The Leonard Award Address Presented 1996 July 25, Berlin,Germany: The elemental composition of stony cosmic spherules

Abstract— Five hundred stony cosmic spherules collected from deep-sea sediments, polar ice, and the stratosphere have been analyzed for major and some minor element composition. Typical spherules are products of atmospheric melting of millimeter sized and smaller meteoroids. The samples are small and modified by atmospheric entry, but they are an important source of information on the composition of asteroids. The spherules in this study were all analyzed in an identical manner, and they provide a sampling of the solar system's asteroids that is both different and less biased than provided by studies of conventional meteorites. Volatile elements such as Na and S are depleted due to atmospheric heating, while siderophiles are depleted by less understood causes. The refractory nonsiderophile elements appear not to have been significantly disturbed during atmospheric melting and provide important clues on the elemental composition of millimeter sized meteoroids colliding with the Earth. Typical spherules have CM-like composition that is distinctively different than ordinary chondrites and most other meteorite types. We assume that C-type asteroids are the primary origin of spherules with this composition. Type S asteroids should also be an important source of the spherules, and the analysis data provide constraints on their composition. A minor fraction of the spherules are melt products of precursor particles that did not have chondritic elemental compositions. The most common of these are particles that are dominated by olivine. The observed compositions of spherules are inconsistent with the possibility that an appreciable fraction of the spherules are simply chondrules remelted during atmospheric entry.     

Realisation of a celestial system based on VLBI geodynamics programs

The relative orientations of various VLBI celestial reference frames are evaluated on the basis of coordinate differences of common sources. It is shown that an accuracy better than 0.001 can be achieved. Possible regional deformations in the different catalogues are investigated; they are found to reach a few 0.001 in some restricted zones. The application of these studies to the realisation of a combined celestial reference frame consistent with the BIH Terrestrial System is outlined.     

Harpacticoida taxocen diversity in the silty-sandy littoral zone of Kandalaksha Bay of the White Sea

The fauna composition, ecological groups, and life forms of Harpacticoids of soft littoral grounds from 15 sites off the Karelian coast in Kandalaksha Bay of the White Sea were studied. Six types of harpacticoid taxocens with different sets of dominating species are described. On silty sands with clear signs of desalination, the Stenchelia palustris taxocen is common; medium-grained sands are characterized by the Heterolaophonte minuta, Paraleptastacus kliei — Huntemannia jadensis, and Amphiascoides nanus — Scottopsyllus minor taxocens; while on coarse sands, the Ameira parvula and Ameira scotti — Mesochra lilljeborgi taxocens have developed. The diversity of the taxocens is partly explained by the differences in the grain-size composition and salinity at different sites. In addition, groups of various taxocens dwelling on the same type of the sediments were found in different minor bights of the coastline.     

The wadic project: A comprehensive field evaluation of directional wave instrumentation

The results of a comprehensive field trial of nearly all commercially available directional wave measurement systems at the Edda field in the North Sea during winter 1985-86 are presented. The results summarize the accuracy of the principal engineering wave parameters from each system and the dependence on sea state. Limiting factors on system performance and operational problems are also included in the assessment. Overall experience has been good with systems utilizing widely different measurement principles returning consistent results.     

Laboratory simulation of volatilisation from melts induced by micrometeoroid impacts

The laboratory simulation experiments on volatilization from the melts formed due to micrometeoroid impacts on the lunar surface were carried out. The simulation was performed using modulated laser pulses incident on rocks and minerals in vacuum; in so doing microcraters on the targets, glass particles, condensates were formed and gases solved in the bulk of the rock and mineral grains were released. It is shown that volatilization from only the crater glass layers is negligible, which fully confirms the theoretical predictions of Nussinov and Chernyak.The volatilizations from the drops formed by the micrometeoric impacts can be noticeable. For micron-sized drops, predominant among the others after the impact, the volatilization of Na, K and other volatiles can be up to 10 to 20%. For larger-sized (d10² m) drops the volatilization should lead to the appearance of the significant gradients of the element concentrations over the particle cross-section and as a result of their normalization it leads to the surface enrichment by some elements (Si and others).The mechanism of dust formation due to the surface rocks attack by volatilizing alkaline metals (Naughtonet al.) on the Moon probably is not effective. It is the consequence of such a fact that the condensate of the target materials evaporated due to other simultaneous micrometeoric impacts and had the same (as the target has) elemental composition is the very strong background for volatilizing and condensating alkaline elements.Preliminary conclusions about a possible correlation between the composition and the sizes of dust particles in the Solar system and in the Universe (at similar initial composition) have been drawn.     

Diffusion-deposition patterns in Martian streaks

The spreading angle of a number of light and dark Martian streaks is determined from selected Mariner 9 images. The resulting frequency distributions of spreading half-angles have maxima at ～5° for light, and ～7° for dark streaks; however the dark streaks have a secondary maximum spreading angle at ～14°. The smaller values, which include most streaks, are interpreted as crater-wake spreading phenomena. The larger value, found in only a few dark streaks or “tails,” may result from atmospheric diffusion and subsequent deposition of material from isolated sources such as vents or blowouts. An atmospheric diffusion-deposition analysis is presented, assuming this streak origin, from which it is possible to deduce the eddy diffusivity, K, in Mars' boudary layer. Calculated K values are found to agree with various theoretical estimates. They lie in the range 10⁷ and 10⁹ cm² sec^?1 and exhibit the proper scale dependence. Thus it appears that, in addition to streak-derived wind direction patterns and speed information, it is possible in a few cases to derive information on Mars' boundary-layer turbulence from streak-spreading measurements.