小行星撞击对地球的上地幔对流的影响

本文分别基于数值结果和地质学模型,在假定地球的上地幔存在稳定Rayleigh-Bénard对流的基础上,模拟了直径为10 km（陨石坑直径约180 km,以Chicxulub为例）和直径为100 km（陨石坑直径约1000 km）的小行星撞击对地球的上地幔对流格局的影响.本文将直径10 km小行星的撞击效果等效为热异常,将直径100 km小行星的撞击效果等效为热异常和速度异常（主要指陨石坑底部的回弹）的叠加.计算结果表明,当小行星的直径在10 km左右时,撞击对上地幔对流的影响十分微弱,热扰动时间仅2—3 Ma;而当小行星的直径达到100 km时,撞击就会对上地幔对流产生强烈影响.这时,对流从扰动到新的稳态有一定模式可循（依次为：调整、多个对流环、调整、稳定）,扰动的持续时间受黏度和撞击点位置影响,同时稳定后地幔热柱会向着撞击点的方向产生一定的位移.     

Crater formation in soils by raindrop impact

The process of crater formation by the impact of water drops on soil, sand and various other target material was studied. Craters of various shapes and sizes were observed on different target materials or conditions, ranging from circumferential depression to completely hemispherical shape. Crater shape was dependent upon target material, its ?ow stress or shear strength and the presence and thickness of water on the surface. Between 5 and 22 per cent of impact energy was spent on cratering, but the relationship between crater volume and kinetic energy of a raindrop was curvilinear, indicating a lower ef?ciency of impact energy in removing target material as the energy increases. Impact impulse, on the other hand, showed a more linear relationship with crater volume, and the ratio of impulse over crater volume (I/V) remained constant for the entire range of drop sizes, impact velocities, and surface conditions used in this study. Surface shear strength, represented by the penetration depth of fall‐cone penetrometer, appeared to be a key factor involved in this process. An equation was developed which related crater volume to cone penetration depth and impact impulse. Crater volume, which appeared to be a better indicator of the total amount of material dislodged by a raindrop than splash amount, can thus be predicted using this equation. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cratering process and morphological features of the Xiuyan impact crater in Northeast China

By using crater impact morphological theory and mathematics modeling,the paper studies the cratering process and morphological features of the Xiuyan Crater in Northeast China based on remote sensing imagery,digital elevation model(DEM)and drilling and measuring data.The results show that:1)Simulated calculation indicates the diameter of the transient crater was1406±12 m and the depth was 497±4 m.The diameter of the final crater was 1758±15 m and the depth was 374.5±3.5 m;the thickness of the breccia lens was 188.5±0.5 m.The data is basically the same as previous drilling data.2)Preliminary determination of the size of Xiuyan impactor:The diameter at about 55 m for an iron meteorite,and about 115 m for a stony meteorite.3)The depth-to-diameter ratio is 0.143,similar to the typical simple crater.The circularity index of the Xiuyan Crater is0.884,indicating erosion and degradation.4)The distribution pattern of radial fractures has priority in NW-SE and WNW-ESE and these fractures control the development and evolution of drainage inside the crater.     

Tsunami–tide interactions: A Cook Inlet case study

First, we investigated some aspects of tsunami–tide interactions based on idealized numerical experiments. Theoretically, by changing total ocean depth, tidal elevations influence the speed and magnitude of tsunami waves in shallow regions with dominating tidal signals. We tested this assumption by employing a simple 1-D model that describes propagation of tidal waves in a channel with gradually increasing depth and the interaction of the tidal waves with tsunamis generated at the channel's open boundary. Important conclusions from these studies are that computed elevations by simulating the tsunami and the tide together differ significantly from linear superposing of the sea surface heights obtained when simulating the tide and the tsunami separately, and that maximum tsunami–tide interaction depends on tidal amplitude and phase. The major cause of this tsunami–tide interaction is tidally induced ocean depth that changes the conditions of tsunami propagation, amplification, and dissipation. Interactions occur by means of momentum advection, bottom friction, and variable water flux due to changing total depth and velocity. We found the major cause of tsunami–tide interactions to be changing depth. Secondly, we investigate tsunami–tide interactions in Cook Inlet, Alaska, employing a high-resolution 2-D numerical model. Cook Inlet has high tides and a history of strong tsunamis and is a potential candidate for tsunami impacts in the future. In agreement with previous findings, we find that the impacts of tsunamis depend on basin bathymetries and coastline configurations, and they can, in particular, depend on tsunami–tide interactions. In regions with strong tides and tsunamis, these interactions can result in either intensification or damping of cumulative tsunami and tide impacts, depending on mean basin depth, which is regulated by tides. Thus, it is not possible to predict the effect of tsunami–tide interaction in regions with strong tides without making preliminary investigations of the area. One approach to reduce uncertainties in tsunami impact in regions with high tides is to simulate tsunamis together with tidal forcing.     

Amplified hazard of small-volume monogenetic eruptions due to environmental controls, Orakei Basin, Auckland Volcanic Field, New Zealand

Orakei maar and tuff ring in the Auckland Volcanic Field is an example of a basaltic volcano in which the style and impacts of the eruption of a small volume of magma were modulated by a fine balance between magma flux and groundwater availability. These conditions were optimised by the pre-85?ka eruption being hosted in a zone of fractured and variably permeable Plio-Pleistocene mudstones and sandstones. Orakei maar represents an end-member in the spectrum of short-lived basaltic volcanoes, where substrate conditions rather than the magmatic volatile content was the dominant factor controlling explosivity and eruption styles. The eruption excavated a crater ?80?m deep that was subsequently filled by slumped crater wall material, followed by lacustrine and marine sediments. The explosion crater may have been less than 800?m in diameter, but wall collapse and wave erosion has left a 1,000-m-diameter roughly circular basin. A tuff ring around part of the maar comprises dominantly base surge deposits, along with subordinate fall units. Grain size, texture and shape characteristics indicate a strong influence of magma–water and magma–mud interactions that controlled explosivity throughout the eruption, but also an ongoing secondary role of magmatic gas-driven expansion and fragmentation. The tuff contains >70?% of material recycled from the underlying Plio-Pliestocene sediments, which is strongly predominant in the >2 ? fraction. The magmatic clasts are evolved alkali basalt, consistent with the eruption of a very small batch of magma. The environmental impact of this eruption was disproportionally large, when considering the low volume of magma involved (DRE?<?0.003?km³). Hence, this eruption exemplifies one of the worst-case scenarios for an eruption within the densely populated Auckland City, destroying an area of ~3?km² by crater formation and base surge impact. An equivalent scenario for the same magma conditions without groundwater interaction would yield a scoria/spatter cone with a diameter of 400–550?m, destroying less than a tenth of the area affected by the Orakei event.     

Gigantic directed blast at Shiveluch volcano (Kamchatka)

On November 12, 1964, after a long swarm of preliminary earthquakes a gigantic directed blast took place at Shiveluch Volcano. The Crater top of the volcano with five large domes was completely destroyed. The deposits of the directed blast fell on an area of 98 sq. km, at a distance up to 10 km from the crater. The volume of the deposits is 1.5 km³ at least. A new crater was formed, its size is 1.5 × 3 km. Numerous pyroclastic flows were poured out the new crater. The eruption lasted only one hour, its thermal energy is 1,3 × 10²⁵ ergs, kinetic energy of the blast ? 1 × 10²⁴ ergs, air wave energy ? 1,8 × 10²¹ ergs. Initial velocity of the explosion: 280–310m/sec, pressure: 800–1000atm. The eruption of Shiveluch volcano belongs to the « Bezymianny type » eruption.     

The hazards of eruptions through lakes and seawater

Eruptions through crater lakes or shallow seawater, referred to here as subaqueous eruptions, present hazards from hydromagmatic explosions, such as base surges, lahars, and tsunamis, which may not exist at volcanoes on dry land. We have systematically compiled information from eruptions through surface water in order to understand the circumstances under which these hazards occur and what disastrous effects they have caused in the past. Subaqueous eruptions represent only 8% of all recorded eruptions but have produced about 20% of all fatalities associated with volcanic activity in historical time. Excluding eruptions that have resulted in about a hundred deaths or less, lahars have killed people in the largest number of historical subaqueous eruptions (8), followed by pyroclastic flows (excluding base surges; 5) tsunamis (4), and base surges (2). Subaqueous eruptions have produced lahars primarily on high (>1000 m), steep-sided volcanoes containing small (<1 km diameter) crater lakes. Tsunamis and other water waves have caused death or destroyed man-made structures only at submarine volcanoes and at Lake Taal in the Philippines. In spite of evidence that magma–water mixing makes eruptions more explosive, such explosions and their associated base surges have caused fewer deaths, and have been implicated in fewer eruptions involving large numbers of fatalities than lahars and tsunamis. The latter hazards are more deadly because they travel much farther from a volcano and inundate coastal areas and stream valleys that tend to be densely settled.     

Shock Wave Effects from the Impacts of Cosmic Objects with Diameters from 20 m to 3 km

Izvestiya, Physics of the Solid Earth - Abstract—Destruction on the Earth’s surface caused by a shock wave is one of the most important and dangerous effects from asteroid and comet...     

Frequency Domain Response at Pacific Coast Harbors to Major Tsunamis of 2005–2011

Tsunamis waves caused by submarine earthquake or landslide might contain large wave energy, which could cause significant human loss and property damage locally as well as in distant region. The response of three harbors located at the Pacific coast (i.e. Crescent City Harbor, Los Angeles/Long Beach Port, and San Diego Harbor) to six well-known tsunamis events generated (both near-field and far-field) between 2005 and 2011 are examined and simulated using a hybrid finite element numerical model in frequency domain. The model incorporated the effects of wave refraction, wave diffraction, partial wave reflection from boundaries, entrance and bottom energy dissipation. It can be applied to harbor regions with arbitrary shapes and variable water depth. The computed resonant periods or modes of oscillation for three harbors are in good agreement with the energy spectral analysis of the time series of water surface elevations recorded at tide gauge stations inside three harbors during the six tsunamis events. The computed wave induced currents based on the present model are also in qualitative agreement with some of the reported eye-witness accounts absence of reliable current data. The simulated results show that each harbor responded differently and significantly amplified certain wave period(s) of incident wave trains according to the shape, topography, characteristic dimensions and water depth of the harbor basins.     

岫岩陨石撞击坑结构高精度地震探测研究

我国的岫岩陨石撞击坑位于辽东半岛北部低山丘陵地区,直径1.8 km,保存完好,已被多方面的证据证实为陨石撞击坑.陨石的撞击和此后的沉积作用在坑内形成了特殊的地球物理场,使坑内与坑外的介质在速度、密度等方面存在差异.本次通过采用反射和折射地震相结合的探测方法,利用陨石撞击所形成的岩石的地震波速度和波阻抗差异,获得了陨石坑...     

Dynamics and Coastal Effects of Tsunamis Generated by Asteroids Impacting the Black Sea

Two-dimensional (2D) and one-dimensional (1D) shallow-water models are used to evaluate the seashore effects of the tsunami generated by an asteroid impacting the western regions of the Black Sea about 208 km from the coast. The tsunami’s speed and the effects on the coastal regions depend on many factors, among which the most important is asteroid size. The tsunami generated by a 250-m asteroid reaches the nearest land location in 24 min and needs about 2 h to arrive at all Black Sea coast. The run-up value is about 7 m high on the Turkish and Crimean coasts. In the western Black Sea regions the wave height is two or three times smaller. The run-up values strongly depend on bathymetry and topography peculiarities. The run-in value in case of the tsunami generated by a 1,000-m asteroid is up to eight times larger than in case of a 250-m impactor, depending on location. The results reported herein are upper limit values. In case of the 250-m asteroid, the real wave amplitude may be up to two times smaller. The uncertainty factor decreases in case of larger asteroids. Ways of diminishing the social consequences are briefly discussed.     

The hazard of near-Earth asteroid impacts on earth

Near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) have struck the Earth throughout its existence. During epochs when life was gaining a foothold ∼4 Ga, the impact rate was thousands of times what it is today. Even during the Phanerozoic, the numbers of NEAs guarantee that there were other impacts, possibly larger than the Chicxulub event, which was responsible for the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinctions. Astronomers have found over 2500 NEAs of all sizes, including well over half of the estimated 1100 NEAs >1 km diameter. NEAs are mostly collisional fragments from the inner half of the asteroid belt and range in composition from porous, carbonaceous-chondrite-like to metallic. Nearly one-fifth of them have satellites or are double bodies. When the international telescopic Spaceguard Survey, which has a goal of discovering 90% of NEAs >1 km diameter, is completed, perhaps as early as 2008, nearly half of the remaining impact hazard will be from land or ocean impacts by bodies 70-600 m diameter. (Comets are expected to contribute only about 1% of the total risk.) The consequences of impacts for civilization are potentially enormous, but impacts are so rare that worldwide mortality from impacts will have dropped to only about 150 per year (averaged over very long durations) after the Spaceguard goal has, presumably, ruled out near-term impacts by 90% of the most dangerous ones; that is, in the mid-range between very serious causes of death (disease, auto accidents) and minor but frightening ones (like shark attacks). Differences in perception concerning this rather newly recognized hazard dominate evaluation of its significance. The most likely type of impact events we face are hyped or misinterpreted predicted impacts or near-misses involving small NEAs.     

Tsunamis Generated by Subaquatic Volcanic Explosions: Unique Data from 1996 Eruption in Karymskoye Lake, Kamchatka, Russia

—The 1996 subaquatic explosive eruption near the northern shore of Karymskoye Lake in Kamchatka, Russia, generated multiple tsunamis. We document the explosive process that produced the tsunamis, and describe the tsunami effects and runup around the 4-km diameter lake. These data enable the determination of an attenuation relation of runup (wave) height for these “explosive” tsunamis, which is compared with theoretical models of wave height distributions. For the proximal zone, involving radial distances (r) up to 1.3 km from the source, the runup height (R) shows rapid attenuation (from > 30 m to 8 m) with distance as log R = ?1.98 log[r] + 2.6. For the distal zone, r > 1.3 km, involving mainly wave travel southeastwards along the body of the lake away from the explosion source, R decays more slowly (from 8 m to 3 m) as log R = ?0.56 log[r] + 1.9. Rapid decay in the proximal zone suggests that near the source of the explosion, the tsunami propagated radially as a collapsing wave (bore) with discontinuous change in height. The break-in-slope of the runup plot at 1.3 km suggests that beyond this distance the tsunami propagated approximately as a decaying one-dimensional wave in a channel of approximately constant width.     

Tsunami Excitation by Submarine Slides in Shallow-water Approximation

-- Landslide-induced tsunamis are receiving increased attention since there is evidence that recent large devastating events have been caused by underwater mass failures. Normally, numerical models are used to simulate tsunami excitation, most of which are based on shallow water, known also as long wave, approximation to the full equations of hydrodynamics. Analytical studies may handle only simplified problems, but help understand the basic features of physical processes. This paper is an analytical investigation of long-water waves excited by rigid bodies sliding on the sea bottom, based on the shallow-water approximation, which is here derived by properly scaling Euler equations for an inviscid, incompressible and irrotational ocean. In one-dimensional (1-D) cases (where motion depends only on one horizontal coordinate), under the further assumptions of small-height slide, which permits the recourse to linear theory, and of flat ocean floor, a solution for arbitrary body shape and velocity is deduced by applying the Duhamel theorem. It is also shown that this theorem can be advantageously used to obtain a general solution in case of a non-flat ocean floor, when the sea bottom follows a special power law, that can be adapted to study reasonable bottom profiles. The characteristics of the excited tsunamis are then evaluated by computing solutions in numerous examples, with special focus on wave pattern and wave evolution. The energy of the wave system is shown to depend on time: it grows expectedly in the initial phase of tsunami generation, when the moving body transfers energy to the water, but it may also diminish later, implying that a certain amount of energy may pass back from water waves to the slide.     

Dynamic modeling suggests terrace zone asymmetry in the Chicxulub crater is caused by target heterogeneity

We investigate the cause of terrace zone asymmetry in the Chicxulub impact crater using dynamic models of crater formation. Marine seismic data acquired across the crater show that the geometry of the crater's terrace zone, a series of sedimentary megablocks that slumped into the crater from the crater rim, varies significantly around the offshore half of the crater. The seismic data also reveal that, at the time of impact, both the water depth and sediment thickness varied with azimuth around the impact site. To test whether the observed heterogeneity in the pre-impact target might have affected terrace zone geometry we constructed two end-member models of upper-target structure at Chicxulub, based on the seismic data at different azimuths. One model, representing the northwest sector, had no water layer and a 3-km thick sediment layer; the other model, representing the northeast sector, had a 2-km water layer above a 4-km sediment layer. Numerical models of vertical impacts into these two targets produced final craters that differ substantially in terrace zone geometry, suggesting that the initial water depth and sediment thickness variations affected the structure of the terrace zone at Chicxulub. Moreover, the differences in terrace zone geometry between the two numerical models are consistent with the observed differences in the geometry of the terrace zone at different azimuths around the Chicxulub crater. We conclude that asymmetry in the pre-impact target rocks at Chicxulub is likely to be the primary cause of asymmetry in the terrace zone.     

Sudden death at the end of the Mesozoic

A paleoecological analysis of the fossil record before and after the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary indicates that the widespread extinctions and biological stresses around the boundary are best explained in terms of a sudden, significant, but short temperature rise. L. Alvarez and co-authors, having found an enrichment in iridium at the same boundary, postulated that it was associated with the impact of an extraterrestrial body. If this body struck the ocean, the water injected into the atmosphere may have led to a transient increase in the global surface temperature. This temperature pulse may have been primarily responsible for the effects observed in the biosphere. The pattern of extinction of higher plant species suggests that splash down occurred in the northern Pacific-Bering Sea area.     

Tsunamis and tsunami warning: Recent progress and future prospects

Tsunamis are one of the most destructive disasters in the ocean.Large tsunamis are mostly generated by earthquakes,and they can propagate across the ocean without significantly losing energy.During the shoaling process in coastal areas,the wave amplitude increases dramatically,causing severe life loss and property damage.There have been frequent tsunamis since the 21 st century,drawing the attention of many countries on the study of tsunami mechanism and warning.Tsunami records also play an essential role in deriving earthquake rupture models in subduction zones.This paper reviews the recent progress and limitations of tsunami research,from the aspects of tsunami generation,propagation,inversion and warning.Potential tsunami warning strategies are discussed and future prospects on tsunami research are provided.     

A three-dimensional surface wave–ocean circulation coupled model and its initial testing

A theoretical framework to include the influences of nonbreaking surface waves in ocean general circulation models is established based on Reynolds stresses and fluxes terms derived from surface wave-induced fluctuation. An expression for the wave-induced viscosity and diffusivity as a function of the wave number spectrum is derived for infinite and finite water depths; this derivation allows the coupling of ocean circulation models with a wave number spectrum numerical model. In the case of monochromatic surface wave, the wave-induced viscosity and diffusivity are functions of the Stokes drift. The influence of the wave-induced mixing scheme on global ocean circulation models was tested with the Princeton Ocean Model, indicating significant improvement in upper ocean thermal structure and mixed layer depth compared with mixing obtained by the Mellor–Yamada scheme without the wave influence. For example, the model–observation correlation coefficient of the upper 100-m temperature along 35° N increases from 0.68 without wave influence to 0.93 with wave influence. The wave-induced Reynolds stress can reach up to about 5% of the wind stress in high latitudes, and drive 2–3 Sv transport in the global ocean in the form of mesoscale eddies with diameter of 500–1,000 km. The surface wave-induced mixing is more pronounced in middle and high latitudes during the summer in the Northern Hemisphere and in middle latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere.     

地震走时层析成像方法及在陨石坑探测中的应用

地震走时层析成像是地球物理反演中成熟的方法之一,已在许多领域得到广泛应用,并取得了良好的效果。本文介绍的地震层析成像方法包括模型参数化、射线追踪和理论走时计算、非线性方程组的线性化、线性化方程组的求解以及解的评价。观测数据使用了中国地震局地球物理勘探中心在岫岩陨石坑取得的浅层地震折射资料,反演得到两条近垂直交叉剖面的P波速度结构。结果表明,该坑为一简单坑,直接撞击形成的区域为直径约1．8km、深度约700m的坑体;坑中心深度约700m周围以及向下出现的7．0km／s以上的高波速可能是陨石撞击时所产生的高温高压使表层岩石达到熔融状态,改变了围岩的性质,致使围岩速度升高。