安徽巢湖地区下三叠统综合层序

印度阶一奥伦尼克阶界线的全球层型候选剖面之一位于安徽巢湖地区;巢湖地区的下三叠统也是国际上同期地层中生物地层序列最有代表性、多重地层学手段应用齐备、研究效果最好的地层序列之一。根据巢湖地区3条代表性下三叠统剖面的岩石地层、生物地层和碳同位素地层的最新研究成果归纳出本区早三叠世综合地层序列,作为区域地层对比研究的标准．巢湖的下三叠统明确包含8个牙形石带和6个菊石带。它们具有区域甚至全球对比意义;巢湖地区早三叠世碳同位素δ^13Ccarb的演变呈现2个显著的漂移周期,这种有特色的碳同位素漂移,不仅具有地层学价值,而且可能对于三叠纪初的生物复苏和生态系演变具有指导意义．在综合地层序列基础上,将3条剖面的古地磁学研究成果链接,形成了巢湖地区完整的早三叠世磁性地层序列,包括5个主要的正向极性带和5个反向极性带,这也是目前在本区乃至华南获得的最完整的早三叠世磁极性序列之一．这些为该区域乃至全球相关地层研究树立了一个基本格架。     

Will the lunar renaissance come forth?

The article gives a brief review of the scientific program of the unmanned studies of the Moon performed in the USSR in 1960s–1970s, most notably by the “Luna” Spacecraft. The main results obtained during this period are considered, in particular photographing of the far side of the Moon, mapping of the far side of the Moon, soft landing, remote (from the orbit of an artificial lunar satellite) and in situ (on the surface) studies of the lunar surface composition and circumlunar space, automated soil sampling, and delivery of surface samples to the Earth. Various institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences played important role in the studies, including the Vernadskii Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry and the Space Research Institute, established in 1965, where the Moon and Planets Department was established under the leadership of K.P. Florenskii. In the conclusion, the article considers some further issues of lunar studies and possibilities for lunar exploration. The challenging Moon exploration mission “Luna-Glob”, currently under development in Russia, is a potentially important step in the beginning of the process.     

Regional features of atmospheric manifestations of tropical cyclones according to ground-based GPS network data

Using statistically significant data, we show that the GPS observation method is efficient for revealing the response of the upper atmosphere to global synoptic processes with the help of correlation techniques.     

Analysis of the characteristics of self-similarity of seismicity and the active fault network of Eurasia

An analysis of the possible relationship between fractal dimensions of the active fault network, spatial distribution of earthquake epicenters, and parameter b in the Gutenberg-Richter law is presented. The quantitative characteristics of self-similarity of the seismic process and the active fault network of seismically active areas of Eurasia are obtained. This self-similarity manifests itself over a range of at least two orders of spatial scales and magnitudes. The obtained estimations of the fractal dimensions of the fault network D _f and epicenter field D _e are close for all the areas analyzed. It is established that the average value connecting values D and b for all the investigated areas is slightly higher than the theoretical value (2.0) and varies within the range of 1.7–2.4.     

The dynamic characteristics of GPS time series and their relation to the seismotectonic specific features of a region

The noise component in the time series of Earth surface displacements that were obtained with the Global Positioning System (GPS) is analyzed for 19 points. The methods of dynamic system and fractal set theory are applied. The analyzed parameters include the correlation dimension, spectral scaling parameter, fractal dimension, and the Hurst exponent. We detect that GPS time series demonstrate fractal properties in a range of over one order of magnitude of frequency (flicker noise). The fractal characteristics of the studied series and seismotectonic features of the studied regions are characterized by a relationship that can be explained by the dynamic characteristics of the block models and seismicity.     

Territorial Development of Christianity in Africa in the 20<Superscript>th</Superscript>–Early 21<Superscript>st</Superscript> Centuries

The characteristic features of the transformation of the territorial geospace structure in the African Christianity religious geospace during 1910–2010 have been revealed. African countries within the boundaries of 2010 are used as territorial cells that have been fixed retrospectively over the course of the period analyzed. We used indicators, such as Ryabtsev’s index of relative structural shifts and the trajectory of the demographic center of the Christianity to assess changes in the inertia level of the territorial structure for the entire time interval as a whole and for each of the components of its 20-year long periods. It is found that to date the adherents of Christianity are extremely unevenly distributed in the countries of Africa; however, over the course of the period under consideration there was taking place a homogenization of their settlement. In accordance with changes of the values of the indicators used, we identified two development stages of geospace of African Christianity: colonial and post-colonial. It is determined that the colonial stage (1910–1970) is characterized by a “compression” of territorial structure from east and north, and by a predominance of the south-westward direction of movement of the demographic center because of a decrease in the proportion in the Christian population of East Africa first on account of Egypt and Ethiopia and Madagascar (1910–1930) and then North Africa on account of Egypt and Algeria (1930–1950). The territorial structure of Christianity’s geospace during the post-colonial stage is characterized by a higher degree of inertia at the background of the westward ”expansion” and the “compression” from the south as well as by a change of the vector of movement of the demographic center for north-westward.     

The upper Volgian Substage in Northeast Siberia (Nordvik Peninsula) and its Panboreal correlation based on ammonites

Section of the middle and upper Volgian substages and basal Boreal Berriasian in the Cape Urdyuk-Khaya (Nordvik Peninsula) is largely composed of dark argillites substantially enriched in C_org. Characteristic of the section is a continuous succession of ammonite, foraminiferal, ostracode, and dinocyst zones known also in the other Arctic areas. Boundaries of the upper Volgian Substage are recognizable only based on biostratigraphic criteria. The succession of the middle Volgian Taimyrosphinctes excentricus to basal Ryazanian Hectoroceras kochi zones is characterized. The range of the substage is revised. The lower Exoticus Zone, where ammonites characteristic of the Nikitini Zone upper part in the East European platform have been found, is referred to the middle Volgian Substage. Newly found ammonites are figured. Two possible positions of the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary in the Arctic region, i.e., at the lower and upper boundaries of the Chetae Zone at the top of the upper Volgian Substage, are discussed.     

Supernovae as a Powerful Source of Gravitational Radiation

We consider gravitational radiation in the nonspherical symmetrical evolution of supernovae. Unlike the gravitational radiation analysis of Imshennik & Popov performed using the formalism of Peters & Mathews, our analysis uses the (PN)5/2 approximation by Damour & Deruelle and Lincoln & Will. We show that the eccentricity is larger than 0.1 at the time when the Roche lobe is filled by the low-mass component, demonstrating that the conclusion of Imshennik and Popov that the final eccentricity is less than 0.1 is incorrect. If the supernova lies in the Large Magellanic Cloud (R = 50 kpc), we estimate the amplitude of gravitational waves to be h 8 × 10-20. The frequency of the emitted gravitational waves is about 1 kHz.     

Monte-Carlo and multifluid modelling of the circumnuclear dust coma II. Aspherical-homogeneous, and spherical-inhomogeneous nuclei

We use our newly developed Dust Monte-Carlo (DMC) simulation technique [Crifo, J.F., Lukianov, G.A., Rodionov, A.V., Zakharov, V.V., 2005. Icarus 176, 192-219] to study the dynamics of dust grains in the vicinity of some of the benchmark aspherical, homogeneous cometary nuclei and of the benchmark spherical, inhomogeneous nuclei studied by us precedingly. We use the interim unrealistic simplifying assumptions of grain sphericity, negligible nucleus rotation rate, and negligible tidal force, but take accurately into account the nucleus gravitational force, gas coma aerodynamic force, and solar radiation pressure force, and consider the full mass range of ejectable spherical grains. The resulting complicated grain motions are described in detail, as well as the resulting complicated and often counter-intuitive dust coma structure. The results are used to answer several important questions: (1) When computing coma dust distributions, (a) is it acceptable to take into consideration only one or two of the above mentioned forces (as currently done)? (b) to which accuracy must these forces be known, in particular is it acceptable to represent the gravity of an aspherical nucleus by a spherically symmetric gravity? (c) how do the more efficient but less general Dust Multi-Fluid (DMF) computations compare with the DMC results? (2) Are there simple structural relationships between the dust coma of a nucleus at small heliocentric distance rh, and that of the same nucleus at large rh? (3) Are there similarities between the gas coma structures and the associated dust coma structures? (4) Are there dust coma signatures revealing non-ambiguously a spherical nucleus inhomogeneity or an homogeneous nucleus asphericity? (5) What are the implications of the apparently quite general process of grain fall-backs for the evolution of the nucleus surface, and for the survival of a landed probe?     

To evaluation of new methodical approaches in the sequence stratigraphy analysis

Despite great practical achievements, sequence stratigraphy failed to elaborate until now the reliable technique for establishing relative sea-level fluctuations (RSLF). The method proposed recently by Yu.A. Volozh with colleagues for determining the RSLF represents one of interesting but unconvincing attempts in this respect. Use of their method for fundamental and practical purposes requires prudence because of potential errors.