Comparison of four meteorite penetration funnels in the Campo del Cielo crater field,Argentina

Abstract– More craters may be discovered in the future, but as it is currently known, the Campo del Cielo crater field is 18 km long by 4 km at its widest point. Such a distribution of craters suggests that the parent meteoroid entered and traversed the atmosphere at a very low angle relative to horizontal. The crater field contains at least 20 small craters produced by the larger fragments of the parent meteoroid. Four of these are explosion analog craters and the rest are penetration funnels. During four field seasons, we have constructed topographic and magnetic maps of four of the penetration funnels as found, and then dug trenches across them to learn their original structures and recover meteorites preserved within them. Structures of these penetration funnels indicate very low angles of impact, i.e., 9–16° relative to horizontal. This supports the idea that the parent meteoroid traversed the atmosphere at a low angle. Data given here for the four penetration funnels include projectile masses, lengths, widths, depths, and estimates of impact angles and azimuths. One of the penetration funnels described here (No. 6) can almost be classified as an explosion analog crater.     

Microstructure modifications of silicates induced by the collection in aerogel: Experimental approach and comparison with Stardust results

Abstract– Particles from comet 81P/Wild 2 were captured with silica aerogel during the flyby Stardust mission. A significant part of the collection was damaged during the impact at hypervelocity in the aerogel. In this study, we conducted impact experiments into aerogel of olivine and pyroxene powder using a light‐gas gun in similar conditions as that of the comet Wild 2 particles collection. The shot samples were investigated using transmission electron microscopy to characterize their microstructure. Both olivine and pyroxene samples show evidence of thermal alteration due to friction with the aerogel. All the grains have rounded edges after collection, whereas their shape was angular in the initial shot powder set. This is probably associated with mass loss of particles. The rims of the grains are clearly melted and mixed with aerogel. The core of olivine grains is fairly well preserved, but some grains contain dislocations in glide configuration. We interpret these dislocations as generated by the thermal stresses that have emerged due to the high temperature gradients between the core and the rim of the grains. Most of the pyroxene grains have been fully melted. Their high silica concentration reflects a strong impregnation with melted aerogel. The preferential melting of pyroxene compared with olivine is due to a difference in melting temperatures of 300°. This melting point difference probably induces a bias in the measurements of the ratio olivine/pyroxene in the Wild 2 comet. The proportion of pyroxene was probably higher on Wild 2 than expected from the samples collected into aerogel.     

FLOOD DISTURBANCE AND THE DISTRIBUTION OF RIPARIAN SPECIES DIVERSITY*

ABSTRACT. Biodiversity varies considerably in Southern Californian riparian vegetation. The intermediate disturbance hypothesis posits greatest diversity in settings that are subject to moderate-intensity disturbance. Flood intensity tends to vary systematically in watersheds, potentially imposing patterns of biodiversity. In two study watersheds, species richness increases with flood severity. Diversity, or heterogeneity, is less predictable: Biodiversity patterns in these watersheds are complicated by atypical patterns of flood severity. Although riparian diversity may be intimately dependent on flood disturbance, the relationship is predictable only with due attention to the physiographic details of individual stream networks.     

Recent and subrecent sedimentary conditions in the southern part of the North Sea–Baltic Sea transition

The recent rate of net sedimentation (0–5mm/yr) in the southern Kattegat is to a high degree governed by resuspension. In shallow areas (10–25 m) there is no or very little sedimentation. Sediments here are sandy lag sediments with a low content of organic matter (0.5–3.0%), nitrogen (0–0.1%) and phosphorus (0.01–0.05%). In deep water (30–60 m) the sediments are clays or fine silts and generally have high contents of organic matter (3.0–10.8%), nitrogen (0.1–0.34%) and phosphorus (0.05–0.10%). Shallow water sediments are relatively well sorted because of resuspension of fine material, which is transported to deeper water. Here the sorting becomes poor because relatively coarser material is supplied during exceptional storm events. Discrimination on erosion/transport bottoms and on depositional bottoms was based on resuspension calculations, grain-size parameters and Passegas (1964) CM diagrams. The IG/N ratio was an useful additional tool. From the sediment content of CaCO₃ it is suggested that recent sedimentation in the deeper parts of southern Kattegat is less influenced by contributions from the North Sea than it was during the early Holocene.