Relative velocities of planetesimals and the early accumulation of planets

Safronov's statement that relative velocities of planetesimals are on the order of the escape velocity of the largest body of the population is shown to be correct only when a major part of the total mass resides in several large bodies. In the first stage of accumulation, runaway accretion produces large bodies separated by mass form the remaining population. At this stage, relative velocities of planetesimals are much smaller than those adopted earlier. This requires a modification of Schmidt's scheme of accumulation of the Earth and other terrestrial planets from material in their feeding zones. This also leads to removal of the author's arguments (Levin 1972c) in favor of a protoplanetary nebula with an extended, massive periphery.Paper presented at the Conference on Protostars and Planets, held at the Planetary Science Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, between January 3 and 7, 1978.     

Energies of Electrons Accelerated in Turbulent Reconnecting Current Sheets in Solar Flares

Yohkoh observations strongly suggest that electron acceleration in solar flares occurs in magnetic reconnection regions in the corona above the soft X-ray flare loops. Unfortunately, models for particle acceleration in reconnecting current sheets predict electron energy gains in terms of the reconnection electric field and the thickness of the sheet, both of which are extremely difficult to measure. It can be shown, however, that application of Ohm's law in a turbulent current sheet, combined with energy and Maxwell's equations, leads to a formula for the electron energy gain in terms of the flare power output, the magnetic field strength, the plasma density and temperature in the sheet, and its area. Typical flare parameters correspond to electron energies between a few tens of keV and a few MeV. The calculation supports the viewpoint that electrons that generate the continuum gamma-ray and hard X-ray emissions in impulsive solar flares are accelerated in a large-scale turbulent current sheet above the soft X-ray flare loops.     

Chinese migrants in Melbourne and their house choices

Meanings behind the choice of the migrant house are explored through an examination of 12 houses of migrants who emigrated from mainland China to Melbourne during the 1990s and 2000s. A qualitative investigation shows that there are three interconnected meanings behind the choice of houses in Melbourne: a desire to counter past experiences of housing in China, a desire to improve future opportunities through housing, and the wish to blend into Australian society. While much of the literature claims that migrant housing represents the ethnic character of their owners through architectural features, these Chinese houses do not resemble past houses in China in any physical way. The location of the house in a ‘good’ suburb was the most important factor when choosing the house. The house should be located near good educational, transport and shopping services before the built form becomes important. Chinese migrants wish to assimilate into Australian society through their choice of ordinary houses that do not communicate their ethnic identity through their external façades, while also adopting Australian ways of living that are focused on gardens and backyards.     

Hall equilibrium of thin Keplerian discs embedded in mixed poloidal and toroidal magnetic fields

Axisymmetric steady-state weakly ionized Hall–magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) Keplerian thin discs are investigated by using asymptotic expansions in the small disc aspect ratio ε. The model incorporates the azimuthal and poloidal components of the magnetic fields in the leading order in ε. The disc structure is described by an appropriate Grad–Shafranov equation for the poloidal flux function ψ that involves two arbitrary functions of ψ for the toroidal and poloidal currents. The flux function is symmetric about the mid-plane and satisfies certain boundary conditions at the near-horizontal disc edges. The boundary conditions model the combined effect of the primordial as well as the dipole-like magnetic fields. An analytical solution for the Hall equilibrium is achieved by further expanding the relevant equations in an additional small parameter δ that is inversely proportional to the Hall parameter. It is thus found that the Hall equilibrium discs fall into two types: Keplerian discs with (i) small  ( R _d∼δ⁰)  and (ii) large  ( R _d≳δ^{− k} , k > 0)  radius of the disc. The numerical examples that are presented demonstrate the richness and great variety of magnetic and density configurations that may be achieved under the Hall–MHD equilibrium.     

The Obolon impact structure,Ukraine, and its ejecta deposits

Abstract— The Obolon impact structure, 18 km in diameter, is situated at the northeastern slope of the Ukrainian Shield near its margin with the Dnieper‐Donets Depression. The crater was formed in crystalline rocks of the Precambrian basement that are overlain by marine Carboniferous and continental Lower Triassic deposits. The post‐impact sediments comprise marine Middle Jurassic (Bajocian and Bathonian) and younger Mesozoic and Cenozoic deposits. Today the impact structure is buried beneath an about 300‐meter‐thick sedimentary rock sequence. Most information on the Obolon structure is derived from two boreholes in the western part of the crater. The lowest part of the section in the deepest borehole is composed by allogenic breccia of crystalline basement rocks overlain by clast‐rich impact melt rocks and suevites. Abundant shock metamorphic effects are planar deformation features (PDFs) in quartz and feldspars, kink bands in biotite, etc. Coesite and impact diamonds were found in clast‐rich impact melt rocks. Crater‐fill deposits are a series of sandstones and breccias with blocks of sedimentary rocks that are covered by a layer of crystalline rock breccia. Crystalline rock breccias, conglomeratic breccias, and sandstones with crystalline rock debris have been found in some boreholes around the Obolon impact structure to a distance of about 50 km from its center. Those deposits are always underlain by Lower Triassic continental red clay and overlain by Middle Jurassic marine clay. The K‐Ar age of impact melt glasses is 169 Ma, which corresponds to the Middle Jurassic (Bajocian) age. The composition of crater‐fill rocks within the crater and sediments outside the Obolon structure testify to its formation under submarine conditions.     

Low-velocity collisions between centimeter-sized snowballs: Porosity dependence of coefficient of restitution for ice aggregates analogues in the Solar System

Understanding the collisional behavior of ice dust aggregates at low velocity is a key to determining the formation process of small icy bodies such as icy planetesimals, comets and icy satellites, and this collisional behavior is also closely related to the energy dissipation mechanism in Saturn’s rings. We performed head-on collision experiments in air by means of free-falling centimeter-sized sintered snowballs with porosities from 44% to 80% at impact velocities from 0.44 m s^?1 to 4.12 m s^?1 at ?10 °C. In cases of porosity larger than 70%, impact sticking was the dominant collision outcome, while bouncing was dominant at lower porosity. Coefficients of restitution of snow in this velocity range were found to depend strongly on the porosity rather than the impact velocity and to decrease with the increase of the porosity. We successfully measured the compaction volume of snowballs after the impact, and it enabled us to estimate the dynamic compressive strength of snow with the assumption of the energy conservation between kinetic energy and work for deformation, which was found to be consistent with the upper limit of static compressive strength. The velocity dependence of coefficients of restitution of snow was analyzed using a Johnson’s model, and a diagram for collision outcomes among equal-sized sintered snowballs was successfully drawn as a function of porosity and impact velocity.     

The Relationship between Global Volcanic Activity and Variations in the Velocity of Earth’s Rotation

Doklady Earth Sciences - Analysis of observations of the Earth’s rotational velocity and volcanic activity of the planet from 1720 until 2015 suggests that higher volcanic activity temporally...     

Holocene hydrological variability of Lake Ladoga,northwest Russia,as inferred from diatom oxygen isotopes

This article presents a new comprehensive assessment of the Holocene hydrological variability of Lake Ladoga, northwest Russia. The reconstruction is based on oxygen isotopes of lacustrine diatom silica (δ¹⁸O_diatom) preserved in sediment core Co 1309, and is complemented by a diatom assemblage analysis and a survey of modern isotope hydrology. The data indicate that Lake Ladoga has existed as a freshwater reservoir since at least 10.8 cal. ka BP. The δ¹⁸O_diatom values range from +29.8 to +35.0‰, and relatively higher δ¹⁸O_diatom values around +34.7‰ between c. 7.1 and 5.7 cal. ka BP are considered to reflect the Holocene Thermal Maximum. A continuous depletion in δ¹⁸O_diatom since c. 6.1 cal. ka BP accelerates after c. 4 cal. ka BP, indicating Middle to Late Holocene cooling that culminates during the interval 0.8–0.2 cal. ka BP, corresponding to the Little Ice Age. Lake‐level rises result in lower δ¹⁸O_diatom values, whereas lower lake levels cause higher δ¹⁸O_diatom values. The diatom isotope record gives an indication for a rather early opening of the Neva River outflow at c. 4.4–4.0 cal. ka BP. Generally, overall high δ¹⁸O_diatom values around +33.5‰ characterize a persistent evaporative lake system throughout the Holocene. As the Lake Ladoga δ¹⁸O_diatom record is roughly in line with the 60°N summer insolation, a linkage to broader‐scale climate change is likely.     

Laboratory investigations of the thermal strain of frozen soils, using fiber-optic strain gauges based on Bragg gratings

Measurements of the thermal deformations of frozen soil samples were performed in the cold laboratory in temperature range from 0°C to-12°C.Fiber Bragg Gratings strain and temperature sensors were used to measure the deformation and temperature inside the samples.A number of tests with the samples prepared from Kaolin and Cambrian clay saturated with fresh water,and prepared from fine and silt sand saturated with fresh or saline water,are performed.Thermal deformations of the samples are analyzed depending on the cyclic changes of their temperature.