Tsuchiya Noriyoshi

Tohoku University | Tohokudai · Graduate School of Environmental Studies

Assessing the thermal structure of a geothermal reservoir and its history is of critical importance when evaluating the energy potential and heat source of the reservoir. However, the present and past thermal structures of reservoirs are not easily obtained due to temperature perturbations during drilling and/or the sparse sampling of the reservoir...

Hydration, carbonation, and related metasomatism of mantle peridotite play a significant role in the global geochemical cycle. In this study, we combined an analysis of carbonated serpentinite with hydrothermal experiments on carbonation and Ca-metasomatism for samples from the Manlay ophiolite, southern Mongolia to investigate that carbonation mec...

The southern part of the Kuril Island Arc is one of the world’s most active modern volcanic zones, with widespread felsic caldera volcanism, but it has been less well studied compared with other arcs. The Mendeleev caldera-forming eruption (40 ka) on Kunashir Island, southern Kurils, is one of the most explosive Pleistocene eruptions to have occurr...

Fluids in subduction zones contain various aqueous species and cause metasomatic reactions as well as hydration (i.e., serpentinization) at the slab–mantle interface. However, the nature of elemental transfer during fluid infiltration into the dry mantle in the subduction zone is poorly understood. In this study, we describe novel textures related...

Reaction of carbon dioxide (CO2) with minerals to generate stable carbonates, also known as CO2 mineralization, has been regarded as one of the most promising methods for safe and permanent carbon storage. As a promising feedstock, basaltic rock has gained special interest, and elevating basalt carbonation efficiency with the reduction of negative...

The intensification of fossil fuel usage results in significant air pollution levels. Efforts have been put into developing efficient technologies capable of converting air pollution into valuable products, including fuels and valuable chemicals (e.g., CO2 to hydrocarbon and syngas and NOx to ammonia). Among the strategic efforts to mitigate the ex...

Chemical stimulation using environment-friendly chelating agents (e.g., readily biodegradable GLDA) was recently shown to rapidly and substantially enhance the permeability of fractured granite, without creating mineral precipitation. This study examined the effectiveness of such stimulation in volcanic rocks through flooding experiments conducted...

We examined the silicification zone in a granite-porphyry system in order to investigate the caprocks in a supercritical geothermal system. At the top of the granite intrusion, a high-temperature silicification zone contains three generations of quartz. The earliest generation formed at higher temperatures and has bright luminescence and high Ti co...

Geological data were used to explore the geological structure and hydrothermal alteration distribution of the Sengan area, Northeast Japan. Acidic alteration and high-temperature hot springs surround several Quaternary volcanoes within the Sengan area. Quaternary intrusive granitic-dioritic rocks are distributed beneath the Kakkonda, Matsukawa, and...

The probable locations of ultra-high-temperature geothermal reservoirs in the Kakkonda geothermal field were modeled under varying conditions using resistivity and temperature data. The results indicate that ultra-high-temperature geothermal reservoirs are likely present at elevations of ≥ –4000 m. The centers of these reservoirs, characterized by...

We investigated the fluid flow and elemental transport from a granitic body to the middle crust by determining the trace element compositions of garnet in pegmatites related to a quartz diorite intrusion and metamorphic rocks on Kinkasan Island, northeast Japan. Garnet in the pegmatites and biotite schists is characterized by spessartine– (Sps–) al...

Magnetotelluric (MT) surveys have revealed the existence of subvertical conductors at depths of several kilometers in the volcanic and geothermal areas of northern Japan. The conductive anomalies suggest that saline magmatic fluids are trapped within or in the vicinity of granitic intrusions and potentially form supercritical geothermal reservoirs....

This study aimed to provide important insights into Pacific Ocean sea-level changes by clarifying salinity changes in Lake Ogawara on the Pacific coast of northeast Japan, which became brackish in the late Holocene. Radiocarbon (¹⁴C) dating, tephrochronology, and geochemical signatures, including bromine (Br), iodine (I), total sulfur (TS), total o...

Development of geothermal power plants and local geothermal energy initiatives have lagged due to the social problems such as conflicts with stakeholders such as Onsen (Hot Spa) owners, despite the abundant geothermal resources. Study area was Tsuchiyu Onsen in Fukushima prefecture, Tohoku (Northeast) District, Japan, where the Great East Japan Ear...

Fluids within the Earth's crust may exist under supercritical conditions (i.e., >374°C and >22.1 MPa for pure water). Supercritical geothermal reservoirs at depths of 2–10 km below the surface in northeastern (NE) Japan mainly consist of magmatic fluids that exsolved from the melt during the course of fractional crystallization. Supercritical geoth...

We report here our investigations into the petrology and geochemistry of the Khungui eclogites and metamorphosed continental crust in the Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB), Western Mongolia. The eclogites consist mainly of garnet, omphacite, amphibole, Ti-bearing minerals, phengite, quartz, epidote, and plagioclase. Two types of garnet occur: Grt1...

The mass transfer history of rocks provides direct evidence for fluid–rock interaction within the lithosphere and is recorded by compositional changes, especially in trace elements. The general method adopted for mass transfer analysis is to compare the composition of the protolith/precursor with that of metamorphosed/altered rocks; however, in man...

Hydration and carbonation reactions within the Earth cause an increase in solid volume by up to several tens of vol%, which can induce stress and rock fracture. Observations of naturally hydrated and carbonated peridotite suggest that permeability and fluid flow are enhanced by reaction-induced fracturing. However, permeability enhancement during s...

Serpentinization of ultramafic rocks in ophiolites is key to understanding the global cycle of elements and changes in the physical properties of lithospheric mantle. Mongolia, a central part of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB), contains numerous ophiolite complexes, but the metamorphism of ultramafic rocks in these ophiolites has been little...

Mining legacies continue to impact the geochemical cycles in historically mined watersheds after mine closure. The Hokuroku District in Northeast Japan is a famous metal mining area with a long mining history; however, studies on the distribution mechanisms and pollution characteristics of heavy metals in these historically mined watersheds after t...

This study explored a key challenge of aqueous indirect CO2 mineralization: the consumption of chemicals for a large pH swing between acidic and alkaline conditions and the production of waste fluid. Herein, we proposed and experimentally examined the technical feasibility of a sustainable process for enhanced CO2 mineralization using a new potenti...

Quantitative and semi–quantitative procedures using a portable energy dispersive X–ray fluorescence spectrometer (portable XRF) were applied to geochemical studies in fault rocks, lake sediments, and soils, including paleotsunami deposits. The results obtained are as follows: 1) Correlation coefficients (r2; measured values by portable XRF versus r...

Magnetite veins are commonly observed in serpentinized peridotite, but the mobility of iron during serpentin-ization is poorly understood. The completely serpentinized ultramafic rocks (originally dunite) in the Taishir Massif in the Khantaishir ophiolite, western Mongolia, contain abundant antigorite + magnetite (Atg + Mag) veins, which show an un...

The absolute date of the Millennium Eruption (ME) of Changbaishan Volcano is widely recognized as AD 946. The Baegdusan-Tomakomai (B-Tm) tephra dispersed during the ME is a robust-age key bed. In order to identify the tephra, refractive index and major-element compositions of volcanic glass shards are conventionally used. Meanwhile, trace- element...

Mineral–fluid equilibria in supercritical geothermal reservoirs is poorly understood, due to the non-applicability of the Helgeson–Kirkham–Flowers (HKF) electrostatic model for aqueous species in low-density regions. We experimentally investigated the dissolution equilibria of albite–K-feldspar–quartz in hydrothermal solutions at 400, 420 °C and 20...

Hydrogen is gaining attention as an energy source, but its production through fossil-fuel use is not environmentally friendly. A more sustainable source could be the hydrothermal reaction involving aluminum and water reaction, which owns technical issues on aluminum passivation and material sources for the upscale application. This study analyzes t...

The Pacific coast of Japan has repeatedly suffered earthquakes with magnitudes greater than Mw 8 and accompanying tsunami on coastal areas. Estimating the inundation area of paleotsunami using event deposits in sediment layers can inform and reduce possible damages from future earthquakes and tsunami. In addition to geological and sedimentological...

Development of geothermal power plants and local geothermal energy initiatives have lagged due to the social problems such as conflicts with stakeholders such as Onsen (Hot Spa) owners, despite the abundant geothermal resources. Study area was Tsuchiyu Onsen in Fukushima prefecture, Tohoku (Northeast) District, Japan, where the Great East Japan Ear...

Mass transfer in rocks provides a direct record of fluid–rock interaction within the Earth, including metamorphism, metasomatism, and hydrothermal alteration. However, mass transfer analyses are usually limited to local reaction zones where the protoliths are evident in outcrops (1–100 m in scale), from which regional mass transfer can be only loos...

Fluid activity in the crust is a key process controlling the generations of earthquakes, magmas, ore deposition formation and deep geothermal activities. Although high pore fluid pressure has been recognized by geophysical observations and geological observations of mineral filled fractures, the actual fluid pressure, their durations and associated...

Superhot geothermal environments with temperatures of approximately 400–500 °C at depths of approximately 2–4 km are attracting attention as new kind of geothermal resource. In order to effectively exploit the superhot geothermal resource through the creation of enhanced geothermal systems (superhot EGSs), hydraulic fracturing is a promising techni...

In volcanic zones, geophysical observations have identified the presence of deep-seated fluids around intrusions in the mid-crust. However, the fluid compositions and mechanisms of fluid migration at high temperatures in the crust are still poorly understood. In this study, we investigated plagioclase alteration in mafic schists (clinopyroxene [Cpx...

Fluids in the deep crust promote heat and mass transport, control rock rheology and fracturing, and play essential roles on the dynamics of plate boundaries. Although fluid activities are geophysically recognized as migrations of hypocenters and seismic velocity anomalies, their actual relations with geological records are not always clear due to d...

The mechanisms of fluid penetration through the gabbroic lower crust are important for the hydration of oceanic lithosphere. In the Oman ophiolite, which preserves an entire sequence of oceanic lithosphere formed at a fast‐spreading ridge, the layered gabbros and dunites are extensively serpentinized. In this paper, we describe the characteristic t...

Petrological and fluid inclusion data were used to characterize multiple generations of veins within the Erdenet Cu–Mo deposit, Mongolia, and constrain the evolution of fluids within the magmatic–hydrothermal system. Three types of veins are present (from early to late): quartz–molybdenite, quartz–pyrite, and quartz. The host rock was emplaced at t...

Potential tsunami inundation areas can be predicted by the distribution of paleo tsunami deposits on land, which are mainly composed of marine-derived sands and muds. These exotic sandy and muddy layers have been identified by multiple approaches. However, there still remain uncertainties regarding the sources and weathering trends over the long te...

Permeability is a key control on fluid infiltration in the crust. However, quantitative geological constraints on crustal permeability are limited, particularly with regards to its temporal evolution. Here we constrain the permeability evolution in the middle–lower crust, based on metamorphic processes associated with fluid infiltration and crustal...

Superhot geothermal environments in granitic crusts of ca. 400–500 °C and depths of 2–4 km are recognized as a frontier of geothermal energy. In developing such environments, hydraulic fracturing is a promising way to create or recreate permeable fracture networks to effectively access the energy through enhanced geothermal systems (EGS). However,...

Silica activity in fluids is a key factor that controls reaction pathways during the hydrothermal alteration of olivine in the oceanic lithosphere. In this study, we conducted hydrothermal experiments (300°C, 8.58 MPa) on the olivine (Ol)–quartz (Qtz)–H2O system to understand the coupling between silica transport and olivine alteration. Mineral pow...

The reaction of Al and H2O is a promising method for the renewable production of H2 (an environmentally friendly fuel whose combustion produces only water), because it does not directly include fossil fuels conversion. This reaction was studied at extreme pH values as low as 1 and as high as 13.5 with HCl, H2SO4, and NaOH, and at low hydrothermal t...

Aquatic ecosystems continuously receive potentially hazardous heavy metals from natural and anthropogenic sources. Focusing on the origin of heavy metals, this study aims to estimate the load contribution of tributaries from individual watershed and human drainage and to dissect the source of heavy metals, as commonly required for environmental imp...

Metaharzburgite and metadunite in the ultramafic body of the Naran Massif in the Khantaishir Ophiolite, western Mongolia, record multi-stage processes of serpentinization (antigorite, lizardite + brucite, then chrysotile). Bulk-rock chemistry and the compositions of primary olivine (P-olivine) and Cr-spinel suggest that the alteration occurred in t...

This geological study utilized electron probe microanalysis of granitic rocks to evaluate traces of hydrothermal fluid activity. Amphibole-plagioclase thermometry was applied to estimate the temperature of a glassy vein as approximately 700°C. The results of mesoscopic and microscopic observations of the rock core obtained through borehole investig...

Hydrothermal activity in the crust results in the precipitation of large volumes of silica and often involves the formation of ore deposits, the shaping of geothermal systems, and recurring earthquakes. Pore fluid pressures fluctuate between lithostatic and hydrostatic, depending on seismic activity, and some models suggest the possibility of flash...

The feasibility of using hot spring water for hydrogen production via hydrothermal reaction with aluminum was evaluated by performing experiments at Zao and Tamagawa hot springs in Northeast Japan. The results of the study demonstrate the viability of the proposed method for advanced direct geothermal energy use. The amount of hydrogen produced usi...

The present study explores the fluid flows within the fractured reservoir of the Yufutsu field (Hokkaido, Japan) by using the innovative discrete fracture network models (DFN-HA model), where the critically-stressed fractures are characterized by their heterogeneous aperture distributions depending on their length and shear displacement. Simulation...

Gypsum aggregate specimens have been used in the present study, because brittle, semi-brittle and ductile stress-strain behaviors of the specimen can be controlled only with confining stress level at the room temperature. At confining stresses up to 40 MPa, tri-axial compression and fluid flow experiments have been conducted on the intact specimens...

In the Tamagawa geothermal area of Akita Prefecture, northern Japan, Obuki spring discharges a large amount of thermal water (∼9000 L/min), which is chloride-rich and acidic (pH 1.2). We have investigated changes in the physico-chemical nature and fractionation mechanisms of rare earth elements (REEs) including Y and actinides (Th and U) in the Shi...

Brine-induced microtexture formation in upper amphibolite to granulite facies lower crust is investigated using a garnet-hornblende (Grt-Hbl) selvage developed along a planar crack discordantly cutting the gneissic structure of an orthopyroxene-bearing gneiss (central Sør Rondane Mountains, East Antarctica). The Cl contents of hornblende and biotit...

Superhot geothermal environments (above ca. 400 °C) represent a new geothermal energy frontier. However, the networks of permeable fractures capable of storing and transmitting fluids are likely to be absent in the continental granitic crust. Here we report the first-ever experimental results for well stimulation involving the application of low-vi...

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones have revolutionized scientific research in multiple fields. Drones provide us multiple advantages over conventional geological mapping or high-altitude remote sensing methods, in which they allow us to acquire data more rapidly of inaccessible or risky outcrops, and can connect the spatial scale gap in mapp...

Water–rock interaction in surface and subsurface environments occurs in complex multicomponent systems and involves several reactions, including element transfer. Such kinetic information is obtained by fitting a forward model into the temporal evolution of solution chemistry or the spatial pattern recorded in the rock samples, although geochemical...

Core Ideas Concentration and speciation of Br and I in volcanic ash soils are determined. Br and I were enriched in soils with andic properties, mainly as organic form. Br and I accumulated in surface soils during Andosol formation process. Bromine and iodine are halogens with similar chemical properties. Distributions of Br and I in the soil prof...

The hydrothermal reaction of water and aluminum materials was investigated as a method for hydrogen production using geothermal heat or wasted heat from industrial activities. Hydrogen was produced using pure aluminum powder at the observed temperature range of 230–340 °C and under corresponding saturated vapor pressure, and hydrogen production inc...

Limestone possesses high performance as a chemical reagent for neutralizing acidic hot spring water. However, the emission of carbon dioxide and formation of large amounts of precipitates such as Ca(OH)2 are big issues during this process. To address this issue, we investigated the utility of crushed gravels of mafic and tuffaceous rocks as a neutr...