Combustion as the cause of comet P/Halley's activity

The totality of the results obtained in the VEGA, GIOTTO and SUISEI projects does not lend itself to interpretation within the old sublimation models of comet activity considering solar radiation as the sole source of energy. Among them are the systematic excess of the velocity and temperature of the gas escaping from the nucleus over the theoretical values, the outflow being concentrated in several ( ~ 12–15) narrow ( ~ 300 m in size at the nucleus) hypersonic jets carrying very large amounts of remarkably fine CHON dust and located along continuous lines on the nuclear surface, intense release from the nucleus or very close to it (2 × 10³km) of CO (Q _Co/Q _{H2 O} = 0.05–0.2) with a smaller amount of CO₂ (Q _{CO 2}/ Q _{H2 O} 0.015), large near-nucleus abundances of C, C⁺ (Q _C/Q _CO 0.29), etc.The new observations, together with some earlier data still poorly understood (e.g. the appearance in the coma of large amounts of C₃) can be accounted for by assuming the cometary ices to contain, apart from hydrocarbons, nitrogen-containing compounds, etc. also of free oxygen ( ~ 15 wt.%). Under these conditions, burning should occur in the products of sublimation under deficiency of oxidizer accompanied by the production of soot, smoke, etc. The burning should propagate under the surface crust and localize primarily at a few sites.The presence of oxygen in cometary ices follows from a new eruption theory assuming the minor bodies of the Solar System to have formed in explosions of the massive ice envelopes saturated by electrolysis products on distant moonlike bodies of the type of Ganymede and Callisto.     

Lateral structural variability in zone of eocene island-arc-continent collision,Kamchatka

The lateral variability of structural elements in the collision zone of the Cretaceous-Paleocene Achaivayam-Valagin island arc with the northeastern Asian margin is considered. The similarity and difference of Eocene collision structural elements in the north and the south of Kamchatka are shown. In northern Kamchatka, the continent-arc boundary is traced along the Lesnaya-Vatyn Thrust Fault, which completed its evolution about 45 Ma ago. The thin, near-horizontal allochthon of this thrust, composed of island-arc rocks, overlies the deformed but unmetamorphosed terrigeneous sequences of the Asian margin. The general structure of this suture in the Kamchatka Isthmus and southern Koryakia is comparable with the uppermost subduction zone, where a thin lithospheric wedge overlaps intensely deformed sediments detached from the plunging plate. In southern Kamchatka (Malka Uplift of the Sredinny Range), the arc-continent collision started 55–53 Ma ago with thrusting of island-arc complexes over terrigenous rocks of continental margin. However, the thickness of the allochthon was much greater than in the north. Immediately after this event, both the autochthon and lower part of allochthon were deformed and subsided to a significant depth. This subsidence gave rise to metamorphism of both the autochthon (Kolpakov and Kamchatka groups, Kheivan Formation) and lower allochthon (Andrianovka and Khimka formations). The anomalously fast heating of the crust was most likely related to the ascent of asthenospheric masses due to slab breakoff, when the Eurasian Plate was plunging beneath the Achaivayam-Valagin arc.     

The gawler ranges,South Australia: an unusual volcanic massif

The volcanic residuals of the Gawler Ranges together form an extensive massif that in its gross morphology differs markedly from most exposures of silicic volcanic rocks. The upland developed in two stages, the first involving differential fracture‐controlled subsurface weathering, the second the stripping of the regolith. As a result, an irregular weathering front was exposed, with domical projections prominent. These bornhardts are etch forms, and they are of considerable antiquity.

The differential weathering of the rock mass reflects the exploitation of various fracture systems by shallow groundwaters. Orthogonal fracture systems at various scales, sheet fractures and columnar joints control the morphology of the bornhardts in gross and in detail.

The exploitation of the structural base, which was established in the Middle Protero‐zoic, probably took place throughout the Late Proterozoic and the Palaeozoic, though only minor remnants of the Proterozoic land surface remain. The major landscape features developed during the Mesozoic. The weathering which initiated the bornhardts occurred in the Jurassic or earlier Mesozoic, and the landforms were exposed in Late Cretaceous to Early Tertiary times.

Though structural forms dominate the present landscape, some major and some minor landforms are best explained in terms of climatic changes of the later Cainozoic. The palaeodrainage system, established under humid conditions by the Early Tertiary, was alluviated during the Cainozoic arid phases, and salinas were formed. The sand dunes of the region also reflect this aridity.     

Geochemical characteristics and LA-ICP-MS zircon U-Pb age of the Lanhualing granite in Ningguo,Anhui ProvinceEI北大核心CSCD

The Lanhualing tungsten-molybdenum deposit is a skarn-type deposit located in Ningguo county, Anhui province. This deposit is mainly hosted in the Yinzhubu Formation and the Yanwashan Formation of Ordovician, and genetically related to the Lanhualing granite. The Lanhualing granite belongs to high-K calc-alkaline series with high alkali (Na2O+K2O=4.00%-7.03%), SiO2 (67.87%-74.92%) and MgO (0.62%-1.23%) contents. The granitic rocks show right-dipping chondrite normalized REE patterns with weak δEu anomalies. The granitic rocks are relatively enriched in large ion lithophile elements (LILE) and depleted in high field strength elements (HFSE). The ore-bearing granite was dated at 148.17±0.94 Ma by LA-ICP-MS zircon U-Pb method. The late Yanshanian is the main tungsten mineralization epoch in the South Anhui-north Jiangxi area; and indeed, the Dongyuan, Zhuxi, Yangchuling, Dahutang and other large and super-large tungsten deposits were formed in this period. Geochemical Characteristics of the Lanhualing granite indicate a crustal source but with mantle input under tectonic regime of compression thickening. ©, 2015, Science Press. All right reserved.     

Distribution of nickel,copper and zinc in the volcanic series of Erta'Ale,Ethiopia

NI, Cu and Zn were measured polarographically in 34 samples of volcanic rocks from the chain of Erta'Ale, Ethiopia. In this chain all rock types from picritic basalts to alkaline and peralkaline rhyolites can be found. The series is marked by a considerable iron enrichment in the intermediate stages. The distribution of Ni, Cu and Zn in the series emphasizes the efficiency of the crystal-field theory in accounting for the behaviour of the elements during magmatic fractionation. Nickel shows a regular variation throughout the trend. The variation of copper is similar to that of iron, but the relative rates of enrichment and depletion show that they are not necessarily associated with the same mineral phases. The behaviour of Zn is rather irregular.     

Dispersion of the salt-marsh periwinkle Littoraria irrorata: Effects of water level,size, and season

This paper documents horizontal and vertical dispersion patterns of a Texas population of the saltmarsh periwinkle, Littoraria irrorata, over a 15-month period. The study was conducted within a tidal marsh on the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge in Galveston Bay. Two mark-recapture experiments demonstrated that L. irrorata rarely move more than 2 m from their release point over long periods of time and do not home to individual Spartina plants. Adult L. irrorata forage farther away from the base of Spartina stalks at low tide than do juvenile snails. Remaining near the plant base may decrease both temperature and desiccation stress on juveniles. During warm months, L. irrorata climb grass stalks with tidal inundation and forage on the substratum at low tide. Snails are inactive and aggregate in detrital debris at the base of Spartina clumps during the winter. *** DIRECT SUPPORT *** A01BY058 00016     

Isolation of integrals for centroid orbits in stellar system models

In this paper we present two solutions for isolating integrals of the centroid motion in a non-stationary stellar system under the ellipsoidal hypothesis with point-axial symmetry.Paper presented at the 11th European Regional Astronomical Meetings of the IAU on New Windows to the Universe, held 3–8 July, 1989, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain.