A Morphostructural Zoning of the Mountainous Crimea and the Possible Locations of Future Earthquakes

The locations of possible earthquake occurrence (magnitudes M ≥ 6) have been determined for mountainous Crimea and the adjacent sea shelf, including the continental slope zone. The earthquake-generating structures were assumed to be intersections of morphostructural lineaments as found by morphostructural zoning. The measurement of geological and geophysical characteristics was followed by applying a decision rule that was derived previously using the CORA-3 pattern recognition algorithm in order to find possible locations of M ≥ 6 earthquakes in the Caucasus. The results corroborate the high seismic potential for the Yalta area where two events with magnitudes of 6.0 and 6.8 occurred in 1927, as well as indicating the possibility of M ≥ 6 earthquakes in other areas in mountainous Crimea and in the adjacent Black Sea area where no such events have yet been recorded.     

Intraday variability of three flat-spectrum radio sources

Searches for intraday variability in the flat-spectrum radio sources J0527+0331, J0721+0406, and J1728+0427 have been carried out at 3.5 cm using the 32-m radio telescope of the Zelenchuk Observatory of the Kvazar-KVO complex of the Institute of Applied Astronomy of the Russian Academy of Sciences (located near the Zelenchuk Village, Karachaevo-Cherkesskaya Republic). Intraday variabiility with characteristic time scales from one to five hours was detected in all three sources.     

Optical identifications and spectra of radio sources

We present classifications, optical identifications, and radio spectra for eight radio sources from three flux-density-complete samples in the following declination ranges: 4°–6° (B1950), S _3.9 > 200 mJy; 10°–12°30′ (J2000), S _4.85 > 200 mJy; 74°?75° (J2000), S _4.85 > 100 mJy. For all these samples, the right ascensions are 0^h–24^h and the Galactic latitudes, |b| > 15°. Our optical observations at 4000–7500 ° were made with the 6-m telescope of the Special Astrophysical Observatory; we also observed at 0.97–21.7 GHz with the RATAN-600 radio telescope of the Special Astrophysical Observatory. We classify four of the objects as quasars and four as galaxies. Five of the radio sources have power-law spectra at 0.97–21.7 GHz, while two objects have flat spectra. The quasar J2358+0430 virtually did not vary during 23 years.     

GRAS-F seismogravimeter for measuring gravity-inertial fields on the surface of Phobos

The problems of measuring the variations in the gravitational and inertial fields on Phobos related to librational oscillations, tidal effects, and seismic impacts have been considered in the paper. It has been indicated that thermal equilibrium noise in a mechanical oscillator, which forms the basis for a sensor, is responsible for the oscillator’s maximal sensitivity at a level of 8 × 10⁻⁹ m/s². The actual sensitivity of the designed three-dimensional seismogravimeter, which was estimated based on the calibration results, is ∼2 × 10⁻⁸ m/s². This makes it possible to measure the anticipated variations in the gravitational field and to obtain information about the seismic noise level with a surface oscillation amplitude resolution at a level of 2.5 × 10⁻⁷ m at frequencies of 0.1 Hz to ∼10⁻¹⁰ m at frequencies higher than 5 Hz.     

THE MAGNETIC INVESTIGATION OF THE SIKHOTE-ALIN IRON METEORITE SHOWER AT THE SITE OF FALL

Individual and splinter specimens of the iron meteorite shower of Sikhote-Alin and rock samples from impact craters have been studied magnetically. The results indicate that: 1) Histograms for the distribution of natural remanent magnetization J_n of individual and splinter specimens are characterized by a high correlation coefficient (0.82 ± 0.06). For the splinter specimens, a trend to an increase in number of specimens with anomalously high J_n values is observed; 2) the Earth's magnetic field did not greatly affect the magnetic properties of this iron meteorite; and 3) for rock samples taken from different craters, there was found to be a relation between the natural remanent magnetization and the energy conditions of the crater formation.     

On the stability of vortex streets in a stratified fluid

On the basis of the perturbation theory developed previously by the authors for localized hydrodynamic vortices, the influence of a specified jet flow and of the structure of individual vortices on the stability of the Karman street is investigated. It is shown that, for a street of vortices with a power law of decrease in the azimuthal velocity, the jet flow suppresses instability only with respect to perturbations with wavelengths from a certain range determined by the parameters of the flow. At the same time, for streets formed from vortices with a Gaussian profile of the azimuthal velocity, even in the absence of a specified flow, there is a certain region of the street’s parameters in which the street is stable against perturbations of all scales. Thus, for the purposes of modeling quasi-two-dimensional flows in a stratified fluid by a sequence of localized vortices, which is discussed in this study, vortices with a Gaussian profile of the azimuthal velocity turn out to be preferable. The results of this study are consistent with numerous experiments on the structure of a quasi-two-dimensional wake behind a body in a stratified fluid at large Reynolds and Froude numbers.