Lunar glasses and micro-breccias: properties and origin

Impact has been an important rock-forming process on the moon. Electron- and ion-probe analyses of major and minor elements show that most glasses and chondrule-like particles formed by shock melting of various proportions of mainly pyroxene, plagioclase, and ilmenite. This is the first direct evidence that chondrule-like molten droplets can form in impact events. Welding and shock lithification resulted in rocks texturally similar to chondrites but composition rules out the moon as source for chondrites. Impact craters on a nickel-iron sample evidence the importance of secondary impacts by accelerated lunar matter.     

Organic analysis of the returned lunar sample

Lunar fines have been examined for organic compounds by crushing, programmed heating, hydrofluoric acid etching, and solvent extraction. Products were examined by mass spectroscopy. A variety of small organic molecules, including methane and other hydrocarbons, accompanied the release of the rare gases when the sample was heated in a stepwise fashion to 900 degrees C under vacuum. Methane is more abundant (abundance on the order of 1 part per million) than argon in the matrix-entrapped gases liberated by hydrofluoric acid etching of lunar fines. Methane is also present in a dark portion of the gas-rich meteorite Kapoeta.     

Gas-rich meteorites: possible evidence for origin on a regolith

The asymmetry of irradiation features of grains in the Kapoeta and Fayetteville meteorites suggests irradiation on a regolith before meteorite formation. Chondrules and broken grains require approximately 10(4) years of irradiation time between formation or fracturing and compaction into the meteorite. Shock erasure of tracks from irradiated Kapoeta feldspars requires a severe shock event during or after meteorite formation.     

Accretion rate of extraterrestrial matter: iridium deposited 33 to 67 million years ago

Iridium measured in 149 samples of a continuous 9-meter section of Pacific abyssal clay covering the time span 33 to 67 million years ago shows a well-defined peak only at the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary. In the rest of the section iridium ranges from a minimum concentration near 0.35 nanograms per gram in the Paleocene to a maximum near 1.7 in the Eocene; between 63 and 33 million years ago the mean iridium accumulation rate is approximately 13 nanograms per square centimeter per million years. Correction for terrestrial iridium leads to an extraterrestrial flux of9 +/- 3 nanograms of iridium per square centimeter per million years, and an estimated annual global influx of 78 billion grams of chondritic matter, consistent with recent estimates of the influx of dust, meteorites, and crater-producing bodies with masses ranging from 10(-13) to 10(18 )grams. Combining the recent flux of objects ranging in mass from 10(6) to 10(7) grams with the flux of 10(14) - to 10(15) -gram objects indicates that the number of objects is equal to 0.54 divided by the radius (in kilometers) to the 2.1 power. Periodic comet showers should increase the cometary iridium flux by a factor of 200 to 600 on a time scale of 1 to 3 million years; the predicted iridium maxima (more than 30 times background) are not present in the intervals associated with the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary or the tektiteproducing late Eocene events.     

Traffic signals and depth perception

Automobiles approaching red traffic signals at night appear to go beyond them when viewed from some distance to the rear. The phenomenon is doubly illusory because the higher of two objects has been presumed to appear more distant. The illusion is probably limited to small visual angles (about 2 degrees).     

降雨事件对不同流域背景河流DOM组成及入海通量的影响

通过调查2014年7月"麦德姆"台风影响期间福建九龙江北溪(流域以林地为主)和西溪(农业流域和城市背景)下游定点站DOM的时间序列,测定样品的DOC含量及其吸收光谱和三维荧光光谱,以评估不同流域背景对河流DOM动力学降雨响应的差异性,并为流域-河口系统的一体化管理提供重要参考。降雨期间,两条河流DOC浓度、吸收系数aCDOM(350)以及总荧光强度均随径流量升高而增大,并在水位下降期持续增加,且西溪增加量明显高于北溪,说明受人类活动扰动大的流域河流有机质对暴雨事件的响应更为灵敏;北溪和西溪的SUVA254分别显示出增大和减小的相反变化趋势,表明林地背景的流域主要冲刷芳香度高的DOM到河流,农业和城市背景则相反;降雨期西溪对九龙江DOM入海通量的贡献率高于北溪,与基流期北溪贡献率占主导恰巧相反,这种碳通量的逆转表明暴雨事件会放大人类活动对下游河口生态环境的影响。     

Isotopic analysis of rare gases with a laser microprobe

A ruby-pulsed laser and high-sensitivity mass spectrometer are used to analyze isotopic abundances of rare gases from microgram samples of polished sections. The feasibility of the technique is demonstrated by the analysis of primordial helium and neon from the Kapoeta and Fayetteville meteorites.     

Infrared Stars: The interaction between stars and interstellar clouds produces "infrared stars" of two different kinds

Our searches for very cool stars have revealed three kinds of objects: very cool Mira stars, perhaps cooler than any of this type previously known; extremely dense interstellar clouds, more dense than any known heretofore; and, probably, cool circumstellar clouds that may be planetary systems in an early stage of formation.     

The primate hippocampal formation: evidence for a time-limited role in memory storage

Clinical and experimental studies have shown that the hippocampal formation and related structures in the medial temporal lobe are important for learning and memory. Retrograde amnesia was studied prospectively in monkeys to understand the contribution of the hippocampal formation to memory function. Monkeys learned to discriminate 100 pairs of objects beginning 16, 12, 8, 4, and 2 weeks before the hippocampal formation was removed (20 different pairs at each time period). Two weeks after surgery, memory was assessed by presenting each of the 100 object pairs again for a single-choice trial. Normal monkeys exhibited forgetting; that is, they remembered recently learned objects better than objects learned many weeks earlier. Monkeys with hippocampal damage were severely impaired at remembering recently learned objects. In addition, they remembered objects learned long ago as well as normal monkeys did and significantly better than they remembered objects learned recently. These results show that the hippocampal formation is required for memory storage for only a limited period of time after learning. As time passes, its role in memory diminishes, and a more permanent memory gradually develops independently of the hippocampal formation, probably in neocortex.     

Electromagnetic heating in the early solar nebula and the formation of chondrules

Certain opaque inclusions within primitive meteorites exhibit textures that suggest chondrules formed during intense, short-duration radiative heating episodes in the early solar system. Experimental support for this interpretation is provided by the textures produced when chondrule-like assemblages are heated with visible laser light. Computer simulations of radiative heating provide additional evidence for the role of electromagnetic energy in heating nebular solids by offering an explanation for the size distributions of chondrules and the presence of dusty chondrule rims. Nebular lightning and magnetic reconnection flares are possible sources of electromagnetic energy for these transient heating events.     

Temperature and composition of Saturn's polar hot spots and hexagon

Saturn's poles exhibit an unexpected symmetry in hot, cyclonic polar vortices, despite huge seasonal differences in solar flux. The cores of both vortices are depleted in phosphine gas, probably resulting from subsidence of air into the troposphere. The warm cores are present throughout the upper troposphere and stratosphere at both poles. The thermal structure associated with the marked hexagonal polar jet at 77 degrees N has been observed for the first time. Both the warm cyclonic belt at 79 degrees N and the cold anticyclonic zone at 75 degrees N exhibit the hexagonal structure.     

樟子松树干茎流日变化规律研究

[目的]了解樟子松树干中不同深度不同侧面水分流量的日变化规律。[方法]选取5株成年樟子松作为试验材料,利用PT4.2茎流仪测定树干东侧和北侧2.6、3.6和4.6 cm处的水分流量。[结果]边材区水分流量从早晨6:30快速上升,9:30左右达到峰值,随后开始下降,白天呈现单峰曲线;边材区深处水分运输启动早于浅处,关闭晚于浅处;4.6 cm处流量比2.6 cm处流量高30%左右,而且峰值明显。[结论]樟子松树干东侧和北侧的流量,在不同深度和时间段存在一定差异,但其总流量差异不大;边材区深处流量明显高于浅处。     

有初始横流阵列射流冲击的三维数值计算

对具有初始横流的阵列射流冲击的流场和温度场进行了三维数值计算 ,研究了射流孔与冲击靶面间距、射流冲击孔排列方式和射流与横流质量流量比等因素对换热特性的影响。结果表明 :( 1 )在不同的射流孔与冲击靶面间距下 ,对于给定的射流与横流质量流量比 ,顺排方式的冲击冷却效果要优于叉排方式 ;( 2 )射流孔与冲击靶面间距对阵列射流冲击的流动和换热特性影响是非常复杂的 ;( 3 )随着初始横流与射流质量流量之比增加 ,在相同的射流孔与冲击靶面间距下 ,顺排和叉排方式的冷却效果均呈现单调的下降     

Luna 9 photographs: evidence for a fragmental surface layer

The morphological features of the lunar surface photographed by Luna 9 indicate a surficial layer of weakly cohesive to noncohesive frag mental material. Most of this material is finer than a centimeter and probably finer than a few millimeters, although objects of centimeter size and larger are plentiful.     

油松、刺槐林潜在耗水量的预测及其与造林密度的关系

在大面积林分调查的基础上,构建边材生长模型和分布模型,并通过潜在液流通量Qp预测模型完成了林分水平耗水在时间上的尺度放大,即预测林分的潜在耗水量Ep.结果表明，现存油松林地(21年生)潜在耗水能力Ep大于刺槐林地(9年生),10a后(油松31年生,刺槐19年生)二者接近.若按相近龄级比较(刺槐19年生，油松21年生)，刺槐林地耗水能力大于油松林.对不同造林密度的油松、刺槐林中短期耗水预测表明，在试验区的水文条件下，如果造林密度高于1500株/hm     

油松、刺槐林潜在耗水量的预测及其与造林密度的关系

在大面积林分调查的基础上 ,构建边材生长模型和分布模型 ,并通过潜在液流通量Qp 预测模型完成了林分水平耗水在时间上的尺度放大 ,即预测林分的潜在耗水量Ep.结果表明 ,现存油松林地 (2 1年生 )潜在耗水能力Ep 大于刺槐林地 (9年生 ) ,10a后 (油松 31年生 ,刺槐 19年生 )二者接近 .若按相近龄级比较 (刺槐 19年生 ,油松 2 1年生 ) ,刺槐林地耗水能力大于油松林 .对不同造林密度的油松、刺槐林中短期耗水预测表明 ,在试验区的水文条件下 ,如果造林密度高于 15 0 0株 hm2 ,油松林一般都会在 2 0～ 30a内遭受水分胁迫问题而延缓生长 ,刺槐林则在 10～ 2 0a之内受到林地供水不足的胁迫 ;密度越高 ,水分供给不足问题出现越早 .通过实验分析 ,提出了 75 0株 hm2 的理论造林密度     

Chips off of Asteroid 4 Vesta: Evidence for the Parent Body of Basaltic Achondrite Meteorites

For more than two decades, asteroid 4 Vesta has been debated as the source for the eucrite, diogenite, and howardite classes of basaltic achondrite meteorites. Its basaltic achondrite spectral properties are unlike those of other large main-belt asteroids. Telescopic measurements have revealed 20 small (diameters 相似文献   

The extreme Kuiper Belt binary 2001 QW322

The study of binary Kuiper Belt objects helps to probe the dynamic conditions present during planet formation in the solar system. We report on the mutual-orbit determination of 2001 QW322, a Kuiper Belt binary with a very large separation whose properties challenge binary-formation and -evolution theories. Six years of tracking indicate that the binary's mutual-orbit period is approximately 25 to 30 years, that the orbit pole is retrograde and inclined 50 degrees to 62 degrees from the ecliptic plane, and, most surprisingly, that the mutual orbital eccentricity is <0.4. The semimajor axis of 105,000 to 135,000 kilometers is 10 times that of other near-equal-mass binaries. Because this weakly bound binary is prone to orbital disruption by interlopers, its lifetime in its present state is probably less than 1 billion years.     

土壤质地及环境因子对农田N_2O排放的影响

[目的]研究土壤质地与环境因素对N2O排放通量的影响情况。[方法]采用实验室培养法,设4种土壤质地,8个土壤深度梯度(5～40 cm),6个温度梯度(10～35℃)、5个湿度含水量等进行试验研究。[结果]相同培养条件下,粘土类N2O排放通量高于粘壤土和粘砂质壤土,最低的为砂质土壤;在不同培养深度条件下的N2O排放通量,壤土类明显高于砂质土壤,两土壤类加入氮肥后的N2O排放通量高于对照土壤;土壤的N2O排放通量随温度的增加而增长,在相同温度下壤土类土壤N2O排放通量高于砂质土壤;N2O排放通量随土壤含水量的上升随之增加,至田间持水量时N2O排放通量达到最大;在相同的湿度条件下,N2O排放通量壤土类高于砂质土壤。[结论]重质地旱作土壤N2O排放通量要高于轻质地土壤。     

Low-Energy Protons: Average Flux in Interplanetary Space during the Last 100,000 Years

The radioactivity of aluminum-26 in two cores of Pacific sediments is an order of magnitude higher than was expected, as a result of its production by cosmic-ray interactions in the terrestrial environment. The higher activity can be explained only by postulating influx with extraterrestrial cosmic dust that had been exposed to significant flux of energetic particles capable of producing nuclear interactions. These particles may well be the "solar" cosmic rays that are sporadically accelerated by Sun during certain solar flares, since the steady galactic cosmic-ray flux is inadequate. The long-term average flux of low-energy protons in interplanetary space, required to yield the observed rate of influx of aluminum-26, is deduced on the basis of certain assumptions.