Anthropogenic relief changes in a long-lasting lignite mining area (‘Ville’, Germany) derived from historic maps and digital elevation models

Humans constitute one of the main geomorphological agents in modern times. As an example, post-mining regions represent a typical landscape of the Anthropocene. Strong relief modifications are particularly obvious with open pit mining. However, many existing mining areas are lacking detailed pre-mining information for the quantification of anthropogenic relief changes, which is a considerable challenge in regions with historic mining activities. Here, the Ville (Rhenish lignite district, Germany) is used to quantify surface mining induced relief changes in one of the oldest and currently largest lignite districts in Europe. Historical maps from first geodetic mapping in 1893 enabled construction of a historic digital elevation model to quantify the relief changes in comparison to elevation data from 2000 and 2015. The vertical accuracy of the historic data is remarkably high, with relief differences < 2 m in areas not affected by mining. In total, 49.2% of the investigated area (184 km²) shows a relief deficit and 14.5% has positive relief differences. Absolute changes account for more than 80 m heightening (dumpsites of overburden) and lowering of the natural relief (pits). Besides these altitudinal changes, overall steeper slopes are significant for the new topography, but levelling exists likewise. The spatial variabilities are discussed in the context of the regional geology and the mining techniques. Undoubtedly, such large-scale anthropogenic relief changes persist for a very long time and will last as a human legacy far into the future. Only the detailed reconstruction of the pre-mining relief offers the ability to clarify the dimension of humans as geomorphological agents and to understand landscape perception. Due to the fact that the impact of open pit mining has such a large vertical and horizontal extension, their consideration as part of anthropogeomorphology can significantly contribute to support future Critical Zone research in the Anthropocene.     

Multi-wavelength observations of Asteroid 2100 Ra-Shalom

We observed near-Earth asteroid (NEA) 2100 Ra-Shalom over a six-year period, obtaining rotationally resolved spectra in the visible, near-infrared, thermal-infrared, and radar wavelengths. We find that Ra-Shalom has an effective diameter of Deff=2.3±0.2 km, rotation period P=19.793±0.001 h, visual albedo pv=0.13±0.03, radar albedo , and polarization ratio μc=0.25±0.04. We used our radar observations to generate a three-dimensional shape model which shows several structural features of interest. Based on our thermal observations, Ra-Shalom has a high thermal inertia of ∼10³ J m⁻² s^−0.5 K⁻¹, consistent with a coarse or rocky surface and the inferences of others [Harris, A.W., Davies, J.K., Green, S.F., 1998. Icarus 135, 441-450; Delbo, M., Harris, A.W., Binzel, R.P., Pravec, P., Davies, J.K., 2003. Icarus 166, 116-130]. Our spectral data indicate that Ra-Shalom is a K-class asteroid and we find excellent agreement between our spectra and laboratory spectra of the CV3 meteorite Grosnaja. Our spectra show rotation-dependent variations consistent with global variations in grain size. Our radar observations show rotation-dependent variations in radar albedo consistent with global variations in the thickness of a relatively thin regolith.     

Interpretation of the carbon abundance in Saturn measured by Cassini

Spectral observations of Saturn from the far infrared spectrometer aboard the Cassini spacecraft [Flasar, F.M., et al., 2005. Temperatures, winds, and composition in the Saturnian system. Science 307, 1247-1251] have revealed that the C/H ratio in the planet is in fact about twice higher than previously derived from ground based observations and in agreement with the C/H value derived from Voyager IRIS by Courtin et al. [1984. The composition of Saturn's atmosphere at northern temperate latitudes from Voyager IRIS spectra - NH₃, PH₃, C₂H₂, C₂H₆, CH₃D, CH₄, and the Saturnian D/H isotopic ratio. Astrophys. J. 287, 899-916]. The implications of this measurement are reanalyzed in the present report on the basis that volatiles observed in cometary atmospheres, namely CO₂, CH₄, NH₃ and H₂S may have been trapped as solids in the feeding zone of the planet. CH₄ and H₂S may have been in the form of clathrate hydrates while CO₂ presumably condensed in the cooling solar nebula. Carbon may also have been incorporated in organics. Conditions of temperature and pressure ease the hydratation of NH₃. Such icy grains were included in planetesimals which subsequently collapsed into the hydrogen envelope of the planet, then resulting in C, N and S enrichments with respect to the solar abundance. Our calculations are consistent, within error bars, with observed elemental abundances on Saturn provided that the carbon trapped in planetesimals was mainly in the form of CH₄ clathrate and CO₂ ice (and maybe as organics) while nitrogen was in the form of NH₃ hydrate. Our approach has implications on the possible pattern of noble gases in Saturn, since we predict that contrary to what is observed in Jupiter, Ar and Kr should be in solar abundance while Xe might be strongly oversolar. The only way to verify this scenario is to send a probe making in situ mass spectrometer measurements. Our scenario also predicts that the ¹⁴N/¹⁵N ratio should be somewhat smaller in Saturn than measured in Jupiter by Galileo.     

Lensing, reddening and extinction effects of Mg ii absorbers from z= 0.4 to 2

Using a sample of almost 7000 strong Mg  ii absorbers with   W ₀ > 1 Å  and  0.4 < z < 2.2  detected in the SDSS DR4 data set, we investigate the gravitational lensing and dust extinction effects they induce on background quasars. After carefully quantifying several selection biases, we isolate the reddening effects as a function of redshift and absorber rest equivalent width, W ₀. We find the amount of dust to increase with cosmic time as  τ( z ) ∝ (1 + z )^−1.1±0.4  , following the evolution of cosmic star density or integrated star formation rate. We measure the reddening effects over a factor of 30 in E ( B − V ) and we find that  τ∝ ( W ₀)^1.9±0.1  , providing us with an important scaling for theoretical modelling of metal absorbers. We also measure the dust-to-metal ratio and find it similar to that of the Milky Way. In contrast to previous studies, we do not detect any gravitational magnification by Mg  ii systems. We measure the upper limit  μ < 1.10  and discuss the origin of the discrepancy. Finally, we estimate the fraction of absorbers missed due to extinction effects and show that it rises from 1 to 50 per cent in the range  1 < W ₀ < 6 Å  . We parametrize this effect and provide a correction for recovering the intrinsic  ∂ N /∂ W ₀  distribution.     

The dark matter environment of the Abell 901/902 supercluster: a weak lensing analysis of the HST STAGES survey

We present a high-resolution dark matter reconstruction of the   z = 0.165  Abell 901/902 supercluster from a weak lensing analysis of the Hubble Space Telescope STAGES survey. We detect the four main structures of the supercluster at high significance, resolving substructure within and between the clusters. We find that the distribution of dark matter is well traced by the cluster galaxies, with the brightest cluster galaxies marking out the strongest peaks in the dark matter distribution. We also find a significant extension of the dark matter distribution of Abell 901a in the direction of an infalling X-ray group Abell 901α. We present mass, mass-to-light and mass-to-stellar mass ratio measurements of the structures and substructures that we detect. We find no evidence for variation of the mass-to-light and mass-to-stellar mass ratio between the different clusters. We compare our space-based lensing analysis with an earlier ground-based lensing analysis of the supercluster to demonstrate the importance of space-based imaging for future weak lensing dark matter 'observations'.     

The Canadian Meteor Orbit Radar Meteor Stream Catalogue

The Canadian Meteor Orbit Radar is a multi-frequency backscatter radar which has been in routine operation since 1999, with an orbit measurement capability since 2002. In total, CMOR has measured over 2 million orbits of meteoroids with masses greater than 10 μg, while recording more than 18 million meteor echoes in total. We have applied a two stage comparative technique for identifying meteor streams in this dataset by making use of clustering in radiants and velocities without employing orbital element comparisons directly. From the large dataset of single station echoes, combined radiant activity maps have been constructed by binning and then stacking each years data per degree of solar longitude. Using the single-station mapping technique described in Jones and Jones (Mon Not R Astron Soc 367:1050–1056, 2006) we have identified probable streams from these single station observations. Additionally, using individual radiant and velocity data from the multi-station velocity determination routines, we have utilized a wavelet search algorithm in radiant and velocity space to construct a list of probable streams. These two lists were then compared and only streams detected by both techniques, on multiple frequencies and in multiple years were assigned stream status. From this analysis we have identified 45 annual minor and major streams with high reliability.     

Energy and stability in the Full Two Body Problem

The conditions for relative equilibria and their stability in the Full Two Body Problem are derived for an ellipsoid–sphere system. Under constant angular momentum it is found that at most two solutions exist for the long-axis solutions with the closer solution being unstable while the other one is stable. As the non-equilibrium problem is more common in nature, we look at periodic orbits in the F2BP close to the relative equilibrium conditions. Families of periodic orbits can be computed where the minimum energy state of one family is the relative equilibrium state. We give results on the relative equilibria, periodic orbits and dynamics that may allow transition from the unstable configuration to a stable one via energy dissipation.      

Rotational dynamics of a solar system body under solar radiation torques

The rotational dynamics of a small solar system body subject to solar radiation torques is investigated. A set of averaged evolutionary equations are derived as an analytic function of a set of spherical harmonic coefficients that describe the torque acting on the body due to solar radiation. The analysis also includes the effect of thermal inertia. The resulting equations are studied and a set of possible dynamical outcomes for the rotation rate and obliquity of a small body are found and characterized.     

Ejecta from impacts at 0.2-2.3 m/s in low gravity

Collisions between planetary ring particles and in some protoplanetary disk environments occur at speeds below 10 m/s. The particles involved in these low-velocity collisions have negligible gravity and may be made of or coated with smaller dust grains and aggregates. We undertook microgravity impact experiments to better understand the dissipation of energy and production of ejecta in these collisions. Here we report the results of impact experiments of solid projectiles into beds of granular material at impact velocities from 0.2 to 2.3 m/s performed under near-weightless conditions on the NASA KC-135 Weightless Wonder V. Impactors of various densities and radii of 1 and 2 cm were launched into targets of quartz sand, JSC-1 lunar regolith simulant, and JSC-Mars-1 martian regolith simulant. Most impacts were at normal or near-normal incidence angles, though some impacts were at oblique angles. Oblique impacts led to much higher ejection velocities and ejecta masses than normal impacts. For normal incidence impacts, characteristic ejecta velocities increase with impactor kinetic energy, KE, as approximately KE^0.5. Ejecta masses could not be measured accurately due to the nature of the experiment, but qualitatively also increased with impactor kinetic energy. Some experiments were near the threshold velocity of 0.2 m/s identified in previous microgravity impact experiments as the minimum velocity needed to produce ejecta [Colwell, J.E., 2003. Icarus 164, 188-196], and the experimental scatter is large at these low speeds in the airplane experiment. A more precise exploration of the transition from low-ejecta-mass impacts to high-ejecta-mass impacts requires a longer and smoother period of reduced gravity. Coefficient of restitution measurements are not possible due to the varying acceleration of the airplane throughout the experiment.