XMM-Newton observations of the isolated neutron star 1RXS J214303.7+065419/RBS1774

We report XMM-Newton observations of the isolated neutron star RBS1774 and confirm its membership as an XDINS. The X-ray spectrum is best fit with an absorbed blackbody with temperature kT=101 eV and absorption edge at 0.7 keV. No power law component is required. An absorption feature in the RGS data at 0.4 keV is not evident in the EPIC data, but it is not possible to resolve this inconsistency. The star is not seen in the UV OM data to m _AB ∼21. There is a sinusoidal variation in the X-ray flux at a period of 9.437 s with an amplitude of 4%. The age as determined from cooling and magnetic field decay arguments is 10⁵–10⁶ yr for a neutron star mass of 1.35–1.5 M_⊙.      

Wind-driven upwelling and surface chlorophyll blooms in Greater Cook Strait

We present the results of a combined observational and numerical study to investigate cool plumes of nutrient-rich upwelled water that emanate near the Kahurangi Shoals and extend into Greater Cook Strait. Surface temperature and chlorophyll are mapped using satellite observations to produce surface climatologies, to validate a numerical simulation and to show the utility of using spatial temperature differences as a measure of upwelling. We find upwelling near the Kahurangi Shoals is strongly wind-driven in the weather band. Upwelling occurs at all times of the year, but its surface signature is only visible in summer months. The upwelled nutrient-rich water supports increased primary production compared to surrounding waters, particularly in summer when the water column is more stratified and surrounding surface waters are presumably nutrient depleted.     

Revisiting and rethinking regional urbanization in Changjiang River Delta, China

China is entering a critical and accelerating phase of urbanization.As one of the most urbanized regions in China,the Changjiang(Yangtze)River Delta has experienced dramatic urbanization and urban transformation.However,in the recent years,many changes have taken place in this region and there is limited attention to the regional urbanization path evolution,its problems and the way to solve these problems.Therefore,we should revisit the urbanization process in the Changjiang River Delta again.In this paper,we revisited urbanization paths of the Changjiang River Delta by data analysis,influence factors of urbanization by the Gray Relational Analysis,and major challenges to urbanization of the Changjiang River Delta by theoretical considerations.We found that the urbanization of the Changjiang River Delta had experienced several stages of large-scale spatial and urban system restructuring.Within the Changjiang River Delta,Shanghai,Zhejiang and Jiangshu had experienced different urbanization path with local characteristics.But with their development model gradually converging,their urbanization model is also converging.We also found that the major influence factors affecting the Changjiang River Delta urbanization were dynamic change and urbanization was driven by different key factors in different socio-economic development stages.Meanwhile,the Changjiang River Delta urbanization is facing many problems such as existing institutional arrangements,including the hukou(household registration)system and others which can not meet the needs of current socioeconomic development and urbanization.Therefore,it is imperative to promote institutional innovation and adopt a new urbanization development strategy for the sake of the orderly and sustainable urbanization development in the Changjiang River Delta.     

Discretization approach in integrated Hydrologic Model for surface and groundwater interaction

The commonly used discretization approaches for distributed hydrological models can be broadly categorized into four types,based on the nature of the discrete components:Regular Mesh,Triangular Irregular Networks(TINs),Representative Elementary Watershed(REWs) and Hydrologic Response Units(HRUs).In this paper,a new discretization approach for landforms that have similar hydrologic properties is developed and discussed here for the Integrated Hydrologic Model(IHM),a combining simulation of surface and groundwater processes,accounting for the interaction between the systems.The approach used in the IHM is to disaggregate basin parameters into discrete landforms that have similar hydrologic properties.These landforms may be impervious areas,related areas,areas with high or low clay or organic fractions,areas with significantly different depths-to-water-table,and areas with different types of land cover or different land uses.Incorporating discrete landforms within basins allows significant distributed parameter analysis,but requires an efficient computational structure.The IHM integration represents a new approach interpreting fluxes across the model interface and storages near the interface for transfer to the appropriate model component,accounting for the disparate discretization while rigidly maintaining mass conservation.The discretization approaches employed in IHM will provide some ideas and insights which are helpful to those researchers who have been working on the integrated models for surface-groundwater interaction.     

Secondary alteration of the impactite and mineralization in the basal Tertiary sequence,Yaxcopoil‐1, Chicxulub impact crater,Mexico

Abstract The 65 Ma Chicxulub impact crater formed in the shallow coastal marine shelf of the Yucatán Platform in Mexico. Impacts into water‐rich environments provide heat and geological structures that generate and focus sub‐seafloor convective hydrothermal systems. Core from the Yaxcopoil‐1 (Yax‐1) hole, drilled by the Chicxulub Scientific Drilling Project (CSDP), allowed testing for the presence of an impact‐induced hydrothermal system by: a) characterizing the secondary alteration of the 100 m‐thick impactite sequence; and b) testing for a chemical input into the lower Tertiary sediments that would reflect aquagene hydrothermal plume deposition. Interaction of the Yax‐1 impactites with seawater is evident through redeposition of the suevites (unit 1), secondary alteration mineral assemblages, and the subaqueous depositional environment for the lower Tertiary carbonates immediately overlying the impactites. The least‐altered silicate melt composition intersected in Yax‐1 is that of a calc‐alkaline basaltic andesite with 53.4–56 wt% SiO_{2(volatile‐free)}. The primary mineralogy consists of fine microlites of diopside, plagioclase (mainly Ab 47), ternary feldspar (Ab 37 to 77), and trace apatite, titanite, and zircon. The overprinting alteration mineral assemblage is characterized by Mg‐saponite, K‐montmorillonite, celadonite, K‐feldspar, albite, Fe‐oxides, and late Ca and Mg carbonates. Mg and K metasomatism resulted from seawater interaction with the suevitic rocks producing smectite‐K‐feldspar assemblages in the absence of any mixed layer clay minerals, illite, or chlorite. Rare pyrite, sphalerite, galena, and chalcopyrite occur near the base of the impactites. These secondary alteration minerals formed by low temperature (0–150°C) oxidation and fixation of alkalis due to the interaction of glass‐rich suevite with down‐welling seawater in the outer annular trough intersected at Yax‐1. The alteration represents a cold, Mg‐K‐rich seawater recharge zone, possibly recharging higher temperature hydrothermal activity proposed in the central impact basin. Hydrothermal metal input into the Tertiary ocean is shown by elevated Ni, Ag, Au, Bi, and Te concentrations in marcasite and Cd and Ga in sphalerite in the basal 25 m of the Tertiary carbonates in Yax‐1. The lower Tertiary trace element signature reflects hydrothermal metal remobilization from a mafic source rock and is indicative of hydrothermal venting of evolved seawater into the Tertiary ocean from an impact‐generated hydrothermal convective system.     

Measurement of the radius of Mercury by radio occultation during the MESSENGER flybys

The MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft completed three flybys of Mercury in 2008–2009. During the first and third of those flybys, MESSENGER passed behind the planet from the perspective of Earth, occulting the radio-frequency (RF) transmissions. The occultation start and end times, recovered with 0.1 s accuracy or better by fitting edge-diffraction patterns to the RF power history, are used to estimate Mercury's radius at the tangent point of the RF path. To relate the measured radius to the planet shape, we evaluate local topography using images to identify the high-elevation feature that defines the RF path or using altimeter data to quantify surface roughness. Radius measurements are accurate to 150 m, and uncertainty in the average radius of the surrounding terrain, after adjustments are made from the local high at the tangent point of the RF path, is 350 m. The results are consistent with Mercury's equatorial shape as inferred from observations by the Mercury Laser Altimeter and ground-based radar. The three independent estimates of radius from occultation events collectively yield a mean radius for Mercury of 2439.2±0.5 km.     

Evidence for silicate dissolution on Mars from the Nakhla meteorite

Veins containing carbonates, hydrous silicates, and sulfates that occur within and between grains of augite and olivine in the Nakhla meteorite are good evidence for the former presence of liquid water in the Martian crust. Aqueous solutions gained access to grain interiors via narrow fractures, and those fractures within olivine whose walls were oriented close to (001) were preferentially widened by etching along [001]. This orientation selective dissolution may have been due to the presence within olivine of shock‐formed [001](100) and [001]{110} screw dislocations. The duration of etching is likely to have been brief, possibly less than a year, and the solutions responsible were sufficiently cool and reducing that laihunite did not form and Fe liberated from the olivine was not immediately oxidized. The pores within olivine were mineralized in sequence by siderite, nanocrystalline smectite, a Fe‐Mg phyllosilicate, and then gypsum, whereas only the smectite occurs within augite. The nanocrystalline smectite was deposited as submicrometer thick layers on etched vein walls, and solution compositions varied substantially between and sometimes during precipitation of each layer. Together with microcrystalline gypsum the Fe‐Mg phyllosilicate crystallized as water briefly returned to some of the veins following desiccation fracturing of the smectite. These results show that etching of olivine enhanced the porosity and permeability of the nakhlite parent rock and that dissolution and secondary mineralization took place within the same near‐static aqueous system.     

Methane Abundance on Titan, Measured by the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph

Although methane is the dominant absorber in Titan's reflection spectrum, the amount of methane in the atmosphere has only been determined to an order of magnitude. We analyzed spectra from the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph, looking at both a bright surface region (700-km radius) and a dark surface region. The difference between the spectra of the two regions is attributed to light that has scattered off the surface, and therefore made a round-trip through all of Titan's methane. Considering only absorption, the shape of the difference spectrum provides an upper limit on methane abundance of 3.5 km-am. Modeling the multiple scattering in the atmosphere further constrains the methane abundance to 2.63±0.17 km-am. In the absence of supersaturation and with a simplified methane vertical profile, this corresponds to a surface methane-mole fraction near 3.8% and a relative humidity of 0.32. With supersaturation near the tropopause, the surface methane mole fraction could be as low as 3%.