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Geomicrobiological Properties and Processes of Travertine

With a Focus on Japanese Sites

  • Focuses on important geochemical principles for understanding travertine
  • Draws attention to the important features of travertine that can be broadly applied to other geological phenomena
  • Is rich in examples of Japanese hot springs

Part of the book series: Springer Geology (SPRINGERGEOL)

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Table of contents (8 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-ix
  2. Introduction

    • Akihiro Kano, Tomoyo Okumura, Chizuru Takashima, Fumito Shiraishi
    Pages 1-7
  3. Basic Knowledge of Geochemical Processes

    • Akihiro Kano, Tomoyo Okumura, Chizuru Takashima, Fumito Shiraishi
    Pages 9-41
  4. Sedimentology of Travertine

    • Akihiro Kano, Tomoyo Okumura, Chizuru Takashima, Fumito Shiraishi
    Pages 43-66
  5. Methods

    • Akihiro Kano, Tomoyo Okumura, Chizuru Takashima, Fumito Shiraishi
    Pages 67-88
  6. Geomicrobiological Processes for Laminated Textures

    • Akihiro Kano, Tomoyo Okumura, Chizuru Takashima, Fumito Shiraishi
    Pages 89-111
  7. Geochemical Model for Rapid Carbonate Precipitation of Travertines

    • Akihiro Kano, Tomoyo Okumura, Chizuru Takashima, Fumito Shiraishi
    Pages 113-131
  8. Travertines in Japan

    • Akihiro Kano, Tomoyo Okumura, Chizuru Takashima, Fumito Shiraishi
    Pages 133-173
  9. Concluding Remarks

    • Akihiro Kano, Tomoyo Okumura, Chizuru Takashima, Fumito Shiraishi
    Pages 175-176

About this book

This book presents basic knowledge and key objectives of research of geological, geochemical, and microbial properties and processes in travertines, carbonate deposits precipitated from calcareous hot springs. Much of the contents are based on the authors’ researches performed in Japan and Indonesia over the last decade. Travertine is one of the most active sedimentary systems, which have a potential impact on the Earth’s environment. It is also an accessible epitome of the Earth’s history, cultivating ancestral bacteria and representing a modern analog for ancient stromatolites. Readers can learn how integration of various scopes and methods unveils mysterious phenomena in travertine and can find clues for considering the early history of the Earth and life. This book includes a monographic chapter on Japanese onsens, or hot springs, which may help tourists to select the best places to enjoy the unique features of travertine.

Authors and Affiliations

  • School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Japan

    Akihiro Kano

  • Kochi Core Center, Kochi University, Nankoku, Japan

    Tomoyo Okumura

  • Faculty of Education, Saga University, Saga, Japan

    Chizuru Takashima

  • Dept of Earth and Planet Sys Sci, Hiroshima University, Higashi Hiroshima, Japan

    Fumito Shiraishi

About the authors

Professor Akihiro Kano is the head of the Laboratory of Historical Geology in the Department of Earth and Planetary Science, The University of Tokyo. He researched carbonate sedimentology during his master’s degree study at Tohoku University and his doctoral study at Stockholm University in 1990. While he was working at Hiroshima University (1990–2008), he did intensive research of the sedimentology and geochemistry of freshwater carbonate deposits, or tufas. He started his research on travertines in 2003, and one of his early studies with Dr. C. Takashima successfully revealed that travertine lamination occurred daily. His appointment at Kyushu University in 2008 activated his travertine studies on the island of Kyushu, where a number of hydrothermal sites produce travertine. He moved to The University of Tokyo in December 2016. In addition to travertines and tufas, he is currently working with projects on stalagmite paleoclimatology, gas hydrates in the Japan Sea, and Ediacaran carbonate deposits in China and Brazil.

Dr. Tomoyo Okumura is an assistant professor at the Center for Advanced Marine Core Research, Kochi University. Before taking up her current position, she worked at Kyushu University, The University of Tokyo, and the Japan Agency for Marine–Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) as a postdoctoral fellow. She has made significant contributions in the geomicrobiology of modern carbonate sediments at hot springs in Japan, Indonesia, and the U.S.A. Dr. Okumura is interested in understanding how microbes contribute to or are associated with microbialites such as stromatolites, thrombolites, and fenestrate microbialites. She applied molecular biological techniques, geochemical analysis, and fluorescence staining for the carbonates. Her current research topics extend to deep-sea sediments in order to understand microbe–sediment interaction in aphotic chemosynthetic environments.

Dr. Chizuru Takashima is an associate professor at the School of Education (earth science) at Saga University. Her specialties are carbonate sedimentology and geomicrobiology. Her background study was in the sedimentology of microfossils in limestone and deep-sea coral mounds, and she has extended her research topics to hydrothermal iron deposits resembling Precambrian banded iron formations (BIFs). Recently, she investigated the interaction of spring water, mineral precipitates, and microbes in domestic and foreign hydrothermal environments with sedimentological, geochemical, and biological approaches to elucidate the processes of Precambrian deposits. With the co-authors of this book, she has published articles related to the process of daily lamination in travertines contributed by cyanobacterial metabolism and laminations in iron-rich travertines induced by iron-oxidizing bacteria.

Dr. Fumito Shiraishi is an assistant professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Systems Science, Graduate School of Science, Hiroshima University. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in geology at Hiroshima University, studying Japanese Mesozoic limestones using paleontological and geochemical techniques. He received a Dr. rer. nat. under the supervision of Professor Gernot Arp at the University of Göttingen (Germany) in 2008, studying German recent tufa deposits, using geochemical and microbiological techniques. Thereafter, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Hiroshima University, then as a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) research fellow at Kyushu University, and continued studying recent calcified biofilms in these positions. Since November 2011, he has been an assistant professor at Hiroshima University. His present research also focuses on non-carbonatemicrobial deposits (including phosphate iron oxides, manganese oxides, and siliciclastics) to elucidate Earth and life evolutions. He has published several papers in established science journals, and he has co-authoreda book on travertine, GEOBIOCAL Atlas (Brazil Publishing 2016).


Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Geomicrobiological Properties and Processes of Travertine

  • Book Subtitle: With a Focus on Japanese Sites

  • Authors: Akihiro Kano, Tomoyo Okumura, Chizuru Takashima, Fumito Shiraishi

  • Series Title: Springer Geology

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1337-0

  • Publisher: Springer Singapore

  • eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental Science, Earth and Environmental Science (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2019

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-981-13-1336-3Published: 02 October 2018

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-981-13-4615-6Published: 19 January 2019

  • eBook ISBN: 978-981-13-1337-0Published: 20 September 2018

  • Series ISSN: 2197-9545

  • Series E-ISSN: 2197-9553

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: IX, 176

  • Number of Illustrations: 16 b/w illustrations, 63 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Sedimentology, Bacteriology, Biogeosciences, Mineralogy

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access