Weathering of ordinary chondrites from the Atacama Desert,Chile, by Mössbauer spectroscopy and synchrotron radiation X‐ray diffraction

Some terrestrial areas have climatic and geomorphologic features that favor the preservation, and therefore, accumulation of meteorites. The Atacama Desert in Chile is among the most important of such areas, known as DCA. This desert is the driest on Earth, one of the most arid, uninhabitable localities with semiarid, arid, and hyper‐arid conditions. The meteorites studied here were collected from within the DCA of San Juan and Pampa de Mejillones, located, respectively, in the Central Depression and the Coastal Range of the Atacama Desert. ⁵⁷Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy was used for quantitative analysis of the degree of weathering of the meteorites, through the determination of the proportions of the various Fe‐bearing phases and in particular the amount of oxidized iron in terrestrial alteration products. The abundance of ferric ions in weathered chondrites can be related to specific precursor compositions and to the level of terrestrial weathering. The aim of the study was the identification, quantification, and differentiation of the weathering products in the ordinary chondrites found in the San Juan and the Pampa de Mejillones areas of the Atacama Desert. The ⁵⁷Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy study was complemented by synchrotron radiation X‐ray diffraction and magnetic susceptibility measurements. The results allow a clear differentiation of the rate of weathering in meteorite samples collected from the San Juan versus the Pampa de Mejillones areas of the Atacama Desert.     

Three-dimensional evolution of worms and chimneys in the Galactic disc

Three-dimensional modelling of the flow of gas and plasma in a section of the Galaxy has been carried out to study the evolution and formation of Galactic chimneys and worms. It is found that clustered supernovae located on either side of the Galactic plane are sources for the formation of well-collimated chimneys, having widths of ∼     . The thick gas disc may have a role in the collimation of chimneys. Channel maps of disc gas, obtained from the simulations, show the presence of sheet-like structures running perpendicular to the Galactic plane and resembling worms. Worms are believed to result from the break-up of the shells and supershells. However, the simulations show that although some worms correlate well with the debris of broken shells/supershells, others do not. They are cold gas that has been accelerated in the disc and rise on to the thick gas disc.     

Are HVCs Produced in Galactic Fountains?

Three-dimensional simulations of the disk-halo interaction show the formation of a thick HI and HII gas disk with different scale heights. The thick HI disk prevents the disk gas from expanding freely upwards, unless some highly energetic event such as chimneys occurs, whereas the thick HII disk acts as a disk-halo interaction region from where the hot ionized gas flows freely into the halo. The upflowing gas reaches the maximum height at z ∼ 9.3 ± 1 kpc becoming thermally unstable due to radiative losses, and condenses into HI clouds. Because the major fraction of the gas is gravitationally bound to the Galaxy, the cold gas returns to the disk. The descending clouds will have at some height high velocities. In a period of 200 Myr of fountain evolution, some 10 percent of the total number of clouds are HVCs. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The search for the origin of the Local Bubble redivivus

We present a new unbiased search and analysis of all B stars in the solar neighbourhood (within a volume of 400 pc diameter) using the Arivel data base to track down the remains of the OB associations, which hosted the supernovae (SNe) responsible for the Local Bubble (LB) in the interstellar gas. We find after careful dereddening and by comparison with theoretical isochrones, that besides the Upper Scorpius the Upper Centaurus Lupus and Lower Centaurus Crux subgroups are the youngest stellar associations in the solar neighbourhood with ages of 20–30 Myr, in agreement with previous work. In search for the 'smoking gun' of the origin of the LB, we have traced the paths of the associations back into the past and found that they entered the present bubble region 10–15 Myr ago. We argue that the LB began to form then and estimate that 14–20 SNe have gone off since. It is shown that the implied energy input is sufficient to excavate a bubble of the presently observed size.     

MHD Simulations of the ISM: The Importance of the Galactic Magnetic Field on the ISM “Phases”

We have carried out 1.25 pc resolution MHD simulations of the ISM, on a Cartesian grid of 0 ≤ (x, y) ≤ 1 kpc size in the galactic plane and ?10 ≤ z ≤ 10 kpc into the halo, thus being able to fully trace the time-dependent evolution of the galactic fountain. The simulations show that large scale gas streams emerge, driven by SN explosions, which are responsible for the formation and destruction of shocked compressed layers. The shocked gas can have densities as high as 800 cm^?3 and lifetimes up to 15 Myr. The cold gas is distributed into filaments which tend to show a preferred orientation due to the anisotropy of the flow induced by the galactic magnetic field. Ram pressure dominates the flow in the unstable branch 10² < T ≤ 10^3.9 K, whereas for T ≤ 100 K (stable branch) magnetic pressure takes over. Near supernovae thermal and ram pressures determine the dynamics of the flow. Up to 80% of the mass in the disk is concentrated in the thermally unstable regime 10² < T ≤ 10^3.9 K with ～30% of the disk mass enclosed in the T ≤ 10³ K gas. The hot gas in contrast is controlled by the thermal pressure, since magnetic field lines are swept towards the dense compressed walls.     

From Large to Small Scales: Global Models of the ISM

We review large scale modelling of the ISM with emphasis on the importance to include the disk-halo-disk duty cycle and to use a dynamical refinement of the grid (in regions where steep variations of density and pressure occur) for a realistic modelling of the ISM. We also discuss the necessity of convergence of the simulation results by comparing 0.625, 1.25 and 2.5 pc resolution simulations and show that a minimum grid resolution of 1.25 pc is required for quantitatively reliable results, as there is a rapid convergence for Δ × ≤ 1.1 pc.     

Meteorites from the Lut Desert (Iran)

We present for the first time a detailed report on the discovery of a new meteorite collection region in the Lut Desert, eastern–southeastern Iran, describing its geological, morphological, and climatic setting. Our search campaigns, alongside with the activity of meteorite hunters, yielded >200 meteorite finds. Here, we report on their classification, spatial distribution, and terrestrial weathering. All the collected meteorites are ordinary chondrites (OCs). The most abundant by far are the highly weathered paired H5 distributed in the northwest of Kalut area (central Lut, Kerman dense collection area). The second are well‐preserved paired L5 also found in Kalut region. A detailed study of the geochemistry and mineralogy of selected meteorites reveals significant effects of terrestrial weathering. Fe,Ni metal (hereafter simply metal) and troilite are transformed into Fe oxyhydroxides. A rather unusual type of troilite weathering to pyrite/marcasite is observed in most of the Lut Desert meteorites. Magnetic measurements and X‐ray diffractometry confirm the occurrence of terrestrial weathering products, with the dominance of maghemite, goethite, and hematite. Mobile elements, such as Li, Sr, Mo, Ba, Tl, Th, and U, are enriched with respect to fresh falls. Meanwhile, a decrease in the V, Cr, Co, Rb (and possibly Fe) due to terrestrial weathering is detectable. The total carbon and CaCO₃ is higher than in samples from other hot deserts. The weathering effects observed in the Lut Desert OCs can be used as distinctive indicators to distinguish them from meteorites from other regions of the Earth. Measurements of terrestrial age (¹⁴C) show a range of 10–30 ka, which is in the range of ages reported for meteorites from other hot deserts except the Atacama Desert (Chile). Considering the high potential of the Lut Desert in meteorite preservation, systematic works should lead to the discovery of more samples giving access to interesting material for future studies.     

Disc–halo interaction – I. Three-dimensional evolution of the Galactic disc

The results of a three-dimensional model for disc–halo interaction are presented here. The model considers explicitly the input of energy and mass by isolated and correlated supernovae in the disc. Once disrupted by the explosions, the disc never returns to its initial state. Instead it approaches a state where a thin H  i disc is formed in the Galactic plane, overlaid by thick H  i and H  ii gas discs with scaleheights of 500 pc and 1–1.5 kpc, respectively. The upper parts of the thick H  ii disc (the diffuse ionized medium) act as a disc–halo interface, and its formation and stability are directly correlated to the supernova rate per unit area in the simulated disc.