Structural state of detrital alkali feldspars

The structural state of an alkali feldspar is determined by the nature of the distribution of Al and Si in the tetrahedral sites of the feldspar structure. This state is a function of a number of genetic controls including temperature, cooling rate, deformation, crystal size, and several chemical factors. Together these controls constitute a genetic regime. Identification of the structures of detrital feldspars may enable recognition of genetic regimes and be useful in provenance interpretation and mineral province definition. A 2-peak method of X-ray diffraction (XRD) determination as a variant of an earlier proposed 3-peak method of structural state determination is used in this study. Total analytical time for each determination is about 50–55 min per grain. Results of structural state identification of 126 detrital feldspars from Holocene stream sands derived from volcanic, plutonic and metamorphic rocks are presented in order to illustrate the application and potential of the technique. Detrital feldspars from the metamorphic rocks are all maximum microcline; those from the plutons range from orthoclase to microcline depending on the age of the pluton, whereas those from the volcanic rocks are sanidines.     

The lunar rock and mineral characterization consortium: Deconstruction and integrated mineralogical,petrologic, and spectroscopic analyses of mare basalts

The lunar rock and mineral characterization consortium (LRMCC) has conducted coordinated mineralogy/petrography/spectroscopy analyses of a suite of pristine lunar basalts. Four basalt slabs (two low‐Ti, two high‐Ti) and paired thin sections were analyzed. Thin sections were analyzed for mineralogy/petrography, while the slabs were used to prepare particulate separates of major mineral phases and bulk samples. Mineral separates and particulate bulk samples were crushed to controlled grain sizes and their reflectance spectra measured in the NASA RELAB at Brown University. The resulting data set provides an essential foundation for spectral mixing models, offers valuable endmember constraints for space weathering analyses, and represents critical new ground truth results for lunar science and exploration efforts.     

Bathymetric preference of four major genera of rectilinear benthic foraminifera within oxygen minimum zone in Arabian Sea off central west coast of India

Fifty two surface sediment samples collected from the region off Goa, central west coast of India from water depths of 15–3300 m were analyzed with special emphasis on foraminiferal content. Rectilinear benthic foraminiferal morphogroup shows a high relative abundance within Oxygen Minimum Zone (OMZ), both shallow marine (50–60 m water depth) and intermediate to deep water (150–1500 m water depth). We gave special emphasis on four rectilinear foraminiferal genera, namely Fursenkoina, Bolivina, Bulimina and Uvigerina to observe their individual distribution among OMZ. We found genus Fursenkoina predominates at the shallow water OMZ, within the water depth zone of 50–60 m. Within 150–1500 m water depth, which is considered as intermediate to deep water OMZ in this region, genus Uvigerina shows its highest abundance above 1000 m water depth, whereas genus Bulimina shows its affinity with deeper water environment (>1000 m water depth). Genus Bolivina does not show any such depth preference, except its higher abundance in only intermediate to deep water OMZ. This depth differentiation among four rectilinear benthic foraminiferal genera presents the basic data for palaeoclimatic study based on the extent and intensity of OMZ along with the palaeobathymetry study.     

Anatomy of individual agglutinates from a lunar highland soil

Abstract— We report results of our investigation of the relationship between values of I_s/FeO (relative concentration of nanophase Fe⁰ divided by total FeO content), glass abundance, total Fe content, and degree of digestion of <20 μm clasts for 22 individual agglutinates (250–1000 μm) from the mature Apollo 16 soil 61181 (I_s/FeO = 82 units in the <250 μm fraction). Agglutinates are important products of space weathering on the Moon, and they influence spectral observations at visible and near-IR wavelengths. Values of I_s/FeO for individual agglutinates (250–1000 μm) within this single soil span a range from 3 to 262 units which is larger than the range observed for all Apollo 16 bulk soils (～0 to 110 units). No correlation was observed between I_s/FeO and glass abundance and FeO concentrations for either agglutinitic glass or whole agglutinate particles under investigation. Our results suggest that the variation in I_s/FeO for agglutinates from a single soil may be in part a consequence of natural mixing processes on the Moon that produce highly-variable environments (with respect to surface exposure) for agglutinate formation and in part to variable kinetics of reactions in an agglutinate melt, which are influenced by a variety of factors including melt composition, temperature, impactor velocity, and quench rate. We cannot exclude but do not see evidence for other processes including addition of exotic agglutinates, micrometeoritic bombardment into compositionally-diverse microtargets, recycling of agglutinates, preferential melting of very fine soil particles, and production of nanophase Fe⁰ in amorphous rims of very fine irradiated lunar grains contributing to the observed variation of I_s/FeO.     

Submillimeter grain‐size distribution of Apollo 11 soil 10084

Abstract— Soil 10084 is the only representative soil sample from Apollo 11 and arguably one of the purest mare soils in the Apollo collection. It was wet sieved in 1970 and dry sieved in 1971 with different results. Therefore, some doubt about its grain‐size distribution persists. We consider allocation inhomogeneity, if any, to be a minor cause for the discrepancy. Rather, the difference in methodology is likely to be the major cause for different results. We report the results of a new analysis of an allocation of 0.99 g using the contemporary method of wet sieving at Johnson Space Center; this method uses water instead of freon. Our results show that the mean grain size and sorting of the submillimeter fraction of soil 10084 are 4.28φ (= 51 μm) and 2.23φ (= 213 μm), respectively. A significant proportion (14.2%) of the soil is in the <10 μm size range, which contrasts to previous determinations of 6.4% and 9.8%, respectively. The newly determined grain‐size distribution is skewed towards the finest grain sizes. This result is more compatible with the high maturity of this soil than the results of previous determinations.