«CHERNOMOR»: TO THE 50th ANNIVERSARY OF THE LONGEST EXPERIMENT

The work is devoted to a brief description of the preparation and conduct series of scientific experiments in the underwater laboratory “Chernomor” during the period of 1967–1972. The experiments were carried out at the depths from 8 to 30 meters. The place of the experiments is the Southern Branch of the Institute of Oceanology (Gelendzhik). It was unique experiments in the duration of a person’s stay underwater. The maximum depth for “Chernomor” was identified, the optimal methods of organizing work in underwater inhabited houses and the permissible depths for the use of nitrogen-oxygen breathing mixtures were determined. Specialized medical and physiological research was carried out to develop a methodology for the selection and training of aquanauts for future scientific crews. “Chernomor” was the only underwater house in the world that served on the seabed for five seasons in a row. More than 50 scientists from all over the country worked in it in different crews. The work is a tribute to the memory of all enthusiasts and dreamers: designers and developers, engineers and technicians, divers and scientists, everyone involved in those unforgettable events.

When did the North Anatolian fault reach southern Marmara, Turkey?

We dated syntectonic calcites on fault planes from the southern branch of the western North Anatolian fault (NAF) in northern Turkey using U-Th geochronology. We selected strike-slip faults that are kinematically related to the current regional strain field. The isotopic ages cluster around different periods during the past ~700 k.y. The most prominent cluster peak of 510.5 ± 9.5 ka (1σ) is consistent with the maximum cumulative strike-slip offset data and tectonic plate motions measured by GPS data, highlighting the fact that the present configuration of the NAF in the southern Marmara region started at ca. 500 ka or earlier. These new isotopic ages, combined with previous considerations of regional tectonics, reveal that faulting along the western NAF initiated primarily in the southern Marmara region at least a few hundred thousand years earlier than the timing suggested for the northern branch of the western NAF. This study presents an innovative approach to constrain the timing of initiation of currently active fault segments along the NAF in southern Marmara. U-Th geochronology of fault-hosted calcite thus has a wide application in determining absolute ages of fault episodes in wider shear zones along plate boundaries.

The Seismogenic Structure of the 2017 Mw 6.9 Milin, Tibet, Earthquake: A Possible Newly Active Fault at the Eastern Himalayan Syntaxis

On 18 November 2017, an Mw 6.9 earthquake occurred in Milin, Tibet, with the epicenter at the top of the Namche Barwa syntaxis. This event did not produce surface ruptures, and its seismogenic structure remains unclear or controversial. Using the locations of the Milin mainshock and aftershocks, locations of regional small earthquakes and focal mechanism solutions from 2007 to 2009, this work analyzed the causative fault and tectonic setting of the Milin earthquake and assessed the regional seismic risk. The results suggest that the seismogenic structure of the Milin earthquake was a secondary fault, the southern branch of the XiXingla fault (XXLF). Within 28 hr after the mainshock, the aftershocks of the Milin event spread northeastward to the secondary north branch fault of the XXLF and the secondary south branch fault of the Palong–Pangxin fault. Across the top of the Namche Barwa syntaxis (Namche Barwa block) and the Chayu block in the southeast, an earthquake dense belt (EDB) has developed. This EDB has similar deep structures beneath the two blocks, in which several northeast-dipping structural planes exit, and different portions of the EDB imply a unified tectonic stress field. Combining these data with the foreshock–mainshock–aftershock data for the 1950 Mw 8.6 Chayu, Tibet, earthquake, we speculate that the structural planes produced by the EDB at depth in the two blocks have already been connected or tended to connect, resulting in a new fault system trending northwest and approximately 280 km long. The 2017 Mw 6.9 Milin earthquake occurred at the northwestern end of this fault system. At present, the development stage, maturity, and fine structure of this new fault system remain unclear but should receive additional attention. Based on its maximum rupture area, this new fault system is capable of generating an Mw 7.7 earthquake in the future.

IN MEMORY OF VITALY BORISOVICH TITOV (02.01.1930 – 07.02.2021)

On February 7, 2021, one of the oldest employees of the Southern Branch of the Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SE IO RAS), a leading researcher at the Laboratory of Hydrophysics and Modeling, Candidate of Geographical Sciences Titov Vitaly Borisovich, passed away at the age of 92. He was an interesting man and a well-known hydrophysicist who devoted himself to experimental studies of sea currents, the study of the spatial and temporal variability of hydrophysical fields, and the development of methods for measuring currents in the ocean.

'Patient and practitioner experience of mindfulness as taught in DBT' Jennie Eeles

Jennie Eeles lecture on 'Patient and practitioner experience of mindfulness as taught in DBT'. This was recorded on 4 April 2019 at the ACAMH Southern Branch Research Day. ACAMH members can now receive a CPD certificate for watching this recorded lecture.

'The use of Lurasidone in children and adolescents' Dr. Jonathan Channing

Dr. Jonathan Channing lecture on The use of Lurasidone in children and adolescents'. This was recorded on 4 April 2019 at the ACAMH Southern Branch Research Day. ACAMH members can now receive a CPD certificate for watching this recorded lecture.

Taiwan Intertwined with the World

One of the central tropes of recent imaginings of Taiwan identity is Taiwan’s interconnectedness with the world. This assertion of Taiwan’s place in the world is critically important in a “nation” that is not recognized as such by most of the world. This chapter explores two museums—the Museum of World Religions (世界宗教博物館‎) and the Southern Branch of the National Palace Museum (國立故宮博物院南部院區‎)—that explicitly adopt a global perspective, expressing Taiwan’s simultaneous desire to be integrated with the world and to matter to that world, even if only on religious and cultural levels.