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At least 235 records · Page 13
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1976

The case for an unfractionated Pu-244/U-238 ratio in high-temperature condensates

The coarse-grained, Ca-rich inclusions in the Allende meteorite are the highest-temperature condensates from the cooling solar nebula and, as such, the oldest solid objects in the solar system. All refractory elements with condensation points above the accretion temperature of the inclusions whose concentrations in them have been measured are seen to be present in the inclusions in unfractionated proportion to one another relative to Cl chondrites when data are averaged for a large number of inclusions. Observational data for U and theoretical data for both U and Pu suggest that these elements exhibited refractory behavior in the solar nebula. An experiment is proposed in which fissiogenic Xe and U contents are measured in a suite of these inclusions to obtain the Pu-244/U-238 ratio of the solar system at the time of initial condensation with an uncertainty of plus or minus 15%.

Ganapathy, R.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Containerless processing of beryllium

Melting and solidification of a beryllium alloy containing 1.5% BeO by weight in the weightless environment of space has produced cast beryllium with a relatively uniform dispersion of BeO throughout. Examination of the cast material shows that it is coarse grained, although the BeO is not heavily agglomerated in the flight specimen. Ground based comparison experiments show extreme agglomeration and segregation of BeO, resulting in large zones which are practically free of the oxide. Several postulated hypotheses for the failure to grain refine the beryllium are formulated. These are: (1) spherodization of the BeO particles during specimen preparation and during the molten phase of the experiment; (2) loss of nucleation potency through aging in the molten phase; and (3) inability of BeO to act as a grain refiner for beryllium. Further investigation with non spherodized particles and shorter dwell times molten may delineate which of these hypotheses are valid. The results of this flight experiment indicate that the weightless environment of space is an important asset in conducting research to find grain refiners for beryllium and other metals for which cast dispersions of grain refining agents cannot be prepared terrestrially due to gravitationally driven settling and agglomeration.

Wouch, G.↗
NASA NTRS1977

The Del Rio ataxite, Texas

Basic data are presented on the Del Rio, Nordheim, and Monahans ataxites found in Texas. Results are reported for bulk-chemistry analysis, metallographic observations, and electron-microprobe analysis of the Del Rio meteorite. It is shown that Del Rio is distinctly different from the other two ataxites in terms of nickel, phosphorous, and carbon content, and is composed of at least three coarse grains in different crystallographic orientations. All the kamacite in Del Rio is found to have transformation structures that are probable shock products, and minor inclusions of daubreelite, schreibersite, and troilite are observed. It is concluded that Del Rio was apparently mildly shocked prior to its fall.

Henderson, E. P.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Sulfur in the Apollo 17 basalts and their source regions

Thirty-two Apollo 17 mare basalts have been analyzed for their total sulfur and metallic iron abundances. Sulfur abundances range from 1580 to 2770 microgram S/g with a median value of 1860 microgram S/g. Metallic iron abundances ranged from 0.033 to 0.21 wt.% Fe, with a mean value of 0.13 wt% Fe. The coarse-grained basalts contain more metallic iron than the fine-grained basalts. The metallic iron and sulfur abundances are not apparently related to the cooling rates of the basalts. A slight negative correlation exists between the concentrations of metallic iron and total sulfur for the Apollo 17 basalts. Sulfur content of the mare basalts increases with increasing degrees of fractionation whereas the metallic iron content decreases. Metallic iron in mare basalts may be ascribed to a variety of processes; at present the dominant process is unknown. The source regions for the Apollo 17 and 11 basalts were saturated with sulfur as compared to the Apollo 12 and 15 low titanium basalts which were not saturated.

Gibson, E. K., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Subsolidus reduction phenomena in lunar norite 78235 - Observations and interpretations

Lunar rock 78235 is a coarse-grained strongly shocked cumulate norite consisting of about equal proportions of chromian bronzite and anorthite. A study of the rock has revealed the presence in the partly maskelynitized plagioclase of oriented sets of metallic iron rods, what appear to be sets of oriented transparent anisotropic iron-bearing silicate rods and disseminated hard aluminum-rich domains. It is suggested that the apparent nonopaque rods might have the hollandite structure and contain Fe(+3), while the Al-rich domains could represent iron-depleted regions in the plagioclase.

Sclar, C. B.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Lunar highland rock types: Their implications for impact-induced fractionation

Lunar rocks may be classified into three major groups: (1) coarse-grained igneous rocks, (2) fine-grained igneous rocks, and (3) breccias. Group 1 is interpreted as primitive lunar crustal rocks that display various degrees of crushing and/or annealing. Group 2 is interpreted as volcanic rocks. Group 3 is interpreted as resulting from impacts on the lunar surface and is subdivided on the basis of matrix textures into fragmental breccias, crystalline breccias that have been annealed, and crystalline breccias with igneous matrices. A synthesis of the data concerning lunar highlands polymict breccias compels the prediction that the breccias should have homogeneous matrices from rock to rock within regions of the highlands of limited size where impact mixing has been efficient and extensive. But the returned breccias, even from one landing site, display a wide range in composition. This incompatibility between prediction and observation is a paradox that may be resolved by a process that acts after impact mixing to cause a differentiation of the breccia compositions. Partial melting of the local average crustal composition (as modeled by the average soil composition for each site) and separation of melt and residue in ejecta and/or fall-back blankets are compatible with the reviewed data and may resolve the paradox.

Phinney, W. C.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Evidence for Al-26 in the solar system

Evidence is reviewed for the presence of short-lived Al-26 (half-life of 720,000 years) in the early solar system. Large excesses of Mg-26 of up to 5% have been found in Ca-Al-rich inclusions of the Allende meteorite. The Mg excesses correlate well with Al-27/Mg-24 and in two cases they are found in high-purity separates of coarse-grained Al-rich minerals which tend to exclude Mg. The data demonstrate that Al-26 was present in the early solar system. Mechanisms for addition of Al-26 to the solar nebula or for production within an active solar system are required within a few million years of condensation of small (centimeter-sized) objects. The Al-26 abundance in Allende inclusions is high enough to provide for effective melting of kilometer-size bodies or larger, if such bodies accreted early enough (a few million years) to incorporate the Al-26.

Papanastassiou, D. A.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Cooling histories of Apollo 15 quartz-normative basalts

Controlled cooling rate studies of vitrophyre 15597 are used to calculate the physical properties of a quartz-normative magma as well as cooling histories of Apollo 15 quartz-normative basalts (QNB). Pyroxene phenocrysts of a QNB magma do not settle appreciably during the cooling of the flow unit; this behavior is consistent with the small degree of chemical differentiation that occurred between members of the suite. Two types of cooling histories for QNB are discerned. The vitrophyres experienced initial slow cooling followed by rapid cooling, and the coarse-grained microgabbros underwent slow nearly linear cooling histories. Textural evidence suggests that lunar vitrophyres crystallized near the top of the flow. It is suggested that the pattern of cooling may have been caused by the chilling of liquids that inherited early crystals in the interior of the flow.

Grove, T. L.↗
NASA NTRS1977

The Apollo 17 drill core - Modal petrology and glass chemistry /sections 70007, 70008, 70009/

On the basis of modal petrography the upper, mare basalt-rich portion of the Apollo 17 drill core (sections 70007, 70008, 70009) can be subdivided into three major stratigraphic units. The lower unit (a) falls within 70007, is relatively mature, and contains evidence of an increase in highland component and decrease of mare component within the lower approximately 8 cm. The middle unit (b) is coarse-grained and relatively immature; this unit has the highest concentration of mare basalt lithic and mineral fragments and mare orange/black glasses. The top unit (c) falls within 70009 and is relatively mature. Within these three sections of the drill core, there are compositional clusters of glass beads that correspond to high Ti subfloor basalt (orange/black glass), anorthositic gabbro (clear glass), and a new very low Ti (VLT) mare basalt (yellow/green glass).

Vaniman, D. T.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Chemical stratigraphy of the Apollo 17 deep drill cores 70009-70007

A description is presented of an analysis of a total of 26 samples from three core segments (70009, 70008, 70007) of the Apollo 17 deep drill string. The deep drill string was taken about 700 m east of the Camelot Crater in the Taurus-Littrow region of the moon. Three core segments have been chemically characterized from the mainly coarse-grained upper portion of the deep drill string. The chemical data suggest that the entire 70007-70009 portion of the deep drill string examined was not deposited as a single unit, but was formed by several events sampling slightly different source materials which may have occurred over a relatively short period of time. According to the data from drill stem 70007, there were at least two phases of deposition. Core segment 70009 is probably derived from somewhat different source material than 70008. It seems to be a very well mixed material.

Ehmann, W. D.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Fractionation in the solar nebula. II - Condensation of Th, U, Pu and Cm

Reasonable assumptions concerning activity coefficients allow the calculation of the relative volatility of the actinide elements under conditions expected during the early history of the solar system. Several of the light rare earths have volatilities similar to Pu and Cm and can be used as indicators of the degree of fractionation of these extinct elements. Uranium is considerably more volatile than either Pu or Cm, leading to fractionations of about a factor of 50 and 90 in the Pu/U and Cm/U ratio in the earliest condensates from the solar nebula. Ca,Al-rich inclusions from the Allende meteorite, including the coarse-grained inclusions, have a depletion of U relative to La of about a factor of three, suggesting that these inclusions may have been isolated from the nebular gas before condensation of U was complete. The inclusions, however, can be used to determine solar Pu/U and Cm/U ratios if the rare earth patterns are determined in addition to the other normal measurements.

Boynton, W. V.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Pyroxene-phyric basalt 15075 - Petrography and petrogenesis

Sample 15075 is a holocrystalline gabbroic rock that can be classified as a coarse-grained variant of the Apollo 15 pyroxene-phyric basalt group. The phenocrysts of pyroxene show spectacular compositional zoning, from hypersthene-pigeonite, through subcalcic augite, to 'ferropyroxenes.' The predominant trend of differentiation is one of Fe enrichment, which is also reflected in the progressive increase of FeO content in the normally zoned plagioclase. As in other samples of pyroxene-phyric basalts, the plagioclase in 15075 did not crystallize until the pyroxenes had reached a subcalcic augite composition; the onset of plagioclase and Fe-rich pyroxene coprecipitation is marked by sharp discontinuity in the Ca/(Fe + Mg) and Ti/Al trends of the pyroxene.

Taylor, L. A.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Mineralogy, textures and mode of formation of a hibonite-bearing Allende inclusion

The origin of a Type A, hibonite-rich, coarse-grained inclusion is investigated with the electron microprobe and petrographic and scanning electron microscopes. The primary phases are hibonite, rhonite, Ti-Al-pyroxene, spinel, perovskite and melilite. Evidence for the crystallization of the bulk of the primary phases, hibonite and melilite, from a melt is lacking, suggesting that they may have condensed directly from a solar nebular gas instead. Primary phases were intensely altered during a later condensation event which deposited grossular, anorthite, nepheline and wollastonite in veins and cavities. Four or five condensate rims were deposited as successive layers on the outside of the inclusion. From inside to outside, they consist of perovskite + spinel, nepheline + anorthite, Ti-Al-pyroxene + diopside, hedenbergite + or - wollastonite + or - andradite and, finally, prisms of diopside and hedenbergite with wollastonite and andradite. Reverse zoning in melilite; alteration phases and rim phases, which are not stable condensates from a gas of solar composition; and details of the sequence of rim condensates all suggest that the entire condensation history of this inclusion was interrupted by changes in pressure and/or temperature and/or gas phase composition.

Allen, J. M.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Isotopic fractionation of silicon in Allende inclusions

The variations of Si-30/Si-28 and Si-29/Si-28 in Allende inclusions are large, and are due predominantly to mass-dependent fractionation effects. Gas-soild or gas-liquid condensation processes at high temperatures have sufficiently large fractionation factors to account for the heavy-isotope enrichments in coarse-grained inclusions. Heavy isotope depletions are found in some Allende samples, and apparently result from a late-stage condensation. Thus, the silicon isotopic compositions may be useful for determining the sequence of events in forming the Allende meteorite. The peculiar Allende inclusion, Cl, has a very large mass-fractionated enrichment of Si-30/Si-28, and in addition, perhaps a small nuclear enrichment of Si-29. Olivine from the unusual pallasite, Eagle Station, has normal silicon isotope abundances even though it has a large O-16 excess.

Clayton, R. N.↗
NASA NTRS1978

The Apollo 16 drive tube 60009/60010. I - Modal petrology

Detailed petrographic examination of 22 thin sections from the impregnated portion of the Apollo 16 double drive tube supports the findings of previous workers. A well-gardened unit exists at the top of 60010, indicated petrographically by an increase in agglutinates near the lunar surface. There is a coarse-grained anorthositic layer near the bottom of 60009. Few, if any, of the modal variations are stratigraphically correlatable with the deep drill core 60002-7, which was recovered 50 m southwest of drive tube 60009/60010.

Simon, S. B.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Trace elements in the Allende meteorite. IV - Amoeboid olivine aggregates

INAA data for Ca, Sc, Hf, La, Ce, Sm, Eu, Tb, Yb, Lu, Os, Ir, Ru, Na, Cl, Br, Fe, Mn, Cr, Co, Au, As, and Sb are presented for ten amoeboid aggregates from the Allende meteorite. Only one lacks olivine. Seven of the remainder, as a group, have cosmic proportions of refractory lithophile and siderophile elements and appear to have formed when coarse-grained Allende inclusion material underwent partial reaction with a low-temperature nebular gas and mixture with FeO-rich olivine. The other two have highly fractionated abundances of refractory elements relative to one another compared to Cl chondrites, including Group II REE patterns, and probably formed by the mixing of fine-grained Allende inclusion material with FeO-rich olivine. Non-refractory siderophile components are also different in composition in each type of amoeboid olivine aggregate.

Grossman, L.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Mineralogic and petrologic studies of lunar samples and meteorites

Experimental and thermodynamic research on the pressure temperature limits of the stability of the mineral assemblages found in pristine, spinel bearing lunar highland lithologies demonstrated the likelihood that the minerals originated in the lower stratigraphic levels of the primordial crust. The phase equilibrium in silicate solid/liquid systems of planetary importance were thermochemically interpreted in order to model the early formation of the crusts and maneles of Earth and Moon sized planets. The petrography and chemical composition of coarse grained gabbro, the chemical analysis and age dating of clasts from Apollo 16 breccia, the analysis of glass particles from Apollo 16 soil samples, the study of Allende and Mokoia meteorites as a source of information about events in the solar nebula, and the hydrothermal alteration of amorphous materials were also investigated. The capabilities of a model for addressing the problem of the origin of the Earth's moon by the disruptive capture mechanism are examined as well as models of the thermal evolution of hypothetical meteorite bodies. Progress in determining the composition of stony meteorite specimens collected at the Allan Hills site during the Antarctic field exploration is reported.

Wood, J. A.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Apollo 12 feldspathic basalts 12031, 12038 and 12072 - Petrology, comparison and interpretations

The paper presents the petrology of Apollo 12 feldspathic basalts. Modal and chemical data indicate that basalts 12072, 12038, and 12031 cannot be related to the other Apollo rock types; 12072 contains phenocrysts of olivine and pigeonite, 12038 is a multiply saturated equigranular basalt, and 12031 is a coarse-grained rock with granular to graphic intergrowths of pyroxene and plagioclase. The bulk compositions indicate that these basalts could not have been derived from the Apollo 12 olivine or ilmenite basalts by crystal-liquid fractionation, and their petrologic similarities suggest that they were produced in the same or similar source regions.

Beaty, D. W.↗