process was also measured by a dilatometer. In this paper, a viscoelastic model during cure process was driven and the model was used for FEM analysis of cure shrinkage strain generated in the embedded EFPI sensor. From the results, it appeared that the calculated cure shrinkage strain of the EFPI sensors agreed well with the measured strain especially when the degree of cure was high. Therefore, it was concluded that an embedded EFPI sensor can measure cure shrinkage strain quantitatively.

Old World monkeys represent one of the most successful adaptive radiations of modern primates, but a sparse fossil record has limited our knowledge about the early evolution of this clade. We report the discovery of two partial skeletons of an early colobine monkey (Microcolobus) from the Nakali Formation (9.8–9.9 Ma) in Kenya that share postcranial synapomorphies with extant colobines in relation to arboreality such as mediolaterally wide distal humeral joint, globular humeral capitulum, distinctly angled zona conoidea, reduced medial trochlear keel, long medial epicondyle with weak retroflexion, narrow and tall olecranon, posteriorly dislocated fovea on the radial head, low projection of the femoral greater trochanter, wide talar head with a greater rotation, and proximodistally short cuboid and ectocuneiform. Microcolobus in Nakali clearly differs from the stem cercopithecoid Victoriapithecus regarding these features, as Victoriapithecus is postcranially similar to extant small-sized terrestrial cercopithecines. However, degeneration of the thumb, a hallmark of modern colobines, is not observed, suggesting that this was a late event in colobine evolution. This discovery contradicts the prevailing hypothesis that the forest invasion by cercopithecids first occurred in the Plio-Pleistocene, and shows that this event occurred by the late Miocene at a time when ape diversity declined. Am J Phys Anthropol 143:365-382, 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

In the present paper, the impact responses and overall damages of Fibre-Metal Laminates based on titanium alloys and glass fibre-reinforced polymers (Ti/GFRP) as Ti/FRP laminate system were evaluated. Low-velocity impact tests using a drop-weight tower were conducted for the cross-plied GFRP laminates and the Ti/GFRP laminates, and the impact responses during impact loading were obtained. Impact damages such as cracks in titanium layer and delamination of titanium-GFRP interface or matrix cracks and interlaminar delamination in GFRP layer were observed from the impact direction. From the experimental evidence, it was found that the Ti/GFRP laminates showed same impact damage modes as of other types of Fibre-Metal Laminates. Internal damages in the Ti/GFRP laminates were restrained by the reinforcing effect of titanium and adhesive layer compared to the cross-plied GFRP laminates. The Ti/GFRP laminates showed two patterns of the impact responses and damages with the threshold impact energy of about 4.8J. With higher impact energy than this threshold, single crack was presented in titanium layer at non-impacted side. The interlaminar delamination area in GFRP layer increased sharply due to the occurrence of this crack. Numerical analysis model that represent the impact behaviour of the Ti/GFRP laminates using finite element method was suggested based on the damage observations. The impact responses obtained by the dynamic analyses agreed well with the experimental results. The calculated area of interlaminar delamination in GFRP layer as a function of impact energy showed same behaviour as seen in the experiments. As a consequence, it was shown by the analysis as well that the drastic increase in the internal damage area of the Ti/GFRP laminates was induced by the fracture in outer titanium layer under the out-of-plane impact loading.

This study proposes a real-time monitoring method for degree of cure (DOC) of curing resin by refractive index measurement using a single-mode optical fiber based on the Fresnel reflection at the fiber end. First, we particularly present an approach for measuring refractive index of resin in real time without the effects of unexpected backward reflection. We applied this approach to measurement of refractive index of an epoxy resin during cure process, and experimentally confirmed that the change of the refractive index was stably measured in real time. Next, we proposes a new approach to calculate DOC from change of refractive index by eliminating effect of temperature change on refractive index of curing resin. This approach can quantitatively evaluate the DOC in real time, which is not obtained by conventional methods, and provide information in the small region at the fiber end. The experimental results of monitoring cure process of the epoxy resin showed that the DOC could be stably measured by this approach without effect of the temperature change. Furthermore, the DOC obtained by this approach was compared with the DOC curve by the thermal analysis using differential scanning calorimeter. These experiments revealed that the DOC by the present approach represented the curing condition of the resin regardless of the cure pattern and was easily translated into the DOC by the thermal analysis. The present approach of real-time quantitative evaluation of the DOC can be applied to fast cure reaction as well as slow reaction demonstrated in this paper.

** Two pitch based high modulus type carbon fibers with oxidative surface and sizing treatments and without any treatments are used in the present work. These fibers are made under the same process derived from the same pre- cursor. Unidirectional carbon fiber reinforced carbon composites (C/C composites) are prepared from two kinds of these carbon fibers and four kinds of carbon matrix precursors, two thermosetting resins (phenolic and furan resins) and two pitches, (coal-tar and petroleum pitches). The tensile test of the strand specimen of the composites heat- treated at different temperatures is carried out by following JIS R7601. Effects of oxidative surface and sizing treat- ments of carbon fiber on tensile properties of the composites derived from different matrix precursors are discussed. In the case of high modulus type pitch based carbon fiber, it is found that there is almost no effect on the strength of composites by the surface oxidation and sizing treatment of the carbon fiber, except for showing different fracture morphologies of graphitized composites derived from the thermosetting resins between the treated and the untreated fibers.

Some granitoid magmas in subduction zones are closely related to sedimentary rocks, due to partial melting or assimilation during generation and ascent. In the Ryoke high temperature (T)–low pressure (P) metamorphic belt of SW Japan, syngenetic carbonaceous material containing organic matter occurs in granodiorite which interacted with pelitic rocks under middle crust T and P conditions. Solid state carbonaceous materials in metapelites, injection gneiss, and granodiorite consist of graphite and organic matter. X-ray mapping by EPMA shows that granular carbonaceous material a few tens of microns in diameter consisting of C with or without N, Cl, and S occurs as inclusions in quartz, feldspar, biotite, and garnet. Micro laser Raman spectro-analysis shows that some carbonaceous inclusions in injection gneiss and metapelite are graphite. Peaks characteristic of phenyl-H, alkyl–CH3, –CH2–, C O, and –C C– stretching vibrations are present in FT-IR spectra of biotite flakes, indicating that hydrocarbon compounds are uniformly distributed in the crystal structure and/or along cleavages of that mineral. Particulate carbonaceous materials in minerals in the granodiorite contain long-aliphatic hydrocarbon bonds, oxygen-bearing organic compounds, and aromatic fragments. The distribution of these organic groups differs among feldspar, quartz, and biotite. Carbon isotopic ratios in the granodiorite are lighter than those of graphite and amorphous carbon in the metapelite, suggesting an origin from low molecular weight hydrocarbons released from the metapelite. Carbonaceous materials probably formed by hydrocarbon polymerization and solidification of gaseous hydrocarbons were trapped in the highly viscous granodiorite magma during crystallization and cooling, and under differing oxidation conditions. The presence of such organic matter in granitoids is important for the understanding of the behavior and circulation of volatile components in arc systems during subduction, accretion, and magmatism.

Massive apatite-bearing carbonatites intruded into a Precambrian metamorphic terrain around Eppawala, North-central Sri Lanka, have been investigated using petrographic and geochemical methods. The geochemical study includes mineral compositions, whole rock elemental abundances, and Sr–Nd and C–O isotopes. The carbonatites are generally coarse grained, and are mineralogically and texturally layered. Calcite, dolomite, olivine, and apatite are the major mineral phases, whereas spinel, ilmenite, magnetite, amphiboles, and micas occur as minor phases. Major element compositions show variation from calciocarbonatite to magnesiocarbonatite. The calciocarbonatites are enriched in ΣREE relative to the magnesiocarbonatites, but all samples show broadly comparable REE patterns. Extreme depletion of Ni, Ti, Cs, Rb, Nb, Ta, Zr, and Hf are characteristic of the Eppawala carbonatites. Stable C–O isotope ratios vary from −1.9 to −3.5 δ13C(PDB) and from 7.7 to 16.2 δ18O(SMOW). Sr and Nd isotope data (87Sr/86Sr 0.7049–0.7052 and 143Nd/144Nd 0.5019–0.5020) are compatible with an enriched mantle source lying between EM-I and EM-II mantle components. The mineral chemistry and overall geochemical signatures are consistent with an igneous origin, in which primary carbonatite magma was derived from a low degree partial melting of carbonated eclogites.

我が国における家庭部門のCO2 排出量の伸びは著しく，抜本的な対策や施策が喫緊の課題である。本研究では，家庭部門において一般住民にとって最も身近なCO2 の吸収源である庭木に着目し，庭木のCO2 固定効果に加えて，庭木の日射遮蔽による冷房エネルギーの削減量を考慮した総合的なCO2 削減効果として戸建住宅の植栽モデルプランを評価した。植栽モデルプランの庭木のCO2 削減効果は，最大70.16 kg- CO2/year と算出された。庭木自体の固定量より日射遮蔽によるCO2 削減効果の削減量が大きく算出されたことから，日射遮蔽を目的とした植栽の検討が重要であると推察された。

Extant African great apes and humans are thought to have diverged from each other in the Late Miocene. However, few hominoid fossils are known from Africa during this period. Here we describe a new genus of great ape ( Nakalipithecus nakayamai gen. et sp. nov.) recently discovered from the early Late Miocene of Nakali, Kenya. The new genus resembles Ouranopithecus macedoniensis (9.6–8.7 Ma, Greece) in size and some features but retains less specialized characters, such as less inflated cusps and better-developed cingula on cheek teeth, and it was recovered from a slightly older age (9.9–9.8 Ma). Although the affinity of Ouranopithecus to the extant African apes and humans has often been inferred, the former is known only from southeastern Europe. The discovery of N. nakayamai in East Africa, therefore, provides new evidence on the origins of African great apes and humans. N. nakayamai could be close to the last common ancestor of the extant African apes and humans. In addition, the associated primate fauna from Nakali shows that hominoids and other non-cercopithecoid catarrhines retained higher diversity into the early Late Miocene in East Africa than previously recognized.

It has become increasingly obvious over the past two decades that the fossiliferous strata at Fort Ternan, Kenya, are probably somewhat younger than 14 Ma, an age which has long been attached to the deposits. This realisation flows from geological and biochronological observations. In order to test the hypothesis, resampling of all the lava flows in the region of Fort Ternan was undertaken in 2003, especially those underlying the Fort Ternan Beds in the Kipchorion Gorge where the sequence is the most complete. Samples obtained from lava flows underlying and overlying the fossil beds were analysed for anorthoclase K/Ar and 40 Ar/ 39 Ar and biotite 40 Ar/ 39 Ar age determinations. The results reveal that the age of the fossiliferous sediments is ca 13.7 ± 0.3 Ma . Since Fort Ternan yielded the ‘core fauna’ that defines Faunal Set IV of the East African biochronological sequence this refinement of its age will impact on age estimates of neighbouring Faunal Sets, as well as on other faunas correlated to Fort Ternan, including those in Europe belonging to MN Zones MN 5, MN 6 and MN 7/8. To cite this article: M. Pickford et al., C. R. Geoscience 338 (2006).

The Miocene Namurungule Formation crops out on the eastern flank of the Kenya Rift, representing basin fill that developed in association with Miocene rifting. The formation is characterized by large volumes of volcaniclastics supplied passively by pyroclastic fall. Facies analysis reveals that this formation consists mostly of lacustrine delta deposits with minor alluvial fan deposits at its base. The conspicuous occurrence of a flood plain facies with infrequent channel fill deposits in the lower part of this formation suggest that the drainage area was limited in the early stage of deposition. Pyroclastic fall would therefore have been an important source of sediment during the early stages of rift development. The delta deposits are divided into two distinct successions based on lithological characteristics, separated by a thick pyroclastic layer in the middle part of the formation. The stacking pattern of the lower succession is retrogradational, whereas the upper succession is characterized by a pile of prograding bodies. Both delta successions are interpreted to have accumulated in an underfilled basin. The change in depositional mode from the lower to upper is considered to be due to a change in the balance between the sedimentation rate and the rate of lake-level rise. Assuming constant sediment supply, the apparent difference in flooding scale between the lower and upper successions is attributed to the topographical widening of the basin flat. Similar successions also occur in another basin in the East African Rift (Ngorora Formation, central Kenya), in which pyroclastic sediments are dominant and upward decrease in sedimentation rate is recognized. The differing in the stacking patterns between the Namurungule Formation and the Ngorora formation is probably induced by basin width. The narrow Namurungule basin seems to have been sensitive to increased sediment supply owing to the expansion of the catchment area.