Dust Trails of 8P/Tuttle and the Unusual Outbursts of the Ursid Shower

We calculate the position of dust trails from comet 8P/Tuttle, in an effort to explain unusual Ursid meteor shower outbursts that were seen when the comet was near aphelion. Comet 8P/Tuttle is a Halley-type comet in a 13.6-year orbit, passing just outside of Earth's orbit. We find that the meteoroids tend to be trapped in the 12:14 mean motion resonance with Jupiter, while the comet librates in a slightly shorter period orbit around the 13:15 resonance. It takes 6 centuries to decrease the perihelion of the meteoroid orbits enough to intersect Earth's orbit, during which time the meteoroids and comet separate in mean anomaly by 6 years, thus explaining the 6-year lag between the comet's return and Ursid outbursts. The resonances also prevent dispersion along the comet orbit and limit viewing to only one year in each return. We identified past dust trail encounters with dust trails from 1392 (Dec. 1945) and 1378 (Dec. 1986) and predicted another outburst on 2000 December 22 at around 7:29 and 8:35 UT, respectively, from dust trails dating to the 1405 and 1392 returns. This event was observed from California using video and photographic techniques. At the same time, five Global-MS-Net stations in Finland, Japan, and Belgium counted meteors using forward meteor scatter. The outburst peaked at 8:06±07 UT, December 22, at zenith hourly rate ∼90 per hour, and the Ursid rates were above half peak intensity during 4.2 h. We find that most Ursid orbits do scatter around the anticipated positions, confirming the link with comet 8P/Tuttle and the epoch of ejection. The 1405 and 1392 dust trails appear to have contributed similar amounts to the activity profile. Some orbits provide a hint of much older debris being present as well. This work is the strongest evidence yet for the relevance of mean motion resonances in Halley-type comet dust trail evolution.     

Morphology of HCN and CN in Comet Hale-Bopp (1995 O1)

We compare images of Comet Hale-Bopp (1995 O1) in HCN and CN taken near perihelion (April 1, 1997) to determine the origin of CN in comets. We imaged the J=1→0 transition of HCN at λ=3 mm with the BIMA Array. Data from two weeks around perihelion were summed within four phase bins based on the rotational period of the comet. This increases both the signal-to-noise ratio and the u-v coverage while decreasing the smearing of the spatial features. The similarly phased narrowband CN images were taken at Lowell Observatory within the same range of dates as the HCN images. We find that there is a better correlation between HCN and CN than between HCN and the optically dominant dust. If the CN in jets does have a dust source it would have to have a very low albedo and/or small particle size. The production rates are consistent with HCN being a primary parent of CN, although there are discrepancies between the HCN destruction scalelength and the CN production scalelength which we discuss.     

论中国东部大型盆地区及邻区地质-地球物理复合尺度解析

作为对中国东部陆缘地带大型盆地区及邻区地质－地球物理综合研究的部分结果,本文的基本认识：（1）穿过松辽盆地的1孙吴－双辽断裂可能是东倾伯低角度壳内断裂;（2）松辽盆地和渤海湾盆地可能属于“混合型裂谷盆地”;（3）东海盆地台北坳陷处在多期次张性应力场环境中,使在其西部附近产生张性正断层系;（4）欧亚大陆东部新生代区域构造运动总体处于右旋走滑拉张环境,其动力因素包括板块运动和地幔物质运动;（5）研究区莫霍面具有较为复杂的变化;（6）复合尺度研究方法是地质－地球物理综合分析的必要手段。     

流域地理景观的GIS数据三维可视化

应用以"GIS"为核心的空间信息技术,是开展"数字流域"工程建设自然和最佳的选择。结合"清江流域水文水情与洪水演进仿真系统"的具体研制,分析流域地理数据特点及传统GIS在"数字流域"建设中的优缺点,在应用传统GIS二维方式展示形式管理和预处理先期各类基础流域地理空间数据及其相应属性数据的基础上,为满足仿真系统系列三维可视化要求,建立面向流域空间实体对象的数据模型,定义流域地理空间对象数据结构,将流域地理常规的GIS数据以三维形式展示,在实际的系统开发过程中,取得较好的三维可视化效果,并可满足"数字清江"建设各阶段综合处理、分析、评价、决策以及可视化等方面的需求。     

High-Resolution Keck Adaptive Optics Imaging of Violent Volcanic Activity on Io

Io, the innermost Galilean satellite of Jupiter, is a fascinating world. Data taken by Voyager and Galileo instruments have established that it is by far the most volcanic body in the Solar System and suggest that the nature of this volcanism could radically differ from volcanism on Earth. We report on near-IR observations taken in February 2001 from the Earth-based 10-m W. M. Keck II telescope using its adaptive optics system. After application of an appropriate deconvolution technique (MISTRAL), the resolution, ∼100 km on Io's disk, compares well with the best Galileo/NIMS resolution for global imaging and allows us for the first time to investigate the very nature of individual eruptions. On 19 February, we detected two volcanoes, Amirani and Tvashtar, with temperatures differing from the Galileo observations. On 20 February, we noticed a slight brightening near the Surt volcano. Two days later it had turned into an extremely bright volcanic outburst. The hot spot temperatures (>1400 K) are consistent with a basaltic eruption and, being lower limits, do not exclude an ultramafic eruption. These outburst data have been fitted with a silicate-cooling model, which indicates that this is a highly vigorous eruption with a highly dynamic emplacement mechanism, akin to fire-fountaining. Its integrated thermal output was close to the total estimated output of Io, making this the largest ionian thermal outburst yet witnessed.     

Paleoenvironmental evolution of the Paratethys in the Slovenian Basin during the Late Paleogene

Several sections from the uppermost Eocene and Oligocene of northern Slovenia have been investigated with respect to sedimentary facies, foraminiferal assemblages, stable isotopes, carbonate microfacies, and palynology. The main objective was to reconstruct the paleoenvironmental history of the Paleogene Paratethys in this region of the eastern Alpine realm. The sediments exhibit a transgressive succession beginning with conglomerates, sandstones, and mudstones of fluvial and lacustrine origin followed by carbonates and muddy marls indicating marine conditions. The foraminiferal faunal changes from brackish to shallow marine to deeper marine assemblages and the distribution of the palynofloras corroborate the sedimentological results. Microfacies analysis of the limestones shows a wide variation of shallow water, generally mud-rich facies dominated by coralline algae, foraminifera, and corals. Microfaunas adapted to low-oxygen conditions indicate temporal sluggish bottom-water circulation which can be associated with high fresh-water fluxes. These results are discussed as reflecting both the global sea-level rise during the Early Oligocene and the regional tectonic and climatic evolution.     

Composition and evolution of submarine volcanic rocks from the central and western Canary Islands

Submarine volcanic rocks dredged during RV Meteor cruise M43-1 comprise alkali basalts, basanites, nephelinites and their differentiates representing both basement-shield and young post-shield volcanics of Gran Canaria, Tenerife, La Palma and El Hierro. The primitive lavas vary widely in trace element composition (e.g., Zr/Y=6.6-11.7, (La/Sm)_N=2.3-5.4, and Ba/Yb=71-311), and they are characterized by steep, rare-earth element patterns with mean (La/Yb)_N=16, and by pronounced, positive primitive mantle-normalized Nb and Ta and negative K anomalies similar to HIMU-type basalts. Rocks from the submarine flanks west and north of Gran Canaria are isotopically and geochemically identical to rocks of the subaerial Miocene shield stage, but they are distinct from rocks of the post-shield stages (Zr/Nb=6.3-8.9, ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr=0.70327-0.70332, ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd=0.51289-0.51293, ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb=19.55-19.88). Most rocks dredged from the submarine flanks of Tenerife are isotopically and geochemically similar to rocks of the adjacent subaerial shield remnants, but a few resemble rocks of the subaerial post-shield stages (total range in Zr/Nb=4.6-6.1, ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr=0.70300-0.70329, ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd=0.51281-0.51292, ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb=19.51-19.96). Rocks from the southern submarine ridge of La Palma cover the entire compositional range of the subaerial rocks of that ridge. Additionally, they comprise a high Zr/Nb group which resembles rocks of the ca. 1-Ma-old Taburiente shield of northern La Palma (total range in Zr/Nb=3.0-6.4, ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr=0.70297-0.70314, ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd=0.51288-0.51296, ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb=19.21-19.79). Rocks from the southern submarine ridge of El Hierro compositionally resemble subaerial rocks of the island (Zr/Nb=4.1-6.2, ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr=0.70296-0.70314, ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd=0.51291-0.51297, ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb=19.25-19.91). The degree of melting in the subcanarian mantle is interpreted to decrease from east to west across the archipelago whereas the proportion of depleted mantle component in the melting anomaly increases, as illustrated by Sr, Nd and Pb isotopes. The isotopic characteristics of the mantle source beneath the Canary Islands represents a mixture of HIMU, DMM and EM I. The overall isotopic signature is intermediate between that of Madeira to the north, which trends towards more depleted compositions, and that of the Cape Verde Islands to the south which shows a pronounced trend towards enriched mantle compositions. A clear trend towards the EM II component is only evident in more evolved rocks dredged from a seamount between Tenerife and Gran Canaria, some of which contain terrigenous sedimentary xenoliths. We propose a genetic model which relates similar mantle source signatures of volcanic archipelagos off West Africa to a common, large-scale lower mantle upwelling which, according to geophysical data, becomes more diffuse in the upper mantle. Narrow plumes or blobs feeding the volcanic centers along the passive margin may rise from this thermal anomaly due to upwelling in small, continent-parallel upper-mantle convection cells.     

中扬子区海相沉积盆地性质研究

分析了中扬子区海相沉积盆地基底和层序充填特性;研制了M判别图解,研究了沉积盆地的性质,认为盆地基底具有三分性,盆地层序充填具有阶段性和分区性,沉积盆地主体具有克拉通盆地的特点和性质。     

城市虚拟现实研究初探

虚拟城市是 3维城市地理信息系统的前沿领域 ,该文对在微机上如何建立虚拟城市作了初步探讨 ,把建立虚拟城市的方法分为 3维真实场景建模、海量数据环境下的场景漫游以及确定任意时刻声音文件的调入时机三个部分。重点介绍了控制三维场景漫游、自适应层次细节模型、简单碰撞检测的实现方法 ,并提出了采用泰森模型调用声音文件的新思路。最后给出在VC 开发环境下用OpenGL建立虚拟城市的应用实例。