Meteoritic material on the moon

Three types of meteoritic material are found on the Moon: micrometeorites, ancien planetesimal debris from the ‘early intense bombardment’, and debris of recent, crater-forming projectiles. Their amounts and compositions have been determined from trace element studies. The micrometeorite component is uniformly distributed over the entire lunar surface, but is seen most clearly in mare soils. It has a primitive, C1-chondrite-like composition, and comprises 1-1.5% of mature soils. Apparently it represents cometary debris. The mean annual influx rate is 2.4 × 10^?9 g cm^?2 yr^?1. It shows no detectable time variation or dependence on selenographic position. The ancient component is seen in highland breccias and soils more than 3.9 AE old. It has a fractionated composition, with volatiles depleted relative to siderophiles. The abundance pattern does not match that of any known meteorite class. At least two varieties exist (LN and DN, with Ir/Au, Re/Au 0.25-0.5 and > 0.5 the C1 value). Both seem to represent the debris of planetesimals that produced the mare basins and highland craters during the first 700 Myr of the Moon's history. It appears that the LN and DN objects impacted at less then 10 km s^?1, had diameters less than 100 km, contained more than 15% Fe, and were not internally differentiated. Both were depleted in volatiles; the LN objects also in refractories (Ir, Re). This makes it unlikely that the LN bodies served as important building blocks of the Moon. The crater-forming component has remained elusive. Only a possible hint of this component has been seen, in ejecta from Dune Crater and Apollo 12 KREEP glasses of Copernican (?) origin.     

Synneusis of Kilauea Iki olivines

Olivine phenocrysts in the picritic scoria that erupted from Kilauea Iki in 1959 occur as glomeroporphyritic aggregates of 2–16 crystals. The compositions and three-dimensional textures of the olivines vary within an aggregate and within individual lapilli. The attachment of crystals from different environments indicates that these aggregates formed by synneusis — the swimming together of crystals. Most of the crystals are attached along faces with their a crystallographic axes parallel and their c axes either parallel or perpendicular, so that the structural mismatch and interfacial energy are minimized. Observed facial attachments are consistent with fluid dynamical interactions of crystals falling with their large {010} faces horizontal. The aggregates formed in a liquid-rich magma. Rough computations suggest that the minimum aggregation time could be on the order of minutes. Aggregation of very small crystals suggests that the yield strength was less than 3 dynes cm^–2. The textures of the aggregates are similar to those of cumulate peridotites.     

COMPOSITION AND ORIGIN OF THE UNUSUAL OKTIBBEHA COUNTY IRON METEORITE

We have analyzed Oktibbeha County, the most Ni-rich iron meteorite, for Ni, Co, Cu, Ga, Ge, As, Sb, Ir, and Au. Cu and Sb are higher than in any other iron, but other trace elements are within the ranges typically found in iron meteorites. Extrapolation of trace element trends in group IAB indicates that Oktibbeha County is a member of this group. This sheds light on the origin of groups IAB and IIICD, which are thought to be derived from impact melts on parent bodies of chondritic composition. Lafayette (iron), another sample reported in the literature to have a similarly high Ni content, is probably a pseudometeorite.     

Optical constants of the mixture of ices

The Maxwell-Garnett mixing rule (MG) was applied to estimate the optical constant m ^* of the mixture of ices. A fairly good agreement between the resulting values of m ^* and those of our laboratory measurements suggests that the MG rule becomes a powerful tool to derive the unknown optical constants of natural dirty-ice, when there are no chemical bonds between the guest and host materials. Our results would provide the knowledge of the optical constants of dirty-ice for studies of icy substances on the surface of satellites, cometary nucleus and interplanetary dust grains based on their reflectance spectra.     

Trapped gravity waves and the five-minute oscillations of the solar atmosphere

The various modes of hydrodynamic waves are considered for a model of the solar atmosphere which is based on the Bilderberg model and includes the effects of ionization. The atmosphere forms a potential well for internal gravity waves, since the stability is low at the base (near the convection) and low again in the region of partial ionization in the chromosphere. Calculations show that there are two resonant (trapped) modes of internal gravity waves for horizontal wavelengths based on the scale of the granulation. The properties of these modes are in close agreement with the two modes of oscillation observed by Frazier (1968). Trapped acoustic modes are found to have periods too short to account for the observations.Presently Visiting Fellow, Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colo.     

Textures in Partially Solidified Crystalline Nodules: a Window into the Pore Structure of Slowly Cooled Mafic Intrusions

Abundant glass is present along grain boundaries in coarse-grained,glass-bearing, crystalline gabbroic and peridotitic nodulesentrained and erupted in lavas from Iceland, Santorini and MaunaLoa (Hawaii), even when the total porosity is less than a fewvolume per cent. The glass films vary from a few microns toa few tens of microns thick, and are associated with stringsof small lensoid grain boundary pockets formed by impingementduring crystal growth. Additional porosity occurs as extensiveliquid-filled pockets adjacent to included grains within oikocrystsand as large triangular pockets formed by impingement of planar-sidedgrains. Interstitial material within glass films, and the irregularityof film thickness along a single grain boundary, suggest thatthe present pore structure is representative of the pore structurebefore entrainment and eruption. Pore geometry is consistentwith a dominant control by crystal growth during solidification,with little or no evidence for control by minimization of internalenergies driven by textural equilibration. Similarities betweenliquid distribution in the crystalline nodules and that of late-stage,interstitial phases in fully solidified mafic cumulates fromthe Rum and Skaergaard intrusions demonstrate that the crystallinenodules provide information about the latest stages of solidificationin slowly cooled mafic plutons. The highly permeable networkof intersecting liquid films, lenses and pockets may promotein situ crystallization in the solidifying mush, explainingthe common presence of adcumulates in such intrusions. KEY WORDS: textures; liquid distribution; mafic cumulates; crystalline nodules     

Comparisons of homogeneously reprocessed GPS and VLBI long time-series of troposphere zenith delays and gradients

Troposphere parameters estimated from space-geodetic techniques, like the Global Positioning System (GPS) or Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI), can be used to monitor the atmospheric water vapor content. Although the troposphere can only be monitored at discrete locations, the distribution of the instruments, at least the GPS antennas, can be assumed to be quasi-global. Critical in the data analysis are systematic effects within each single technique that significantly degrade the accuracy and especially the long-term stability of the zenith delay determination. In this paper, consistent time-series of troposphere zenith delays and gradients from homogeneously reprocessed GPS and VLBI solutions are compared for a time period of 11 years. The homogeneity of these completely reprocessed time-series is essential to avoid misinterpretations due to individual model changes. Co-located sites are used to investigate systematic effects and the long-term behavior of the two space-geodetic techniques. Both techniques show common signals in the troposphere parameters at a very high level of precision. The biases between the troposphere zenith delays are at the level of a few millimeters. On the other hand, long-term trends significantly differ for the two techniques, preventing climatological interpretations at present. Tests assume these differences to be due to mathematical artifacts such as different sampling rates and unmodeled semi-annual signals with varying amplitudes.     

Evolution of the oceanic plankton

In its evolution through geologic time, the oceanic plankton has reflected many changes in the physical environment while both causing and being affected by evolutionary change in the associated biota. Temporal variations in the vertical and latitudinal habitat partitioning also affected geochemical balances in the oceans and accumulation rates of biogenic sediments, and perhaps the atmospheric oxygen pressure. Advantages of the oceanic plankton habitat that led to its occupation by a varied sequence of organisms include its extensive geographic area, the possibility for rapid dispersal by currents, the availability of resources (ranging from light, carbon dioxide, and dissolved nutrients for the autotrophic organisms to the various lower trophic levels required by the heterotrophs), and the better oxygenation of the upper water layers.Convergent morphology of the plankton represents adaptations for suspension in the water column, for movement within this water mass to increase nutrient uptake, and for protection against grazing or predation. Necessary attributes for cosmopolitan species include eurythermy and euryhalinity. The patchiness of plankton diversity results from small-scale variations in water masses, the low level of interorganism contact or competition, and the possibility of rapid exploitation of favorable conditions by species present in the local area.Parallel evolution, radiation, and extinction of the various components of the oceanic plankton are similar in pattern to an ecologic succession — early evolution and conditions following major periods of extinction being homologous with the physically controlled or immature modern ecosystem associated with high stress levels and characterized by high net but low gross productivity, low diversity but great intraspecific variability, and small biomass. Evolutionary radiation is associated with more stable physical conditions and, like the seral progression, of an ecosystem, results in high diversity but less intraspecific variability. Increased biological interaction leads to higher gross but lower net productivity, hence more efficient energy and resource utilization. The drop in gross oceanic productivity at times of major extinction is associated with low diversity and decreased rate of accumulation of biogenic ooze, hence the apparent worldwide disconformities, as at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary, even in the deep sea.     

On stilpnomelane in some Romanian Carpathian crystalline formations

Summary The stilpnomelane minerals in the epimetamorphic series of the Romanian Carpathians are divided into four genetic groups. Some ferrostilpnomelanes from metamorphic iron-, manganese- and sulfide-ores have been studied optically, chemically, by differential thermal analysis, thermogravimetric analysis, X-ray diffraction, and IR absorption spectroscopy. Several conclusions on the chemical constitution and the widespread occurence of ferrostilpnomelane in the metamorphic ores of the Carpathians are given.

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Über Stilpnomelan in einigen kristallinen Formationen in den rumänischen Karpaten

Zusammenfassung Die Stilpnomelanvorkommen aus dem epimetamorphen Kristallin der rumänischen Karpaten werden in vier genetische Gruppen eingeteilt. Einige aus metamorphosierten Eisen-, Mangan- und Sulfiderzen stammende Ferrostilpnomelane wurden optisch, chemisch, mit Differentialthermoanalyse, Thermogravimetrie, Röntgenbeugung und Ultrarot-Absorptionsspektroskopie untersucht. Als Schlußfolgerungen ergeben sich einige allgemeine Hinweise über die Zusammensetzung des Ferrostilpnomelans in den Kristallinerzen der Karpaten.

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Mit 5 Figures