Search NASA⌕ Search

Engineering topics

Keil, K.

Publications and source records attributed to Keil, K..

At least 163 records · Page 9

Niobian rutile in an Apollo 14 KREEP fragment.

Niobian rutile was found in a KREEP lithic fragment of basaltic texture. The niobian rutile contains 85.3% TiO2, 7.1% Nb2O5, 2.65% Cr2O3, 0.70% ZrO2, 0.61% SiO2, 0.82% Al2O3 0.61% FeO, 0.52% CaO, 0.22% V2O3 in addition to minor amounts of MnO, MgO, and CeO2. Rare-earth elements were not detected, in contrast with lunar niobian rutile of Marvin (1971). Coexisting minerals in the KREEP fragment are major amounts of plagioclase and orthopyroxene, and minor amounts of olivine, ilmenite, augite, barian K-feldspar, whitlockite, troilite, Ni-Fe, zirkelite, and chromite.

Hlava, P. F.↗

The Oro Grande, New Mexico, chondrite and its lithic inclusion.

The Oro Grande, New Mexico, U.S.A., chondrite was found in 1971. Electron microprobe analyses and microscopic examination show the following mineralogy: olivine (Fa 19.3 mole %), orthopyroxene (Fs 16.2 mole %), diopside, feldspar (An 13.6 mole %), chlorapatite, whitlockite, kamacite, taenite, troilite, chromite, and an iron-bearing terrestrial weathering product. A bulk chemical analysis of the meteorite shows the following results (weight %): Fe 0.84, Ni 1.46, Co 0.07, FeS 3.62, SiO2 34.18, TiO2 0.14, Al2O3 1.83, Cr2O3 0.55, Fe2O3 21.25, FeO 9.13, MnO 0.31, MgO 21.52, CaO 1.72, Na2O 0.70, K2O 0.08, P2O5 0.25, H2O(+) 2.14, H2O(-) 0.40, C 0.22, sum 100.41. On the basis of composition and texture the Oro Grande meteorite is classified as an H5 chondrite.

Fodor, R. V.↗

Mineralogy, petrology and chemistry of lunar rock 12039.

Rock 12039 belongs to the olivine-depleted group of magmatic rocks characterized by normative and modal SiO2, absence or very low abundance of olivine, and high FeO/(FeO + MgO), Ti/Cr, and CaO/MgO ratios. Clinopyroxenes in this rock show a complex, essentially continuous, compositional zonation from augite cores through ferroaugite to ferrohedenbergite with an abrupt discontinuity at the pyroxferroite contact and, thus, are different from pyroxene in most other Apollo 12 rocks. Two grains contain thin subcalcic pigeonite zones. Texture, presence of very fine (less than 1 micron) exsolution lamallae, and pyroxene zoning indicate a relatively rapid cooling history and pronounced in situ chemical fractionation.

Bunch, T. E.↗

Lunar ultramafic glasses, chondrules and rocks.

Analysis of all samples returned by lunar missions before Apollo 15 has shown green glasses of ultramafic composition in soil and microbreccia samples. Ultramafic glasses in Apollos 11 and 14 and Luna 16 samples are rare and similar to each other in composition but different from any of the rocks collected at these sites. Details of work regarding Apollo 15 ultramafic green glasses are discussed together with questions of the origin of all green glasses.

Bunch, T. E.↗

Lunar zirkelite - A uranium-bearing phase.

Zirkelite (simplified CaZrTiO5) containing 7-17 wt % oxides of trivalent elements (largely yttrium and the rare earths) and minor amounts of U, Th, and Pb is described from an Apollo 12 feldspathic peridotite (12036,9) and two KREEP-type norite lithic fragments separated from Apollo 14 loose fines (14163,39 and 14257,3). Quantitative electron microprobe analyses indicate that this lunar phase conforms more closely to the zirkelite formula than the zirconolite formula.

Busche, F. D.↗

Use of a CO2 laser to prepare chondrule-like spherules from supercooled molten oxide and silicate droplets.

Chondrule-like spherules were formed from individual freely falling subcooled droplets of alumina, enstatite, forsterite, enstatite-albite and forsterite-albite mixtures that had been melted with a focused continuous CO2 laser beam. Their textures (rimmed, excentro-radial, barred, glassy) are strikingly similar to those of many meteoritic chondrules. It is suggested that the phenomena associated with rapid crystallization from the supercooled melt are responsible for the various textures observed in the artificial spherules as well as in similar meteoritic chondrules. It is suggested that the textures observed would also result from rapid crystallization of relatively slowly cooling molten droplets that may have been produced in larger scale events, including condensation from a nebula of solar composition and solidification in an ambient medium of high temperature.

Nelson, L. S.↗

The Landes meteorite.

The Landes silicate-bearing octahedrite is a new find from Grant County, West Virginia. Minerals and their compositions are very similar to those in Odessa-type silicate inclusions. The angular nature of the inclusions, recrystallization textures, and mineral compositions indicate a 'xenolithic' origin for the inclusions.

Bunch, T. E.↗

Effects of vaporization and condensation on Apollo 11 glass spherules - Implications for cooling rates.

Fourteen of 40 glass spherules present in a section of the Apollo 11 microbreccia 10019,22 were found to exhibit steep concentration gradients at their rims; the oxides of the relatively volatile elements Na, K, and P increase by, respectively, factors of up to 67, 16, and greater than 54 at the spherule rims in comparison to the homogeneous centers. These gradients usually extend over 25-30 microns. Furthermore, the natural surfaces of 11 unpolished glass spherules separated from the fines 10084,97, in 60-80% of all cases, show higher concentrations in Na2O, K2O, and P2O5 than the averages for the central portions of 45 independently analyzed glass spherules. It is suggested that the concentration gradients observed are diffusion gradients and are the result of the impact event which produced the glasses; in the impact melting process, splash drops of melt formed that lost volatiles by vaporization. A procedure is described to determine the cooling rate of a spherule from measured concentration gradients, provided the diffusion coefficients are known for the particular glass compositions in question.

Kurat, G.↗

Lithic fragments, glasses and chondrules from Luna 16 fines.

Electron probe determination of the bulk compositions of igneous and microbreccia lithic fragments, glasses and chondrules from Luna 16 fines and of the compositions of minerals in basaltic lithic fragments. It is found that the Luna 16 fines have a composition more similar to that of Apollo 11 than to those of Apollo 12 and 14 materials. The compositions of lithic fragments, glasses and chondrules from Luna 16 core tube layers A and D are similar. The glasses are compositional analogs of the lithic fragments and are produced largely from igneous rocks. The Luna 16 chondrules have an anorthositic-noritic-troctolitic composition. Evidence for the presence of ferric iron and water-bearing minerals in the Luna 16 material is not obtained. The occurrence of a great variety of igneous rocks in the material confirms an earlier conclusion that large-scale melting or partial melting to a considerable depth and an extensive igneous differentiation must have occurred on the moon.

Keil, K.↗

Chondrules of lunar origin.

Chondrules and glass spherules from Apollo 14 breccia 14318, studied microscopically, and their bulk and mineral compositions, determined by electron microprobe, are described and discussed with respect to their implications. The similarity in texture of impact-produced lunar and meteoritic chondrules suggests that, if major impact events occurred on parent meteorite bodies, at least some meteoritic chondrules may have formed by impact melting and splattering. Several other conclusions are discussed.

Kurat, G.↗

Apollo 15 rake sample microbreccias and non-mare rocks: Bulk rock, mineral and glass electron microprobe analyses

Quantitative electron microprobe data of Apollo 15 nonmare rake samples are presented. Bulk analyses of lithic fragments in the nomare rocks (expressed in oxide weight-percent) and the corresponding CIPW molecular norms are given. The mineralogy of the rocks and lithic fragments are also given; structural formulae for complete analyses and molecular end-members for all mineral analyses are included. The mineral analyses include pyroxene, olivine, plagioclase, barian K-feldspar, spinel and ilmenite, cobaltian metallic nickel-iron as well as SiO2-K2O-rich residual glass. Electron micropobe analyses (oxide weight percent) of glasses in loose fines and microbreccia samples and their CIPW molecular norms are presented along with electron microprobe data on bulk, mineral, and matrix glass from chondrules.

Hlava, P. F.↗

Hibonite, Ca2/Al, Ti/24O38, from the Leoville and Allende chondritic meteorites.

Hibonite was discovered in light-colored, Ca-Al-Ti-rich and Si-Fe-poor, achondritic inclusions of the Leoville and Allende HL-group chondrites. Two varieties of hibonite occur: one emits a bright red-orange luminescence under electron bombardment and has high amounts of Al2O3 (87.7; 87.9) and low amounts of MgO (0.65; 0.8) and TiO2 (0.68; 0.8). The other emits a bright blue luminescence and is low in Al2O3 (78.7; 79.2) and high in MgO (3.3; 3.7) and TiO2 (6.5; 7.9) (in wt. %). The oxide CaO is about the same in both varieties. It is suggested that the change in the color of the visible luminescence results from changes in composition. The origin of hibonite which occurs in complex mineral assemblages together with anorthite, gelhenite, wollastonite, aluminous diopside, andradite, Ca-pyroxene, perovskite, spinel, taenite, chromite, and pentlandite, and in close proximity to nodules containing calcite, whewellite, forsterite and many of the aforementioned phases, is discussed. The proposition that hibonite and associated phases originated by contact metamorphism and metasomatism of calcite-dolomite bearing assemblages cannot, at this time, be completely ruled out.

Keil, K.↗