Geometry of Broad Line Regions of Active Galactic Nuclei

It has long remained an open question as to the geometry of the broad line region （BLR） in active galactic nuclei （AGNs）. The reverberation mapping technique which measures the response of the broad emission lines to the ionizing continuum, when combined with multiwavelength continuum fitted by sophisticated accretion disks, provides a way of probing the BLR geometry. We analyze a sample of 35 AGNs, which have been monitored by the reverberation mapping campaign. In view of energy budget, the reverberation-based BH masses are found to be in agreement with those obtained by accretion disk models in two thirds of the present sample while the reverberation mapping methods underestimate the BH masses in about one third of objects, as also suggested by CoUin et al. in a recent work. We point out that there are obviously two kinds of BLR geometry, which are strongly dependent on the Eddington ratio, and separated by the value LBol/LEdd - 0.1. These results prefer a scenario of the disk and wind configuration of the BLR and identify the Eddington ratio as the physical driver regulating the wind in the BLR.     

Growth of Black Holes and Their Host Spheroids in （Sub）mm-loud High-Redshift QSOs

We study the growth of black holes and stellar population in spheroids at high redshift using several （sub）mm-loud QSO samples. Applying the same criteria established in an earlier work, we find that, similar to IR QSOs at low redshift, the far-infrared emission of these （sub）mm-loud QSOs mainly originates from dust heated by starbursts. By combining low-z IR QSOs and high-z （sub）mm-loud QSOs, we find a trend that the star formation rate （M＊） increases with the accretion rate （Mace）. We compare the values of M＊/Macc for submm emitting galaxies （SMGs）, far-infrared ultraluminous/hypeduminous QSOs and typical QSOs, and construct a likely evolution scenario for these objects. The （sub）mm-loud QSO transition phase has both high Macc and M＊ and hence is important for establishing the correlation between the masses of black holes and spheroids.     

Land water storage contribution to sea level from GRACE geoid data over 2003–2006

Seasonal and inter-annual change in land water storage (expressed in terms of water volume change) over 27 large river basins worldwide are estimated from monthly GRACE geoids solutions computed at GFZ from February 2003 to February 2006. The largest annual water volume change is found in the Amazon basin, followed by the Parana, Ob, Orinoco, Tocantins, Niger, Congo, Ganges, Mekong, and Brahmaputra. In terms of trend over the 3-year period, positive and negative values are observed but in a number of cases computed trends are at the noise level. However significant negative trends are found in the Amazon, Ganges, Mississippi, Nile, Parana, and Zambezi basins, indicating water mass loss over that period. Positive trends (water mass gain) are marginally significant. We have computed the land water contribution to sea level change. On average over the 3-year time span, we find that the net effect is positive (net loss of water in terrestrial reservoirs), on the order of 0.19 +/− 0.06 mm/yr. If sustained over a longer time span than considered here, such a value may become comparable to the ice sheets contribution to sea level rise.     

Low post-Cenomanian denudation depths across the Brazilian Northeast: Implications for long-term landscape evolution at a transform continental margin

The Brazilian Northeast affords good opportunities for obtaining reliable timings and rates of landscape evolution based on stratigraphic correlations across a vast region. The landscape formed in the context of an episodically fluctuating but continuously falling base level since the Cenomanian. After formation of the transform passive margin in Aptian times, landscape development was further driven by a swell-like uplift with its crest situated  300 km from the coastline. The seaward flank of this swell or broad monocline between the interior Araripe and coastal Potiguar basins was eroded, and currently forms a deeply embayed plain bordered by a semi-circular, north-facing erosional escarpment. The post-Cenomanian uplift caused an inversion of the Cretaceous basins and generated a landscape in which the most elevated landforms correspond either to resistant Mesozoic sedimentary caprock, or to eroded stumps of syn-rift Cretaceous footwall uplands. Denudation in the last 90 My never exceeded mean rates of 10 m·My^− 1 and exhumed a number of Cretaceous stratigraphic unconformities. As a result, some topographic surfaces at low elevations are effectively Mesozoic land surfaces that became re-exposed in Cenozoic times. The Neogene Barreiras Formation forms a continuous and mostly clastic apron near the coast. It testifies to the last peak of erosion in the hinterland and coincided with the onset of more arid climates at  13 Ma or earlier. The semi-circular escarpment is not directly related to the initial breakup rift flanks, which had been mostly eroded before the end of the Mesozoic, but the cause and exact timing of post-Cenomanian crustal upwarping are poorly constrained. It could perhaps have been a flexural response of the low-rigidity lithosphere to sediment loads on the margin, and thus a slowly ongoing process since the late Cretaceous. Uplift could instead be the consequence of a more discrete dynamic event related either to Oligocene magmatism in the region, or to continental-scale far-field stresses determined by Andean convergence.     

New active galactic nuclei among the INTEGRAL and SWIFT X-ray sources

We present the results of our optical identifications of a set of X-ray sources from the INTEGRAL and SWIFT all-sky surveys. The optical data have been obtained with the 1.5-m Russian-Turkish Telescope (RTT-150). Nine X-ray sources have been identified with active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Two of them are located in the nearby spiral galaxies MCG-01-05-047 and NGC 973 seen almost edge-on. One source, IGR J16562-3301, is probably a BL Lac object (blazar). The remaining AGNs are observed as the starlike nuclei of spiral galaxies whose spectra exhibit broad emission lines. The relation between the hard X-ray (17–60 keV) luminosity and the [O III] 5007 line luminosity, log L _x/L _{[O III]} ≈ 2.1, holds good for most of the AGNs detected in hard X rays. However, the luminosities of some AGNs deviate from this relation. The fraction of such objects can reach ～20%. In particular, the [O III] line flux is lower for two nearby edge-on spiral galaxies. This can be explained by the effect of absorption in the galactic disks.     

Optical identifications of five INTEGRAL hard X-ray sources in the Galactic plane

The results of optical identifications of five hard X-ray sources in the Galactic plane from the INTEGRAL all-sky survey are presented. The X-ray data on one source (IGR J20216+4359) are published for the first time. The optical observations were performed with the 1.5-m RTT-150 telescope (Turkish National Observatory, Antalya, Turkey) and the 6-m BTA telescope (Special Astrophysical Observatory, Nizhny Arkhyz, Russia). A blazar, three Seyfert galaxies, and a high-mass X-ray binary are among the identified sources.     

GIS支持下地震与活动断裂关系研究--以上海及邻近海域为例

以MAPGIS软件为基础平台 ,利用GIS缓冲区分析和空间叠加分析技术 ,研究上海及邻近海域地震与活动断裂的关系。研究区地震活动断裂的发育程度以继承性NE -NNE向为主 ,但其活动强度不及NW -NNW向及近EW向断裂 ;沿NW -NNW向及近EW向断裂两侧 ,中强地震发生频率明显高于NE -NNE向断裂 ;不同时代活动断裂与中强地震之间存在一定的联系 ,表现为随着断裂活动时代变新 ,断裂周围中强地震发生的频率升高。     

塔里木盆地南缘策勒绿洲近4000年来的环境变化

根据位于塔里木盆地南缘的策勒绿洲两个剖面的孢粉和化学元素的古气候意义的研究,恢复了近4.0 ka B.P.以来此地区环境变化的历史,揭示出了4个相对湿润期,分别发生于约4.0～2.0 ka B.P.、约2.0～1.0 ka B.P.、550～300 a B.P.、100 a B.P.前后.研究还揭示了1 500 a B.P.、1 000 aB.P.和200 a B.P.前后可能是此地区环境变化的重要时间界线.塔里木盆地古城废弃事件与环境变化记录之间的耦合表明,环境变化对此地区人地关系的内容及其演化具有重要的内在影响.     

内蒙古敖汉旗早三叠世正长花岗岩锆石U-Pb年代学、地球化学特征

正近些年研究显示华北地台北缘存在一条近东西向展布的早三叠世后造山的花岗岩带,在吉林东部,内蒙古中部及西部地区具有发现,但在赤峰敖汉旗地区还未见报道。本次工作在敖汉旗区域地质调查过程中,从原来侏罗纪岩体中重新厘定出一套正长花岗岩,本文对其年代学及地球化学进行介绍,以探讨华北地台北缘中段-东段过渡带的古亚洲洋闭合时限。     

岩石圈—软流圈物质循环促进大陆增生的新方式

大陆动力学研究地球内能量和物质的运动和伴随的信息传播,上地幔中的软流圈是地球内部的物质运动的关键部位之一。由于观测的技术方法少,人类对软流圈内部的地质作用过程所知甚少。在青藏高原,过去地震波三维层析成像的分辨率不高,难以对地壳上地幔构造进行准确的定位。我们收集和整理了地方地震台的数字化观测数据,使地震体波三维层析成像的准确度大大提高,为解决软流圈的地质构造准确成像提供了新的可能性。根据地震体波三维层析的成像结果,在古特提斯洋和特提斯洋俯冲板块前沿的软流圈底部410 km间断面上方,存在反映古大洋俯冲板块的高速体,它们在青藏高原、苏鲁和伊朗都有出现。清晰和稳定的高波速异常的位置表明,特提斯洋俯冲板块现在已经拆沉在软流圈的底部,古特提斯洋俯冲板块也可能曾经拆沉在软流圈的底部。对比青藏高原和苏鲁的地壳上地幔波速结构推测,拆沉造成软流圈中的轻元素物质上涌,进入大陆岩石圈,造成岩浆活动。上涌还使碰撞造山带地壳厚度减小,而岩石圈厚度增加。大约100 Ma后,俯冲下去的大洋残块会被软流圈物质磨蚀交代,使岩石圈厚度增加, 形成大陆下方的大陆根,造成大陆克拉通化和体积增生。大洋板块俯冲后在软流圈拆沉是岩石圈—软流圈物质循环的一种重要方式,对软流圈中物质均衡和体积稳定也起重要作用。