The age of Wolfe Creek meteorite crater (Kandimalal), Western Australia

Wolfe Creek crater lies in northwestern Australia at the edge of the Great Sandy Desert. Together with Meteor Crater, it is one of the two largest craters on Earth from which meteorite fragments have been recovered. The age of the impact is poorly constrained and unpublished data places the event at about 300,000 years ago. In comparison, Meteor Crater is well constrained by exposure dating. In this paper, we present new ages for Wolfe Creek Crater from exposure dating using the cosmogenic nuclides ¹⁰Be and ²⁶Al, together with optically stimulated luminescence ages (OSL) on sand from a site created by the impact. We also present a new topographic survey of the crater using photogrammetry. The exposure ages range from ~86 to 128 ka. The OSL ages indicate that the age of the impact is most likely to be ~120 ka with a maximum age of 137 ka. Considering the geomorphic setting, the most likely age of the crater is 120 ± 9 ka. Last, we review the age of Meteor Crater in Arizona. Changes in production rates and scaling factors since the original dating work revise the impact age to 61.1 ± 4.8 ka, or ~20% older than previously reported.     

Combining borehole temperature and meteorologic data to constrain past climate change

Geothermal observations from a suite of boreholes in western Utah, USA, combined with meteorologic data at nearby weather stations are used to test the hypothesis that temperatures in the earths subsurface contain an accurate record of recent climate change. The change in air temperature over the last hundred years successfully predicts detailed subsurface temperature profiles to better than ±0.05°C, indicating that ground temperatures tract air temperatures over long periods and that climate change signals are conducted into, and recorded in, the solid earth by the process of heat conduction. We combine borehole temperature data with meteorologic data from the nearest weather station to determine the time averaged difference between surface ground temperature and surface air temperature for borehole-weather station pairs and to infer the long term mean air temperature prior to the observational record. For our western Utah sites the preobservational mean temperature is close to the average surface air temperature for this century suggesting that up to 0.5°C of warming deduced from the last 100 years of weather station data may be attributed to recovery from a cool period at the turn of the century.     

Radio-continuum study of the Nearby sculptor group galaxies. Part 1: NGC 300 at λ=20 cm

A series of new radio-continuum (λ=20 cm) mosaic images focused on the NGC?300 galactic system were produced using archived observational data from the VLA and/or ATCA. These new images are both very sensitive (rms?=60 μJy) and feature high angular resolution (<10?″). The most prominent new feature is the galaxy’s extended radio-continuum emission, which does not match its optical appearance. Using these newly created images a number of previously unidentified discrete sources have been discovered. Furthermore, we demonstrate that a joint deconvolution approach to imaging this complete data-set is inferior when compared to an immerge approach.     

The Jiddat al Harasis 073 strewn field,Sultanate of Oman

Abstract— The recently discovered Jiddat al Harasis (JaH) 073 strewn field is the largest found so far in the Sultanate of Oman, covering an area of 19 × 6 km. The 3463 single stones collected range in weight from 52.2 kg down to <1 g (total weight 600.8 kg) and show a pronounced mass sorting. The strewn field shape can be approximated by a NW‐SE‐oriented ellipsoid, indicating an atmospheric entry from SE at a low angle relative to the surface. The meteorite belongs to the L6 ordinary chondrite group and shows S4 average shock grade. Smaller stones generally show a higher weathering grade resulting in a spread from W2 and W4. Enhanced weathering of the stones causing fragmentation after the fall is observed in sandy depressions. Five ¹⁴C measurements on stones of variable size and weathering grade yielded ¹⁴C from 3.8 to 49.9 dpm/kg. Three samples give a ¹⁴C/ ¹⁰Be age consistent with about 14.4 ka. For two samples the cosmogenic, trapped, and radiogenic noble gases were measured. The ratio of the ⁴He and ⁴⁰Ar gas retention ages of 0.29 ± 0.10 and that of the ³He and ²¹Ne cosmic ray exposure ages of 0.36 ± 0.08 Ma indicate that JaH 073 experienced a complex exposure history and lost ⁴He and ⁴⁰Ar due to a major collision. Fragmentation statistics indicate a single major atmospheric disruption and an originally relatively spherical shape of the object. Assuming the material collected represents the majority of fallen mass, and 90–99% of the original weight was lost by ablation, the pre‐atmospheric minimum radius of the meteoroid with density 3.4 g cm^?3would have been at least 75 cm.     

Incorporation of argon, krypton and xenon into clathrates on Mars

Calculations of the trapping of heavy noble gases within multiple guest clathrates under Mars-like conditions show that a substantial fraction of the martian Xe, perhaps even the vast majority, could be in clathrates. In addition, the Xe/Kr ratio in the clathrates would probably be much higher than in the atmosphere, so the formation or dissociation of a relatively small amount of clathrate could measurably change the atmospheric ratio. Relatively crude (factor of 2) measurements of the seasonal variability in that ratio by in situ spacecraft would be sensitive to ∼10% of the seasonal atmospheric CO₂ variability being a result of clathrates, rather than pure CO₂ frost. In addition, sequestration of Xe in clathrates remains a viable mechanism for explaining the variable Xe/Kr ratios seen in different suites of martian meteorites.     

Global-Mode Analysis of Full-Disk Data from the <Emphasis Type="Italic">Michelson Doppler Imager</Emphasis> and the <Emphasis Type="Italic">Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager</Emphasis>

Building upon our previous work, in which we analyzed smoothed and subsampled velocity data from the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI), we extend our analysis to unsmoothed, full-resolution MDI data. We also present results from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI), in both full resolution and processed to be a proxy for the low-resolution MDI data. We find that the systematic errors that we saw previously, namely peaks in both the high-latitude rotation rate and the normalized residuals of odd \(a\)-coefficients, are almost entirely absent in the two full-resolution analyses. Furthermore, we find that both systematic errors seem to depend almost entirely on how the input images are apodized, rather than on resolution or smoothing. Using the full-resolution HMI data, we confirm our previous findings regarding the effect of using asymmetric profiles on mode parameters, and also find that they occasionally result in more stable fits. We also confirm our previous findings regarding discrepancies between 360-day and 72-day analyses. We further investigate a six-month period previously seen in \(f\)-mode frequency shifts using the low-resolution datasets, this time accounting for solar-cycle dependence using magnetic-field data. Both HMI and MDI saw prominent six-month signals in the frequency shifts, but we were surprised to discover that the strongest signal at that frequency occurred in the mode coverage for the low-resolution proxy. Finally, a comparison of mode parameters from HMI and MDI shows that the frequencies and \(a\)-coefficients agree closely, encouraging the concatenation of the two datasets.     

Flattened chondrules in the LAP 04581 LL5 chondrite: Evidence for an oblique impact into LL3 material and subsequent collisional heating

Abstract– LaPaz Icefield (LAP) 04581 is a shock‐stage S2 LL5 chondrite that initially consisted of unrecrystallized LL3 material with a moderately abundant fine‐grained porous matrix (on the order of 15 vol%). A rare oblique impact created shearing stresses that produced a petrofabric in the rock, induced frictional melting of troilite (thereby forming a large troilite vein), and caused chondrule flattening. The latter process was facilitated by impact‐induced collapse of matrix pores. Chondrule flattening could not have occurred if the rock had been impacted after it had been metamorphosed to type 5 levels because the fine‐grained matrix would have previously recrystallized and developed low porosity. Ar‐Ar dating of LAP 04581 yields an age of 4175 Ma. This date is long after ²⁶Al had decayed away and most likely reflects the timing of a second impact event that shocked the rock to S4–S5 levels. The troilite vein became polycrystalline at this time and the whole rock was annealed to petrologic type 5, perhaps by being buried beneath hot ejecta of low thermal diffusivity. After annealing, the rock was weakly shocked to S2 levels. LAP 04581 serves as an example of impact‐induced heating being a viable mechanism for chondrite metamorphism.     

Bounce Rock—A shergottite‐like basalt encountered at Meridiani Planum,Mars

Abstract– The Opportunity rover of the Mars Exploration Rover mission encountered an isolated rock fragment with textural, mineralogical, and chemical properties similar to basaltic shergottites. This finding was confirmed by all rover instruments, and a comprehensive study of these results is reported here. Spectra from the miniature thermal emission spectrometer and the Panoramic Camera reveal a pyroxene‐rich mineralogy, which is also evident in Mössbauer spectra and in normative mineralogy derived from bulk chemistry measured by the alpha particle X‐ray spectrometer. The correspondence of Bounce Rock’s chemical composition with the composition of certain basaltic shergottites, especially Elephant Moraine (EET) 79001 lithology B and Queen Alexandra Range (QUE) 94201, is very close, with only Cl, Fe, and Ti exhibiting deviations. Chemical analyses further demonstrate characteristics typical of Mars such as the Fe/Mn ratio and P concentrations. Possible shock features support the idea that Bounce Rock was ejected from an impact crater, most likely in the Meridiani Planum region. Bopolu crater, 19.3 km in diameter, located 75 km to the southwest could be the source crater. To date, no other rocks of this composition have been encountered by any of the rovers on Mars. The finding of Bounce Rock by the Opportunity rover provides further direct evidence for an origin of basaltic shergottite meteorites from Mars.     

Setting the stage: ultralumnous galaxies in a cosmological context

I will try to put the ultraluminous galaxy phenomenoninto a broad cosmological context. Viewed from this perspective,the significance of ultraluminous galaxies and the `starburstvs. monster' debate becomes clear. Ultraluminous galaxiesare fascinating in their own right, allow detailedstudy of the processes by which massive spheroids were builtand the IGM was heated and polluted, and resemble the mostluminous and dustiest galaxies at high-redshift. Ultraluminous galaxieswere apparentlyfar more common at z 3 than today. Recentinventories in the local universe of the cumulative effect of nuclear burning(metal production)and of monster-feeding (compact dark objects in galactic nuclei)imply that either stars ormonsters could have generated the observed far-IR cosmic background.The starburst vs. monster debate has global, as well as localimportance.