594 research outputs found
ANTARCTICA: A TREASURE–TROVE FOR PLANETARY SCIENCES. AUSTRALASIAN MICROTEKTITES FROM EAST ANTARCTICA
The planetary science community has benefitted
greatly from research in Antarctica. The discovery of
large accumulations of meteorites in blue ice fields on
the polar plateau since 1969 and of cosmic dust
in Antarctic ice, snow and supraglacial
moraines as well as in loose sediment traps in the
Transantarctic Mountains since the late 1980s has
had a tremendous impact on the planetary science
community. Over the last 50 years tens of thousands of
meteorite specimens and cosmic dust particles have
been recovered by Japanese, US, European, Chinese
and Korean polar programs. This enormous research
effort has provided the international planetary science
community with the opportunity to study an extraordinary number of samples from a large variety of planetary bodies, greatly advancing our knowledge of the
origin and evolution of the solar system
The weathering of micrometeorites from the Transantarctic Mountains
Micrometeorites are cosmic dust particles recovered from the
Earth's surface that dominate the influx of extraterrestrial material
accreting to our planet. This paper provides the first in-depth study of
the weathering of micrometeorites within the Antarctic environment that
will allow primary and secondary features to be distinguished. It is
based on the analysis of 366 particles from Larkman Nunatak and 25 from
the Transantarctic Mountain collection. Several important morphological
categories of weathering effects were identified: (1) irregular and
faceted cavities, (2) surface etch pits, (3) infilled cavities, (4)
replaced silicate phases, and (5) hydrated and replaced metal. These
features indicate that congruent dissolution of silicate phases, in
particular olivine, is important in generating new pore space within
particles. Comparison of the preservation of glass and olivine also
indicates preferential dissolution of olivine by acidic solutions during
low temperature aqueous alteration. Precipitation of new hydrous phases
within cavities, in particular ferrihydrite and jarosite, results in
pseudomorph textures within heavily altered particles. Glass, in
contrast, is altered to palagonite gels and shows a sequential
replacement indicative of varying water to rock ratios. Metal is variably
replaced by Fe-oxyhydroxides and results in decreases in Ni/Fe ratio. In
contrast, sulphides within metal are largely preserved. Magnetite, an
essential component of micrometeorites formed during atmospheric entry,
is least altered by interaction with the terrestrial environment. The
extent of weathering in the studied micrometeorites is sensitive to
differences in their primary mineralogy and varies significantly with
particle type. Despite these differences, we propose a weathering scale
for micrometeorites based on both their degree of terrestrial alteration
and the level of encrustation by secondary phases. The compositions and
textures of weathering products, however, suggest open system behaviour
and variable water to rock ratios that imply climatic variation over the
lifetime of the micrometeorite deposits
Meteorite search in Victoria Land Antarctica, by the 2010-2011 joint expedition between KOREAMET and PNRA
The Extraterrestrial Dust Flux: Size Distribution and Mass Contribution Estimates Inferred From the Transantarctic Mountains (TAM) Micrometeorite Collection
This study explores the long‐duration (0.8–2.3 Ma), time‐averaged micrometeorite flux (mass and size distribution) reaching Earth, as recorded by the Transantarctic Mountains (TAM) micrometeorite collection. We investigate a single sediment trap (TAM65), performing an exhaustive recovery and characterization effort and identifying 1,643 micrometeorites (between 100 and 2,000 μm). Approximately 7% of particles are unmelted or scoriaceous, of which 75% are fine‐grained. Among cosmic spherules, 95.6% are silicate‐dominated S‐types, and further subdivided into porphyritic (16.9%), barred olivine (19.9%), cryptocrystalline (51.6%), and vitreous (7.5%). Our (rank)‐size distribution is fit against a power law with a slope of −3.9 (R2 = 0.98) over the size range 200–700 μm. However, the distribution is also bimodal, with peaks centered at ~145 and ~250 μm. Remarkably similar peak positions are observed in the Larkman Nunatak data. These observations suggest that the micrometeorite flux is composed of multiple dust sources with distinct size distributions. In terms of mass, the TAM65 trap contains 1.77 g of extraterrestrial dust in 15 kg of sediment (<5 mm). Upscaling to a global annual estimate gives 1,555 (±753) t/year—consistent with previous micrometeorite abundance estimates and almost identical to the South Pole Water Well estimate (~1,600 t/year), potentially indicating minimal variation in the background cosmic dust flux over the Quaternary. The greatest uncertainty in our mass flux calculation is the accumulation window. A minimum age (0.8 Ma) is robustly inferred from the presence of Australasian microtektites, while the upper age (~2.3 Ma) is loosely constrained based on 10Be exposure dating of glacial surfaces at Roberts Butte (6 km from our sample site)
Chemical analysis of iron meteorites using a hand-held X-ray fluorescence spectrometer
We evaluate the performance of a hand-held XRF (HHXRF) spectrometer for the bulk analysis of iron meteorites. Analytical precision and accuracy were tested on metal alloy certified reference materials and iron meteorites of known chemical composition. With minimal sample preparation (i.e., flat or roughly polished surfaces) HHXRF allowed the precise and accurate determination of most elements heavier than Mg, with concentrations > 0.01% m/m in metal alloy CRMs, and of major elements Fe and Ni and minor elements Co, P and S (generally ranging from 0.1 to 1% m/m) in iron meteorites. In addition, multiple HHXRF spot analyses could be used to determine the bulk chemical composition of iron meteorites, which are often characterised by sulfide and phosphide accessory minerals. In particular, it was possible to estimate the P and S bulk contents, which are of critical importance for the petrogenesis and evolution of Fe-Ni-rich liquids and iron meteorites. This study thus validates HHXRF as a valuable tool for use in meteoritics, allowing the rapid, non-destructive (a) identification of the extraterrestrial origin of metallic objects (i.e., archaeological artefacts); (b) preliminary chemical classification of iron meteorites; (c) identification of mislabelled/unlabelled specimens in museums and private collections and (d) bulk analysis of iron meteorites
Separaxion anxiety in pediatric migraine without aura: A pilot study
Background: Separation anxiety (SA) can be defined as the fear reaction and protest manifested by children when the main caregivers move away from him/her or in front of unfamiliar person. SA near eight months may be considered as an important and normal phase of the correct and typical social neurodevelopment. Aims of the present pilot study is assessing the prevalence of separation anxiety in a population of patients with migraine without aura (MwA). Materials and methods: 119 children (69 males) suffering from MwA (mean age 1.78 ± 7:59) were consecutively recruited. The control population consisted of 231 (114 males) healthy subjects similar for age (7.64 ± 1:34; p = 0.768) and gender (p=0.987) The Screen for child anxiety related emotional disorders (SCARED) test was used to assess the prevalence of separation anxiety among MwA children. Results: Healthy individuals are on average less affected (mean 4.72 ± 0:32) of the Separation Anxiety Disorder respect of MwA children (mean 6.83 ± 0.97; p < 0.001) (Figure 1). Conclusion. MwA presents many psychiatric comorbidities and among ones separation anxiety may be considered in the clinical and therapeutic management of pediatric primary headache
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