Asteroid families: evidence of ageing of the proper elements

In recent times it has been emphasized that the present kinematical structures of asteroid families should be evolved with respect to the original post-impact situations, according to numerical simulations performed taking into account also the previously neglected Yarkovsky effect. In this paper we show that also a “classical” approach based on an analysis of the current kinematical properties of families leads to conclude that the distributions of proper eccentricities and semimajor axes of family members exhibit evidence of an evolution. The importance of this approach is that it yields a fully independent and quantitative estimate of an evolutionary spreading of the proper elements. In particular, we find that the original post-impact families had to be on the average about twice more compact than the families we observe now, when considering family members down to about 5 km in size. This result can be used in future analyses to derive estimates of the ages of different families, and to better constrain the typical values of the ejection velocities of the fragments in family-forming events.     

西宁盆地泥石流类型及其防治意见

概略地叙述了西宁地区的泥石流形成条件和形成机理,并将西宁地区泥石流划分为稀性泥石流类及泥石质泥石流种类。在此基础上提出防治泥石流灾害的意见。     

MASS FLUX OF ASTEROIDAL ORIGIN METEOROIDS ON PERIODIC COMET NUCLEI

We examine the potential contamination of cometary nuclei through impacts from asteroidal origin meteoroids. The paper uses a simple model and has the goal of determining whether asteroidal contamination is potentially significant. We assume a meteoroid power law mass distribution with index values in the range from s=1.83 to s=2.09. We used maximum and minimum models which we believe will bracket the true meteoroid mass distribution. We identify those comets which are expected to be most significantly contaminated, and find values of up to 3.6 kg of asteroidal meteoroid impact per square meter of the cometary surface per orbital revolution. This is less than the expected mass loss per perihelion passage for most comets. Therefore any remnant effects of the contamination will depend on the penetration depth of the meteoroids in the cometary nucleus, and possibly on the distribution of active and inactive areas on cometary nuclei. We present a simple model which suggests that even small meteoroids will embed relatively deeply into a cometary nucleus.     

SIMULATION AND PREDICTION OF DEBRIS FLOW USING ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORK

Debris flow is one of the most destructive phenomena of natural hazards. Recently, major natural haz-ard, claiming human lives and assets, is due to debris flow in the world. Several practical methods for forecasting de-bris flow have been proposed, however, the accuracy of these methods is not high enough for practical use because of the stochastic and non-linear characteristics of debris flow. Artificial neural network has proven to be feasible and use-fill in developing models for nonlinear systems. On the other hand, predicting the future behavior based on a time se-ries of collected historical data is also an important tool in many scientific applications. In this study we present a three-layer feed-forward neural network model to forecast surge of debris flow according to the time series data collect-ed in the Jiangjia Ravine, situated in north part of Yunnan Province of China. The simulation and prediction of debris flow using the proposed approach shows this model is feasible, however, further studies are needed.     

Evidence for a mid‐Pleistocene shift of ice‐drift pattern in the Nordic seas

Sediment proxy records from a continuous, 1.5 million year long deep‐sea sediment core from a site in the western Norwegian Sea were used to obtain new insights into the nature of palaeoceanographic change in the northern North Atlantic (Nordic seas) during the climatic shift of the Mid‐Pleistocene Revolution (MPR). Red‐green sediment colour and magnetic susceptibility records both reveal significant differences in their mean values when comparing the intervals older than 700 000 yr (700 ka) with those from the past 500 kyr. The timing and duration of these changes indicates that the MPR in the Nordic seas is characterised by a gradual transition lasting about 200 kyr. Together with further sedimentological evidence this suggests that the mid‐Pleistocene climate shift was accompanied by a general change in ice‐drift pattern. It is further proposed that prior to the onset of the major late Pleistocene glaciations in the Northern Hemisphere a significant proportion of the ice in the eastern Nordic seas originated from a southern provenance, whereas later it dominantly came from the surrounding landmasses. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Yarkovsky effect as a heat engine

We show how the Yarkovsky effect can be understood as a heat engine. The output of the engine, manifested in the rate of change in semimajor axis of the body, has a maximum at an intermediate heat capacity, depending on the rotation rate of the body. This maximum arises because the work output depends on the product of the solar heat absorbed by the body and transported from its morning to evening side (this am-pm heat flux increases with heat capacity) and the Carnot efficiency (which declines with heat capacity).     

The Lower Permian Wasp Head Formation,Sydney Basin: high‐latitude,shallow marine sedimentation following the late Asselian to early Sakmarian glacial event in eastern Australia

The Lower Permian Wasp Head Formation (early to middle Sakmarian) is a ～95 m thick unit that was deposited during the transition to a non‐glacial period following the late Asselian to early Sakmarian glacial event in eastern Australia. This shallow marine, sandstone‐dominated unit can be subdivided into six facies associations. (i) The marine sediment gravity flow facies association consists of breccias and conglomerates deposited in upper shoreface water depths. (ii) Upper shoreface deposits consist of cross‐stratified, conglomeratic sandstones with an impoverished expression of the Skolithos Ichnofacies. (iii) Middle shoreface deposits consist of hummocky cross‐stratified sandstones with a trace fossil assemblage that represents the Skolithos Ichnofacies. (iv) Lower shoreface deposits are similar to middle shoreface deposits, but contain more pervasive bioturbation and a distal expression of the Skolithos Ichnofacies to a proximal expression of the Cruziana Ichnofacies. (v) Delta‐influenced, lower shoreface‐offshore transition deposits are distinguished by sparsely bioturbated carbonaceous mudstone drapes within a variety of shoreface and offshore deposits. Trace fossil assemblages represent distal expressions of the Skolithos Ichnofacies to stressed, proximal expressions of the Cruziana Ichnofacies. Impoverished trace fossil assemblages record variable and episodic environmental stresses possibly caused by fluctuations in sedimentation rates, substrate consistencies, salinity, oxygen levels, turbidity and other physio‐chemical stresses characteristic of deltaic conditions. (vi) The offshore transition‐offshore facies association consists of mudstone and admixed sandstone and mudstone with pervasive bioturbation and an archetypal to distal expression of the Cruziana Ichnofacies. The lowermost ～50 m of the formation consists of a single deepening upward cycle formed as the basin transitioned from glacioisostatic rebound following the Asselian to early Sakmarian glacial to a regime dominated by regional extensional subsidence without significant glacial influence. The upper ～45 m of the formation can be subdivided into three shallowing upward cycles (parasequences) that formed in the aftermath of rapid, possibly glacioeustatic, rises in relative sea‐level or due to autocyclic progradation patterns. The shift to a parasequence‐dominated architecture and progressive decrease in ice‐rafted debris upwards through the succession records the release from glacioisostatic rebound and amelioration of climate that accompanied the transition to broadly non‐glacial conditions.     

Late Quaternary contourites and glaciomarine sedimentation in the Fram Strait

Two sites in the eastern Fram Strait, the Vestnesa Ridge and the Yermak Plateau, have been surveyed and sampled providing a depositional record over the last glacial‐interglacial cycle. The Fram Strait is the only deep‐water connection from the Arctic Ocean to the North Atlantic and contains a marine sediment record of both high latitude thermohaline flow and ice sheet interaction. On the Vestnesa Ridge, the western Svalbard margin, a sediment drift was identified in 1226 m of water. Gravity and multicores from the crest of the drift recovered turbidites and contourites. ¹⁴C dating indicates an age range of 8287 to 26 900 years BP (Early Holocene to Late Weichselian). The Yermak Plateau is characterized by slope sediments in 961 m of water. Gravity and multicores recovered contourites and hemipelagites. ¹⁴C ages were between 8615 and 46 437 years BP (Early Holocene to mid‐Weichselian). Downcore dinoflagellate cyst analyses from both sites provide a record of changing surface water conditions since the mid‐Weichselian, suggesting variable sea ice extent, productivity and polynyas present even during the Last Glacial Maximum. Four layers of ice‐rafted debris were also identified and correlated within the cores. These events occurred ca at 9, 24 to 25, 26 to 27 and 43 ka, asynchronous with Heinrich layers in the wider north‐east Atlantic and here interpreted as reflecting instability in the Svalbard/Barents Ice sheet and the northward advection of warm Atlantic water during the Late Weichselian. The activity of the ancestral West Spitsbergen Current is interpreted using mean sortable silt records from the cores. On the Vestnesa Ridge drift the modern mass accumulation rate, calculated using excess ²¹⁰Pb, is 0·076 g cm^?2 year^?1. On the Yermak Plateau slope the modern mass accumulation rate is 0·053 g cm^?2 year^?1.     

泥石流平面形态的统计分析

泥石流扇的平面形态可用规划的几何图形来模拟。在研究了中国西南地区小江流域和意大利东北部阿尔卑斯山区的５２个泥石流扇的基础上，本文提出了两种泥石流扇的平面形态：中国西南地区的“等腰三角形＋半圆形”泥石流扇和意大利东北部的“几何扇”。用统计分析建立了两组泥石流扇和泥石流流域之间的形态度量关系。通过两个研究区域的对比，两个流域参数：流域面积和主沟比降确定为影响泥石流扇平面形态和面积的最重要的因素。     

深圳大鹏湾表层沉积物碎屑矿物空间分布特征

立足样品测试数据,利用空间分析、空间插值、地质统计以及景观生态学方法,深入分析了深圳大鹏湾表层沉积物碎屑矿物的空间分布特征,并使用球状模型对相应半变异函数进行理论建模。结果表明,碎屑矿物分布的Hurst分维数为0.28～0.97,空间几何分维数为1.03～1.72;Moran Ⅰ型空间自相关系数-0.15～0.53。在此基础上,以等值线分布所包围范围作为划分尺度,以Shannon-Wiener信息指数作为度量,得到的矿物分布所反映出的信息量或者富集程度指数为0.88～1.85。