Chemical fractionations in meteorites—X. Ureilites

Four ureilites (Dyalpur, Goalpara, Haverö, and Novo Urei) were analyzed by radiochemical neutron activation analysis for Ag, Au, Bi, Br, Cd, Cs, Ge, In, Ir, Ni, Rb, Re, Sb, Se, Te, Tl, and U. An attempt has been made to resolve the data into contributions from the parent ultramafic rock and the injected, carbon- and gas-rich vein material. Interelement correlations, supported by analyses of separated vein material (WANKE et al, 1972), suggest that the vein material is enriched about 10-fold in refractory Ir and Re over moderately volatile Ni and Au, and is low in volatiles except Ge, C, and noble gases. It appears to be a refractory-rich nebular condensate that precipitated carbon by surface catalytic reactions at ˜500K and trapped noble gases but few other volatiles. The closest known analogue is a Cr- and C-rich fraction from the Allende meteorite, highly enriched in heavy noble gases and noble metals. By analogy with Allende, the gas-bearing phase in ureilites may have been an Fe, Cr-sulfide.

The ultramafic rock contains siderophiles and chalcophiles (Ni, Au, Ge, S, Se) at ˜0.05 of Cl chondrite level, and highly volatile elements (Rb, Cs, Bi, Tl, Br, Te, In, Cd) at ˜0.01 Cl level. It probably represents the residue from partial melting of a C3V-like chondrite body, under conditions where phase separation was incomplete so that some liquid was retained. The vein material was injected into this rock at some later time.     

Abundance of 17 trace elements in carbonaceous chondrites

Seventeen trace elements (Ag, Au, Bi, Br, Cd, Cs, Ge, In, Ir, Rb, Re, Sb, Se, Te, Tl, U and Zn) were measured by neutron activation analysis in 8 C1 samples (1 Alais, 3 Ivuna, 4 Orgueil) and in 3 C2 samples (one each of Mighei, Murchison, Murray). The results show far less scatter than earlier literature data. The standard deviation of a single measurement from the mean of 8 C1 samples lies between 2 and 14 per cent, except for the following 4 elements: Au ±18 per cent, Ag ±22 per cent, Rb ±19 per cent and Br ±33 per cent. The first two probably reflect contamination and sample heterogeneity, the last two, analytical error. Apparently C1 chondrites have a far more uniform composition than some authors have claimed.The new data suggest significant revisions in cosmic abundance for the following elements (old values in parentheses): Zn 1250 (1500), Cd 1.51 (2.12), Ir 0.72 (0.43) atoms/10⁶ Si atoms. The Br value is also lower, 6.8 vs 20.6, but may be affected by analytical error.Relative to C1 chondrites, the C2 chondrites Mighei, Murchison and Murray are depleted in volatile elements by a factor of 0.508 ± 0.038, much more constant than indicated by oldor data. Ordinary chondrites also show a more uniform depletion relative to the new C1 data. The mean depletion factor of Sb, F, Cu, Ga, Ge, Sn, S, Se, Te and Ag is 0.227 ± 0.027 in H-chondrites. This constancy further strengthens the case for the two-component model of chondrite formation.     

The dynamic response of a three-leg articulated tower

Articulated towers are a compliant type of platform particularly suited for deep water applications. In the design of articulated towers, it is very important that the motion characteristics include sufficient stability, less acceleration in the deck and the smallest possible loading on the articulated joint. The mass distribution along the tower also plays an important role in the motion characteristics of the tower. Multi-leg articulated towers with three or more towers (legs or shafts), which have been developed from the conventional single tower have reduced horizontal movements and have more deck area compared to the single-leg articulated towers. The experimental and analytical investigations on such towers are not available in the published literature. In this paper, both analytical treatment and an experimental program for a three-leg articulated tower model have been reported. The effect of mass distributions on the variations of the bending moment and the deck accelerations are also presented. The model has been tested in a 2 m wave flume for various wave frequencies and wave heights of regular waves. The model is also analysed using a computer program developed, and the comparison of theoretical results with the experimental results is presented.     

Evaluation of liquefaction potential hazard of Chennai city, India: using geological and geomorphological characteristics

According to the latest UNFA Report on state of world population 2007, unleashing the potential of urban growth by 2030, the urban population will rise to 5 billion or 60?% of the world population. Liquefaction in urban areas is dangerous phenomenon, which cause more damage to buildings and loss of human lives. Chennai, the capital city of the State Tamil Nadu in India, is one of the densely populated cities in the country. The city has experienced moderate magnitude earthquakes in the past and also categorized under moderate seismic hazard as per the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS in Criteria for earthquake resistant design of structures; Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi, 1893 2001). A study has been carried out to evaluate the liquefaction potential of Chennai city using geological and geomorphological characteristics. The subsurface lithology and geomorphological maps were combined in the GIS platform for assessing the liquefaction potential. The liquefaction hazard broadly classified into three categories viz., liquefaction likely, possible and not likely areas. Mainly, the liquefaction likely areas spread along the coastal areas and around the river beds. The rest of the areas are liquefaction not likely and possible. The present map can be used as first-hand information on regional liquefaction potential for the city, and it will be help to the scientists, engineers and planners who are working for future site-specific studies of the city.     

Influences of forest roads on the spatial patterns of human- and lightning-caused wildfire ignitions

Understanding the spatial patterns of fire ignitions and fire sizes is essential for understanding fire regimes. Although previous studies have documented associations of human-caused fire ignitions with road corridors, less consideration has been given to understanding the multiple influences of roads on the fire regime at a broader landscape-scale. Therefore, we examined the difference between lightning- and human-caused fire ignitions in relation to forest road corridors and other anthropogenic and biophysical factors in the eastern Cascade Mountains of Washington State. We used geographical information systems and case-control logistic regression models to assess the relative importance of these explanatory variables that influence the locations of lightning versus human-caused ignitions.We found that human-caused ignitions were concentrated close to roads, in high road density areas, and near the wildland-urban interface (WUI). In contrast, lightning-caused ignitions were concentrated in low road density areas, away from WUI, and in low population density areas. Lightning-caused ignitions were also associated with fuels and climatic and topographic factors. A weak but significant relationship between lightning-caused fire and proximity to gravel roads may be related to fuels near roads or to bias in detection and reporting of lightning-caused fires near roads. Although most small fires occurred in roaded areas, they accounted for only a small proportion of the total burned area. In contrast, the large fires in roadless and wilderness areas accounted for most of the burned area. Thus, from the standpoint of the total area burned, the effect of forest roads on restricting fire size is likely greater than the impact of roads on increasing fire ignitions. The results of our study suggest that roads and their edge effect area should be more widely acknowledged as a unique type of landscape effect in fire research and management.     

Removal of NO3– from Drinking Water by Electrocoagulation – An Alternate Approach

The present study provides an electrocoagulation method, for the removal of NO₃^– from drinking water using magnesium as the anode and cathode. The experiments are carried out as a function of pH, temperature, and current density. The results show that the maximum removal efficiency of 95.8% was achieved at a current density of 0.25 A/dm², at a pH of 7.0. The adsorption of NO₃^– preferably fitting the Langmuir adsorption isotherm suggests monolayer coverage of the adsorbed molecules. The adsorption process follows a second‐order kinetics model. Thermodynamic studies show that the adsorption was exothermic and spontaneous in nature.     

The trace element chemistry of CaS in enstatite chondrites and some implications regarding its origin

Samples of the mineral oldhamite (CaS) were extracted from enstatite chondrites and analyzed by INAA. Prior to extraction, the petrologic setting of the grains was studied microscopically and their minor element contents determined by microprobe analyses. Minor element contents of CaS are known to vary and correlate with petrologic type, indicating secondary redistribution during metamorphism. For this reason, samples were chosen that displayed a range of minor element contents. The trace element contents determined in this study follow a similar pattern. The most primitive samples of CaS studied, contain virtually the entire inventory of the host meteorite's LREE and Eu plus 30–50% of the HREE inventory. In less primitive samples the LREE are less enriched although Eu remains highly concentrated in CaS. Several other elements, including lithophiles (Ba, Cs, Cr, Hf and Sc) and chalcophiles (Sb and Zn) are most enriched in more primitive CaS. The high concentrations of refractory elements, several of which have a tendency to form sulfides at high temperatures in a gas slightly more reducing than solar, lend support to the suggestion that CaS originated at high temperatures in a reduced region of the nebula. The high concentrations of volatile Cs, Sb and Zn indicate that with decreasing temperature CaS continued to interact with the nebular gas, which therefore must have had a low oxygen fugacity at low temperatures.     

Lunar crater Copernicus: search for debris of impacting body at Apollo 12 site

In an attempt to characterize meteoritic material at the Apollo 12 site, 4 KREEP concentrates from soil 12033 have been analyzed by neutron activation analysis. These contain a meteoritic component in which siderophile Ir, Re and Sb are depleted by about a factor of 2, while volatile Se, Zn, Ag and Bi are depleted by a factor of more than 5 relative to Au. This pattern does not closely resemble any major chondrite or iron meteorite group, but is very similar to that observed in high-alkali samples from Apollo 14. The meteoritic component in KREEP at both sites is therefore predominantly derived from Imbrian ejecta. However, a second, small component of primitive composition seems to be present in Apollo 12 KREEP, judging from the slight, uniform enrichments in Ir, Re, Sb, Se and Zn relative to Au. This component does not seem to be due to micrometeorites. If it is attributed to the Copernican projectile, the crater Copernicus may have been formed by a cometary nucleus, 4 km in diameter, with an impact velocity of 30–40 km/sec. These conclusions depend critically on the assumption that the meteoritic component in Apollo 12 KREEP is representative of the entire impact.     

Chemical fractionations in meteorites—VI. Accretion temperatures of H-, LL- and E-chondrites,from abundance of volatile trace elements

Extending our earlier work on 11 L-chondrites, we have measured 9 volatile elements (Ag, Bi, Cs, In, Rb, Tl, Se, Cd, Zn) by neutron activation analysis in 11 LL- and 10 E-chondrites; the first 6 elements also in 22 H-chondrites. The observed fractionation patterns are consistent with theoretical condensation curves and hence were apparently established during condensation from the solar nebula. Ordinary chondrites seem to have accreted between 420 and 500°K at $\text{P ≈ 10}{}^{\mathrm{?5}}$ atm; enstatite chondrites, at 460 to 520°K and P ≈ 5 x? 10^?4 atm. The values for ordinary chondrites agree with O¹⁸-based temperatures by Onuma. et al. (1972) and with other characteristics such as Fe²⁺ content, presence of FeS and absence of Fe₃O₄.A few detailed trends were noted. Seven of the 54 meteorites seem to contain small amounts of a material enriched in Ag, Bi and especially T1; possibly a late condensate from a region depleted in metal. Silver shows considerable scatter, which suggests inhomogeneous distribution in the meteorites. Xenon correlates with In approximately as expected for equilibrium solubility, with some differences (petrologic type 3; E-chondrites) attributable to mineralogical factors. Meteorites of higher petrologic types are slightly deficient in Xe, probably due to gas losses during metamorphism. Cesium also appears to have been redistributed during metamorphism.Various features of the two-component model are critically examined in the light of the latest evidence. Apparently this model still is an adequate approximation of reality.