Regolith history from cosmic-ray-produced isotopes

A statistical model is given for soil development relating meteoroid impacts on the moon to cosmic-ray-produced isotopes in the soil. By means of this model, the average lunar mass loss rate during the past 1.4 aeons is determined to be 170g/sq cm aeon and the soil mixing rate to be approximately 200 cm/aeon from the gadolinium isotope data for the Apollo 15 and 16 drill stems. The isotope data also restrict the time variation of the meteoroid flux during the past 1.4 aeons

Radioactivities in returned lunar materials

Results from a carbon-14 study in size fractions of lunar soil are reported. The 10 to 30 micrometers and 74 to 124 micrometers size fraction results were supplemented by 30 to 37 micrometers results that are given in this report. The gases from the less than 10 micrometers fraction were extracted and purified and carbon-14 counting is now in progress. Meteorites were also studied using carbon-14, with emphasis directed to those recently discovered in the Antarctic

Radioactivities in returned lunar materials and in meteorites

Carbon 14 terrestial ages were determined with low level minicomputers and accelerator mass spectrometry on 1 Yamato and 18 Allan Hills and nearby sited meteorites. Techniques for an accelerator mass spectrometer which make C(14) measurements on small samples were developed. Also Be(10) concentrations were measured in Byrd core and Allan Hills ice samples

Radioactivities in returned lunar materials and in meteorites

Carbon-14 measurements were made for meteorites with a Van der Graaf accelerator. Accelerator C-14 dating improved the precision by a factor of ten, allowed the use of smaller sample sizes, and gave speedier results than C-14 dating with counters. A methodology for determining the terrestrial ages of several antarctic meteorites is described and the results are listed

Titanium spallation cross sections between 30 and 584 MeV and Ar-39 activities on the moon

The production cross sections of Ar39 for Ti spallation at 45-, 319-, 433-, and 584-MeV proton energies were measured to be 0.37 + or - 0.09, 12.4 + or - 3.7, 9.1 + or - 2.7, and 17.8 + or - 6.2 mb, respectively. Normalized Ar39 production rates and activities are also derived for protons above 40 MeV and for three differential proton spectra of the type approximately E(- alpha). It is concluded that, even for samples of high-Ti content, Ti spallation by solar protons below 200-MeV energy does not contribute significantly to their Ar39 radioactivity

The stopping rate of negative cosmic-ray muons near sea level

A production rate of 0.065 + or - 0.003 Ar-37 atom/kg min of K-39 at 2-mwe depth below sea level was measured by sweeping argon from potassium solutions. This rate is unaffected by surrounding the solution by paraffin and is attributed to negative muon captures and the electromagnetic interaction of fast muons, and not to nucleonic cosmic ray component. The Ar-37 yield from K-39 by the stopping of negative muons in a muon beam of a synchrocyclotron was measured to be 8.5 + or - 1.7%. The stopping rate of negative cosmic ray muons at 2-mwe depth below sea level from these measurements and an estimated 17% electromagnetic production is 0.63 + or - 0.13 muon(-)/kg min. Previous measurements on the muon stopping rate vary by a factor of 5. Our value is slightly higher but is consistent with two previous high values. The sensitivity of the Ar-37 radiochemical method for the detection of muons is considerably higher than that of the previous radiochemical methods and could be used to measure the negative muon capture rates at greater depths

Uranium-series dating of tephra-banded Allan Hills ice

Tephra-banded ice samples from the main Allan Hills icefield, Antarctica, are dated by a uranium-series method, which is based on the ^Ra/^Th and ^Ra/^U ratios dissolved in ice from tephra. The consistence between the age determined from the ^Ra/^Th ratio with the age determined from the ^Ra/^U ratio serves as a check on the method. For ice from a location at the western border of the 50-km^2 area that is richly laden with meteorites, the ^Ra/^Th and ^Ra/^U ages are (95±10)×10^3 and (100±10)×10^3 years, respectively. For ice from a location within this meteorite-rich area near its eastern border (approximately 5km closer to the Allan Hills land barrier), these ages are (185±25)×10^3 and (210±30)×10^3 years, respectively. The ice flow is from west to east, the dates indicate that most of the ice in the meteorite-rich area is between 1×10^5 and 2×10^5 years old with the age of the ice increasing in the flow direction as theoretically predicted for ice approaching a land barrier. The comparison of this ice chronology with the terrestrial ages of the meteorites leads to a number of conclusions about the meteorite fall rate and history of the ice movement

Age of Yamato K-26 ice based on uranium-series disequilibrium

The ^Ra, ^Th, ^U, and ^U dissolved in two ice samples removed from a 20-kg block of Yamato ice with tephra band K-26 were measured. One sample, 1.50kg of ice containing the band, had 252mg of particulates; the other sample, 1.78kg of ice outside the band, had 5.7mg of particulates. The activities are disequilibrated in the 1.50-kg ice sample, with 0.0333±0.0010dpm/kg (decays per minute per kilogram of ice) of ^Ra, 0.0178±0.0005dpm/kg of ^Th, 0.0148±0.0005dpm/kg of ^U, and 0.0128±0.0005dpm/kg of ^U. On the other hand, these activities are equilibrated, being, each, 0.013±0.001dpm/kg, in the 1.78-kg ice sample. The activities are also in equilibrium in the tephra. The tephra particles contribute a significant amount of ^Ra, a lesser amount of ^Th, a small amount of ^U, and no ^U to the ice. The results are consistent with the idea that alpha decays in the small tephra particles cause daughter products to recoil into the ice. The age of the ice based on the ratios of the daughter activity excesses in the 1.50-kg ice sample is (38±7)×10^3 years. This age is at the lower bound of the (75±30)×10^3 year terrestrial age of three lunar meteorites recovered 25km north of the K-26 site

Encounters with Unjust Authority

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/50942/1/167.pd