This book deals with recent developments in evolutionary models for convergent margins. Reflecting transient modes for oceanic plate convergence, such boundaries are sites of varied tectonic processes, which provoke vigorous material recycling and frequent natural disasters such as massive earthquakes and catastrophic volcanism. Therefore, the origin of their diversity has long been one of the most significant themes in Earth science. The important scientific results obtained by prominent researchers who contributed chapters to this book pave the way for further in-depth studies on mobile belt frontiers, where harsh conditions hinder efforts to understand the Earth's spatiotemporal changes.

This publication shows the three-dimensional configuration of the gigantic tectonic sag of the Osaka Bay sedimentary basin on the eastern Eurasian margin based on reflection seismic data never before published. The basin has developed relatively quickly since the dawn of the Quaternary. High-resolution subsurface images on the profiles provide highly valuable information about the architecture of active faults, paleoenvironmental changes, and mass balance on the convergent margin. The book presents an excellent case study of a tectonically controlled basin because morphologies and evolutionary processes of such basins show an enormous diversity, reflecting spatiotemporal variation in tectonic stress. Furthermore, this volume provides insight into the general mechanism of sedimentary basin formation. The quantitative analyses contained here will be thought-provoking for industry experts, academics, and graduate and undergraduate students engaged in geologic survey and civil engineering. The contents will be especially useful to professionals in the fields of Quaternary geology, neotectonics, and active fault research.

Despite decades of study, fundamental aspects of the development of the Earth’s crust remain enigmatic. This book presents geophysical and geological studies obtained from different tectonic structures and geological time intervals. It contains three sections: “Crustal Evolution and Tectonic Problems”, “Geophysical Methods in Geological Applications” and “Seismic Forecasting, Seismotectonics and Geodynamic Evolution of the Himalayan Belt”. Chapters address such topics as the evolution of tectonic structures of Earth, how geophysical and geological data can be used for modelling this evolution, and the geodynamic processes in the Earth’s crust with the present tectonic activity.

This book deals with the evolution of active plate margins, with a focus on the Pacific NW. A multidisciplinary study aiming at the elucidation of complicated tectonic processes is based on structural geology, sedimentology, numerical modeling, and the latest methodology of geophysics. A high-resolution 3D seismic data acquisition system was developed for visualization of the shallow subsurface and has revealed recent architectures and sedimentary facies in a pull-apart basin along an arc-bisecting fault of southwest Japan. Based on this geophysical achievement, paleoenvironments during the latest Pleistocene are vividly restored by means of seismic attribute analyses. The scientific results presented here pave the way for further investigations on mobile belt frontiers where harsh conditions hinder efforts to decipher the Earth’s dynamics.

This volume brings together diverse contributions from leading archaeologists and paleoanthropologists, covering various spatial and temporal periods to distinguish convergent evolution from cultural transmission in order to see if we can discover ancient human populations. With a focus on lithic technology, the book analyzes ancient materials and cultures to systematically explore the theoretical and physical aspects of culture, convergence, and populations in human evolution and prehistory. The book will be of interest to academics, students and researchers in archaeology, paleoanthropology, genetics, and paleontology. The book begins by addressing early prehistory, discussing the convergent evolution of behaviors and the diverse ecological conditions driving the success of different evolutionary paths. Chapters discuss these topics and technology in the context of the Lower Paleolithic/Earlier Stone age and Middle Paleolithic/Middle Stone Age. The book then moves towards a focus on the prehistory of our species over the last 40,000 years. Topics covered include the human evolutionary and dispersal consequences of the Middle-Upper Paleolithic Transition in Western Eurasia. Readers will also learn about the cultural convergences, and divergences, that occurred during the Terminal Pleistocene and Holocene, such as the budding of human societies in the Americas. The book concludes by integrating these various perspectives and theories, and explores different methods of analysis to link technological developments and cultural convergence.

This papers of this volume were invited under the general theme "Magmatism in relation to diverse tectonic settings". The work seeks to incorporate current developments in the field of magmatic activity related to collision and subduction of plates, as well as intra-plate phenomenon.

Transfer RNAs (tRNAs) are one of the classical non-coding RNAs whose lengths are approximately 70–100 bases. The secondary structure of tRNAs can be represented as the cloverleaf with 4 stems, and the three dimensional structure as an “L” shape. Historically, the basic function of tRNA as an essential component of translation was established in 1960s, i.e., each tRNA is charged with a target amino acid and these are delivered to the ribosome during protein synthesis. However, recent data suggests that the role of tRNA in cellular regulation goes beyond this paradigm. In most Archaea and Eukarya, precursor tRNAs are often interrupted by a short intron inserted strictly between the first and second nucleotide downstream of the anticodon, known as canonical nucleotide position (37/38). Recently, a number of reports describe novel aspects of tRNAs in terms of gene diversity, for example, several types of disrupted tRNA genes have been reported in the Archaea and primitive Eukarya, including multiple-intron-containing tRNA genes, split tRNA genes, and permuted tRNA genes. Our understanding of the enzymes involved in tRNA functions (e.g., aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase, tRNA splicing endonuclease, tRNA ligase) has deepened. Moreover, it is well known that tRNA possesses many types of base modifications whose enzymatic regulations remain to be fully elucidated. It was reported that impaired tRNA nuclear-cytoplasmic export links DNA damage and cell-cycle checkpoint. Furthermore, a variety of additional functions of tRNA, beyond its translation of the genetic code, have emerged rapidly. For instance, tRNA cleavage is a conserved part of the responses to a variety of stresses in eukaryotic cells. Age-associated or tissue-specific tRNA fragmentation has also been observed. Several papers suggested that some of these tRNA fragments might be involve in the cellular RNA interference (RNAi) system. These exciting data, have lead to this call for a Research Topic, that plans to revisit and summarize the molecular biology of tRNA. Beyond the topics outlined above, we have highlighted recent developments in bioinformatics tools and databases for tRNA analyses.

Surveys the tectonic evolution of the Antarctic crust and the palaeoenvironmental evolution of Antarctica since the Late Mesozoic.