Low-grade Metamorphism of the Karmutsen Volcanics, Vancouver Island, British Columbia

Low-variance assemblages occurring within amygdules of Karmutsenlavas from the Elk Creek and Upper Campbell Lake areas, VancouverIsland, British Columbia, provide important constraints on thepressure and temperature of metamorphism as well as on the compositionof the attendant fluid. The P-T stability of the assemblagesepidote-muscovite-K-feldspar-prehnite and epidote-prehnite-quartz-wairakitecoupled with mean isochores derived from homogenization temperaturesof H₂O inclusions within amygdaloidal quartz indicate that theUpper Campbell Lake area was subjected to metamorphism at 1?5kb (?0?5 kb), 260 ?C (? 15?C) and the Elk Creek area at somewhatlower P or higher T. Isobaric T-a(CO₂) diagrams show that the occurrence of epidote-oligoclase,prehnite-orthoclase-albite, and prehnite-andesine assemblagescollected from the Elk Creek area is consistent with the P-Tconstraints and that these assemblages formed in water-richfluids containing very low concentrations of CO₂. The presenceof Ca-zeolite-epidote assemblages in the Upper Campbell Lakearea is also compatible with P-T estimates. The consistencyof epidote and prehnite rim compositions in low-variance assemblagesand the lack of incompatible phases in these assemblages demonstratethat equilibrium was obtained on limited domains within amygdules. Because epidote and prehnite compositions in low-variance assemblagesare very sensitive to changes in concentration of CO2, low-varianceassemblages involving these phases can serve as monitors offluid composition. It is postulated that low-variance assemblagesin Karmutsen flows originated by reaction of previously formed,high-variance assemblages with infiltrating CO₂-bearing aqueousfluids during a subsequent hydrothermal event. These fluidspreferentially exploited more permeable amygdaloidal portionsof the Karmutsen flows. The low-variance assemblages not onlyrecord the extremely H₂O-rich composition of the permeatingfluid, but also outline the paths the fluid took. ^* Offprint requests to B. R. Frost     

Stardust interstellar dust calibration: Hydrocode modeling of impacts on Al‐1100 foil at velocities up to 300 km s−1 and validation with experimental data

Abstract– We present initial results from hydrocode modeling of impacts on Al‐1100 foils, undertaken to aid the interstellar preliminary examination (ISPE) phase for the NASA Stardust mission interstellar dust collector tray. We used Ansys’ AUTODYN to model impacts of micrometer‐scale, and smaller projectiles onto Stardust foil (100 μm thick Al‐1100) at velocities up to 300 km s^?1. It is thought that impacts onto the interstellar dust collector foils may have been made by a combination of interstellar dust particles (ISP), interplanetary dust particles (IDP) on comet, and asteroid derived orbits, β micrometeoroids, nanometer dust in the solar wind, and spacecraft derived secondary ejecta. The characteristic velocity of the potential impactors thus ranges from <<1 to a few km s^?1 (secondary ejecta), approximately 4–25 km s^?1 for ISP and IDP, up to hundreds of km s^?1 for the nanoscale dust reported by Meyer‐Vernet et al. (2009) . There are currently no extensive experimental calibrations for the higher velocity conditions, and the main focus of this work was therefore to use hydrocode models to investigate the morphometry of impact craters, as a means to determine an approximate impactor speed, and thus origin. The model was validated against existing experimental data for impact speeds up to approximately 30 km s^?1 for particles ranging in density from 2.4 kg m^?3 (glass) to 7.8 kg m^?3 (iron). Interpolation equations are given to predict the crater depth and diameter for a solid impactor with any diameter between 100 nm and 4 μm and density between 2.4 and 7.8 kg m^?3.