A lunar core and the moon's magnetic field

The suggestion that the Moon's magnetic field is due to adiabatic magnetohydrodynamic convection of a molten core has been made by a number of recent authors. Considerations based on petrology, mass and rotational inertia limit the size of this hypothetical core to a few 100 km at the most. A proposal has been made that this core is either molten iron or iron sulfide. Fortunately, we know the properties of both molten iron and iron-sulfide at lunar core pressures. We can find no way of maintaining circulation in a hypothetical lunar core, as circulation is contingent upon a temperature gradient being greater than the adiabatic gradient, or an internal heat source.     

Temperature gradients at the core-mantle interface

Heat flowing out of the core must flow into the mantle. If the Earth's magnetic field is owing to adiabatic magnetohydrodynamic circulation of the outer core, whole mantle convection or melting at the core mantle boundary is required to keep the inner core from becoming isothermal, thereby preventing adiabatic circulation.Alternatively, the outer core fluid must have some unexpected and exotic property such as an extremely low coefficient of thermal expansion and resultant low Gruneisen's parameter.Paper dedicated to Professor Harold C. Urey on the occasion of his 80th birthday on 29 April 1973. Publication No. 1046 Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, Calif., U.S.A.     

Towards molecular understanding of species differences in dioxin sensitivity: initial characterization of Ah receptor cDNAs in birds and an amphibian

2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) and related planar halogenated aromatic hydrocarbons (PHAHs) are highly toxic to most vertebrate animals, but there are dramatic species differences in sensitivity, both within and among vertebrate classes. For example, studies in cultured avian hepatocytes have revealed differential sensitivity of birds to PHAHs [Kennedy et al. (1996). Toxicol. Appl. Pharmacol., 141, 214-230]. Differences in the characteristics or expression of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) could contribute to these species differences in PHAH responsiveness. To investigate the molecular mechanism of differential PHAH sensitivity, we have begun to characterize the AHR in white leghorn chicken (Gallus gallus), Pekin duck (Anas platyrhynchos), and common tern (Sterna hirundo), as well as an amphibian, mudpuppy (Necturus maculosus). Partial AHR cDNAs encompassing the helix-loop-helix and PAS domains were cloned and sequenced. Comparison of amino acid sequences in this region indicated a high degree of sequence conservation among the bird species (97% amino acid identity). The percent identity between bird sequences and either mouse or mudpuppy was lower (79%); the mudpuppy AHR was 74% identical to the mouse AHR. Phylogenetic analysis of these and other AHR amino acid sequences showed that the bird and mudpuppy AHRs were more closely related to mammalian and fish AHR1 forms than to fish AHR2. Future studies include the in vitro expression and functional characterization of AHRs from these and other non-mammalian vertebrates.     

Space weathering on airless bodies: Resolving a mystery with lunar samples

Abstract— Using new techniques to examine the products of space weathering of lunar soils, we demonstrate that nanophase reduced iron (npFe⁰) is produced on the surface of grains by a combination of vapor deposition and irradiation effects. The optical properties of soils (both measured and modeled) are shown to be highly dependent on the cumulative amount of npFe⁰, which varies with different starting materials and the energetics of different parts of the solar system. The measured properties of intermediate albedo asteroids, the abundant S‐type asteroids in particular, are shown to directly mimic the effects predicted for small amounts of npFe⁰ on grains of an ordinary chondrite regolith. This measurement and characterization of space weathering products seems to remove a final obstacle hindering a link between the abundant ordinary chondrite meteorites and common asteroids.     

Constraining the Late Wisconsinan retreat of the Laurentide ice sheet from western Canada using luminescence ages from postglacial aeolian dunes

Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating of quartz extracts from postglacial aeolian dunes from central Alberta in western Canada points to a landscape that was free of ice as early as 15 ka. Data from profiles where multiple ages have been obtained indicate an increase in depositional age with depth, suggesting that older aeolian sands underlie the dated sequences. The OSL ages present plausible minimum age constraints for the retreat of the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) towards the end of the Late Wisconsinan glaciation. Previous reconstructions of the LIS recession have relied on radiocarbon chronologies, despite the scarcity of contemporaneous radiocarbon-bearing material for large parts of western Canada. While the OSL chronology may be deemed concordant with ice sheet margin retreat models determined using radiocarbon data, there appears to be a systematic lag in the radiocarbon ages which may reflect that aeolian activity is initiated prior to the proliferation of organic material. The OSL chronology reported in this study does not preclude the emergence of a wide deglacial corridor between the LIS and the Cordilleran Ice Sheet by 15 ka or earlier. The possibility of such a passage would resuscitate the notion of an ice-free corridor that appeared early enough to afford the first peoples of the Americas a navigable inland migratory passage from Beringia to south of the North American ice sheets. More broadly, the corridor would also have allowed genetic exchanges between the Beringian refugium and the American middle and low latitudes.     

The mineralogic transformation of ferrihydrite induced by heterogeneous reaction with bioreduced anthraquinone disulfonate (AQDS) and the role of phosphate

Bioreduced anthraquinone-2,6-disulfonate (AH₂DS; dihydro-anthraquinone) was reacted with a 2-line, Si-substituted ferrihydrite under anoxic conditions at neutral pH in PIPES buffer. Phosphate (P) and bicarbonate (C); common adsorptive oxyanions and media/buffer components known to effect ferrihydrite mineralization; and Fe(II)_aq (as a catalytic mineralization agent) were used in comparative experiments. Heterogeneous AH₂DS oxidation coupled with Fe(III) reduction occurred within 0.13-1 day, with mineralogic transformation occurring thereafter. The product suite included lepidocrocite, goethite, and/or magnetite, with proportions varing with reductant:oxidant ratio (r:o) and the presence of P or C. Lepidocrocite was the primary product at low r:o in the absence of P or C, with evidence for multiple formation pathways. Phosphate inhibited reductive recrystallization, while C promoted goethite formation. Stoichiometric magnetite was the sole product at higher r:o in the absence and presence of P. Lepidocrocite was the primary mineralization product in the Fe(II)_aq system, with magnetite observed at near equal amounts when Fe(II) was high [Fe(II)/Fe(III)] = 0.5 and P was absent. P had a greater effect on reductive mineralization in the Fe(II)_aq system, while AQDS was more effective than Fe(II)_aq in promoting magnetite formation. The mineral products of the direct AH₂DS-driven reductive reaction are different from those observed in AH₂DS-ferrihydite systems with metal reducing bacteria, particularly in presence of P.     

The uppermost Middle and Upper Albian succession at the Col de Palluel, Hautes-Alpes, France: An integrated study (ammonites, inoceramid bivalves, planktonic foraminifera, nannofossils, geochemistry, stable oxygen and carbon isotopes, cyclostratigraphy)

An integrated study of the ammonites, inoceramid bivalves, planktonic foraminifera, calcareous nannofossils, geochemistry, stable carbon isotopes, and cyclostratigraphy is provided for the upper Middle to upper Upper Albian sucession exposed in the Col de Palluel section east of Rosans in Hautes-Alpes, France. The Albian-Cenomanian boundary interval described by Gale et al. at Mont Risou is re-examined, a total thickness of 370 m of the Marnes Bleues Formation. Zonal schemes based on ammonites, inoceramid bivalves, planktonic foraminifera, and calcareous nannofossils are integrated with the stable carbon isotope curve and key lithostratigraphic markers to provide a sequence of more than 70 events in the uppermost Middle Albian to basal Cenomanian interval. Time series analysis of the Al₂O₃ content of the 500 m Albian sequence present in the Col de Palluel and Risou sections reveals the presence of the 20 kyr precession, 40 kyr tilt, 100 kyr short eccentricity, and 406 kyr long eccentricity cycles. Correlation using planktonic foraminiferan and nannofossil data provide a link between the Col de Palluel and Risou sections and the Italian sequence at Gubbio, and in the Piobbico core. This provides a basis for the extension of the orbital time scale of Grippo et al. to the sequence. It reveals a major break in the Col de Palluel succession at the top of the distinctive marker bed known as the Petite Vérole that may represent as much as 2 Ma. It also provides a basis for the estimation of the length of the Albian Stage at 4.12 Ma, 0.8 Ma for the early Albian, 2.84 Ma for the Middle Albian, and 3.68 Ma for the late Albian substages.