Heavy rare gases from Rabbit Lake (Canada) and the Oklo mine (Gabon): natural spontaneous chain reactions in old uranium deposits

Xenon isotopic studies confirm natural spontaneous chain reactions at the Oklo mine site (Republic of Gabon) with an integrated neutron flux of approximately 4 × 10²⁰n/cm² and a duration between 14,000 and 70,000 years. Similar studies for the Rabbit Lake deposit (Saskatchewan), a slightly younger site with some evidence of continued geologic activity, shows no evidence of self-supporting reactions.     

Prognosis of TiO2 abundance in lunar soil using a non-linear analysis of Clementine and LSCC data

We suggest a technique to determine the chemical and mineral composition of the lunar surface using artificial neural networks (ANNs). We demonstrate this powerful non-linear approach for prognosis of TiO₂ abundance using Clementine UV-VIS mosaics and Lunar Soil Characterization Consortium data. The ANN technique allows one to study correlations between spectral characteristics of lunar soils and composition parameters without any restrictions on the character of these correlations. The advantage of this method in comparison with the traditional linear regression method and the Lucey et al. approaches is shown. The results obtained could be useful for the strategy of analyzing lunar data that will be acquired in incoming lunar missions especially in case of the Chandrayaan-1 and Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter missions.     

Cosmic ray exposure ages of features and events at the apollo landing sites

Cosmic ray exposure ages of lunar samples have been used to date surface features related to impact cratering and downslope movement of material. Only when multiple samples related to a feature have the same rare gas exposure age, or when a single sample has the same⁸¹Kr-Kr and track exposure age can a feature be considered reliably dated. Because any single lunar sample is likely to have had a complex exposure history, assignment of ages to features based upon only one determination by any method should be avoided. Based on the above criteria, there are only five well-dated lunar features: Cone Crater (Apollo 14) 26 m.y., North Ray Crater (Apollo 16) 50 m.y., South Ray Crater (Apollo 16) 2 m.y., the emplacement of the Station 6 boulders (Apollo 17) 22 m.y., and the emplacement of the Station 7 boulder (Apollo 17) 28 m.y. Other features are tentatively dated or have limits set on their ages: Bench Crater (Apollo 12) ?99 m.y., Baby Ray Crater (Apollo 16) ?2 m.y., Shorty Crater (Apollo 17) ≈ 30 m.y., Camelot Crater (Apollo 17) ?140 m.y., the emplacement of the Station 2 boulder 1 (Apollo 17) 45–55 m.y., and the slide which generated the light mantle (Apollo 17) ?50 m.y.     

Photometric anomalies in the Apollo landing sites as seen from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

Phase-ratio imagery is a new tool of qualitative photometric analyses of the upper layer of the lunar regolith, which allows the identification of natural surface structure anomalies and artificially altered regolith. We apply phase-ratio imagery to analyze the Apollo-14, -15, and -17 landing sites. This reveals photometric anomalies of ∼170 × 120 m size that are characterized by lower values of the phase-function steepness, indicating a smoothing of the surface microstructure caused by the engine jets of the landing modules. Other photometric anomalies characterized by higher phase-function slopes are the result of regolith loosening by astronaut boots and the wheels of the Modular Equipment Transporter and the Lunar Roving Vehicle. We also provide a possible explanation for the high brightness of the wheel tracks seen in on-surface images acquired at very large phase angles.     

Compressibility of nanocrystalline forsterite

We established an equation of state for nanocrystalline forsterite using multi-anvil press and diamond anvil cell. Comparative high-pressure and high-temperature experiments have been performed up to 9.6 GPa and 1,300°C. We found that nanocrystalline forsterite is more compressible than macro-powder forsterite. The bulk modulus of nanocrystalline forsterite is equal to 123.3 (±3.4) GPa whereas the bulk modulus of macro-powder forsterite is equal to 129.6 (±3.2) GPa. This difference is attributed to a weakening of the elastic properties of grain boundary and triple junction and their significant contribution in nanocrystalline sample compare to the bulk counterpart. The bulk modulus at zero pressure of forsterite grain boundary was determined to be 83.5 GPa.     

A three-dimensional discontinuous Galerkin model applied to the baroclinic simulation of Corpus Christi Bay

In this work, we present results of a numerical study of Corpus Christi Bay, Texas and surrounding regions and compare simulated model results to recorded data. The validation data for the year 2000 include the water elevation, velocity, and salinity at selected locations. The baroclinic computations were performed using the University of Texas Bays and Estuaries 3D (UTBEST3D) simulator based on a discontinuous Galerkin finite element method for unstructured prismatic meshes. We also detail some recent advances in the modeling capabilities of UTBEST3D, such as a novel turbulence scheme and the support for local vertical discretization on parts of the computational domain. All runs were conducted on parallel clusters; an evaluation of parallel performance of UTBEST3D is included.     

Primordial129Xe in meteorites

Xenon isotopic analyses by stepwise heating are presented for two neutron-irradiated chondrites, Arapahoe (L5) and Bjurböle (L4). The iodine-xenon formation age of Arapahoe is the oldest yet observed, 9.9 ± 0.8 m.y. before that of Bjurböle. It is thus unlikely that younger ages found in carbonaceous chondrite magnetite record the condensation of the solar nebula. The composition of trapped xenon in Arapahoe is normal except for a deficiency of¹²⁹Xe, where we infer ¹²⁹/Xe¹³²Xe= 0.56 ? 0.04, well below the apparent primordial solar system value. This need not conflict with higher values in other metamorphosed meteorites since growth of¹²⁹Xe from decay of¹²⁹I in xenon-depleted environments can be substantial. The contrast with apparent average solar system composition cannot be easily explained, however, since there is no way to generate one composition from the other. The simplest way to achieve low¹²⁹Xe seems to be to suppose that before decay to¹²⁹Xe r-process production at mass 129 condensed into dust as¹²⁹I, and that Arapahoe's parent body formed in a region of the solar system substantially depleted of this dust before any isotopic homogenization by vaporization of the remaining dust. Arapahoe is not unique in having trapped¹²⁹Xe-deficient xenon, nor in any other respect yet observed, so some such history evidently characterizes major groups of meteorites.     

Upwind‐mixed methods for transport equations

In this paper, we continue our analysis of upwind‐mixed methods for advection–diffusion equations, which have been developed and analyzed by the first author over the past several years. In previous work, our analysis has been limited to low order approximating spaces, positive definite diffusion coefficients and Dirichlet boundary conditions. In this paper, we extend our results to higher order approximating spaces, possibly zero diffusion, and more physically realistic boundary conditions. Moreover, unlike previous papers, we avoid the use of Gronwall's Inequality, which can result in extremely large constants in the stability and error bounds. Numerical results are presented for constant, linear and quadratic approximating spaces. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Removal of topographic effects from lunar images using Kaguya (LALT) and Earth-based observations

Lunar images acquired at non-zero phase angles show brightness variations caused by both albedo heterogeneities and local topographic slopes of the surface. To distinguish between these two factors, altimetry measurements or photoclinometry data can be used. The distinction is especially important for imagery of phase-function parameters of the Moon. The imagery is a new tool that can be used to study structural anomalies of the lunar surface. To illustrate the removal of the topographic effects from photometric images, we used Earth-based telescopic observations, altimetry measurements carried out with the Kaguya (JAXA) LALT instrument, and a new photoclinometry technique that includes analysis of several images of the same scenes acquired at different phase angles. Using this technique we have mapped the longitudinal component of lunar topography slopes (the component measured along the lines of constant latitude). We have found good correlations when comparing our map with the corresponding data from Kaguya altimetry. The removal of the topographic surface properties allows for the study of the phase-function parameters of the lunar surface, not only for flat mare regions, but for highlands as well.