Jets: black holes and beyond

Thomas J Maccarone and Elmar Koerding discuss the phenomenon of astrophysical jets, from their discovery to the latest theories about their origins.     

实验室测绘教学仪器的管理

在分析了当前测绘仪器管理存在问题的基础上，从仪器在实验室的管理体制、模式方面做了有益探讨和分析，提出了测绘仪器实行动态管理和开放使用的模式。     

Solar EUV line identifications from delayed beam-foil spectra

A number of electric dipole transitions from low-lying long-lived levels in Si-, P- and S-like ions of Fe and neighbouring elements have been identified by their longevity in delayed EUV spectra after foil excitation of fast ion beams. Some of these new identifications pertain to previously unidentified lines in solar flare spectra.     

20世纪南极菲尔德斯半岛毛皮海豹食谱比例变化的同位素混合模型比较分析

稳定同位素比值分析已成功用于示踪动物的食物来源研究,近年来已发展了多个同位素混合模型用于计算混合物中多来源物质的组成比例。本文以过去百年来南极菲尔德斯半岛南极毛皮海豹(Arctocephalus gazella)毛发的C、N同位素数据为基础,运用同位素混合模型中的欧几里得距离法、线性模型和贝叶斯模型进行计算、分析和比较,得到毛皮海豹食谱中南极磷虾(Euphausia superb)、南极电灯鱼(Electrona antarctica)和尼氏裸灯鱼(Gymnoscopelus nicholsi)所占比例随时间的变化趋势。各模型计算得出的结果可分为两组,分别是欧几里得距离法公式(1)和(2)的结果,表现为近百年来毛皮海豹食谱中Euphausia superb比例与其毛发稳定N同位素比值呈同步上升的趋势;第二组为欧几里得距离法公式(3)、线性模型和贝叶斯模型的结果,Euphausia superb比例与毛皮海豹毛稳定N同位素比值呈反相关关系。综合对比研究区域气候、海冰环境变化背景和已有的南极磷虾种群密度调查资料分析,第二组模型结果与实际情况较为相符,可用于讨论食物比例的时间变化趋势。近百年来,菲尔德斯半岛毛皮海豹食谱中Euphausia superb的比例显著下降,很可能是由于区域气候快速变暖和海冰的消退造成的。本文的计算结果指示西南极半岛气候变暖已显著影响到区域海洋食物链变化。     

Composition and Origin of Ferromanganese Crusts from Equatorial Western Pacific Seamounts

In the equatorial western Pacific, iron-manganese oxyhydroxide crusts(Fe-Mn crusts) and nodules form on basaltic seamounts and on the top of drowned carbonate platform guyots that have been swept free of pelagic sediments. To date, the Fe-Mn crusts have been considered to be almost exclusively of abiotic origin. However, it has recently been suggested that these crusts may be a result of biomineralization. Although the Fe-Mn crust textures in the equatorial western Pacific are similar to those constructed by bacteria and algae, and biomarkers also document the existence of bacteria and algae dispersed within the Fe-Mn crusts, the precipitation, accumulation and distribution of elements, such as Fe, Mn, Ni and Co in Fe-Mn crusts are not controlled by microbial activity. Bacteria and algae are only physically incorporated into the crusts when dead plankton settle on the ocean floor and are trapped on the crust surface. Geochemical evidence suggests a hydrogenous origin of Fe-Mn crusts in the equatorial western Pacific, thus verifying a process for Fe-Mn crusts that involves the precipitation of colloidal phases from seawater followed by extensive scavenging of dissolved trace metals into the mineral phase during crust formation.     

A DIAGNOSTIC ANALYSIS OF AIR TEMPERATURE ANOMALY MODE OVER CHINA IN 2009/2010 WINTER BASED ON GENERALIZED EQUILIBRIUM FEEDBACK ASSESSMENT (GEFA) METHOD

By using the observed monthly mean data over 160 stations of China and NCAR/NCEP reanalysis data, the generalized equilibrium feedback assessment(GEFA) method, combined with the methods of EOF analysis, correlation and composite analysis, is used to explore the influence of different SST modes on a wintertime air temperature pattern in which it is cold in the northeast and warm in the southwest in China. The results show that the 2009/2010 winter air temperature oscillation mode between the northern and southern part of China is closely related to the corresponding sea surface temperature anomalies(SSTA) and its associated atmospheric circulation anomalies. Exhibiting warming in Northeast China and cooling in Southwest China, the mode is significantly forced by the El Nio mode and the North Atlantic SSTA mode, which have three poles. Under the influence of SSTA modes, the surface northerly flow transported cold air to North and Northeast China, resulting in low temperatures in the regions. Meanwhile, the mid-latitude westerlies intensify and the polar cold air stays in high latitudes and cannot affect the Southwest China, resulting in the warming there.     

A Rhaetian 40Ar/39Ar age for the Rochechouart impact structure (France) and implications for the latest Triassic sedimentary record

Abstract– ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating of potassium feldspar (primary spherulitic‐blocky and secondary idiomorphic K‐feldspar) separated from impact‐metamorphosed gneiss found near Videix in the western central part of the Rochechouart impact structure (NW Massif Central, France) yielded a Rhaetian combined age of 201 ± 2 Ma (2σ), indistinguishable within uncertainty from the age of the Triassic/Jurassic boundary. Ballen quartz intergrown with the primary K‐feldspar indicates post‐shock temperatures exceeding approximately 1000 °C that affected the precursor gneiss. Geochemically, both feldspar types represent essentially pure potassium end‐members. Apart from the approximately 15 km diameter impact deposit area, the youngest crystallization age known for basement rocks in this part of the Massif Central is approximately 300 Ma. No endogenic magmatic‐thermal events are known to have occurred later in this region. The K‐feldspar recrystallized from local feldspar melts and superimposed post‐shock hydrothermal crystallization, probably within some thousands of years after the impact. It is, therefore, suggested that the ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age for the Videix gneiss (as a potassic “impact metasomatite”) dates the Rochechouart impact, in consistence with evidence for K‐metasomatism in the Rochechouart impactites. The new age value is distinctly younger than the previously obtained Karnian–Norian age for Rochechouart and, thus, contradicts the Late Triassic multiple impact theory postulated some years ago. In agreement with the paleogeographic conditions in the western Tethys domain around the Triassic/Jurassic boundary, the near‐coastal to shallow marine Rochechouart impact is compatible with the formation of seismites and tsunami deposits in the latest Triassic of the British Isles and possible related deposits in other parts of Europe.     

Establishing a 14.6 ± 0.2 Ma age for the Nördlinger Ries impact (Germany)—A prime example for concordant isotopic ages from various dating materials

Abstract– ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating of recrystallized K‐feldspar melt particles separated from partially molten biotite granite in impact melt rocks from the approximately 24 km Nördlinger Ries crater (southern Germany) yielded a plateau age of 14.37 ± 0.30 (0.32) Ma (2σ). This new age for the Nördlinger Ries is the first age obtained from (1) monomineralic melt (2) separated from an impact‐metamorphosed target rock clast within (3) Ries melt rocks and therewith extends the extensive isotopic age data set for this long time studied impact structure. The new age goes very well with the ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar step‐heating and laser probe dating results achieved from mixed‐glass samples (suevite glass and tektites) and is slightly younger than the previously obtained fission track and K/Ar and ages of about 15 Ma, as well as the K/Ar and ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age data obtained in the early 1990s. Taking all the ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age data obtained from Ries impact melt lithologies into account (data from the literature and this study), we suggest an age of 14.59 ± 0.20 Ma (2σ) as best value for the Ries impact event.