Kuril Research Articles

К изучению лихенобиоты острова Броутона (Курильские острова, Сахалинская область, Российский Дальний Восток)

The paper contains the first data on the lichen biota of Broutona Island, one of the most inaccessible small islands of the Kuril Ridge. Information on the findings of 31 species of lichens first discovered on the island is presented. Among them, Peltigera venosa is a new species for the Sakhalin Region, Stereocaulon alpinum is new for the Kuril Islands, and Bryocaulon pseudosatoanum is listed in the Red Data Book of Russia and the Red Data Book of the Sakhalin Region. Information on the habitats of these species on Broutona Island, as well as their distribution in the Kurils and neighboring regions, is provided.

Recent surveys of the sea otter (Enhydra lutris) population on Kuril Islands

Context Sea otters, an endangered species, require regular assessments of their distribution and abundance. These animals inhabit the coastal waters of the North Pacific, traversing from Japan through the Kurils, southern Kamchatka, Commander and Aleutian Islands, and the coasts of North America, to California. Although populations in America and the Commander Islands have been consistently monitored over recent decades, the same cannot be said for the Kuril Islands. Aim This study aims to estimate the state of sea otter populations on the Kuril Islands. Methods The study area encompassed a section of the Kuril archipelago, including Iturup, Urup, Broughton, Chirpoy, and Simushir Islands, surveyed from 2019 to 2023. Sea otters were counted along sections of the coastline, and published sources on other Kuril Islands were analysed. Key results There are several hundred sea otters within surveyed area, whereas in 1960–1980 ~2000 were reported. The total number of sea otters on the archipelago hardly exceeds 3000. The initial or normal number is not known, but the information on hunting indicates that it was much bigger. Up to the end of 19th century, at least ‘one thousand individuals’ had been harvested annually over several decades; this means that the total number was at least several tens of thousands. Conclusions Sea otter populations on the Kuril Islands are in decline, with poaching in the recent past identified as significant contributing factor in a part of the archipelago. Implications Urgent conservation measures are imperative to address the decline of sea otter populations.

New and rare bivalve species for the fauna of the Kuril Islands (northwestern Pacific Ocean): A study of materials collected over 70 years of expeditions (from 1949 to 2019)

Our study of bivalves collected during 24 marine expeditions between 1949 and 2019 at depths of 0–3,000 m off the Kuril Islands resulted in finding 16 new and 11 rare species to the fauna of this region. Their geographical and vertical distribution ranges have been significantly expanded. Species richness within the studied depths is thereby increased by 10%. Of the 27 species examined, three (Huxleyia pentadonta, Limopsis oliveri, and Samacar kurilensis) are endemic to the Kuril Islands. Photographs of shells and revised distribution data, as inferred from this study, are provided for all 27 species.

SPECIFIC FEATURES OF TIDAL EXCHANGE IN THE KURIL STRAITS ACCORDING TO MODELING DATA

Specific features of tidal fluctuations of sea level and tidal currents in the straits of the Kuril Islands are studied using numerical modeling. Two-time intervals, i. e. 02.06.1977-03.06.1977 and 11.10.1977-12.10.1977, were taken to compare the parameters of tropical and equatorial tides. The simulation results were verified with the field data. It was found that the straits of the northeastern part of the Kuril Ridge have a mixed type of tides with a predominance of the diurnal course, and in the southwestern part a semi-diurnal course prevails. The highest tides (up to 2,5-3 m) in the study period were observed on 02.06.1977 near the Kamchatka Peninsula and the Hokkaido Island, as well as large islands of the Kuril Ridge. Four main oscillation periods of 12, 12,4, 24 and 25,8 hours were identified, which corresponds to the S2, M2, K1 and O1 harmonics. Analysis of the data obtained showed that the maximum velocities of the depthaveraged currents reach 4,5 m/s. The highest speeds were recorded in the Kruzenshtern, Frieze and Sredny Straits. Estimates of the tidal flow have shown that semi-daily fluctuations are more pronounced in the straits with lower average depths during a tropical tide. In deeper straits, semi-daily fluctuations at tropical tides are very weak or absent at all, an example is the Boussol Strait. It is calculated that when using a two-dimensional model, the maximum values of the tidal flow are observed in the Boussol Strait, reaching ~40 Sverdrups (Sv).

Metals in Soils of the Southern Kuril Islands

Metals in Soils of the Southern Kuril Islands

Seismic structure beneath Ebeko Volcano and surrounding areas of Paramushir Island (Kuril Arc) inferred from local earthquake tomography

Paramushir is a large northernmost island of the Kuril Arc in the Russian Far East. Here, we study the northern part of Paramushir, which is dominated by the Vernadsky Ridge with an altitude of around 1000 m above sea level. This ridge is composed of a series of Pleistocene and Holocene volcanoes and includes the presently active Ebeko Volcano, which exhibits frequent phreatomagmatic eruptions and ongoing fumarolic activity. Studying the internal structure beneath Northern Paramushir is important to understand the interrelationship of magmatic, hydrothermal, hydrological and geological processes below Ebeko Volcano. We use seismic data of a portable network consisting of 20 broadband stations installed for one year from the summer 2021 to 2022 and one permanent station in the city of Severo-Kurilsk. We performed the local earthquake tomography inversion, which provided the distributions of Vp, Vs, Vp/Vs and local seismicity in an area of northern Paramushir with lateral extent of ∼20 km and depth of a ∼ 15 km. The results of several tests gave the information about the resolution limitations of the computed model, which were taken into account during its interpretation. In the resulting model, the coexistence of low Vp, high Vs, low Vp/Vs and a seismicity cluster down to ∼10 km below Ebeko indicates the presence of a large gas-saturated area that was formed due to the contacts of liquid fluids with hot magmatic intrusions. The western border of this area coincides with the location of Verkhne-Yurievsky hot water sources and possibly highlights the path of fluids traveling around the hot body below Ebeko. Below the upper part of the eastern slope, we observe a shallow anomaly of low Vs and high Vp/Vs indicating the presence of a near-surface aquifer, confirming the previous results of ambient noise tomography. Below the lower part of the eastern slope, a nearly vertical anomaly of low Vs and high Vp/Vs may represent a fault zone, which is also marked on the surface by a series of lineaments.

Взаимодействия СССР/РФ и Японии по принятию соглашений о безвизовых поездках между Южными Курильскими островами и Японией (1964–1999 гг.)

The article examines the process of drafting agreements between the USSR/the Russian Federation and Japan on visa-free trips of Japanese to the Southern Kuril Islands, and residents of the latter to Japan. It is shown that two forms of visa-free contacts were put into effect: one – for the purpose of visiting the graves of relatives, the second – for establishing humanitarian ties. The parties declared that such contacts carry the mission of humanity and mutual understanding between neighboring peoples. However, Tokyo's main motive was to defend its claims to the possession of the Southern Kuril Islands.

The Anthropology of art: the mysteries of the artifacts of the Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands cultures

The Anthropology of art: the mysteries of the artifacts of the Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands cultures

Not trench-parallel but trench-normal source fault of the 1994 Hokkaido Toho-oki earthquake as revealed by the aftershock relocation using HypoDD

In the southwestern area of the Kurile Islands subduction zone, three large earthquakes including the Mw8.2 1969 and the Mw8.3 1994 Hokkaido Toho-oki earthquakes and the Mw7.8 1975 tsunami earthquake occurred in almost the same location. The three main shocks and their aftershocks were re-determined simultaneously using a double-difference earthquake location method, HypoDD. As a result, the 1969 and the 1975 main shocks and their aftershocks were concentrated near the upper surface of the subducting Pacific plate, indicating that both events were plate boundary megathrust earthquakes as shown by previous studies. On the other hand, the 1994 main shock and its aftershocks were distributed within the Pacific plate indicating that the 1994 event was an intraslab event as reported by previous studies. The result that interplate earthquakes and intraslab earthquakes could be appropriately distinguished is strong evidence that the accuracy of hypocenter determination is sufficiently high. The centroid moment tensor solution of the 1994 main shock has two nodal planes which are parallel or normal to the Kurile Trench. According to the high-resolution hypocenter distribution obtained in the present study, the aftershocks appear to locate on the nodal plane normal to the trench, suggesting that the source fault ruptured by the 1994 main shock was not parallel but normal to the Kurile Trench. Moreover, we found that the Coulomb failure stress change (ΔCFS) produced by the trench-normal fault plane is more likely to trigger the largest aftershock than ΔCFS produced by the trench-parallel fault plane.Graphical abstract

ВЫНОС МИКРОЭЛЕМЕНТОВ ФУМАРОЛАМИ АВАЧИНСКОГО ВУЛКАНА (КАМЧАТКА)

The trace element composition of high-temperature gases of Avachinsky volcano was investigated. For that purpose 25 samples of gas condensates and sublimates deposited in four quartz tubes were analyzed. The total average concentration of trace elements (excluding S, Cl, F, Si) in the condensates was 87 mg/l, the maximum 210 mg/l, among which B, K, Na, Br, As predominated. A large number of samples taken over a period 2013–2023 allowed us to evaluate the variations of element concentrations, their dependence on fumarole temperature and the season of sampling. The enrichment factors normalized for magnesium, made it possible to determine the elements transported in the plume in the form of volatile compounds (S, Cl, Te, I, B, Br, Cd, As, F, Re, Se, Bi, Tl, Hg, Sn, Sb, Pb, etc.) and in the form of silicate aerosol (Ti, Fe, Ga, Al, Ca, Mn, REE et al.). The ore element emission by Avachinsky volcano is comparable to that of Mutnovsky volcano (Kamchatka) and significantly lower than the emission by volcanoes in the stage of stationary degassing, such as Kudryavy and Pallas Peak (Kuril Islands), which can be explained by higher concentrations of HCl in the gases of the latter.

Conceptual Transformation of the South Kuril Islands’ Image in Japanese Media After 24 February 2022 (based on the materials of the English-language Japanese media)

The article is devoted to the study of the conceptual image of the South Kuril Islands in the leading English-language mass media of Japan after the beginning of the Russian Armed Forces’ special military operation in Ukraine. The relevance of the study is explained by the preservation of the hotbed of military and political tension near the Far Eastern borders of Russia, manifested in Japan’s territorial claims to the southern part of the Kuril Islands, which acquired a strongly pronounced verbalized ideological shift after February 24, 2022. The conceptual characteristics of the image of the islands (and closely related images of Russia/USSR) were identified using the methods of content analysis, cognitive-discursive analysis, cognitive interpretation, cognitive modeling, as well as elements of cognitive matrix analysis.

Ore Elements and Minerals in The Elements of Alaid Volcano (Kuril Island Arc)

Sublimates tested in 2013–2020 were studied. in the near-crater zone and on the slopes of the Alaid volcano, located in the Kuril Island arc. It has been established that in the near-crater zone there are native metals confined to zones of acid leaching, within which the original lavas and tuffs have been transformed into opal-like formations or rocks sharply enriched in ferric hydroxides. In these zones, the presence of native gold, palladium, silver, chromium, copper, zinc and alloys of gold and palladium, copper and zinc, copper and tungsten has been established. On the slopes of the Alaid volcano, the range of minerals in sublimates is wider, while the temperature of their formation is lower. Of the ore minerals, copper-containing ones predominate, and sublimates with vanadium-containing minerals belonging to hydrous oxides and vanadate-silicates are established. Two genetic types of slope sublimates have been identified: 1) minerals crystallizing from hydrothermal or steam-hydrothermal solutions near the outcrops of near-surface fumaroles and 2) copper and ferruginous colomorphic formations formed as a result of sedimentation from colloidal solutions in the shallow waters of drying up reservoirs, including small and large puddles.

Surface Transport of Technical Waters from Fukushima NPP to the South Kuril Fishing Zone

This study explores the potential for the penetration of technical waters from the Fukushima nuclear power plant (Fukushima NPP) into the fishing areas of Russia. Using a Lagrangian approach, which examines the advection of a large number of passive markers simulating waters released from the Fukushima NPP, the typical transport pathways to the South Kuril Islands are investigated, and an estimate of the time of such transport is provided. Calculations are conducted using satellite-derived and modelled velocity fields for the test year from August 24, 2022, to August 24, 2023. This study focuses on the advection of Lagrangian markers and highlights the potential for the rapid arrival of them from the Fukushima NPP into the southern Kuril region. This article emphasizes the importance of considering the seasonal variability in Kuroshio meandering and the impact of local mesoscale vortex advection related to the propagation of Lagrangian markers from the Fukushima NPP.

New Viruses Infecting Hyperthermophilic Bacterium Thermus thermophilus.

Highly diverse phages infecting thermophilic bacteria of the Thermus genus have been isolated over the years from hot springs around the world. Many of these phages are unique, rely on highly unusual developmental strategies, and encode novel enzymes. The variety of Thermus phages is clearly undersampled, as evidenced, for example, by a paucity of phage-matching spacers in Thermus CRISPR arrays. Using water samples collected from hot springs in the Kunashir Island from the Kuril archipelago and from the Tsaishi and Nokalakevi districts in the Republic of Georgia, we isolated several distinct phages infecting laboratory strains of Thermus thermophilus. Genomic sequence analysis of 11 phages revealed both close relatives of previously described Thermus phages isolated from geographically distant sites, as well as phages with very limited similarity to earlier isolates. Comparative analysis allowed us to predict several accessory phage genes whose products may be involved in host defense/interviral warfare, including a putative Type V CRISPR-cas system.

РЕЗУЛЬТАТЫ НАУЧНЫХ ЭКСПЕДИЦИОННЫХ ГЕОЛОГО-ГЕОФИЗИЧЕСКИХ ИССЛЕДОВАНИЙ ПОЛЕЗНЫХ ИСКОПАЕМЫХ МОРЕЙ ДАЛЬНЕВОСТОЧНОГО РЕГИОНА РОССИЙСКОЙ ФЕДЕРАЦИИ И ТИХОГО ОКЕАНА (ПРОЕКТ «ГЕОМИР»)

The paper presents a brief overview of the results of integrated geological, geophysical and oceanographic studies for the period 2017–2023, for which interregional generalizations were made on some promising areas of study of underwater mineral resources and the environment. The data on geological underwater objects, in particular, manganese ores of the Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk and adjacent water areas; rare-earth ores of the Tomtor ore cluster, ancient and modern coastal-marine placers of the Laptev Sea coast are presented; barite ore occurrences “Barite Hills” (in the Sea of Okhotsk); ferromanganese formations of the Eastern Arctic shelf of Russia; coastal marine placers of the shelf and coast of the Far Eastern seas, including gold-bearing placers. including gold-bearing placers of the shelf zone of the south of Primorye and north of Sakhalin, titanomagnetite placers of the Kuril Islands, gold-bearing placers of the North Sakhalin Plain and others. Direct signs of hydrocarbons were obtained in areas previously considered unpromising (including the South China Sea), gas hydrate accumulations were mapped and studied in the Sea of Okhotsk and the Sea of Japan, prospecting for gas hydrates in the Bering Sea was prepared, and comparative studies of hydrate-bearing capacity of the marginal seas of the NW Pacific and the Indian Ocean were carried out. The main features of the distribution of lithologic and gas-geochemical indicators of hydrocarbon gases in bottom sediments of the southwestern sector of the East Siberian Sea, which is the least studied in terms of oil and gas content, were studied. Based on the data of gas-geochemical studies, the prospects of oil and gas content of the eastern shelf of the Arctic were assessed. The results of geomicrobiological studies in the seas of the Far East region are described. In some cases deepsea sediments themselves (peloid-like sediments, etc.) appear to be a separate huge mineral resource. At present, the “continent-ocean” transition zone and neutral waters can become the most important source of replenishing the mineral resource base of these mineral components. The presented research corresponds to the main objectives of the GEOMIR project of the national action plan within the UN Decade of Ocean Sciences for Sustainable Development (2021–2030) and was carried out mainly in accordance with the directions of the state assignment. Studies of gas hydrates were carried out within the framework of the WESTPAC working group “Gas hydrates and methane fluxes in the Indo-Pacific region” (CoSGas, 2021–2024), established on the initiative and under the leadership of Russia.

The migration history of the Kamchatka rhododendron (Therorhodion camtschaticum s.l.) indicates two distinct dispersal routes towards Eastern Beringia

Abstract The Kamchatka rhododendron (Therorhodion camtschaticum s.l.) is a small, cold-resistant arcto-alpine shrub species with a controversial taxonomy and a wide Beringian distribution, from northern Eurasia to Arctic North America. Some authors regard T. camtschaticum and the closely related Therorhodion glandulosum as separate species while others suggest that they represent regionally differentiated subspecies. In order to resolve this relationship, we sampled 33 populations within the native species ranges, using three fragments of plastid DNA (ptDNA) and ten nuclear microsatellites (nSSR). We recovered two genetic lineages consistent with species rather than subspecies. The distribution of these genetic lineages are consistent with two different migration pathways of species from western Beringia to eastern Beringia: (i) for T. glandulosum a northern pathway from northern East Asia to the Seward Peninsula in northern Alaska; and (ii) for T. camtschaticum a southern pathway from the southern part of western Beringia to the Aleutian Islands and the seashore of south-east Alaska. The northern route extends from the Okhotsk seashore through the Kolyma region, Chukotka, and central and northern Kamchatka. The southern route begins at the Sikhote-Alin ridge, and goes through Sakhalin Island, the Kuril Islands, and southern Kamchatka. Demographic analysis using nSSR data inferred a divergence time between T. camtschaticum and T. glandulosum long before the Last Glacial Maximum.

Panmixia and local endemism: a revision of the Eubranchus rupium species complex with a description of new species.

Species of the genus Eubranchus Forbes, 1838 (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Nudibranchia) are common faunistic elements of boreal benthic ecosystems, associated with hydroid communities. Recent studies have suggested that the widely distributed trans-Arctic E. rupium (Møller, 1842) constitutes a complex of at least three candidate species, but the detailed taxonomy of the complex remains unresolved. The purpose of the present paper is to conduct an integrative taxonomic study including molecular genetic methods (a phylogenetic analysis using COI , 16S rRNA and histone H3 with application of species delimitation methods) and morphological study (light and scanning electron microscopy) of E. rupium and closely related species. The specific aims of this study were to establish the species boundaries, morphological variability, and the phylogeographic structure within this group. The phylogeographic analysis included a TCS -based network analysis, an analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA), divergence time estimations, and ancestral area reconstructions. We demonstrate that specimens initially identified as E. rupium included three distinctive species: the nominal E. rupium with an amphiboreal range, the new species Eubranchus novik sp. nov. from the Sea of Japan, for which a taxonomic description is provided in this paper, and Eubranchus sp. from the northern Kuril Islands, which requires the collection and study of additional material for formal description. Our results confirm the amphiboreal distribution of E. rupium , as no geographic structure was found across Pacific, Arctic and Atlantic populations, and the results of the AMOVA analysis showed no differences between groups of samples from different geographic regions. The divergence of the 'Eubrancus rupium species complex' is estimated from the late Miocene or the Miocene-Pliocene boundary to the late Pliocene. It is hypothesised that the most probable ancestral region for the Eubranchus rupium species complex is the north-western Pacific, and the subsequent speciation likely occurred due to dispersal followed by allopatric speciation. ZooBank: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:228E0C46-0BF7-4DDD-9C00-67B50E298D65.

New species of snailfish of the genus Crystallichthys (Cottiformes: Liparidae) from the Pacific waters off Kamchatka

A new species of snailfish, Crystallichthys longirostris sp. nov., is described from Kronotskiy Bay, southeastern Kamchatka, from depths of 192 to 200 m. The new species differs from the three other species of the genus, C. mirabilis Jordan et Gilbert, 1898, C. cyclospilus Gilbert et Burke, 1912, and C. cameliae (Nalbant, 1965), in the unusually elongated shape of the narrow snout, the dot-like round pupil, simple (not three-lobed) teeth, and the short distance from the anus to the beginning of the anal fin (9% vs. 17–19% of standard length). The colour is pink, with clearly defined red-brown rings in an elongated oval shape. The new species is also recorded near the Northern Kuril Islands at a depth of 309 m. The diagnosis of the genus Crystallichthys Jordan et Gilbert, 1898 is emended considering the characters of the new species.

On the 90th Anniversary of the Eruption of the Taketomi Side Volcano (Atlasov Island, Kuril Island Arc)

On the 90th Anniversary of the Eruption of the Taketomi Side Volcano (Atlasov Island, Kuril Island Arc)

The Northern Studies Collection of the Hokkaido University Library as the Major Repository of Sources on the History of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands

The article traces the formation and development of the Northern Studies Collection at the Hokkaido University Library, the largest collection of Japanese written sources on the history of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands in the 17th–19th cc. in Japan and beyond. This region was involved in trade relations with Japanese merchants under the control of the Matsumae clan, and later was partly administered by the Tokugawa shogunate. The Northern Studies Collection of the Hokkaido University Library is based on written sources that were collected and copied nationwide for the compilation of an official history of Hokkaido under the auspices of the island’s governorship in the 1910s–1930s. During the preparation of the catalog in the 1970s and 1980s, the collection was also enriched with copies of many sources from other collections in Japan. Thus, the Northern Studies Collection can be used to reconstruct a map of all the centers for storing sources on the history of the region in Japan. As this extensive collection is closely related to the history of the Northern Studies Collection Department and its predecessor, the Northern Cultures Research Department of the Hokkaido University, the history of these two branches is also traced in the article.