Cassini RADAR observations of Enceladus, Tethys, Dione, Rhea, Iapetus, Hyperion, and Phoebe

Cassini 2.2-cm radar and radiometric observations of seven of Saturn's icy satellites yield properties that apparently are dominated by subsurface volume scattering and are similar to those of the icy Galilean satellites. Average radar albedos decrease in the order Enceladus/Tethys, Hyperion, Rhea, Dione, Iapetus, and Phoebe. This sequence most likely corresponds to increasing contamination of near-surface water ice, which is intrinsically very transparent at radio wavelengths. Plausible candidates for contaminants include ammonia, silicates, metallic oxides, and polar organics (ranging from nitriles like HCN to complex tholins). There is correlation of our targets' radar and optical albedos, probably due to variations in the concentration of optically dark contaminants in near-surface water ice and the resulting variable attenuation of the high-order multiple scattering responsible for high radar albedos. Our highest radar albedos, for Enceladus and Tethys, probably require that at least the uppermost one to several decimeters of the surface be extremely clean water ice regolith that is structurally complex (i.e., mature) enough for there to be high-order multiple scattering within it. At the other extreme, Phoebe has an asteroidal radar reflectivity that may be due to a combination of single and volume scattering. Iapetus' 2.2-cm radar albedo is dramatically higher on the optically bright trailing side than the optically dark leading side, whereas 13-cm results reported by Black et al. [Black, G.J., Campbell, D.B., Carter, L.M., Ostro, S.J., 2004. Science 304, 553] show hardly any hemispheric asymmetry and give a mean radar reflectivity several times lower than the reflectivity measured at 2.2 cm. These Iapetus results are understandable if ammonia is much less abundant on both sides within the upper one to several decimeters than at greater depths, and if the leading side's optically dark contaminant is present to depths of at least one to several decimeters. As argued by Lanzerotti et al. [Lanzerotti, L.J., Brown, W.L., Marcantonio, K.J., Johnson, R.E., 1984. Nature 312, 139-140], a combination of ion erosion and micrometeoroid gardening may have depleted ammonia from the surfaces of Saturn's icy satellites. Given the hypersensitivity of water ice's absorption length to ammonia concentration, an increase in ammonia with depth could allow efficient 2.2-cm scattering from within the top one to several decimeters while attenuating 13-cm echoes, which would require a six-fold thicker scattering layer. If so, we would expect each of the icy satellites' average radar albedos to be higher at 2.2 cm than at 13 cm, as is the case so far with Rhea [Black, G., Campbell, D., 2004. Bull. Am. Astron. Soc. 36, 1123] as well as Iapetus.     

MERLIN: today and tomorrow

The MERLIN team together with Melvin Hoare and Karen Wills , review MERLIN's revealing role in studying star formation throughout the universe – from nearby stars to the most distant galaxies.     

辽北凡河群时代探讨兼论殷屯组的时代

辽宁北部地区凡河群源于斋藤林次的凡河系,其时代归属尚有争议。目前多数人将凡河群与蓟县地区的中、上元古界对比;殷屯组的时代则以暂置震且纪居主导地位。笔者稂据凡河群地史演化、所处大地构造位置、变质作用、含海相火山岩夹层、同位素年龄资料等综合因素分析;认为凡河群的时代以归属长城纪为宜,殷屯组时代归属蓟县纪较合适。     

Evolutionary Map of the Universe: Tracing Clusters to High Red-shift

The Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) is a new radio-telescope being built in Western Australia. One of the key surveys for which it is being built is EMU (Evolutionary Map of the Universe), which will make a deep (∼10 μJy/bm rms) radio continuum survey covering the entire sky as far North as +30°. EMU may be compared to the NRAO VLA Sky Survey (NVSS), except that it will have about 45 times the sensitivity, and five times the resolution. EMU will also have much better sensitivity to diffuse emission than previous large surveys, and is expected to produce a large catalogue of relics, tailed galaxies, and halos, and will increase the number of known clusters by a significant factor. Here we describe the EMU project and its impact on the astrophysics of clusters.     

The final Galileo SSI observations of Io: orbits G28-I33

We present the observations of Io acquired by the Solid State Imaging (SSI) experiment during the Galileo Millennium Mission (GMM) and the strategy we used to plan the exploration of Io. Despite Galileo's tight restrictions on data volume and downlink capability and several spacecraft and camera anomalies due to the intense radiation close to Jupiter, there were many successful SSI observations during GMM. Four giant, high-latitude plumes, including the largest plume ever observed on Io, were documented over a period of eight months; only faint evidence of such plumes had been seen since the Voyager 2 encounter, despite monitoring by Galileo during the previous five years. Moreover, the source of one of the plumes was Tvashtar Catena, demonstrating that a single site can exhibit remarkably diverse eruption styles—from a curtain of lava fountains, to extensive surface flows, and finally a ∼400 km high plume—over a relatively short period of time (∼13 months between orbits I25 and G29). Despite this substantial activity, no evidence of any truly new volcanic center was seen during the six years of Galileo observations. The recent observations also revealed details of mass wasting processes acting on Io. Slumping and landsliding dominate and occur in close proximity to each other, demonstrating spatial variation in material properties over distances of several kilometers. However, despite the ubiquitous evidence for mass wasting, the rate of volcanic resurfacing seems to dominate; the floors of paterae in proximity to mountains are generally free of debris. Finally, the highest resolution observations obtained during Galileo's final encounters with Io provided further evidence for a wide diversity of surface processes at work on Io.     

南水北调西线区域地壳稳定性评价思路和地壳现代构造应力场及块断作用

区域地壳活动性受区域构造应力场控制。通过南水北调西线区域及邻区34个中强地震的震源机制解,对区域内现代构造应力场进行了分析。结合地球物理资料,对西线区域的边界断裂及其活动性进行了评估。将测区青康滇楔状地壳断块体,划分为鄂陵湖—龙门山和西金乌兰湖—贡嘎山两个次级断块,分析了它们的块断作用。     

青岗坪金矿区折离断层系统的控矿作用

通过对青岗坪金矿区内发育的拆离断层系统的具体分析，揭示了其产生，发展的过程，对由其控制的几类金矿脉的形成机制进行了合理的探讨，并对不同的成矿阶段进行了划分。     

1303年9月17日山西省洪赵县地震考察报告

为弄清元大德七年癸卯八月六日(公元1303年9月17日)山西洪赵县大地震的情况，于1967年7月至1967年11月作了2次野外调查，根据调查的结果，叙述了此次地震的概况，分别对Ⅹ度、Ⅸ度、Ⅷ度、Ⅶ度烈度区的范围、自然概况、人员伤亡情况等进行了描述，对此次地震的震中、烈度等问题进行了讨论，在此基础上绘出了此次地震的等震线示意图。认为该次地震的震中应在山西洪洞—赵城一带，震中烈度为Ⅹ度，震源深度为8km。     

中国国际救援队指挥员赴欧洲培训

2002年11月17日至12月5日中国国际救援队指挥员代表团赴欧洲参加了短期紧急救援指挥员培训，文章介绍了国际紧急技术中心的基本情况、培训内容和几点体会。     

西藏崩纳藏布和甲岗雪山地区花岗岩的地球化学特征及成因初探

西藏申扎县崩纳藏布和甲岗雪山两个地区出露的岩浆岩体一直被认为是两个较大的花岗岩基，但实际地质调查表明，这两个岩体中的每一个都可以分解为多个不同岩性的小岩体，K—Ar同位素年龄表明，这些岩体主要形成于燕山晚期(90．55Ma-114．67Ma)和喜山早期(58．75Ma)。对其中部分岩体开展的微量元素、稀土元素以及Rb—Sr和Sm—Nd同位素的地球化学初步研究表明，两地出露的花岗岩体虽然形成于不同时代，但具有相同的以壳幔混合带为主的源区。另一方面．痕量元素的含量及同位素的组成特征也同时表明了形成于不同时期的岩体具有含量、配分、趋势变化等方面的差异，反映其具体的成因和分异演化过程并不相同。