Engineering topics

Finnerty, A. A.

Publications and source records attributed to Finnerty, A. A..

7 records

NASA NTRS1988

Igneous proceses and closed system evolution of the Tharsis region of Mars

A quantitative petrologic model for the evolution of the Tharsis region on Mars is presented, which is consistent with global gravity and topography data. It is demonstrated that it is possible to form and support the topographic relief of the Tharsis plateau by a closed-system mass-conservative nearly isostatic process involving generation of magmas from a mantle source region. Extrusion and/or intrusion (or underplating) of such magmas allows low-pressure solidification, with a consequent increase in volume relative to that which would be possible in the high-pressure source region, leading to elevated topology. The distribution of densities with depth obtained by the model is quantitatively consistent with the isostatic models of Sleep and Phillips (1979, 1985).

Finnerty, A. A.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Evaluation of thermobarometers for garnet peridotites

Twenty-one geothermometers and six geobarometers are evaluated for accuracy and precision for garnet lherzolites, with a suite of well-equilibrated xenoliths from kimberlites of northern Lesotho. Accuracy was tested by comparison of P-T estimates for a diamond-bearing and a graphite-bearing xenolith with the experimentally determined diamond-graphite univariant curve and by comparison of P-T estimates for phlogopite-bearing xenoliths to the high-temperature stability limit of phlogopite. Precision was evaluated by measuring the scatter of P-T estimates for each of four xenoliths from a wide range of P and T when many point analyses of the constituent minerals are used for P-T estimation. Most satisfactory is a thermobarometer composed of the uncorrected diopside-enstatite miscibility gap of Lindsley and Dixon (1976), combined with the uncorrected isopleths for aluminum in enstatite coexisting with pyrope of MacGregor (1974). The inflection observed in the northern Lesotho paleogeotherm cannot be an artifact of the method of temperature estimation.

Finnerty, A. A.↗

NASA NTRS1983

Gas-Bearing Crucible for Shot Tower

Device protects molten drops from contamination and distortion. Gas flowing through levitator tube levitates small balls while they melt. Gas heated by filament extending through center of tube. Gas bearing crucible on tube has concave configuration to hold single relatively large ball or many recesses to hold many small balls. By time spheres reach foam, they are cooled sufficiently by radiation to retain their shape.

Youngberg, C. L.↗

NASA NTRS1983

Sphere forming method and apparatus

A system is provided for forming small accurately spherical objects. Preformed largely spherical objects are supported at the opening of a conduit on the update of hot gas emitted from the opening, so the object is in a molten state. The conduit is suddenly jerked away at a downward incline, to allow the molten object to drop in free fall, so that surface tension forms a precise sphere. The conduit portion that has the opening, lies in a moderate vacuum chamber, and the falling sphere passes through the chamber and through a briefly opened valve into a tall drop tower that contains a lower pressure, to allow the sphere to cool without deformation caused by falling through air.

Youngberg, C. L.↗

NASA NTRS1981

Europa's petrological thermal history

A path of geophysical development which takes into account the petrological sequence is presented to describe the thermal evolution of Europa. On the basis of considerations of the likely temperature-pressure conditions in the Europa zone of the circumjovian nebula during the condensation of the satellite on the one hand and of the early thermal evolution on the other, it is argued that most of the water of Europa can be in the form of hydrated silicates in a thick convective boundary layer or throughout the body of the satellite. Such silicates would include the minerals chlorite and/or serpentine, and brucite, and could be maintained in hydrated states by solid state convection within the body. The model predicts that the ice layer on the surface of Europa is considerably thinner than the 150 km that had been estimated before the Voyager mission.

Ransford, G. A.↗

NASA NTRS1981

Is Europa surface cracking due to thermal evolution

It is proposed that some of the surface features of Europa may be due to processes occurring within a planet in which hydrated silicates are stable. Based on considerations of the mechanical properties of hydrated silicates and ice and the likely thickness of the ice crust (less than 24 km), models are developed for the long, relatively dark lineaments that lie on great and small circles and frequently possess bright medial stripes, and for the complex network of fractures surrounded by cuspate ridges in the antijovian region. The global-scale lineaments are explained in terms of planetary expansion brought about by positive volume changes resulting from the dehydration of the hydrated silicates. The apparently tensile features in the antijovian region are attributed to a region of upwelling in the convecting anhydrous silicate interior surrounded by a region of return flow beneath the hydrated silicate mantle.

Finnerty, A. A.↗

NASA NTRS1980

Conditions of origin of natural diamonds of peridotite affinity

Studies of mineral inclusions in natural diamonds and rare diamondiferous xenoliths from kimberlites show that most diamonds are associated with a dunite or harzburgite paragenesis. The diamondiferous periodites and dunites have predominantly coarse or tabular textures that suggest low-temperature (less than 1100 C) equilibration. Application of the K(D) Fe/Mg(Ga/Ol) geothermometer of O'Neill and Wood to analytical data for the minerals in these rocks shows that most have equilibrated below 1100 C. Application of this thermometer to pairs of olivine and garnet crystals included in individual diamonds indicates that the diamonds have crystallized in the range 900-1300 C, with a majority of estimated equilibration temperatures falling in the range below 1150 C. Comparison of these estimates of equilibration temperature with the zone of invariant vapor composition solidus for kimberlite and garnet lherzolite determined by Eggler and Wendlandt (1979) suggests that many diamonds may have formed in subsolidus events.

Boyd, F. R.↗