Surface composition of Hyperion

Hyperion, Saturn's eighth largest icy satellite, is a body of irregular shape in a state of chaotic rotation. The surface is segregated into two distinct units. A spatially dominant high-albedo unit having the strong signature of H2O ice contrasts with a unit that is about a factor of four lower in albedo and is found mostly in the bottoms of cup-like craters. Here we report observations of Hyperion's surface in the ultraviolet and near-infrared spectral regions with two optical remote sensing instruments on the Cassini spacecraft at closest approach during a fly-by on 25-26 September 2005. The close fly-by afforded us the opportunity to obtain separate reflectance spectra of the high- and low-albedo surface components. The low-albedo material has spectral similarities and compositional signatures that link it with the surface of Phoebe and a hemisphere-wide superficial coating on Iapetus.     

Seismic resurfacing by a single impact on the asteroid 433 Eros

Impact cratering creates a wide range of topography on small satellites and asteroids. The population of visible craters evolves with impacts, and because there are no competing endogenic processes to modify the surface, determining the various ways younger craters add to or subtract from the population is a fundamental aspect of small-body geology. Asteroid 433 Eros, the most closely studied small body, has regions of substantially different crater densities that remain unexplained. Here we show that the formation of a relatively young crater (7.6 km in diameter) resulted in the removal of other craters as large as 0.5 km over nearly 40 percent of the asteroid. Burial by ejecta cannot explain the observed pattern of crater removal. The limitation of reduced crater density to a zone within a particular straight-line distance through the asteroid from the centre of the large crater suggests degradation of the topography by seismic energy released during the impact. Our observations indicate that the interior of Eros is sufficiently cohesive to transmit seismic energy over many kilometres, and the outer several tens of metres of the asteroid must be composed of relatively non-cohesive material.     

Thickness constraints on the icy shells of the galilean satellites from a comparison of crater shapes

A thin outer ice shell on Jupiter's large moon Europa would imply easy exchange between the surface and any organic or biotic material in its putative subsurface ocean. The thickness of the outer ice shell is poorly constrained, however, with model-dependent estimates ranging from a few kilometres to ten or more kilometres. Here I present measurements of depths of impact craters on Europa, Ganymede and Callisto that reveal two anomalous transitions in crater shape with diameter. The first transition is probably related to temperature-dependent ductility of the crust at shallow depths (7 8 km on Europa). The second transition is attributed to the influence of subsurface oceans on all three satellites, which constrains Europa's icy shell to be at least 19 km thick. The icy lithospheres of Ganymede and Callisto are equally ice-rich, but Europa's icy shell has a thermal structure about 0.25 0.5 times the thicknesses of Ganymede's or Callisto's shells, depending on epoch. The appearances of the craters on Europa are inconsistent with thin-ice-shell models and indicate that exchange of oceanic and surface material could be difficult.     

A Pluto-like radius and a high albedo for the dwarf planet Eris from an occultation

The dwarf planet Eris is a trans-Neptunian object with an orbital eccentricity of 0.44, an inclination of 44 degrees and a surface composition very similar to that of Pluto. It resides at present at 95.7 astronomical units (1?AU is the Earth-Sun distance) from Earth, near its aphelion and more than three times farther than Pluto. Owing to this great distance, measuring its size or detecting a putative atmosphere is difficult. Here we report the observation of a multi-chord stellar occultation by Eris on 6 November 2010 UT. The event is consistent with a spherical shape for Eris, with radius 1,163?±?6?kilometres, density 2.52?±?0.05 grams per cm(3) and a high visible geometric albedo, Pv = 0.96(+0.09)(-0.04). No nitrogen, argon or methane atmospheres are detected with surface pressure larger than ～1?nanobar, about 10,000 times more tenuous than Pluto's present atmosphere. As Pluto's radius is estimated to be between 1,150 and 1,200 kilometres, Eris appears as a Pluto twin, with a bright surface possibly caused by a collapsed atmosphere, owing to its cold environment. We anticipate that this atmosphere may periodically sublimate as Eris approaches its perihelion, at 37.8 astronomical units from the Sun.     

Impact spherules as a record of an ancient heavy bombardment of Earth

Impact craters are the most obvious indication of asteroid impacts, but craters on Earth are quickly obscured or destroyed by surface weathering and tectonic processes. Earth’s impact history is inferred therefore either from estimates of the present-day impactor flux as determined by observations of near-Earth asteroids, or from the Moon’s incomplete impact chronology. Asteroids hitting Earth typically vaporize a mass of target rock comparable to the projectile’s mass. As this vapour expands in a large plume or fireball, it cools and condenses into molten droplets called spherules. For asteroids larger than about ten kilometres in diameter, these spherules are deposited in a global layer. Spherule layers preserved in the geologic record accordingly provide information about an impact even when the source crater cannot be found. Here we report estimates of the sizes and impact velocities of the asteroids that created global spherule layers. The impact chronology from these spherule layers reveals that the impactor flux was significantly higher 3.5 billion years ago than it is now. This conclusion is consistent with a gradual decline of the impactor flux after the Late Heavy Bombardment.     

不同调控措施对设施蔬菜土壤理化性质的影响

高水高肥和集约化（常年连作）的设施蔬菜生产,必然会引起土壤的理化性状发生显著变化.笔者以栽培黄瓜的日光温室土壤为研究对象,在农民习惯施肥的基础上,研究秸秆还田、填闲作物和滴灌三种不同的调控措施对土壤容重、孔隙度和团聚体结构的影响以及土壤碳、氮变化.结果表明,秸秆还田和滴灌均有利于降低土壤容重,提高土壤孔隙度,改善耕层的通透性;填闲作物对降低土壤容重,提高土壤孔隙度效果不明显.秸秆还田可以显著提高水稳性团聚体含量,尤其是0.5-0.25 mm较小的水稳性团聚体;滴灌也有利于提高水稳性团聚体含量,增加平均重量直径MWD值,降低团聚体破坏率.与农民习惯施肥处理相比,秸秆还田可以显著降低表层土壤NO3 - -N含量,增加有机质含量,提高土壤C/N比;填闲作物可显著降低表层土壤NO3 - -N含量;滴灌可降低NO3 - -N向深层土壤淋溶的风险.综上所述,秸秆还田在改善设施土壤理化性状,提高土壤质量方面效果最好.     

Automated detection of lunar craters based on object-oriented approach

The object-oriented approach is a powerful method in making classification. With the segmentation of images to objects, many features can be calculated based on the objects so that the targets can be distinguished. However, this method has not been applied to lunar study. In this paper we attempt to apply this method to detecting lunar craters with promising results. Craters are the most obvious fea- tures on the moon and they are important for lunar geologic study. One of the important questions in lunar research is to estimate lunar surface ages by examination of crater density per unit area. Hence, proper detection of lunar craters is necessary. Manual crater identification is inefficient, and a more efficient and effective method is needed. This paper describes an object-oriented method to detect lunar craters using lunar reflectance images. In the method, many objects were first segmented from the image based on size, shape, color, and the weights to every layer. Then the feature of ＂contrast to neighbor objects＂ was selected to identify craters from the lunar image. In the next step, by merging the adjacent objects belonging to the same class, almost every crater can be taken as an independent object except several very big craters in the study area. To remove the crater rays diagnosed as craters, the feature of ＂length/width＂ was further used with suitable parameters to finish recognizing craters. Finally, the result was exported to ArcGIS for manual modification to those big craters and the number of craters was acquired.     

多孔硅/高氯酸钠复合材料的合成与爆炸特性研究

本文采用电化学阳极氧化法制备多孔硅,考察不同氧化条件下多孔硅孔隙率及膜厚的变化情况,研究电化学阳极氧化工艺条件、高氯酸钠溶液浓度以及贮存方法等因素对多孔硅复合材料爆炸反应的影响。结果表明,多孔硅孔隙率随电流密度增大而增大,当电流达到50mA·cm~（-2）以上时略有降低,孔隙率随氧化时间增大而先增大后减小,且氧化时间为30min时最大,孔隙率随氢氟酸浓度增大反而减小;多孔硅膜厚随时间增大而增大。SEM分析表明,多孔硅表面产生裂缝,内部形成硅柱。在电流密度小、氧化时间短的条件下形成的多孔硅复合材料不易爆炸,当NaClO4甲醇溶液质量浓度大于0.098g·mL~（-1）时发生强烈爆炸,将多孔硅复合材料用乙醇浸泡是最为理想的贮存方法。     

基于数学形态学的月海圆形撞击坑自动识别方法

撞击坑是月球表面最为常见的地质单元,是研究月球地质演化历史的重要对象,也是月球地质定年的基本依据,因此撞击坑识别具有重要意义.本文根据嫦娥一号采集的月球CCD图像,基于数学形态学方法对撞击坑进行自动识别提取研究.在CCD图像中,撞击坑边缘的灰度变化明显,梯度较大,由此可以计算获取撞击坑的边缘形态;一般情况下,依据图像灰度梯度突变,通过边缘检测得到的撞击坑边缘比较粗糙、不连续,而且有断口和小洞.根据数学形态学的基本思想——用具有一定形态的结构元素去量度和提取图像中的对应形状,对识别出来的边缘作进一步处理,可得到较光滑、连续的撞击坑边缘弧,从而能方便地拟合出撞击坑边缘,并获得撞击坑的直径与位置.用数学形态学进行撞击坑识别与提取的主要步骤是：首先对CCD影像计算灰度的梯度,得到梯度图像,然后进行二值化,再使用数学形态学分离出边缘,最后用圆形对撞击坑进行拟合并计算出撞击坑的位置和直径.本文分别对月海和月陆地区进行撞击坑识别实验,结果表明,我们设计的算法能够识别的最小撞击坑直径为10个像素.其中月海区域撞击坑识别准确可靠;而月陆区域岩性差异大、地形起伏,造成CCD图像背景变化较大,其识别效果相对差一些,有待进一步改善.     

Nematoda from the terrestrial deep subsurface of South Africa

Since its discovery over two decades ago, the deep subsurface biosphere has been considered to be the realm of single-cell organisms, extending over three kilometres into the Earth's crust and comprising a significant fraction of the global biosphere. The constraints of temperature, energy, dioxygen and space seemed to preclude the possibility of more-complex, multicellular organisms from surviving at these depths. Here we report species of the phylum Nematoda that have been detected in or recovered from 0.9-3.6-kilometre-deep fracture water in the deep mines of South Africa but have not been detected in the mining water. These subsurface nematodes, including a new species, Halicephalobus mephisto, tolerate high temperature, reproduce asexually and preferentially feed upon subsurface bacteria. Carbon-14 data indicate that the fracture water in which the nematodes reside is 3,000-12,000-year-old palaeometeoric water. Our data suggest that nematodes should be found in other deep hypoxic settings where temperature permits, and that they may control the microbial population density by grazing on fracture surface biofilm patches. Our results expand the known metazoan biosphere and demonstrate that deep ecosystems are more complex than previously accepted. The discovery of multicellular life in the deep subsurface of the Earth also has important implications for the search for subsurface life on other planets in our Solar System.     

Evidence for an ancient martian ocean in the topography of deformed shorelines

A suite of observations suggests that the northern plains of Mars, which cover nearly one third of the planet's surface, may once have contained an ocean. Perhaps the most provocative evidence for an ancient ocean is a set of surface features that ring the plains for thousands of kilometres and that have been interpreted as a series of palaeoshorelines of different age. It has been shown, however, that topographic profiles along the putative shorelines contain long-wavelength trends with amplitudes of up to several kilometres, and these trends have been taken as an argument against the martian shoreline (and ocean) hypothesis. Here we show that the long-wavelength topography of the shorelines is consistent with deformation caused by true polar wander--a change in the orientation of a planet with respect to its rotation pole--and that the inferred pole path has the geometry expected for a true polar wander event that postdates the formation of the massive Tharsis volcanic rise.     

Mantle compensation of active metamorphic core complexes at Woodlark rift in Papua New Guinea

In many highly extended rifts on the Earth, tectonic removal of the upper crust exhumes mid-crustal rocks, producing metamorphic core complexes. These structures allow the upper continental crust to accommodate tens of kilometres of extension, but it is not clear how the lower crust and underlying mantle respond. Also, despite removal of the upper crust, such core complexes remain both topographically high and in isostatic equilibrium. Because many core complexes in the western United States are underlain by a flat Moho discontinuity, it has been widely assumed that their elevation is supported by flow in the lower crust or by magmatic underplating. These processes should decouple upper-crust extension from that in the mantle. In contrast, here we present seismic observations of metamorphic core complexes of the western Woodlark rift that show the overall crust to be thinned beneath regions of greatest surface extension. These core complexes are actively being exhumed at a rate of 5-10 km Myr(-1), and the thinning of the underlying crust appears to be compensated by mantle rocks of anomalously low density, as indicated by low seismic velocities. We conclude that, at least in this case, the development of metamorphic core complexes and the accommodation of high extension is not purely a crustal phenomenon, but must involve mantle extension.     

水合物海脊ODP204航次天然气水合物测井评价

在天然气水合物勘探中,地球物理测井是一种重要的资源评价方法。针对卡斯凯迪亚大陆边缘水合物海脊的天然气水合物储集层,利用ODP 204航次的测井数据,对水合物脊天然气水合物储层常规测井响应特征进行总结,并采用密度法和标准阿尔奇公式对储层孔隙度和水合物饱和度进行评价。结果表明,ODP 204航次的水合物测井响应以高电阻率、高声波速度异常最为明显,密度测井和自然伽马测井出现小幅度的低异常。密度法和标准阿尔奇公式的初步计算结果显示,ODP204航次1247B和1250F孔天然气水合物储层孔隙度分别介于51.6%-58.9%和53.2%-60.6%,水合物饱和度分别介于0-18.0%和0-33.0%。     

Palaeomagnetism of the Vredefort meteorite crater and implications for craters on Mars

Magnetic surveys of the martian surface have revealed significantly lower magnetic field intensities over the gigantic impact craters Hellas and Argyre than over surrounding regions. The reduced fields are commonly attributed to pressure demagnetization caused by shock waves generated during meteorite impact, in the absence of a significant ambient magnetic field. Lower than average magnetic field intensities are also observed above the Vredefort meteorite crater in South Africa, yet here we show that the rocks in this crater possess much higher magnetic intensities than equivalent lithologies found elsewhere on Earth. We find that palaeomagnetic directions of these strongly magnetized rocks are randomly oriented, with vector directions changing over centimetre length scales. Moreover, the magnetite grains contributing to the magnetic remanence crystallized during impact, which directly relates the randomization and intensification to the impact event. The strong and randomly oriented magnetization vectors effectively cancel out when summed over the whole crater. Seen from high altitudes, as for martian craters, the magnetic field appears much lower than that of neighbouring terranes, implying that magnetic anomalies of meteorite craters cannot be used as evidence for the absence of the planet's internally generated magnetic field at the time of impact.     

An Archaean heavy bombardment from a destabilized extension of the asteroid belt

The barrage of comets and asteroids that produced many young lunar basins (craters over 300 kilometres in diameter) has frequently been called the Late Heavy Bombardment (LHB). Many assume the LHB ended about 3.7 to 3.8 billion years (Gyr) ago with the formation of Orientale basin. Evidence for LHB-sized blasts on Earth, however, extend into the Archaean and early Proterozoic eons, in the form of impact spherule beds: globally distributed ejecta layers created by Chicxulub-sized or larger cratering events4. At least seven spherule beds have been found that formed between 3.23 and 3.47?Gyr ago, four between 2.49 and 2.63?Gyr ago, and one between 1.7 and 2.1?Gyr ago. Here we report that the LHB lasted much longer than previously thought, with most late impactors coming from the E belt, an extended and now largely extinct portion of the asteroid belt between 1.7 and 2.1 astronomical units from Earth. This region was destabilized by late giant planet migration. E-belt survivors now make up the high-inclination Hungaria asteroids. Scaling from the observed Hungaria asteroids, we find that E-belt projectiles made about ten lunar basins between 3.7 and 4.1?Gyr ago. They also produced about 15 terrestrial basins between 2.5 and 3.7?Gyr ago, as well as around 70 and four Chicxulub-sized or larger craters on the Earth and Moon, respectively, between 1.7 and 3.7?Gyr ago. These rates reproduce impact spherule bed and lunar crater constraints.     

Timescales of shock processes in chondritic and martian meteorites

The accretion of the terrestrial planets from asteroid collisions and the delivery to the Earth of martian and lunar meteorites has been modelled extensively. Meteorites that have experienced shock waves from such collisions can potentially be used to reveal the accretion process at different stages of evolution within the Solar System. Here we have determined the peak pressure experienced and the duration of impact in a chondrite and a martian meteorite, and have combined the data with impact scaling laws to infer the sizes of the impactors and the associated craters on the meteorite parent bodies. The duration of shock events is inferred from trace element distributions between coexisting high-pressure minerals in the shear melt veins of the meteorites. The shock duration and the associated sizes of the impactor are found to be much greater in the chondrite (approximately 1 s and 5 km, respectively) than in the martian meteorite (approximately 10 ms and 100 m). The latter result compares well with numerical modelling studies of cratering on Mars, and we suggest that martian meteorites with similar, recent ejection ages (10(5) to 10(7) years ago) may have originated from the same few square kilometres on Mars.     

Melt retention and segregation beneath mid-ocean ridges

Geochemical models of melting at mid-ocean ridges-particularly those based on trace elements and uranium-decay-series isotopes-predict that melt segregates from the matrix at very low porosities, of order 0.1%. Some of these models also require that the melt ascends rapidly. But these predictions appear to conflict with seismic data obtained by the mantle electromagnetic and tomography (MELT) experiment. These data reveal, beneath the East Pacific Rise (at 17 degrees S), a region of low velocities several hundred kilometres wide, which is best explained by the presence of 1-2% melt, distributed on a grain scale in disk-shaped geometries. Here I show that these apparently contradictory constraints can be reconciled by taking into account the geometry and resulting permeability of the intergranular network of melt, together with the changing character of the melt as it ascends. A deep, volatile-rich melt with low viscosity and density is mobile at 0.1% porosity, but basaltic melt only becomes mobile at a porosity above 1%. While the volumetric contribution of the volatile-rich melt to the erupted basalts is small, the isotopic disequilibria (except for radium) generated by porous flow of this melt are preserved if melt transport is rapid at the onset of high-productivity melting. Also, because of incomplete extraction, some melt is retained in a broad zone, consistent with the MELT observations.     

Subducted banded iron formations as a source of ultralow-velocity zones at the core-mantle boundary

Ultralow-velocity zones (ULVZs) are regions of the Earth's core-mantle boundary about 1-10 kilometres thick exhibiting seismic velocities that are lower than radial-Earth reference models by about 10-20 per cent for compressional waves and 10-30 per cent for shear waves. It is also thought that such regions have an increased density of about 0-20 per cent (ref. 1). A number of origins for ULVZs have been proposed, such as ponding of dense silicate melt, core-mantle reaction zones or underside sedimentation from the core. Here we suggest that ULVZs might instead be relics of banded iron formations subducted to the core-mantle boundary between 2.8 and 1.8 billion years ago. Consisting mainly of interbedded iron oxides and silica, such banded iron formations were deposited in the world's oceans during the late Archaean and early Proterozoic eras. We argue that these layers, as part of the ocean floor, would be recycled into the Earth's interior by subduction, sink to the bottom of the mantle and may explain all of the observed features of ULVZs.     

粉末冶金Al-10%Ti复合材料的力学和耐磨性能

文章采用“冷压烧结+热挤压”的粉末冶金法制备出Al—10％Ti复合材料,研究了Al—10％Ti复合材料的孔隙率、抗拉强度、伸长率、硬度和耐磨行为。结果表明:与Al相比,Al-10％Ti复合材料的孔隙率较高,抗拉强度和伸长率较低,硬度和耐磨性较高;Al-10％Ti复合材料的磨损体积损失分别是Al的1/22.3及Qsn6.5-0.4的1/14.8,其磨损表面呈Al基体+Ti颗粒+孔隙的耐磨组织。     

感应重熔对高速轧机轴承热喷涂层微观组织性能的影响

为了改善高速轧机轴承热喷涂层的微观组织性能,采用感应重熔技术对GCr15轴承钢表面预制备的高能火焰喷涂Ni60A涂层进行感应重熔处理,并利用金相显微镜、扫描电镜、X射线衍射仪、显微硬度计对感应重熔前后涂层的孔隙率、微观组织、显微硬度等进行对比研究,探讨感应重熔对涂层以及界面微观组织、显微硬度的影响。结果表明,高能火焰喷涂镍基涂层的孔隙率高达5.09%,且表面孔洞缺陷较多,涂层与基体结合的界面处存在较明显的界面裂纹和孔隙缺陷,呈现典型的机械结合,界面结合特性较差;而经感应重熔后其涂层组织致密,孔隙率仅为0.27%,涂层缺陷明显减少,与基体结合的界面处呈现出强冶金融合特性,且涂层中硬质相数量显著增多,涂层及界面的显微硬度均得到较大提升。因此,感应重熔技术可改善涂层的表面组织性能,在高速轧机轴承表面强化方面有一定的应用价值。