16 research outputs found
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Experimental impacts into chondritic targets, part I: Disruption of an L6 chondrite by multiple impacts
A fragment of an L6 chondrite (Allan Hills [ALH] 85017,13) with an initial mass (M0) of 464.1 g was the target in a series of experimental impacts in which the largest remaining fragment (MR) after each shot was impacted by a 3.18 mm ceramic sphere at a nominal speed of 2 km s^(-1). This continued until the mass of the largest remaining piece was less than half the mass of the target presented to that shot (MS). Two chunks of Bushveldt gabbro with similar initial masses were also impacted under the same conditions until MR was less than half M0. The two gabbro targets required a total of 1.51 x 1^07 and 1.75 x 10^7 erg g^(-1) to attain 0.27 and 0.33 MR/M0, respectively; the chondrite, however, was considerably tougher, reaching 0.40 and 0.21 MR/M0 only after receiving 2.37 x 10^7 and 3.10 x 10^7 erg g^(-1), respectively. The combined ejecta and spallation products from the gabbro impacts were coarser than those from the chondrite and in sufficient quantities that the new surface areas exceeded those from the meteorite until the fifth shot in the chondrite series, which was the number of impacts required to disrupt each gabbro target (i.e., MR/M0 is less than or equal to 0.5). Unlike the behavior shown in previous regolith-evolution series, neither gabbro target produced an enhancement in the size fraction reflecting the mean size of the crystals composing the rock (about 3 mm), an effect possibly related to the width of the shock pulse. The original chondrite was so fine-grained and fractured, and the variance in its grain-size distribution so large, that effects related to grain size were relegated to the <63 micrometers fraction. Impacts into ALH 85017 produced abundant, fine-grained debris, but otherwise the slopes of its size distributions were comparable to those from other experiments involving natural and fabricated terrestrial targets. The characteristic slopes of the chondrites size distributions, however, were notably more constant over the entire nine-impact series than those from any of the terrestrial targets, a testament to the control over comminution apparently exerted by pre-existing fractures and other, microscopic damage in the meteorite. The enhancement in the finer fraction of debris from ALH 85017 indicates that ordinary chondrites in solar orbit would be very efficient contributors to the cosmic-dust complex. At the same time, the greater resistance to disruption displayed by ordinary chondrites relative to that exhibited by igneous rocks indicates that a selection effect could be operative between the annealed, ordinary-chondritic breccias and relatively weaker, differentiated meteorites. Preferential survival from their time in the regoliths of their parent bodies through their transit to Earth and passage through the atmosphere suggests that meteorite collections could be biased in favor of the ordinary chondrites.The Meteoritics & Planetary Science archives are made available by the Meteoritical Society and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact [email protected] for further information.Migrated from OJS platform February 202
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TOF-SIMS analysis of Allende projectiles shot into silica aerogel
Powdered Allende projectiles were fired into silica aerogel at 6.1 km/sec in order to evaluate particle retrieval and analysis techniques for samples from the Stardust mission. Since particles may disintegrate and ablate along the penetration paths in a high-porosity aerogel, TOF-SIMS analysis may be a suitable method to determine the distribution of such materials along the tracks as well as potential compositional modifications. Therefore, two 350 micrometer-sized tracks, residing at the surface of a keystone specimen that was flattened between two silicon chips, were analyzed. TOF-SIMS allows for a detailed study of the chemical composition of particles that survived the impact mostly intact and of fine-grained material from disintegrated projectiles. In the investigated keystone, material from light gas gun debris dominated. Besides the two tracks, a continuous, 40-micrometer-thick surface layer of implanted material - probably gun residue - was found. One of the two analyzed tracks is compositionally distinct from this surface layer and is likely to contain residual material of an Allende projectile. The analyses clearly demonstrate that tracks, resulting from impactors in the 5-10 micrometer size range, can be successfully analyzed with TOF-SIMS.The Meteoritics & Planetary Science archives are made available by the Meteoritical Society and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact [email protected] for further information.Migrated from OJS platform February 202
Philosophische Probleme der Physik. English
1 online resource (190 pages: graphs)This work is the first available in English that examines philosophical problems in classical and modern physics from the dialectical-materialist viewpoint. A team of five outstanding philosophers of natural science in the German Democratic Republic examine such questions as the nature of physical concepts, physical properties and quantities, elementary particles, and the fundamental interactions. This revised English-language edition is suitable for natural scientists having little previous contact with philosophy. --Publisher's summary
Transformations to granular zircon revealed: Twinning, reidite, and ZrO2 in shocked zircon from Meteor Crater (Arizona, USA)
Granular zircon in impact environments has long been recognized but remains poorly understood due to lack of experimental data to identify mechanisms involved in its genesis. Meteor Crater in Arizona (USA) contains abundant evidence of shock metamorphism, including shocked quartz, the high-pressure polymorphs coesite and stishovite, diaplectic SiO2 glass, and lechatelierite (fused SiO2). Here we report the presence of granular zircon, a new shocked-mineral discovery at Meteor Crater, that preserve critical orientation evidence of specific transformations that occurred during formation at extreme impact conditions. The zircon grains occur as aggregates of sub-micrometer neoblasts in highly shocked Coconino Sandstone (CS) comprised of lechatelierite. Electron backscatter diffraction shows that each grain consists of multiple domains, some with boundaries disoriented by 65° around <110>, a known {112} shock-twin orientation. Other domains have {001} in alignment with {110} of neighboring domains, consistent with the former presence of the high-pressure ZrSiO4 polymorph reidite. Additionally, nearly all zircon preserve ZrO2 + SiO2, providing evidence of partial dissociation. The genesis of CS granular zircon started with detrital zircon that experienced shock twinning and reidite formation at pressures from 20 to 30 GPa, ultimately yielding a phase that retained crystallographic memory; this phase subsequently recrystallized to systematically oriented zircon neoblasts, and in some areas partially dissociated to ZrO2. The lechatelierite matrix, experimentally constrained to form at >2000 °C, provided the ultrahigh-temperature environment for zircon dissociation (~1670 °C) and neoblast formation. The capacity of granular zircon to preserve a cumulative pressure-temperature record has not been recognized previously, and provides a new method for investigating histories of impact-related mineral transformations in the crust at conditions far beyond those at which most rocks melt