Features of the study of the earth by spacecraft. Exploration of the earth from space

Spacecraft in all their diversity are both the pride and concern of mankind. Their creation was preceded by a centuries-old history of the development of science and technology. The space era, which allowed people to look from the outside at the world in which they live, lifted us to a new stage of development. A rocket in space today is not a dream, but a subject of concern for highly qualified specialists who are faced with the task of improving existing technologies. The article will discuss what types of spacecraft are distinguished and how they differ from each other.

Definition

Spacecraft is a generic name for any device designed to operate in space. There are several options for classifying them. In the simplest case, manned and automatic spacecraft are distinguished. The former, in turn, are subdivided into spaceships and stations. Different in their capabilities and purpose, they are similar in many respects in structure and equipment used.

Flight features

After launch, any spacecraft goes through three main stages: launch into orbit, flight itself, and landing. The first stage presupposes the development by the vehicle of the speed required to enter space. In order to get into orbit, its value must be 7.9 km / s. Complete overcoming of gravity assumes the development of the second equal to 11.2 km / s. This is how a rocket moves in space when its target is the distant parts of the Universe.

After release from attraction, the second stage follows. In the process of orbital flight, the movement of spacecraft occurs by inertia, due to the acceleration imparted to them. Finally, the landing stage involves reducing the speed of a ship, satellite or station to almost zero.

"Filling"

Each spacecraft is equipped with equipment to match the tasks it is designed to solve. However, the main discrepancy is associated with the so-called target equipment, which is necessary just for obtaining data and various scientific research... The rest of the equipment for spacecraft is similar. It includes the following systems:

power supply - most often solar or radioisotope batteries, chemical accumulators, nuclear reactors supply spacecraft with the necessary energy;
communication - carried out using a radio wave signal, with a significant distance from the Earth, accurate antenna guidance becomes especially important;
life support - the system is typical for manned spacecraft, thanks to it it becomes possible for people to stay on board;
orientation - like any other spacecraft, spacecraft are equipped with equipment to constantly determine their own position in space;
motion - spacecraft engines allow changes in flight speed as well as direction.

Classification

One of the main criteria for dividing spacecraft into types is the mode of operation that determines their capabilities. On this basis, devices are distinguished:

located in geocentric orbit, or artificial earth satellites;
those whose purpose is to study remote areas of space - automatic interplanetary stations;
used to deliver people or the necessary cargo to the orbit of our planet, they are called spaceships, can be automatic or manned;
created for people to stay in space for a long period - this;
those engaged in the delivery of people and goods from orbit to the surface of the planet, they are called descent;
able to explore the planet, directly located on its surface, and move around it, are planetary rovers.

Let's dwell on some types in more detail.

AES (artificial earth satellites)

The first vehicles launched into space were artificial earth satellites. Physics and its laws make putting any such device into orbit a daunting task. Any apparatus must overcome the gravity of the planet and then not fall on it. To do this, the satellite needs to move with or a little faster. Above our planet, a conditional lower boundary of the possible location of the satellite is distinguished (passes at an altitude of 300 km). Closer placement will lead to a fairly rapid deceleration of the vehicle in atmospheric conditions.

Initially, only launch vehicles could deliver artificial earth satellites into orbit. Physics, however, does not stand still, and today new methods are being developed. For example, one of the most frequently used methods recently is launching from another satellite. There are plans to use other options as well.

The orbits of spacecraft revolving around the Earth can run at different heights. Naturally, the time required for one lap also depends on this. Satellites, whose orbital period is equal to days, are placed on the so-called It is considered the most valuable, since the devices on it seem to be motionless for the terrestrial observer, which means that there is no need to create mechanisms for rotating the antennas.

AMS (automatic interplanetary stations)

A huge amount of information about various objects Solar system scientists receive using spacecraft directed outside the geocentric orbit. AMS objects are planets, asteroids, comets, and even galaxies available for observation. The tasks that are set for such devices require tremendous knowledge and efforts from engineers and researchers. AMC missions are the embodiment of technological progress and are at the same time its stimulus.

Manned spaceship

The devices created to deliver people to the designated target and return them back are technologically in no way inferior to the described types. It is to this type that Vostok-1 belongs, on which Yuri Gagarin made his flight.

The most difficult task for the creators of a manned spacecraft is to ensure the safety of the crew during their return to Earth. Also, an important part of such devices is the emergency rescue system, which may become necessary during the launch of a spacecraft into space using a launch vehicle.

Space vehicles, like all astronautics, are constantly being improved. Recently, in the media, one could often see reports about the activities of the Rosetta probe and the Phila lander. They embody all the latest achievements in the field of spacecraft, the calculation of the movement of the device, and so on. The landing of the Philae probe on a comet is considered an event comparable to the flight of Gagarin. The most interesting thing is that this is not the crown of human potential. We are still awaiting new discoveries and achievements in terms of both space exploration and construction.

Each science that studies the Earth applies its inherent methods, which allows you to obtain a comprehensive knowledge about our planet.

Geological method comes down to studying the types of rocks that are found in outcrops on the Earth's surface, dug mines and drilled wells. With normal bedding, the layers of sedimentary rocks in a vertical section are arranged according to the principle, the deeper, the older the geological layer. At the present time it seems obvious, but in the 17th century. This idea, substantiated by the Dane N. Steno (1638-1686), became an outstanding discovery and the first step in the creation of a scientific geological chronology.

The paleontological method is a method for studying the age of sedimentary rocks from the fossilized remains of living organisms.

The paleontological method is used to analyze sedimentary rocks and rocks containing fossilized traces of living things. Layers of sedimentary rocks of the same geological age correspond to the fossilized remains of living organisms corresponding to this period. The principle was formulated by the English scientist W. Smith in 1817. Today, this method allows you to look into the past for 550-600 million years.

Isotopes- atoms of a certain chemical element with different numbers of neutrons in nuclei.

Isotope methods allow determining the absolute ages of a number of minerals. They are based on measuring the content of some isotopes in a mineral that accumulated after its formation as a result of the decay of the radioactive substances contained in it. Thus, the age of lead ores can be estimated from the ratios of the radioactive lead isotopes Pb 206, Pb 207, Pb 208 to the nonradiogenic isotope Pb 204. If the ratio Pb 2 ° 8 / Pb 204 is 36.91, then the age of the rock is 1.0 billion years, if 30.62, then - 4.0 billion years.

Geophysics is the science that studies physical properties and the state of the globe.

A system of methods helps to penetrate deep into the Earth geophysicists. Seismic methods use acoustic vibrations. During explosions and earthquakes, elastic waves arise - longitudinal (rarefaction and compression, sound waves in a gas) and transverse (shear waves propagating only in solids). They propagate in an elastic medium at different speeds (longitudinal waves - about 8 km / s, transverse - 4 km / s) and are recorded using instruments. The denser the medium, the higher the speed of propagation of elastic waves, the weaker they damp with distance.

In the case of homogeneity of the Earth's interior, seismic waves should have, slightly weakened, reach any point on the Earth's surface. But the Earth is not uniform, and these waves, like waves of light and sound, are reflected and refracted, and their trajectories are usually curved. Shear waves do not pass through the inner layers, so the Earth's core is most likely liquid.

Gravimetry studies local changes in gravity, which increases from the equator to the poles. This distribution is superimposed on small local deviations - gravitational anomalies, caused by unequal density of rocks: above the accumulations of heavy rocks, the force of gravity is greater.

Magnetometry studies the earth's magnetic field. Magnetic anomalies indicate deposits of rocks that are capable of magnetization. A striking example is the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly, the world's largest iron ore basin with proven reserves of rich ores - about 30 billion tons.

Electrometry uses an artificially created electric current, the strength of which is measured at different points of the investigated area to identify rocks with different electrical conductivity.

Cosmological methods. Comparative methods studying terrestrial planets allow you to analyze the geological processes that could occur on Earth. For example, the absence of volcanic and tectonic activity on these planets is considered as evidence of the practical completion of the geological history of Mercury and Venus. In contrast, such activity continues on Earth.

An important role is played by the identification of the composition and structures of geological shells with the composition and structures of meteorites formed from the same protoplanetary matter as our planet.

Photographing of the Earth from manned spacecraft is carried out from the near space (from heights up to 500 km), from artificial satellites - from the middle space (from 500 to 3000 km), and from interplanetary automatic stations - from distant space (more than 10,000 km).

A single satellite image can simultaneously study large areas and reveal the most important characteristics of the structure of the globe. With a synchronous image of the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, biosphere, etc. in one image, it becomes possible to study the relationship of various phenomena natural environment... Infrared images make it possible to judge the temperature differences in different parts of the earth's surface and the ocean. Comparison of images obtained in waves of different lengths allows one to analyze the mineralogical composition of the underlying rocks, the state of crops, pollution of the atmosphere and hydrosphere, etc.

The most important role in earth sciences is played by systems approach, which allows you to identify its systemic qualities at different levels of research. With regard to the study of our planet, two systemic levels are most important.

First level - Solar system. At this level, the Earth is seen as an element of this system. This approach makes it possible to reveal both the similarity of the Earth with other planets and other space objects, and to reveal the fundamental differences between them. Outside this level, it is impossible to solve the problems of the origin of the Earth, since it was not formed autonomously, but as part of the solar system.

Second level - planetary. Here, a relatively isolated study of the Earth is assumed, which in this case itself appears as complex system... Such a system includes a range of subsystems, primarily geological shells.

Let's turn to the level of the solar system and consider the stages of the emergence of the Earth as a planet.

Material from Uncyclopedia

Not many years have passed since the launch of the first artificial Earth satellite in 1957, but in this short period of time space research has managed to take one of the leading places in world science. Feeling like a citizen of the Universe, man naturally wanted to get to know his world and its surroundings better.

Already the first satellite transmitted valuable information about the properties of the upper layers of the Earth's atmosphere, about the features of the passage of radio waves through the ionosphere. The second satellite laid the foundation for a whole scientific direction - space biology: aboard it, a living creature, the dog Laika, went into space for the first time. The third orbital flight of the Soviet apparatus was again devoted to the Earth - the study of its atmosphere, magnetic field, the interaction of the air shell with solar radiation, and the meteoric environment around the planet.

After the first launches, it became clear that space exploration should be carried out purposefully, according to long-term scientific programs. In 1962, the Soviet Union began launching automatic satellites of the Kosmos series, the number of which is now approaching 2 thousand. The Kosmos satellites are launched into orbits close to and far from the Earth, equipped with scientific instruments for studying the immediate vicinity of the planet and various phenomena in the upper atmosphere and near-earth space.

Satellites "Electron" and orbiting automatic observatories "Forecast" told about the Sun and its decisive influence on earthly life. Studying our star, we also comprehend the secrets of distant stars, get acquainted with the work of a natural thermonuclear reactor, which has not yet been built on Earth. From space we saw the "invisible sun" - its "portrait" in ultraviolet, X-rays and gamma rays, which do not reach the Earth's surface due to the opacity of the atmosphere in these parts of the spectrum electromagnetic waves... In addition to automatic satellites, Soviet and American cosmonauts on orbiting space stations carried out long-term studies of the Sun.

Thanks to research from space, we have better known the composition, structure and properties of the upper layers of the Earth's atmosphere and ionosphere, their dependence on solar activity, which made it possible to increase the reliability of weather forecast and radio communication conditions.

The "Cosmic Eye" allowed not only to re-evaluate the "external data" of our planet, but also to look into its depths. From orbits, geological structures are better detected, structural patterns are traced crust and the placement of the minerals humans need.

Satellites allow viewing huge water areas in a matter of minutes, transmitting their images to oceanologists. The orbits receive information about the directions and speed of winds, zones of origin of cyclonic eddies.

Since 1959, the study of the Earth's satellite - the Moon - began with the help of Soviet automatic stations. The Luna-3 station, having flown around the moon, first photographed its reverse side; Luna-9 made a soft landing on the Earth satellite. To have a clearer picture of the entire Moon, long-term observations from the orbits of its artificial satellites were necessary. The first of them - the Soviet station "Luna-10" - was launched in 1966. In the fall of 1970, the station "Luna-16" went to the Moon, which, returning to Earth, brought with it samples of lunar soil rocks. But only long-term systematic studies of the lunar surface could help selenologists to understand the origin and structure of our natural satellite... This opportunity was soon provided to them by self-propelled Soviet scientific laboratories - lunar rovers. The results of space exploration of the Moon provided new data on the history of the origin of the Earth.

The characteristic features of the Soviet program of planetary studies — the planned, consistent, gradual complication of the tasks to be solved — were especially clearly manifested in the studies of Venus. The last two decades have brought more information about this planet than the entire previous more than three centuries of its study. At the same time, a significant part of the information was obtained by Soviet science and technology. The descent vehicles of the automatic interplanetary stations "Venera" more than once made landings on the planet's surface, probed its atmosphere and clouds. Soviet stations became the first artificial satellites of Venus.

Beginning in 1962, Soviet automatic interplanetary stations were launched to the planet Mars.

Astronautics studies also planets more distant from the Earth. Today, television images of the surfaces of Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn and their moons can be viewed.

Astronomers who received space technology at their disposal, naturally, did not limit themselves to studying only the solar system. Their instruments, carried out of the atmosphere, opaque to short-wave cosmic radiation, pointed towards other stars and galaxies.

The invisible rays emanating from them - radio waves, ultraviolet and infrared, X-rays and gamma radiation - carry the most valuable information about what is happening in the depths of the Universe (see Astrophysics).

FROM

ignored the "beep-beep ..." of the first Soviet satellite October 4, 1957 heralded the beginning of a new, space era in the history of mankind. And almost four years later, on April 12, 1961. Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin made the first manned flight into space, looking at the Earth from the side, and became the pioneer of its study from orbit. 6 and 7 August of the same year German Stepanovich TitovHaving circled the planet 17 times, he took several pictures of its surface - this was the beginning of systematic space photography.

Since then, the number of remote sensing has been growing like an avalanche; a variety of photographic and non-photographic systems have appeared, including multi-zone cameras, television cameras with a special transmitting cathode ray tube (vidicon), infrared scanning radiometers, Scanning equipment is called equipment that provides images in the visible or infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum by sequential line-by-line tracing of an area of \u200b\u200bthe terrain. microwave radiometers for radio-thermal imaging, various radars for active sensing (i.e., sending signals and registering their reflection from the Earth's surface). The number of space aircraft - artificial satellites, orbital stations and manned ships. The vast and varied information they transmit is used in a number of branches of knowledge, including such earth sciences as geomorphology and geology, oceanology and hydrography. As a result, a new scientific direction - space geography, which studies the regularities of the composition and structure of the geosphere, in particular the relief and hydrography of the land, the waters of the oceans and seas.

Information about any corner of the Earth obtained using space geoscience methods is characterized by uniqueness, visibility and relative cheapness per unit of the investigated area, high reliability and efficiency, can be repeated with the required frequency or be almost continuous. Space methods make it possible to reveal the frequency of occurrence, rhythm and strength of natural processes of a global, zonal, regional and local nature. With their help, it is possible to study the relationship of all the constituent parts of the geosphere and create maps of poorly studied topographically subtropical and tropical regions. Finally, these methods make it possible in a short time to obtain images of vast territories and to reveal the unity of spatially separated large relief elements - giant ring and linear structures. Previously, the existence of some was only assumed, at best underestimated, while many were completely unknown. Nowadays no one doubts that they have an independent meaning and determine the main features of the structure of the earth's surface.

Space - for cartographers

recently, small-scale physical maps of the world, continents, individual states or large regions have been created by information and transformation of materials of large and medium-scale topographic maps based on data from aerial and ground topographic and geodetic works. This generalization of the contours depends on the current instructions and methods of mapping, as well as on a number of purely subjective factors. Thanks to regional and global space images, it was automatically possible to obtain new objective physical maps and compare these real images face of the planet with old pivots. It turned out that they are not alike: the previous ones lack not only ring structures and lineaments, as we have already noted, but also traces of glaciers movement, the boundaries of landscape zones, a number of volcanoes, star-like structures, ancient river beds and dried lakes.

For example, a view from space revealed previously unknown volcanoes in South Arabia and Western Sahara, Mexico and the southwestern United States, as well as under the ice of Ellsworth Land, at 80 ° S. sh. (Antarctica). "From the sky" were discovered ancient volcanic buildings in the Okhotsk-Chukotka region and gaseous emissions over the island. Bennett (northern part of the East Siberian Sea), recorded four times during 1983–1984; an expedition sent there discovered an underwater volcano.

On satellite images of some areas of the Scandinavian Peninsula and Asia Minor, northwestern Iran and Canada, the western United States and eastern Australia, it was possible to identify a new shape - stellate structures. In appearance, they look like cracks in glass pierced by a bullet. They are also installed in other areas, for example, in the east of the West Siberian Plain and in the middle reaches of the Podkamennaya Tunguska, but they have less distinct outlines.

Space images allow you to obtain objective information about the hydrographic network that has disappeared in our time and dried water bodies. According to "heavenly" data, the maps show the ancient valleys and deltas of the Syr Darya and Amu Darya, the former channels of the Zeravshan and a number of tributaries of the Amazon, as well as the outlines of significant lakes that occupied the once closed basins in East Kazakhstan, North-West China and South Mongolia. For example, the size of the horseshoe-shaped Dzungar Sea could compete with the Aral Sea: its relics are scattered over a vast territory - these are Zaysan, Ulyungur, Ebi-Nur and a number of small Dzungarian water bodies. Another, less significant, was the Kami-Turfan Lake, which stretched along the parallel for 500 km; it filled both of these cavities and the space between them. Traces of the ancient lake were discovered from space and in Western Siberia, in the northern part of the Kondinskaya lowland, near 60 ° N. sh. It had the shape of an oval elongated in the latitudinal direction (300x100 km), which was confirmed by field studies.

Finally, thanks to space information, the contours of the Aral Sea, the Kara-Bogaz-Gol gulf, a number of modern lakes in Western Asia (in particular, Zeraye) and in southern Tibet (Nganglaring and Tarok) have been clarified; small alpine reservoirs are also discovered there.

Opening ring structures

on the surface of the Earth, round or oval bodies have long been known - volcanoes, calderas, explosion tubes, meteorite craters, massifs. But their number and size, not exceeding the first tens of kilometers, did not make an impression. True, geologists and geographers back in the 19th century. described rather large formations of rounded outlines (for example, the Paris Basin), and in the middle of our century vortex structures were studied in detail by a Chinese geologist Li Siguang, in particular, in the center of Asia Minor, he singled out one large structure, and in the north-west of China - two. Later, a number of Soviet geologists, using conventional ("terrestrial") research methods, described several significant ring forms in Ukraine and Kazakhstan, the Far East and Chukotka.

However, before the beginning of the space age, such formations were considered an exception, although it has already been proven that they are associated with deposits of metals, including gold and silver. Deciphering satellite images (i.e., the identification of circular or oval shapes created by an arcuate or concentric structure of the relief, the shores of seas and lakes, a hydraulic network or vegetation cover, as well as circular anomalies in the pattern and tonality of the image) immediately changed the idea of \u200b\u200bthe prevalence and dimensions of formations, called ring structures. It turned out that the entire land surface of our planet is literally dotted with "pockmarks" and "hillocks", which are generally 100–150 km across; there are also huge ones - hundreds and even thousands of kilometers in diameter; small ones (30-50 km), the number of which simply cannot be counted, are almost always “invested” in larger ones. Of the variety of currently known types of ring structures, domed and dome-ring structures, that is, positive relief forms, are especially widely represented.

Giant ring structures, more precisely ovoid-ring systems of complex structure, first identified by a geologist stand apart Marat Zinovievich Glukhovsky in 1978 according to the results of geological and morphological analysis. They are called nuclears and are clearly visible on space images of all continents of the Earth, with the exception of Antarctica; the diameter of some reaches almost 4 thousand km.

Ring structures of Europe

in the European continent M. Glukhovsky allocated Svekonorvezhsky (900 km), Hereinafter, the dimensions along the maximum axis are given in brackets. Svekofennok Karelian (1,300 km) and Kola-Lapland (550 km) nuclears. They are confined to the Scandinavian Peninsula and are deciphered from satellite images. Pribaltiyskiy (500 km), established by him according to geological and geophysical data and "from the sky", occupies most of the Baltic water area. Scythian and Sarmatian giants, with a diameter of 1 thousand km each, identified by a Soviet geologist William Arturovich Bush on geological and morphological materials, located in the European part of the USSR.

In addition to the listed nuclears, W. Bush distinguishes a number of large uplifts within the continent; these include the Order (about 600 km) in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula with four rather significant satellites; Czech (about 400 km), including the Ore Mountains, Bohemian Forest, Sumava and Sudetenland; Pannonian (more than 500 km), complicated by several positive and negative structures. On the territory of our country, he also deciphered three ovals with a diameter from 300 to 400 km (from north to south) - Onega, Molodechno and Volynsky and five domes (about 300 km across) - Arkhangelsk, Leningradsky, Tikhvinsky, Rybinsky and Gorkovsky.

Of the negative structures, mention should be made of the similar in size (200–260 km) Segur (southern Spain), Liguro-Piedmont (northern Italy) and Paris, as well as the larger Budapest (up to 400 km) and the most significant (about 450 km) Mezen. To the south of it, there are two structures of unknown genesis - Sukhonskaya and Vychegodskaya (both up to 400 km in diameter). In the contours of these large formations, as well as outside them, numerous forms have been found, the diameters of which are usually less than 100 km.

Ring structures of the Asian part of the USSR

within Siberia and Of the Far East Soviet geologists note a significant number of ring structures of various "formats". So, Vladimir Vasilievich Soloviev, in the early 70s. Having carried out a geological and morphological analysis, for the first time he identified the giant Ob (1500 km) structure, which covers the interfluve of the lower Ob and Yenisei. As it was established later when decrypting space images, it is a nuclear and along the periphery is complicated by numerous formations that are significantly inferior to it, the diameter of which ranges from 250 to 400 km. Of these, we note the Khanty-Mansiysk and Vartovskaya (about 400 km), which have a concentric structure, and their outer contour is less pronounced than the inner one. To the east is the Kheta-Olenek nuclear (1100 km), occupying the center and north of the Central Siberian plateau; it was deciphered from space images by M. Glukhovsky. Within this structure, there are uplifts of the Putorana (300 km) and Anabarsky (230 km) type, identified by V. Solovyov, and a number of smaller ones.

Further south, in the Angara basin, V. Solovyov mapped another large form, the Angara (900 km), based on geological and morphological materials. In the Aldan basin, when analyzing topographic maps, he described a giant morphostructure of the central type, later called Aldano-Stanovoy (1300 km). In the interfluve of the Vilyui and Lena in 1978, M. Glukhovsky, based on space images, revealed the Vilyui structure (750 km) with a central oval and a system of arcs of an ever increasing radius. It was later established that all three formations should be ranked as nuclears. The contours of another nuclear, the Amursky (1400 km), which includes a number of satellite structures, are outlined mainly from satellite images.

Outside the limits of the listed giants, many ovals were discovered, mostly confined to the northeast of the continent. The largest of them is the Verkhneindigirsky (500x350 km) with a clearly visible core; Omolonsky (400x300 km), discovered by V. Solovyov, has a concentric vortex structure. Noteworthy is the large, almost isometric (500 km) Upper Yanskaya structure, distinguished by morphological and geological features.

The number of dome-shaped or circular uplifts up to 200 km in diameter, deciphered over the vast expanses of the North-East, is several hundred. They are clearly expressed in relief and are located in the central parts or on the periphery of more significant formations. Ring structures up to 60 km across are in the hundreds; they are usually round in shape, less often they have oval outlines.

Analysis of satellite images of Kazakhstan and Central Asia revealed a wide distribution of similar formations ranging in size from tens to several hundred kilometers. Of the folded ovals, we note the Kokchetav oval (about 600 km), the core of which was first discovered by Gulsem Ziganovna Popova in the early 60s. by geological and morphological characteristics; later it was described by V. Soloviev. Among the uplifts, mention should be made of the semicircular structure in the Karakum Desert, the North Tien Shan (350 km), covering the highest mountainous part of the Kyungoy-and Terskey-Ala-Too ranges, as well as the Pamir (about 600 km), partly located within foreign Asia. The negative structures include the North Caspian (900x600 km) and the smaller South Caspian and South Balkhash (up to 400 km).

Ring structures of foreign Asia

and in the territory of foreign Asia, W. Bush outlined eight nuclears. Half of them are "purely" Asian, located in the east of the mainland: three (Sino-Korean, North-Chinese and Indo-Chinese) have a diameter of 600-800 km, and South China is larger - 1200 km. They were identified by geological-geophysical and geological-morphological data. The rest are only fragments of giant nuclears, torn apart by the disintegration of the mainland of Gondwana. The Aravali is the Asian part of the Somali-Aravali, which also includes two fragments - the Somali Peninsula and the north of Madagascar; Arabian-Nubian consists of two parts, the smaller one is located in Asia. Only the south of the Hindustan Peninsula belongs to the Darvaro-Mozambique-Pilbar nuclear, and the area adjacent to the Bay of Bengal belongs to the Indo-Australian.

The smaller ring structures, as on other continents, overlap and intersect. They are mainly characterized by an almost round or oval shape, or have open contours. In addition to the oval in the already mentioned Pamir uplift, similar formations were deciphered in southern China, in the interfluve of the Ganges and Mahanadi, in the north and southeast of the Hindustan Peninsula (Madras oval, more than 500 km), as well as in Asia Minor (Kirshehir oval, 250 km).

V. Bush classifies the Khangai-Khentoiskoe (up to 1000 km) with open contours to the largest uplifts on the continent. More modest in size formations of the same type: Shaanxi (250 km) in China, Hamadan (400 km), corresponding to the most elevated parts of the Zagros mountain system, and Diyarbakyr (350 km), in the interfluve of the upper Tigris and Euphrates.

Among the negative structures, there are three rather significant ones: the Syrian (750 km), Helmand (600 km) and Lhasa (500x250 km), semi-oval shape with winding boundaries. In addition to them, several smaller ones have been identified in Asia Minor, Gobi, Mongolia, and on the Arabian Peninsula.

Small formations, represented by domes or bodies of granite massifs less than 150 km in diameter, according to V. Bush's calculations, account for more than three quarters of all outlined ring structures in Asia. They are confidently detected in many regions of the mainland, in particular on the Indian subcontinent.

Ring structures of Africa

within the African continent Soviet geologist Evgeny Dmitrievich Sulidi-Kondratyev in 1983, for the first time identified ring formations of various sizes and origins. The largest are seven nuclears: West African, in the form of an oval (3600x3000 km), Arabian-Nubian (2200 km), which covers part of the territory of Arabia; Central African (2800 km), occupying almost the entire basin of the river. Congo; Tanzanian The priority in identifying this giant structure belongs to the Soviet geologist Oleg Borisovich Gintov (1978), who analyzed geological and morphological materials. (1400x850 km); Somali-Aravalian (1700 km) - about half of it is located in Hindustan; South African (2,400 km); Darvaro-Mozambic-Pilbarsky (1500 km), torn into four "pieces" located on three continents (Africa, Asia and Australia), as well as on about. Madagascar.

In addition to the listed giants, on the African continent, there are many positive ring structures of a smaller diameter, referred to the type of folded ovals. Of these, the most significant is Gabonese (1,100 km), inside which there are two large domes - the North Gabonese (about 500 km) and Shayu (300-350 km). The Ahaggar oval, which has a diameter of more than 1000 km, contains five satellite domes, each 300–400 km in diameter. The North Sudan is slightly inferior to it (about 1000 km along the major axis). In West Africa, near the Atlantic coast, three smaller ovals were identified, including the Leono-Liberian one, with an indistinct concentric structure. In Central and South Africa, four structures of the same size have been deciphered, including the Zimbabwe oval described by O. Gintov (with three satellites 300 km in diameter each) and the Transvaal with a central depression.

Dome-type structures are deciphered not only in the contours of the ovals, but also outside them: in the south of the mainland, there are two such independent formations: Namaqua (250 km) and Cape (200 km). The overwhelming majority are less than 100 km across; domes with diameters ranging from several kilometers to 20 km mainly correspond to small massifs or volcanoes, such as Kilimanjaro.

The largest negative ring structures are Taudeni, Congo and Chad - each of them is about 1000 km in diameter. Less significant (450-650 km) depressions are confined mainly to North Africa - Kufra, Algerian-Libyan and two south of the Sahara Atlas. Depressions of approximately the same size were found in the west and south of the mainland, including the Kalahari (up to 600 km across).

Ring structures of North America

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american geologist John Saul in 1978 he described the most grandiose ring structure of the Earth - North American (3700–3800 km), the center of which is in Hudson Bay. In 1982 the Soviet geologist Natalia Valentinovna Makarova classified it as a nuclear.

Within this giant N. Makarova, in addition to "ground" materials, using space images, deciphered a variety of ring satellite structures of various types and sizes. Note the Slave oval (more than 500 km), clearly expressed in the relief, located between the Bolshoi Bear and Bolshoi Slave Lakes; oval Dubont (about 350 km), marked by the relief around the lake of the same name. To the south, the outlines of two large (400–500 km) forms are outlined - Atabas and Winnipeg. Several formations are confined to the Labrador Peninsula: the Central Labrador uplifts (750x550 km) and Ungava (about 500 km), as well as two semi-circular depressions. The significant (450 km) Wager structure (along the bay of the same name) is located at the Arctic Circle; its northern part is low-lying, while its southern part is somewhat elevated. A large number of domes and depressions from 50 to 400 km are distinguished between the ovals and in their contours; some of the more pronounced ones have been noted earlier by American geologists, such as the dome-shaped Adirondack Mountains, east of Lake Ontario.

In the north and south of the mainland N. Makarova deciphered two more nuclears. Northern (1500 km) covers the entire Canadian Arctic Archipelago, with the exception of three-quarters of Baffin Land. Within its limits, several ring structures are presumably contoured, mainly corresponding to islands (for example, Victoria, Ellesmere) or semi-enclosed water areas such as the Fox or Kane basins. The main area of \u200b\u200bthe southern, Mexican nuclear (1700–1800 km2) falls on the bay of the same name; the periphery of the structure is represented by a relatively narrow strip of coastline from Florida to Yucatan.

Colorado nuclear (1500х1300 km) in the west is bordered by coastal ridges, in the east by the Rocky Mountains; its central part is a huge vault with a sagging core and is deciphered as a satellite dome corresponding to Great Basin; within its boundaries, several relatively small (200–300 km) ring formations were noted.

Outside the limits of nuclears N. Makarova revealed a number of large forms; some of them are well pronounced in the relief, for example, the South Alaska (350 km), outlined by the arc of the Alaska ridge, Michigan-Huron (500 km), which has an almost perfect contour. Others appear only on satellite images - these include the Missouri-Illinois (750 km), which borders the Mississippi tributaries that gave it its name in the south and east; Kansas (600 km), cut off in the south by arc faults of the Ouachita semi-circular structure; Ohio (about 500 km) with a lowered southern and raised northern halves. Two significant uplifts are deciphered in the Mexican territory: the Central Mexican (more than 600 km), characterized by a complex structure, and the Mexico City ring (up to 400 km).

Ring structures of South America

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analyzing the relief of the continent on topographic maps and using, however, to a lesser extent than on other continents, space images, the Soviet geologist Yakov Grigorievich Katz identified a number of significant structures. First of all, let us point out the giant Amazonian nuclear (3200 km), which included the entire northwestern part of South America. Small "scraps" of the other two, gravitating towards the Atlantic coast, are parts of the previously mentioned Central African and South African nuclears. The Guiana uplift (1000–1200 km) corresponds to the plateau of the same name, well expressed in the relief and having a concentric structure.

Piranhas (550 km) and Recife (500 km), confined to the eastern projection of the mainland, are attributed to similar, but smaller positive formations. Far in the south, near the Atlantic coast, two more ring uplifts are identified - Uruguay (600 km) and Buenos Aires (450 km).

Four negative ring structures with diameters ranging from 300 to 550 km each are noted in the Amazon basin, including three in its valley. East of the lower reaches of this river is another depression - Maranyan (more than 800 km), and to the south of it another - in the upper reaches of the river. San Francisco.

A number of insignificant (10-50 km) forms have been established in the Andes system, corresponding to either volcanic edifices or small massifs.

Ring structures of Australia

the first ring structures of the mainland were established by a Soviet geologist Anatoly Mikhailovich Nikishin... In the relief of North-Western Australia, an uplift is clearly visible, the ring shape of which is well outlined by the valleys of the drying up rivers Ashburton and De Gray. This Pilbari nuclear is just a part of the Darvaro-Mozambique-Pilbari nuclear that we have already mentioned. It has a clear concentric structure due to several "nested" ovals, and in the south-east it is complicated by the annular structure of the Disappointing (350 km).

Nuclear Iilgarn has been identified in the southwest of the continent with an egg-shaped outline (1200x800 km). Within its limits, three ovals with a size of 100-300 km along the major axis are marked, including Austin. A significant part of the largest of the Australian structures of this type - the Indo-Australian (about 2400 km) is noted in the north; about a third of it falls on the Indian subcontinent. Six ovals have been identified within this nuclear, including Kimberley (400–600 km), bounded in the south by the arcuate Durak and King Leopold ridges. Nuclear Goler is confined to the center of South Australia (about 1200 km), which is practically not manifested in the relief. It is complicated by two ovals and a relatively large depression with a superimposed ring structure 300 km in diameter.

In addition to satellite ovals, on the continent, A. Nikishin deciphered three independent formations of the same type, with a diameter of 200–250 km - two in the west and one in the east; only Kennedy's half-oval is clearly visible in the relief, outlined by arcuate sections of the channels of a number of short rivers of the Indian Ocean basin.

In eastern Australia, geological and morphological data have identified two large negative ring structures: the Eromanga (800 km), corresponding to the Great Artesian Basin, cut by parallel valleys of several rivers, and the Murray Basin (600 km), located to the south and not covered only in the north and south hills. In the heart of the continent, the giant Musgrave-McDonnell structure (900 km) has been identified, the core of which is the systems of the same-named ridges.

Discovery and study of lineaments

on the face of the Earth - this has long been reflected on its physical maps - gigantic straight or slightly curved lines are clearly visible: the even outlines of significant coastal sections of some continents and islands, watersheds and mountain systems, as well as river valleys. Such oriented in one direction contours of geographic objects American geologist William hobbs in 1911 he called it lineaments. However, back in 1883, Alexander Petrovich Karpinsky described a "rudimentary ridge" with a length of 2300 km with a maximum width of up to 300 km, stretching from Poland through Donbass to Mangyshlak. In 1892, the French geologist Marcel Bertrand laid the foundations for the doctrine of very extended linear structures, which are dominated by significant landforms, large disturbances in the earth's crust, as well as flat coasts of seas, straits, bays, etc. However, it was only in the space era that they received "citizenship rights", moreover, now they are rightfully considered one of the main features of the surface structure of our planet. On global and regional satellite images, taken at all seasons and in different zones of the spectrum, a huge number of "strokes" that were absent on maps of any scale are clearly deciphered. A detailed study of these lines on local photographs up to their study on the ground ("in the field") - it turned out that their image consists of well-kept along the strike of the boundaries of landscape zones, all kinds of ledges, chains of lakes and other depressions, drainage lines of surface and ground waters , glacial troughs, dividing lines of different types of soil or vegetation. The length of the largest (global) lineaments reaches 25 thousand km. width - the first hundred kilometers.

Lineaments of Europe and Asia

about the beginning of the space age, only single gigantic lineament zones were identified (we will note the scientists who discovered them below). Deciphering space images and processing geological and geophysical materials made it possible for a group of Soviet geologists headed by V. Bush to characterize the network of the largest - global and transcontinental - lineaments, identifying five groups among them.

The meridional ones, according to W. Bush, form a uniform system of linear structures approaching from the equator to the pole, located 600–800 km from one another and not deviating more than 15 ° from the meridional direction. Latitudinal ones are mainly confined to the northeast of Asia and are located at a distance of 800-1000 km from each other. The diagonal lineaments include structures of northwestern, northeastern, and arcuate strike (representatives of the latter two groups are relatively rare).

By 1983, the meridional lineaments, or lineament zones, the length of which ranges from 3500 to 18000 km, according to W. Bush, 14 were identified. The westernmost, discovered in 1925 by a German geologist Hans Still and received his name, stretches from Trondheim, in Norway, to the south through Lake Mjøsa, along the western coast of the Jutland Peninsula and the meridional valley of the river. Reina, where it is especially pronounced. Further south along the valley of the river. The Rhone zone is traced through the islands of Corsica and Sardinia to the African continent. The European section of the Stille Line is over 3,500 km long.

The merit of distinguishing the global linear Ural-Oman structure belongs to A. Karpinsky: in 1894, he described meridional faults along the Ural ridge and continuing to the lower reaches of the Amu Darya. French geologist Raymond Furon proved that they stretch through Iran far to the south - to about. Madagascar. According to V. Bush, this lineament zone in the form of a wide (more than 300 km) strip can be traced from Pai-Khoi approximately along the meridian 60 ° along the Urals, through the Karakum and Iranian highlands. Beyond the Gulf of Oman, the zone deviates to the south-west and reaches the western coast of Madagascar; its length is determined at 15,000 km.

The Yenisei-Saluensky lineament runs from the Kara Sea along the river valley. Yenisei across the junction of Altai and Western Sayan. Then it follows in Central Asia approximately along the meridian 95 ° E. across the headwaters of the Yangtze and along the contiguous valleys of the Ayeyarwady, Salween and Mekong. In the Indian Ocean, the lineament is represented by the underwater East Indian Ridge; its total length is 9000 km.

V. Bush considers the Verkhoyansk-Marianskaya (18,000 km long) to be global structures. In the Arctic Ocean, the underwater Gakkel Ridge belongs to it, then it is recorded on the New Siberian Islands and through the Verkhoyansk structure and the Sette-Daban ridge it is traced across Sakhalin, Hokkaido, and Honshu. To the south, the lineament passes along the Bonin and Mariansky Islands and, bypassing from the east about. New Guinea, reaches the waters between Australia and New Zealand.

Chaunsko-Olyutorsky (7500 km) belongs to the category of the most clearly deciphered lineaments. From Chaunskaya Bay, it stretches across the entire northeast of Asia approximately along 170 ° E. d. to the Olyutorsky Peninsula. Here the lineament “dives” under the water (Shirshov ridge) and then, almost without changing direction, is fixed in the form of the underwater Imperial ridge.

The group of latitudinal liaments is inferior in number (six) and length (7000–9500 km) to meridional ones. The northernmost of the "latitudes" begins near Vorkuta and, passing along the junction of the Polar Urals and Pai-Khoi, is established in the north of the West Siberian Plain and is confidently deciphered on the Putorana plateau. Further, it outlines the Anabar plateau from the south, crosses the Verkhoyansk ridge, and to the east it is fixed in the relief in the form of the Polousny ridge and the Ulakhan-Sis ridge. Then the lineament is found in the Chukotka Peninsula and traced in Alaska in the form of the Brooks Ridge; its length is 7500 km.

The Koryak-Ukhta lineament (7500 km) starts from the lower reaches of the Northern Dvina and, crossing the Urals, outlines the Siberian Uvaly from the north. Then it “forces” the Lower Tunguska and Vilyui to flow in a latitudinal course, and in the far east it manifests itself in the structures of the Koryak Upland in the same direction.

Okhotsk-Moscow lineament, the European section of which was identified by a Soviet geologist Dmitry Mikhailovich Trofimov, begins at the Curonian Spit (southern coast of the Baltic Sea). To the east, this extended (9500 km) structure is noted on the East European Plain by latitudinal sections of the Volga and Kama. Not appearing in the Urals, it passes through the central part of the West Siberian Plain, "dictating" the latitudinal direction of the Angara and Aldan valleys, as well as the northern coast of the Sea of \u200b\u200bOkhotsk.

We will characterize three of the seven lineaments of the northwestern group. The record for the length (25,000 km) belongs now to the Barents Sea-Taiwan structure, which, according to V. Bush, consists of a number of parallel branches, replacing one another en-route. The western one is traced from the North Cape to Timan (this segment was identified by H. Shtille). Then it diagonally crosses the Middle Urals, Central Kazakhstan, the entire Central and Southeast Asia and fades out on about. Kalimantan. The eastern branch of this lineament is more clearly manifested: it is noted in the Pechora lowland and on the West Siberian plain, and is found in the western part of the Gobi and the Alashan desert. Then she reaches about. Taiwan and continues across the Pacific Ocean floor.

The Red Sea-Constance lineament (9000 km) originates on the island. Ireland and, passing along the European continent through the Vosges to Lake Constance, runs into the arc of the Alps, where it does not appear. Again, the lineament is deciphered further to the southeast, in the Sava basin. Then it passes to the western coast of Asia Minor and stretches along the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean, probably to the Seychelles.

The Elb-Zagros structure (10,000 km) occurs off the southern coast of Iceland, crosses the Atlantic along the Faroe-Icelandic threshold and, possibly. North Sea, appearing on the continent at the base of the Jutland Peninsula. Further, the lineament goes along the Elbe and Odra valleys, cuts the Carpathians (here it is fixed in the form of a clear fault zone) and goes to the Black Sea in the lower reaches of the Danube; this European segment of the structure was revealed by H. Stille. In Asia Minor, the lineament is deciphered in the eastern half of the Pontine Mountains, along the Zagros ridge it reaches the Arabian Sea and stretches parallel to the entire western coast of the Indian subcontinent.

The group of "northeastern" includes five structures with a length of 4500 to 10,000 km. One of them, Altyntagsko-Okhotsk (8500 km), begins on the southern coast of Arabia and in the sea, possibly, corresponds to the underwater ridge of Murray. Having entered the Asian continent, it determines the strike of the lower reaches of the Indus and Sutlej. In the Himalayas, deciphered only in parts, the lineament is noted in Tibet and clearly manifests itself in the Altintag ridge. Then it crosses the Gobi Desert in the northeastern direction and approaches the coast of the Sea of \u200b\u200bOkhotsk near the Shantar Islands.

The group of arcuate "consists" of four lineaments with a length of 3500 to 11000 km. The already mentioned Karpinsky Line (7,500 km) begins at the Montagne Noire mountains in the south of France. Skirting around the Alps and Carpathians, it is recorded in the Swietokrzyskie mountains, in the Kanev region, Donetsk ridge, the Caspian lowland and on the Mangyshlak peninsula. Then the lineament passes through Sultan-Uvais, at 61 ° E. etc., and can be traced, according to V. Bush, to the Suleiman mountains.

The Palmiro-Baraba lineament (11,000 km), long known on the Lebanon-Kura Valley section, passes into Africa in the southwest. In Asia, it is traced through Absheron, the northern coast of the Aral Sea and Lake Tengiz to the region southeast of Lake Chany. On the Central Siberian Plateau, it is installed along the latitudinal Moscow-Okhotsk lineament, and then reaches the Tsugaru Strait through Transbaikalia and the Amur region.

Lineaments of other continents

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due to the relatively poor knowledge of some continents (for example, South America) and the small availability of their territories with space images, it has not yet been possible to distinguish a network of lineaments, such as in Europe and Asia. However, this is a matter of the relatively near future. Today, only a few single giant linear structures can be noted with confidence. So, on the African continent, the continuation of the meridional zone of the Mediterranean Sea - Lake Mjosa is deciphered: from the coast of Tunisia it crosses the Sahara to the south and reaches the Gulf of Biafra. The length of the section is over 3500 km.

The Atlas-Azov lineament, starting on the Atlantic coast, runs along the entire Atlas mountain system and through Sicily and the south of the Apennine Peninsula goes to the lower Danube. Further, he controls the northern coast of the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov and the valley of the lower Don, ending at Volgograd. The length of this structure on the territory of Africa is 1,500 km (total length is about 6,000 km).

Latitudinal lineament Bohador-Ribat (about 5000 km), identified by J. Katz, begins at Cape Bohador, on the Atlantic coast of the mainland. Slightly deviating to the north, it crosses the entire Sahara and reaches the Gulf of Suez near 30 ° N. sh. Further, almost without changing direction, the structure stretches through the Arabian Peninsula and the Iranian Highlands, ending at 64 ° E. etc.

Levrie-Zorug belongs to the northeastern group of African lineaments (about 3500 km). From Levrie Bay, at 21 ° N. sh., near Cape Cap Blanc (now Nouadhibou), it crosses the Sahara to Cape Zorug, the Gulf of Sidra. In South America, according to geological and morphological data, Y. Katz distinguished two lineaments - the Amazonian (3500 km), which controls the almost latitudinal Amazon valley, and the meridional Paraguay-Paransky (2500 km). Their existence has been confirmed by deciphering space images.

The MGY Valley in Antarctica, discovered by Soviet researchers, should also be classified as lineament structures.

Space for oceanologists

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the study of the ocean from space made it possible for the first time to "look around" the entire water area of \u200b\u200beach of them, to trace the behavior of some currents and ice shells in the Arctic and Antarctic. Remote observations brought a number of surprises. For example, space images from an American satellite, taken during August - September 1964, convincingly showed that off the coast of Antarctica from the Coast of Pravda to Enderby Land, permanent openings are much more common than ice reconnaissance from aircraft and ships noted. In the early 70s. In the Antarctic, the Bering and Okhotsk Seas, large (up to 200 km across) ice eddies were discovered, solid analogs of those discovered in the 60s. oceanic eddies.

American astronauts from the Skylab manned orbital station in 1973-1974. managed to detect the curvature of the Atlantic surface such as sinkholes and craters in the waters of the Bermuda Triangle. Research from space has established a direct dependence of the planet's cloud cover on ocean currents (by the way, such a connection was also revealed with mountain systems).

Observations "from heaven" proved that the previously mentioned eddies are not a single, but quite common phenomenon, caused by the general circulation of ocean waters. This discovery was made in 1978 by a Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Vasilievich Kovalenok... Approaching the Timor Sea, he clearly recorded the distortion of the Indian Ocean level, in the shape of a hill. A number of oceanologists perceived this information as erroneous - no one has noted anything like this before. Soon, however, V. Kovalenka's message was confirmed: in July 1979. Vladimir Afanasievich Lyakhov and Valery Viktorovich Ryumin in the northwestern waters of the Indian Ocean, at 40 ° N. sh., in perfectly clear weather, a water ridge of latitudinal direction with a length of at least 100 km was noted. This local elevation turned out to be relatively high: its shadow formed a distinct zone along the northern slopes. They also observed a section of the underwater ridge southwest of the Hawaiian Islands. (Similar messages had been received earlier from Soviet and American cosmonauts, in particular V. Kovalenok saw a section of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.) However, they all saw not the underwater uplifts themselves, but their "images" created by plankton or particles suspended in water on the location of which is influenced by the bottom topography.

V. Lyakhov from orbit spotted many water vortices of various sizes; it was possible to find out that eddy-anticyclones dominate in the equatorial zone, and their direct opposites at higher latitudes.

Most recently (1984), according to data obtained from artificial satellites, south of about. Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean discovered a giant depression - the water surface within it is 100 m below the level of the surrounding water area. The same "bowls" were found near Australia and in the Atlantic, off the coast of Central and South America.