Enstatite meteorite clasts in Almahata Sitta and other polymict ureilites: Implications for the formation of asteroid 2008 TC3 and the history of enstatite meteorite parent asteroids

The anomalous polymict ureilite Almahata Sitta (AhS) fell in 2008 when asteroid 2008 TC₃ disintegrated over Sudan and formed a strewn field of disaggregated clasts of various ureilitic and chondritic types. We studied the petrology and oxygen isotope compositions of enstatite meteorite samples from the University of Khartoum (UoK) collection of AhS. In addition, we describe the first bona fide (3.5 mm-sized) clast of an enstatite chondrite (EC) in a typical polymict ureilite, Northwest Africa (NWA) 10657. We evaluate whether 2008 TC₃ and typical polymict ureilites have a common origin, and examine implications for the history of enstatite meteorite asteroids in the solar system. Based on mineralogy, mineral compositions, and textures, the seven AhS EC clasts studied comprise one EH_a3 (S151), one EL_b3 (AhS 1002), two EH_b4-5 (AhS 2012, AhS 26), two EH_b5-6 or possibly impact melt rocks (AhS 609, AhS 41), and one EL_b6-7 (AhS 17), while the EC clast in NWA 10657 is EH_a3. Oxygen isotope compositions analyzed for five of these are similar to those of EC from non-UoK collections of AhS, and within the range of individual EC meteorites. There are no correlations of oxygen isotope composition with chemical group or subgroup. The EC clasts from the UoK collection show the same large range of types as those from non-UoK collections of AhS. The enstatite achondrite, AhS 60, is a unique type (not known as an individual meteorite) that has also been found among non-UoK AhS samples. EC are the most abundant non-ureilitic clasts in AhS but previously were thought to be absent in typical polymict ureilites, necessitating a distinct origin for AhS. The discovery of an EC in NWA 10657 changes this. We argue that the types of materials in AhS and typical polymict ureilites are essentially similar, indicating a common origin. We elaborate on a model in which AhS and typical polymict ureilites formed in the same regolith on a ureilitic daughter body. Most non-ureilitic clasts are remnants of impactors implanted at ~50–60 Myr after CAI. Differences in abundances can be explained by the stochastic nature of impactor addition. There is no significant difference between the chemical/petrologic types of EC in polymict ureilites and individual EC meteorites. This implies that fragments of the same populations of EC parent bodies were available as impactors at ~50–60 Myr after CAI and recently. This can be explained if materials excavated from various depths on EC bodies at ~50–60 Myr after CAI were reassembled into mixed layers, leaving relatively large bodies intact to survive 4 billion years. Polymict ureilites record a critical timestep in the collisional and dynamical evolution of the solar system, showing that asteroids that may have accreted at distant locations had migrated to within proximity of one another by 50–60 Myr after CAI, and providing constraints on the dynamical processes that could have caused such migrations.     

Long-term persistence of solar activity

The solar irradiante has been found to change by 0.1% over the recent solar cycle. A change of irradiante of about 0.5% is required to effect the Earth's climate. How frequently can a variation of this size be expected? We examine the question of the persistence of non-periodic variations in solar activity. The Hürst exponent, which characterizes the persistence of a time series (Mandelbrot and Wallis, 1969), is evaluated for the series of¹⁴ C data for the time interval from about 6000 BC to 1950 AD (Stuiver and Pearson, 1986). We find a constant Hürst exponent, suggesting that solar activity in the frequency range of from 100 to 3000 years includes an important continuum component in addition to the well-known periodic variations. The value we calculate,H ≈ 0.8, is significantly larger than the value of 0.5 that would correspond to variations produced by a white-noise process. This value is in good agreement with the results for the monthly sunspot data reported elsewhere, indicating that the physics that produces the continuum is a correlated random process (Ruzmaikin et al., 1992), and that it is the same type of process over a wide range of time interval lengths. We conclude that the time period over which an irradiance change of 0.5% can be expected to occur is significantly shorter than that which would be expected for variations produced by a white-noise process. The full paper has been submitted to Solar Physics. Part of the research decribed here was carried out by JPL, Caltech under a contract with NASA.     

Lambert problem solution in the hill model of motion

The goal of this paper is obtaining a solution of the Lambert problem in the restricted three-body problem described by the Hill equations. This solution is based on the use of pre determinate reference orbits of different types giving the first guess and defining the sought-for transfer type. A mathematical procedure giving the Lambert problem solution is described. This procedure provides step-by-step transformation of the reference orbit to the sought-for transfer orbit. Numerical examples of the procedure application to the transfers in the Sun–Earth system are considered. These examples include transfer between two specified positions in a given time, a periodic orbit design, a halo orbit design, halo-to-halo transfers, LEO-to-halo transfer, analysis of a family of the halo-to-halo transfer orbits. The proposed method of the Lambert problem solution can be used for the two-point boundary value problem solution in any model of motion if a set of typical reference orbits can be found.     

Possible formation scenarios for the giant H i envelope around the NGC 4490/4485 system

We present observations of H i in the nearby interacting galaxies NGC 4490 and 4485 made with the VLA in both C and D arrays. The galaxies are embedded in an extensive envelope of neutral hydrogen which is elongated in a direction approximately perpendicular to the plane of NGC 4490, with an extent of about 56 kpc. We argue that this distribution of neutral hydrogen can best be explained by a galactic-scale bipolar outflow of H  i driven by supernovae in NGC 4490. The flow from the disc appears to be reasonably well collimated and has probably persisted for approximately 6 × 10⁸ yr. The implications for galaxy evolution when such mass loss occurs are briefly discussed.     

Episodic orogeny deduced from coeval sedimentary sequences in the foreland basin and its implication for uplift process of Longmen Mountain, China

Longmen Mountain located at the boundary between the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau,representing the steepest gradient of any edges of the plateau.Three endmember models of uplift process and mechanism have been proposed,including crustal thickening,crustal flow,and crustal isostatic rebound.Here we use coeval sedimentary sequences in the foreland basin to restraint uplift process and mechanism in the Longmen Mountain.The more than 10,000 m thick Late TriassicQuaternary strata filled in this foreland basin and can be divided into six megasequences that are distinguished as two distinct types.The first type is the wedge-shaped megasequences which are sedimentary response of strong active thrust loading events,characterized by a high rate of subsidence and sediment accumulation,coarsening-upward succession and a dual-sourced sediment supply.This type includes Late Triassic,Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous and Late Cretaceous to Paleogene megasequences.The second type is the tabular megasequences,characterized by the low rate of subsidence and sediment accumulation,finingupward succession,and a single-sourced sediment supply,which is sedimentary response of isostatic rebound and erosion unloading.This type includes the Early to Middle Jurassic,Middle Cretaceous and Neogene to Quaternary megasequences.Basing on sedimentary,active tectonic,geomorphic evidence,we infer that the direction has been reversed from SSWdirected sinistral strike-slip to NNE-directed dextral strike-slip during 40-3.6 Ma,and since 3.6 Ma,the Longmen Mountain thrust belt belong to times of isostatic rebound and erosional unloading with NNEdirected dextral strike-slip.This suggests that crustal isostatic rebound is a primary driver for uplift and topography of the present Longmen Mountain.The Wenchuan(Ms8.0) earthquake,which ruptured a large thrust fault with NNE-directed dextral strikeslip along the range front,is an active manifestation of this crustal isostatic rebound process with dextral strike-slipping and shortening.This process may be the cause for the Wenchuan Earthquake and the apparent paradox of high relief,little shortening,the relative dearth of historical seismicity in the region.     

Acceleration of energetic particles of the outer regions of planetary magnetospheres: Inferences from laboratory and space experiments

High energy particles, with energies above those attainable by adiabatic or steady-state electric field acceleration, have been observed in and around the outer regions of planetary magnetospheres. Acceleration by large amplitude sporadic cross-tail electric fields over an order of magnitude greater than steady-state convection fields is proposed as a source of these particles. It is suggested that such explosive electric fields will occur intermittently in the vicinity of the tail neutral line in the expansive phases of substorms. We use laboratory Double Inverse Pinch Device (DIPD) and satellite evidence to estimate this electric potential for substorms at Earth; values of 500 kV to 2 MV are calculated, in agreement with particle observations. It is further suggested that these particles, which have been accelerated in the night side magnetosphere, drift to the dayside on closed field lines, and under certain interplanetary conditions can escape to regions upstream of the bow shock.     

Establishing the link between the Chesapeake Bay impact structure and the North American tektite strewn field: The Sr‐Nd isotopic evidence

Abstract— The Chesapeake Bay impact structure, which is about 35 Ma old, has previously been proposed as the possible source crater of the North American tektites (NAT). Here we report major and trace element data as well as the first Sr‐Nd isotope data for drill core and outcrop samples of target lithologies, crater fill breccias, and post‐impact sediments of the Chesapeake Bay impact structure. The unconsolidated sediments, Cretaceous to middle Eocene in age, have ?_Sr^{t = 35.7 Ma} of +54 to +272, and ?_Nd^{t = 35.7 Ma} ranging from ?6.5 to ?10.8; one sample from the granitic basement with a T^Nd_CHUR model age of 1.36 Ga yielded an ?_Sr^{t = 35.7 Ma} of +188 and an ?_Nd^{t = 35.7 Ma} of ?5.7. The Exmore breccia (crater fill) can be explained as a mix of the measured target sediments and the granite, plus an as‐yet undetermined component. The post‐impact sediments of the Chickahominy formation have slightly higher T^Nd_CHUR model ages of about 1.55 Ga, indicating a contribution of some older materials. Newly analyzed bediasites have the following isotope parameters: +104 to +119 (?_Sr^{t = 35.7 Ma}), ?5.7 (?_Nd^{t = 35.7 Ma}), 0.47 Ga (T^Sr_UR), and 1.15 Ga (T^Nd_CHUR), which is in excellent agreement with previously published data for samples of the NAT strewn field. Target rocks with highly radiogenic Sr isotopic composition, as required for explaining the isotopic characteristics of Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) site 612 tektites, were not among the analyzed sample suite. Based on the new isotope data, we exclude any relation between the NA tektites and the Popigai impact crater, although they have identical ages within 2s? errors. The Chesapeake Bay structure, however, is now clearly constrained as the source crater for the North American tektites, although the present data set obviously does not include all target lithologies that have contributed to the composition of the tektites.