Creating an isotopically similar Earth–Moon system with correct angular momentum from a giant impact

The giant impact hypothesis is the dominant theory explaining the formation of our Moon. However, the inability to produce an isotopically similar Earth–Moon system with correct angular momentum has cast a shadow on its validity. Computer-generated impacts have been successful in producing virtual systems that possess many of the observed physical properties. However, addressing the isotopic similarities between the Earth and Moon coupled with correct angular momentum has proven to be challenging. Equilibration and evection resonance have been proposed as means of reconciling the models. In the summer of 2013, the Royal Society called a meeting solely to discuss the formation of the Moon. In this meeting, evection resonance and equilibration were both questioned as viable means of removing the deficiencies from giant impact models. The main concerns were that models were multi-staged and too complex. We present here initial impact conditions that produce an isotopically similar Earth–Moon system with correct angular momentum. This is done in a single-staged simulation. The initial parameters are straightforward and the results evolve solely from the impact. This was accomplished by colliding two roughly half-Earth-sized impactors, rotating in approximately the same plane in a high-energy, off-centered impact, where both impactors spin into the collision.     

A case study on Landscape Component Niche based on Landscape Pattern Indices: Yanchi,Ningxia Province,China

Yanchi County is located in the agro-pastoral ecotone and belongs to the ecologically fragile area of Northwest China.It is important to study the evolution of landscape pattern to curb its environmental degradation.In order to intuitively show how the landscape pattern of the study area changes over time,Landsat Thematic Mappers(TM)and Landsat Operational Land Imager(OLI)data of 1991,2000,2010 and 2017 were used.This paper attempts to apply niche theories and methods into landscape ecology,and constructs a niche model of landscape components by using"n-dimentional hypervolume niche theory"and landscape pattern indices.By evaluating the spatial and temporal evolution of niche from the perspective of two-dimensional space to reflect the changes of landscape pattern in the study area over the past 26 years,new theories and methods were introduced for the characterization of landscape pattern.The results indicate that:1)The larger the attribute and dominance value of landscape components,the higher the ecological niche and the stronger the control effect on the overall landscape.2)The ecological niche of each landscape component was significantly different,just as its control effect on the overall landscape.3)The dynamic change of the ecological niche of each landscape component was different,with grassland,unused land and arable land always in a high dominant position,although the ecological niche of construction land and water area was always low.In general,the introduction of niche theory into the landscape ecology provided a new method to study the changes in regional landscape pattern.     

The Martian hydrologic cycle: Effects of CO2 mass flux on global water distribution

The Martian CO₂ cycle, which includes the seasonal condensation and subsequent sublimation of up to 30% of the planet's atmosphere, produces meridional winds due to the consequent mass flux of CO₂. These winds currently display strong seasonal and hemispheric asymmetries due to the large asymmetries in the distribution of insolation on Mars. It is proposed that asymmetric meridional advection of water vapor on the planet due to these CO₂ condensation winds is capable of explaining the observed dessication of Mars' south polar region at the current time. A simple model for water vapor transport is used to verify this hypothesis and to speculate on the effects of changes in orbital parameters on the seasonal water cycle.     

Sources and sinks of sea salt in a newfoundland blanket bog

Over an oceanic peatland, the concentration of Na in fog averaged 38.1 mgl^?1 compared with 1.8 mgl^?1 in rain, resulting in a significant flux of mineral elements to the surface. Between 16 May and 20 June 1990 the average mass flux of Na to the bog surface by fog, rain, and dry deposition was 21.9, 10.4 and 7.0 mg m^?2 d^?1. There was little long-term storage of Na within the peatland system, where Na losses measured in stream runoff averaged 34.8 mg m² d^?1, and deep groundwater losses 4 mg m^?2 d^?1. Calcium and Mg were preferentially retained in the organic soil, whereas K was relatively mobile. Potassium tended to become concentrated in the unsaturated zone. Stream runoff had a consistently higher pH than groundwater, corresponding to higher Ca and Mg concentrations, which may have been from mineral sources in the headwater ponds. Otherwise, the stream water chemistry was closely related to groundwater in the upper layers of the peat deposit.     

Theoretical estimates of intrinsic galaxy alignment

It has recently been argued that the observed ellipticities of galaxies may be determined at least in part by the primordial tidal gravitational field in which the galaxy formed. Long-range correlations in the tidal field could thus lead to an ellipticity–ellipticity correlation for widely separated galaxies. We present a new model relating ellipticity to angular momentum, which can be calculated in linear theory. We use this model to calculate the angular power spectrum of intrinsic galaxy shape correlations. We show that, for low-redshift galaxy surveys, our model predicts that intrinsic correlations will dominate correlations induced by weak lensing, in good agreement with previous theoretical work and observations. We find that our model produces ' E -mode' correlations enhanced by a factor of 3.5 over B -modes on small scales, making it harder to disentangle intrinsic correlations from those induced by weak gravitational lensing.     

TEMPORAL TRENDS IN SOIL PRODUCTIVITY EVALUATIONS*

Studies of soil productivity must compensate for the effects of temporal trends in order to examine the pattern of crop yields along spatial gradients. An analysis of the published yield estimates for 30 soils in 233 counties, however, did not find consistent yield increases over the past three decades. On the contrary, the yield estimates for many soils were markedly uniform since 1972. The uniformity appears to have two causes: the acknowledged difficulty of making yield estimates in a time of increasing variability in soil and crop management, both within and between regions, and surveyors' awareness of data stored in a national soils data base. The effect is to cast doubt on soil productivity data reported in county soil surveys published between 1973 and 1988.     

Radiocarbon on Titan

Abstract— We explore the likely production and fate of ¹⁴C in the thick nitrogen atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan and investigate the constraints that measurements of ¹⁴C might place on Titan's photochemical, atmospheric transport and surface‐atmosphere interaction processes. Titan's atmosphere is thick enough that cosmic‐ray flux limits the production of ¹⁴C: absence of a strong magnetic field and the increased distance from the Sun suggest production rates of ?9 atom/cm²/s, ?4x higher than Earth. The fate and detectability of ¹⁴C depends on the chemical species into which it is incorporated: as methane it would be hopelessly diluted even in only the atmosphere. However, in the more likely case that the ¹⁴C attaches to the haze that rains out onto the surface (as tholin, HCN or acetylene and their polymers), haze in the atmosphere or recently deposited on the surface would be quite radioactive. Such radioactivity may lead to a significant enhancement in the electrical conductivity of the atmosphere which will be measured by the Huygens probe. Measurements with simple detectors on future missions could place useful constraints on the mass deposition rates of photochemical material on the surface and identify locations where surface deposits of such material are “freshest”.