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NASA NTRS1991

The mineralogy of ordinary chondrites and implications for asteroid spectrophotometry

Published data from bulk chemical analyses of 94 ordinary chondrites are compiled in a table of normative mineralogy and discussed in detail. Significant variations in olivine, pyroxene, and metal abundance ratios are found within each chondrite class and attributed to redox processes superimposed on initial differences in metal/silicate ratios. The use of the diagrams constructed here to predict the mineralogic characteristics of asteroids on the basis of spectrophotometric observations is suggested.

Mcsween, Harry Y., Jr.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Sm-Nd and Rb-Sr isotopic systematics of ureilites

The present evaluation of Sm-Nd and Rb-Sr isotopic data for seven ureilites establishes their divisions into three groups on the bases of Sm-Nd isotopic systematics. The first group of ureilites is made up of whole-rock samples whose highly depleted assemblages indicate Sm-Nd model ages consistent with 4.55 Ga. The second group of whole-rock samples of Kenna, Novo Urei, and ALHA77257 are heterogeneous mixtures of an unidentified light REE-enriched component and a light REE-depleted olivine-pyroxene assemblage. In the third group, LEW85440 neither has a model Sm-Nd age of 4.55 Ga nor plots of the 3.74 Ga isochron of the Kenna group; it might have had an evolution similar to the Kenna group, but involving different times and/or isotopic compositions.

Goodrich, Cyrena Anne↗

NASA NTRS1991

Compositional variations among whole-rock fragments of the L6 chondrite Bruderheim

Twenty about 100-mg random fragments of the Bruderheim chondrite were analyzed by INAA to determine extents of heterogeneity and to check earlier results that gave anomalous LREE concentrations. Considerable compositional heterogeneity was observed in both concentrations (maximum/minimum of 1.7 for Ir, 1.8 for Na, 6.8 for La, 7.4 for Co) and concentration ratios (greater than 3 x for Ni/Co and La/Eu). Compositions could be modeled quantitatively in terms of end-member components of constant composition representing the minerals olivine + orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene, plagioclase, kamacite, taenite, troilite, chromite, and phosphate. The model yields the proportions of minerals in each sample as well as the meteorite as a whole; accurate determination of the end members depends on high intrasample precision for many elements. No evidence of compositional heterogeneity of end members for trace elements was found. It is shown that these analyses, which used only about 2 grams of the meteorite, are equivalent in accuracy to a single sample of several tens of grams, and that knowledge of the extent of heterogeneity is essential to knowing the quality of sampling as well as for comparing results from one analysis with another and of one meteorite with another.

Haas, Johnson R.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Retention of sodium during chondrule melting

Using published data, the differences in Na concentrations in different groups of porphyritic olivine chondrules are analyzed. The results show that Na was incorporated into type II chondrule precursors as albite and was not significantly lost during melting. Type I chondrules, which contain very low concentrations of Na, were also not depleted in Na during melting, as indicated by the lack of correlation between the Na/Al ratios and the liquidus temperatures in type I chondrules. It is concluded that the difference in Na concentration is caused by the abundance of precursor albite in type II chondrules, rather than the loss of Na from the melt.

Hewins, Roger H.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Petrology and provenance of Apollo 15 Station 6 core 15009 and its bearing on site geology

Petrographic and microprobe studies were conducted of six soil samples from six different levels of the 30-cm-deep single-drive tube core 15009 obtained from the regolith of the Apennine Front at Station 6 of the Apollo 15 site. A model for the near-surface stratigraphy of the site is constructed, with due account for the results of previous studies of surface and core soils. Highland rocks were found to account for 9 percent of the mineral and lithic fragments in core 15009. The observed correlation between crystalline breccia fragments and green glass indicate that the primitive regolith on the premare Apennine Front contained abundant crystalline breccia fragments that were mixed with puroclastic green glass added to that regolith early in the mare eruptive sequence. KREEP basalts were found to be the parent rocks for 40 percent of the core fragments. It is inferred that KREEP basalts of the Apennine Bench Formation underlie mare basalts at the site. Olivine-normative mare basalt fragments comprise only 14 percent of the core-15009 source rocks but are much more abundant away from the Front.

Basu, A.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Chemical and physical studies of type 3 chondrites. XI - Metamorphism, pairing, and brecciation of ordinary chondrites

The present study reports recent measurements of the induced thermoluminescence (TL) properties of 69 type-3 ordinary chondrites, bringing to 125 the number of type-3 ordinary chondrites for which TL data are available. The samples include several of the particularly low petrographic type and many breccias, some of them gas-rich. The significance of the data with respect to the physical conditions affecting metamorphism is discussed. The TL data, olivine heterogeneity, carbon content, and inert-gas content were used to assign the samples to petrologic types. Twelve meteorites were identified as being type 3.0-3.2, and 10 of the breccias were found to contain material that may also be of this type. The temperature and width of the induced TL peak are also related to thermal history, with type 3.2-3.4 chondrites tending to have narrower peaks at lower glow curve temperatures than the type 3.6-3.9 chondrites. Type 3 H chondrites were found to be a higher petrographic type than the type 3 L and LL chondrites.

Sears, D. W. G.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Aqueous alteration of the Nakhla meteorite

Interior samples of three different Nakhla specimens contain an iron-rich silicate 'rust' (which includes a tentatively identified smectite), Ca-carbonate (probably calcite), Ca-sulfate (possibly gypsum or bassanite), Mg-sulfate (possibly epsomite or kieserite), and NaCl (halite); the total abundance of these phases is estimated as less than 0.01 weight percent of the bulk meteorite. Rust veins are truncated and decrepitated by fusion crust and are preserved as faulted segments in partially healed olivine crystals, indicating that the rust is preterrestrial in origin. Because Ca-carbonate and Ca-sulfate are intergrown with the rust, they are also indicated to be of preterrestrial origin. Similar textural evidence regarding origins of the NaCl and Mg-sulfate is lacking. Impure and poorly crystallized sulfates and halides on the fusion crust of the meteorite suggest leaching of interior (preterrestrial) salts from the interior after Makhla arrived on earth, but coincidental addition of these same salts by terrestrial contamination cannot be exluded. At least the clay-like silicate 'rust', Ca-carbonate, and Ca-sulfate were formed by precipitation from water-based solutions on the Nakhla parent planet, although temperature and pressure conditions of aqueous precipitation are unconstrained by currently available data. It is possible that aqueous alteration on the parent body was responsible for the previously observed disturbance of the Rb-Sr geochronometer in Nakhla at or near 1.3 Ga.

Gooding, James L.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Phosphates in pallasite meteorites as probes of mantle processes in small planetary bodies

Trace element analyses of the phosphates minerals in stony-iron pallasite meteorites are used here to investigate the magmatic history of the silicate portions of pallasites. In Eagle Station and seven other pallasites, the phosphates have relatively low concentrations of REEs and are strongly enriched in heavy relative to light REE. These patterns are consistent with formation of phosphate by subsolidus reactions between metal and silicate, in which phosphate inherits the REE pattern of olivine. In Springwater and Santa Rosalia, calcium-rich phosphates have higher concentrations of REE, are enriched in light relative to heavy REE, and have negative europium anomalies. These patterns are consistent with crystallization of phosphate from a europium-depleted chondritic liquid. This is unlikely to have happened near the base of the differentiating parent-body mantle; it suggests that some pallasites may come from regions of their parent bodies much nearer the surface than the core-mantle boundary.

Davis, Andrew M.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Degradation of Fe-Mg silicates in hot CO2 atmospheres: Applications to Venus

Experiments demonstrated that oxidation of ferromagnesian silicates and magnetite occurs when these minerals are heated at 800 C in 1 atmosphere of CO2, under which conditions hematite is thermodynamically stable. The 30 ppm oxygen impurity in CO2 presumably facilitates the oxidation of some of the ferrous iron initially present in the crystal structures of the minerals. Mossbauer spectral measurements reveal, however, that only CO2 degraded olivine and pigeonite is hematite formed as a magnetically ordered phase at ambient temperatures. In orthopyroxene, some of the ferric iron produced by oxidation is present as nanophase hematite which, because it remains superparamagnetic until 4.2 K, must exist as particles less than or equal to 4 nm in diameter. In the calcic pyroxenes much of the oxidized ferrous iron may still remain as structural Fe3(+) in the host silicates. Some ferric iron may also be present as unit cell sized Fe2O3 inclusions in the pyroxenes, or be segregated along cleavage planes, or be coating mineral grains. In these states of aggregation, the Fe2O3 is unidentifiable by x ray diffraction and in low temperature Mossbauer spectra. Applications of this research to the surface of Venus are discussed.

Straub, Darcy W.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Does Lafayette = Nakhla? Not necessarily so, based on 4.2K Mossbauer spectra of all of the SNC meteorites

In previous Mossbauer spectral studies of many of the Shergotite Nakhlite Chassignite (SNC) meteorites, attention was drawn to the close similarities of spectrum profiles between Lafayette and Nakhla, which were once suggested to be identical meteorites. These observations led to the acquisition of Governador Valadares and another specimen of Nakhla, as well as Zagami and Shergotty, for Mossbauer spectral measurements at 4.2K. Results reported here demonstrate that there are subtle differences between the three nakhlites (Nakhla, Lafayette, and Governador Valadares), as there are for three of the shergottites (Shergotty, Zagami, EETA 79001/lithologies A and B) and olivine-dominated Chassigny and ALHA 77005, indicating that all eight of the SNC meteorites discovered to data fell independently to Earth.

Burns, Roger G.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Optical properties of grains in molecular clouds and accretion disks

A baseline model of the composition and abundances of grains and gases in molecular cloud cores and accretion disks around young stars is defined by employing: a wide range of astronomical data and theory; the composition of primitive bodies in the solar system; and solar elemental abundances. It is proposed that in the coldest portions of these objects the major grain species include amorphous olivine, amorphous orthopyroxene, volatile and refractory organics, water ice, troilite, and metallic iron. Using a combination of laboratory measurements of optical constants and asymptotic theory, values of the real and imaginary indices of refraction of these grain species over a wavelength range that runs from the vacuum UV to the radio domain are derived. Auxiliary information for these grain species, such as their vaporization temperatures bulk densities, and their fractional abundances by mass. The above information on grain properties in molecular cloud cores and accretion disks is used to estimate the Rosseland mean opacity of the grains in both environments and the IR and microwave opacity of grains in accretion disks.

Pollack, J. B.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Preliminary analysis of LDEF instrument A0187-1: Chemistry of Micrometeoroids Experiment

The Chemistry of Micrometeoroids Experiment (CME) exposed approximately 0.8 sq. m of gold on the Long Duration Exposure Facility's (LDEF's) trailing edge (location A03) and approximately 1.1 sq. m of aluminum in the forward-facing A11 location. The most significant results to date relate to the discovery of unmelted pyroxene and olivine fragments associated with natural cosmic dust impacts. The latter are sufficiently large for detailed phase studies, and they serve to demonstrate that recovery of unmelted dust fragments is a realistic prospect for further dust experiments that will employ more advanced collector media. We also discovered that man-made debris impacts occur on the LDEF's trailing edge with substantially higher frequency than expected, suggesting that orbital debris in highly elliptical orbits may have been somewhat underestimated.

Hoerz, Friedrich↗

NASA NTRS1992

Hypervelocity impact facility for simulating materials exposure to impact by space debris

The Space Power Institute at Auburn University has constructed an electromagnetically driven particle accelerator for simulating the effects of space debris on the materials for use in advanced spacecraft. The facility consists of a capacitively driven accelerator section, a drift tube and a specimen impact chamber. The drift tube is sufficiently long that all electrical activity has ceased prior to impact in the specimen chamber. The impact chamber is large enough to allow a wide range of specimen geometries, ranging from small coupons to active portions of advanced spacecraft. The electric drive for the accelerator consists of a 67 kJ, 50 k capacitor bank arranged in a low inductance configuration. The bank is discharged through an aluminum armature/plastic ablator plate/projectile load in roughly 1.2 microsec. The evaporation of the ablaitor plate produces an expanding gas slug, mostly H2, traveling at a velocity of some 60 km/sec. Because of the pressure and local density, the expanding gas cloud accelerates projectiles due to plasma drag. To date, we have utilized projectiles consisting of 100 micron SiC, 100 and 400 micron Al2O3, 100 and 145 micron olivines. Since many particles are accelerated in a given experiment, there is a range of velocities for each shot as well as some particle breakup. Advanced diagnostics techniques allow determination of impact coordinates, velocity, and approximate size for as many as 50 individual impacts in a given experiment. We routinely measure velocities in the range 1-15 km/sec. We have used this facility to study a variety of impact generated phenomena on coated surfaces, both paint and plastic, thermal blanket material, solar cell arrays, and optical materials such as glass and quartz lenses. The operating characteristics of the gun, the advanced diagnostic scheme, and the results of studies of crater morphology are described in detail. Projectile residue analysis, as a function of impact velocity for the materials listed above, is also discussed. Wherever possible, these results are compared to those obtained by LDEF investigators and future experiments suggested which could help to explain unique features associated with LDEF impacts.

Rose, M. Frank↗

NASA NTRS1992

Interplanetary meteoroid debris in LDEF metal craters

The extraterrestrial meteoroid residue found lining craters in the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) aluminum and gold targets is highly variable in both quantity and type. In typical craters only a minor amount of residue is found and for these craters it is evident that most of the impacting projectile was ejected during crater formation. Less than 10 percent of the craters greater than 100 microns contain abundant residue consistent with survival of a major fraction of the projectile. In these cases the residue can be seen optically as a dark liner and it can easily be analyzed by SEM-EDX techniques. Because they are rare, the craters with abundant residue must be a biased sampling of the meteoroids reaching the earth. Factors that favor residue retention are low impact velocity and material properties such as high melting point. In general, the SEM-EDX observations of crater residues are consistent with the properties of chondritic meteorites and interplanetary dust particles collected in the stratosphere. Except for impacts by particles dominated by single minerals such as FeS and olivine, most of the residue compositions are in broad agreement with the major element compositions of chondrites. In most cases the residue is a thin liner on the crater floor and these craters are difficult to quantitatively analyze by EDX techniques because the electron beam excites both residue and underlying metal substrate. In favorable cases, the liner is thick and composed of vesicular glass with imbedded FeNi, sulfide and silicate grains. In the best cases of meteoroid preservation, the crater is lined with large numbers of unmelted mineral grains. The projectiles fragmented into micron sized pieces but the fragments survived without melting. In one case, the grains contain linear defects that appear to be solar flare tracks. Solar flare tracks are common properties of small interplanetary particles and their preservation during impact implies that the fragments were not heated above 600 C. We are investigating the meteoroid fragments in LDEF metal craters to determine the properties of interplanetary dust and to determine if there are meteoroid types that are overlooked or otherwise undetected in cosmic dust collections obtained from the stratosphere and polar ice.

Brownlee, D. E.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Phase equilibria and trace element partitioning in a magma ocean to 260 kilobars

A magma ocean can solidify in a way that is intermediate between perfect equilibrium and perfect fractional crystallization. In order to model quantitatively any fractional crystallization scenario, it is necessary to understand the geochemical characteristics of the phases that crystallize from a magma ocean, and how they vary with pressure. The crystallizing phase is called the liquidus phase, and their identities were determined by numerous experiments utilizing the multianvil apparatus. For chondritic compositions the liquidus phases are as follows: olivine at 1 atmosphere to 100 kilobars; garnet from 100 to about 260 kilobars; silicate perovskite from 260 kilobars to possibly the core-mantle boundary in the Earth.

Herzberg, Claude↗

NASA NTRS1992

Fate of a perched crystal layer in a magma ocean

The pressure gradients and liquid compressibilities of deep magma oceans should sustain the internal flotation of native crystals owing to a density crossover between crystal and liquid. Olivine at upper mantle depths near 250 km is considered. The behavior of a perched crystal layer is part of the general question concerning the fate of any transient crystal carried away from a cooling surface, whether this be a planetary surface or the roof of an intrusive magma body. For magma bodies thicker than a few hundred meters at modest crustal depths, the major cooling surface is the roof even when most solidification occurs at the floor. Importation of cool surroundings must also be invoked for the generation of a perched crystal layer in a magma ocean, but in this case the perched layer is deeply embedded in the hot part of the magma body, and far away from any cooling surface. Other aspects of this study are presented.

Morse, S. A.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Imperfect fractional crystallization of the lunar magma ocean and formation of the lunar mantle: A realistic chemical approach

It is generally considered that lunar mare basalts were generated by the melting of a cumulate mantle formed in an early Moon-wide magma ocean or magmasphere. However, the nature and chemistry of this cumulate mantle and the logistics of its origin have remained elusive. Extensive studies of terrestrial layered mafic intrusions over the past sixty years have emphasized the imperfection of fractional crystallization and attendant crystal-crystal and crystal-liquid separation in a convecting magma chamber. These separations were similarly inefficient during evolution of the lunar magmasphere, allowing for the trapping of interstitial melt and entrainment of a small proportion of less-dense plagioclase into the more-dense mafic cumulate mush. Indeed, petrography of lunar highlands samples demonstrates this well for anorthosites (with 1-10 percent olivine). Therefore, we propose a 'realistic' model for the evolution of the lunar mantle, which takes these observations into consideration, by the imperfect fractional crystallization of an early lunar magma ocean.

Snyder, Gregory A.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Additional complexity in the lunar crust - Petrology of sodic anorthosites and sulfur-rich, ferroan noritic anorthosites

Lunar breccia 67016 contains two suites of unusual highlands rocks: sulfur-rich, noritic anorthosites, and sodic anorthosites. Mineral compositions of the sulfur-rich noritic anorthosites closely match those of ferroan anorthosites. Unusually large amounts of sulfides, and sulfidation reactions involving olivine in these clasts probably reflect endogenous volatile transfer. The sodic anorthosites are mafic-poor, with mineral compositions intermediate between those of pristine ferroan and alkali anorthosites. Rare examples of pristine rocks with similar mineral compositions are known, and may represent a distinct class of lunar crustal rocks.

Norman, Marc D.↗