1,595 research outputs found

    Meteor ablation spheres from deep-sea sediments

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    Spheres from mid-Pacific abyssal clays (0 to 500,000 yrs old), formed from particles that completely melted and subsequently recrystallized as they separated from their meteoroid bodies, or containing relict grains of parent meteoroids that did not experience any melting were analyzed. The spheres were readily divided into three groups using their dominant mineralogy. The Fe-rich spheres were produced during ablation of Fe and metal-rich silicate meteoroids. The glassy spheres are considerably more Fe-rich than the silicate spheres. They consist of magnetite and an Fe glass which is relatively low in Si. Bulk compositions and relict grains are useful for determining the parent meteoroid types for the silicate spheres. Bulk analyses of recrystallized spheres show that nonvolatile elemental abundances are similar to chondrite abundances. Analysis of relict grains identified high temperature minerals associated with a fine-grained, low temperature, volatile-rich matrix. The obvious candidates for parent meteoroids of this type of silicate sphere is a carbonaceous chondrite

    Cosmic Dust Collection Facility: Scientific objectives and programmatic relations

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    The science objectives are summarized for the Cosmic Dust Collection Facility (CDCF) on Space Station Freedom and these objectives are related to ongoing science programs and mission planning within NASA. The purpose is to illustrate the potential of the CDCF project within the broad context of early solar system sciences that emphasize the study of primitive objects in state-of-the-art analytical and experimental laboratories on Earth. Current knowledge about the sources of cosmic dust and their associated orbital dynamics is examined, and the results are reviewed of modern microanalytical investigations of extraterrestrial dust particles collected on Earth. Major areas of scientific inquiry and uncertainty are identified and it is shown how CDCF will contribute to their solution. General facility and instrument concepts that need to be pursued are introduced, and the major development tasks that are needed to attain the scientific objectives of the CDCF project are identified

    High Precision Oxygen Three Isotope Analysis of Wild-2 Particles and Anhydrous Chondritic Interplanetary Dust Particles

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    One of the most important discoveries from comet Wild-2 samples was observation of crystalline silicate particles that resemble chondrules and CAIs in carbonaceous chondrites. Previous oxygen isotope analyses of crystalline silicate terminal particles showed heterogeneous oxygen isotope ratios with delta(sup 18)O to approx. delta(sup 17)O down to -50% in the CAI-like particle Inti, a relict olivine grain in Gozen-sama, and an olivine particle. However, many Wild-2 particles as well as ferromagnesian silicates in anhydrous interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) showed Delta(sup 17)O values that cluster around -2%. In carbonaceous chondrites, chondrules seem to show two major isotope reservoirs with Delta(sup 17)O values at -5% and -2%. It was suggested that the Delta(sup 17)O = -2% is the common oxygen isotope reservoir for carbonaceous chondrite chondrules and cometary dust, from the outer asteroid belt to the Kuiper belt region. However, a larger dataset with high precision isotope analyses (+/-1-2%) is still needed to resolve the similarities or distinctions among Wild-2 particles, IDPs and chondrules in meteorites. We have made signifi-cant efforts to establish routine analyses of small particles (< or =10micronsm) at 1-2% precision using IMS-1280 at WiscSIMS laboratory. Here we report new results of high precision oxygen isotope analyses of Wild-2 particles and anhydrous chondritic IDPs, and discuss the relationship between the cometary dust and carbonaceous chondrite chondrules

    From laboratory manipulations to Earth system models: scaling calcification impacts of ocean acidification

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    The observed variation in the calcification responses of coccolithophores to changes in carbonate chemistry paints a highly incoherent picture, particularly for the most commonly cultured "species", &lt;i&gt;Emiliania huxleyi&lt;/i&gt;. The disparity between magnitude and potentially even sign of the calcification change under simulated end-of-century ocean surface chemical changes (higher &lt;i&gt;p&lt;/i&gt;CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;, lower pH and carbonate saturation), raises challenges to quantifying future carbon cycle impacts and feedbacks because it introduces significant uncertainty in parameterizations used for global models. Here we compile the results of coccolithophore carbonate chemistry manipulation experiments and review how ocean carbon cycle models have attempted to bridge the gap from experiments to global impacts. Although we can rule out methodological differences in how carbonate chemistry is altered as introducing an experimental bias, the absence of a consistent calcification response implies that model parameterizations based on small and differing subsets of experimental observations will lead to varying estimates for the global carbon cycle impacts of ocean acidification. We highlight two pertinent observations that might help: (1) the degree of coccolith calcification varies substantially, both between species and within species across different genotypes, and (2) the calcification response across mesocosm and shipboard incubations has so-far been found to be relatively consistent. By analogy to descriptions of plankton growth rate vs. temperature, such as the "Eppley curve", which seek to encapsulate the net community response via progressive assemblage change rather than the response of any single species, we posit that progressive future ocean acidification may drive a transition in dominance from more to less heavily calcified coccolithophores. Assemblage shift may be more important to integrated community calcification response than species-specific response, highlighting the importance of whole community manipulation experiments to models in the absence of a complete physiological understanding of the underlying calcification process. However, on a century time-scale, regardless of the parameterization adopted, the atmospheric &lt;i&gt;p&lt;/i&gt;CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; impact of ocean acidification is minor compared to other global carbon cycle feedbacks

    Search for Magnetic Monopoles Trapped in Matter

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    There have been many searches for magnetic monopoles in flight, but few for monopoles in matter. We have searched for magnetic monopoles in meteorites, schists, ferromanganese nodules, iron ores and other materials. The detector was a superconducting induction coil connected to a SQUID (Superconducting Quantum Interference Device) with a room temperature bore 15 cm in diameter. We tested a total of more than 331 kg of material including 112 kg of meteorites. We found no monopole and conclude the overall monopole/nucleon ratio in the samples is <1.2×10−29<1.2 \times 10^{-29} with a 90\% confidence level.Comment: 6 pages, rev tex, no figure
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