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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 199 records · Page 11
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1987

Tectonic motion in the western United States inferred from very long baseline interferometry measurements, 1980-1986

Over six years of mobile very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) baseline measurements between 12 sites in the western U.S. were used to infer their velocities relative to the North American plate. These velocities were found to be generally consistent with those determined from geologic data and contemporaneous satellite laser ranging measurements in the same region. The discrepancy between the largest velocities determined from the VLBI measurements of 40-48 mm/yr and the relative plate velocity of 50-56 mm/yr predicted from plate motion models is found to be consistent with a broadened distribution of interseismic strain from cyclic activity on the San Andreas and subsidiary faults. The VLBI data are best explained by a cumulative rate of strike-slip motion near the plate boundary of approximately 48 mm/yr, although exclusion of competing values of 56 and 41 mm/yr is based upon very few data. The rates of offshore fault slip inferred from this study range from about 15 mm/yr in central California to negligible amounts in the San Francisco region. Finite element calculations of multiple fault strain distributions show good agreement with systematic variations in the distribution of shear strain along the San Andreas system, as revealed by previous geodetic measurements.

Kroger, Peter M.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Remote sensing observations of sand movement in the Bahariya Depression, Western Egypt

Aerial photographs taken in the 1940's have been used in combination with recent Landsat MSS and TM data to study dune movement in the Western Desert of Egypt. The El-Ghorabi dunes track northwest to southeast along the eastern edge of the Bahariya Depression. These dunes are of complex longitudinal form with well-defined, lag-covered interdune corridors. Studies using both aerial coverage and multitemporal MSS and TM image data reveal little or no net southward extension or movement of the seifs, although field measurements and remote sensing data indicate small-scale lateral migration of dune crests and interdune corridors through time. The primary process of sand transport for these dunes seems to be in response to seasonal shifts in dominant wind direction, as reflected in the development and rapid response of sand shadows leeward of the main dune masses.

Maxwell, Ted A.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Nature and origin of materials exposed in the Oxia Palus-Western Arabia-Sinus Meridiani region, Mars

Images and thermal data obtained by the Viking Orbiter over the Martian equatorial cratered terrain in western Arabia, eastern Oxia, and Sinuses Sabaeus and Meridiani, have been evaluated with a view to the identification, characterization, and mapping of local, bedrock-related materials. Three primary color/thermal units are discernible: (1) bright red dust storm deposits; (2) brown materials, which may be indurated; and (3) dark, but less red materials which may be composed of medium sand size-range lithic fragments. The surficial units exposed over the study area are judged to represent mixed eolian deposits, largely decoupled from the bedrock underneath.

Presley, M. A.↗
NASA NTRS1988

The Western North American Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) boundary interval and its content of shock-metamorphosed minerals: Implications concerning the K-T boundary impact-extinction theory

At 20 sites in the Raton Basin of Colorado and New Mexico, and at several other sites in Wyoming, Montana, and Canada, a pair of claystone units, an Ir abundance anomaly, and a concentration of shock-metamorphosed minerals mark the palynological K-T boundary. The K-T boundary claystone, which is composed of kaolinite and small amounts of illite/smectite mixed-layer clay, is similar in most respects to kaolinite tonstein layers in coal beds. At some, but not all, K-T boundary localities, the boundary claystone contains solid kaolinite and hollow and solid goyazite spherules, 0.05 to 1.2 mm in diameter. The upper unit, the K-T boundary impact layer, consists chiefly of kaolinite and various amounts of illite/smectite mixed-layer clay. The impact layer and boundary claystone are similar chemically, except that the former has slightly more Fe, K, Ba, Cr, Cu, Li, V, and Zn than the latter. The facts that the boundary claystone and impact layer contain anomalous amounts of Ir, comprise a stratigraphic couplet at Western North American sites, and form thin, discrete layers, similar to air-fall units (volcanic or impact), suggest that the claystone units are of impact origin. Significantly, the impact layer contains as much as 2 percent clastic mineral grains, about 30 percent of which contain multiple sets of shock lamellae. Only one such concentration of shocked minerals has been found near the K-T boundary. The type of K-T boundary shock-metamorphosed materials (quartzite and metaquartzite) in the impact layer and the lack of shock lamellae in quartz and feldspar of pumice lapilli and granitic xenoliths in air-fall pumice units of silicic tuffs, such as the Bishop Tuff, eliminate the possibility that the shock-metamorphosed minerals in the K-T impact layer are of volcanic origin. The global size distribution and abundance of shock-metamorphosed mineral grains suggest that the K-T impact occurred in North America.

Izett, G. A.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Geodesy by radio interferometry - Determination of vector motions for sites in the western United States

The use of VBLI to study plate tectonic motion, plate boundary deformation, earth dynamics, and the crustal motions in the western U.S. is discussed. Results from dual frequency (S and X band) mobile VLBI experiments between October 1982 and February 1987 are presented. It is suggested that significant northwest motion is occurring well east of the San Andreas fault.

Gordon, David↗
NASA NTRS1988

Satellite detection of transient enhanced primary production in the western Mediterranean Sea

Extensive ship sampling of chlorophyll a and primary production of CO2 in the western Mediterranean Sea was conducted contemporaneous with Nimbus-7 coastal zone color scanner imagery. This approach resulted in an empirical model for estimating integrated water-column primary production from satellite imagery. Precision was adequate to resolve short-term fluctuations in primary production associated with a mesoscale circulation feature.

Lohrenz, Steven E.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Architecture of orogenic belts and convergent zones in Western Ishtar Terra, Venus

Linear mountain belts in Ishtar Terra were recognized from Pioneer-Venus topography, and later Arecibo images showed banded terrain interpreted to represent folds. Subsequent analyses showed that the mountains represented orogenic belts, and that each had somewhat different features and characteristics. Orogenic belts are regions of focused shortening and compressional deformation and thus provide evidence for the nature of such deformation, processes of crustal thickening (brittle, ductile), and processes of crustal loss. Such information is important in understanding the nature of convergent zones on Venus (underthrusting, imbrication, subduction), the implications for rates of crustal recycling, and the nature of environments of melting and petrogenesis. The basic elements of four convergent zones and orogenic belts in western Ishtar Terra are identified and examined, and then assess the architecture of these zones (the manner in which the elements are arrayed), and their relationships. The basic nomenclature of the convergent zones is shown.

Head, James W.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Upper-tropospheric influences on Western Pacific tropical cyclone intensity change as inferred from satellite ozone observations

The use of Nimbus-7 TOMS data to diagnose changes in tropical cyclone intensity is demonstrated. The relationship between upper-tropospheric environmental total ozone distribution and intensity for a tropical cyclone case study is examined. The climatological total ozone patterns are used to identify the upper-tropospheric features to differentiate between intensifying and nonintensifying Western Pacific tropical cyclones.

Rodgers, Edward B.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Measurements of tropospheric nitric acid over the western United States and northeastern Pacific Ocean

HNO3 measurements obtained in the free troposphere (FT) and boundary layer (BL) over the western U.S. and the NE Pacific during the NASA Global Tropospheric Experiment Chemical Instrumentation Test and Evaluation 2 (CITE 2) program in summer 1986 are reported. The CITE 2 HNO3 instruments and flight protocols are described, and the results are presented in tables and graphs. Over the ocean, the average HNO3 mixing ratios were found to be 108 parts per trillion by volume (pptv) in the FT and 62 pptv in the BL, suggesting removal of HNO3 from the BL by dry deposition. The corresponding values over land were 61 pptv for the FT and 767 pptv for the BL, and the horizontal distribution of BL HNO3 indicated an anthropogenic origin.

Lebel, P. J.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Western Eisila Regio, Venus - Radar properties of volcanic deposits

The 1988 Arecibo Observatory dual-polarization radar images are presented for Western Eisila Regio, Venus. The polarization information and Pioneer-Venus Orbiter reflectivity and altimetry data are analyzed for volcanic deposits on two 400-500 km radius constructs, Sif and Gula Montes. Many of the large effusive deposits studied appear to require superposed flows or multiple vents to explain the observed progression of roughness along their length. High Fresnel reflectivity material may be present along the summit region of Gula Mons and in an embayed tessera-like region to the N. Radar-dark units on the flanks of Sif Mons are inferred to be pyroclastic deposits, but radar-dark features near the summits of both edifices are more consistent with very smooth lava flows. Higher spatial resolution Magellan data will be useful in testing these predictions.

Campbell, Bruce A.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Distribution of terrestrial age and petrologic type of meteorites from western Libya

A group of 54 meteorites have been recovered from Daraj, Western Libya. After assessment of pairing of samples, using petrologic criteria, C-14 terrestrial ages were obtained on 13 samples selected from 9 different fall events. Eleven of the ages range from 3500 to 7600 years, with only two samples having ages in excess of 10,000 years. The cutoff in ages may be related to the timing of climatic changes in the Hammadah al Hamra.

Jull, A. J. T.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Blob tectonics - A prediction for Western Aphrodite Terra, Venus

It is proposed that the Western Aphrodite Terra region of Venus was formed by four diapirs of heated mantle material, or blobs, rising to the surface in a region of convective upwelling. The four blobs are in different stages of evolution, producing different topography, gravity anomalies, and morphology. It is shown that this model is consistent with available data and make specific predictions that can be tested with Magellan radar data.

Herrick, Robert R.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Anatexis and metamorphism in tectonically thickened continental crust exemplified by the Sevier hinterland, western North America

This paper presents a thermal and petrologic model of anatexis and metamorphism in regions of crustal thickening exemplified by the Sevier hinterland in western North America, and uses the model to examine the geological and physical processes leading to crustally derived magmatism. The results of numerical experiments show that anatexis was an inevitable end-product of Barrovian metamorphism in the thickened crust of the late Mesozoic Sevier orogenic belt and that the advection of heat across the lithosphere, in the form of mantle-derived mafic magmas, was not required for melting of metasedimentary rocks. It is suggested that, in the Sevier belt, as in other intracontinental orogenic belts, anatexis occurred in the midcrust and not at the base of the crust.

Patino Douce, Alberto E.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Heat fluxes and roll circulations over the western Gulf Stream during an intense cold-air outbreak

Turbulence and heat fluxes in the marine atmospheric boundary layer (MABL) for three aircraft stacks near the western Gulf Stream front, observed during the Genesis of Atlantic Lows Experiment (GALE) January 28, 1986 cold-air outbreak, has been studied using mixed-layer scaling. The GOES image and stability parameter indicates that these three stacks were in the roll vortex regime. The turbulence structure in the MABL is studied for this case, as well as the significance of roll vortices to heat fluxes. The roll circulations are shown to contribute significantly to the sensible (temperature) and latent heat (moisture) fluxes with importance increasing upward. The results suggest that the entrainment at the MABL top might affect the the budgets of temperature and humidity fluxes in the lower MABL, but not in the unstable surface layer.

Chou, Shu-Hsien↗
NASA NTRS1991

Implanted He-3, He-4, and Xe in further studies of diamonds from Western Australia

In measurements of the noble gases in additional samples of diamonds from the Argyle and Ellendale lamproites in Western Australia, no neon-rich stones were encountered. No neon was detected above the relatively high blank levels in the glass apparatus. White and brown diamonds showed no differences in noble gas content, nor did samples segregated by the color of long-wave UF fluorescence. The rare gas patterns in the 1.2 Ga Argyle pipe are largely consistent with implanted He-3, He-4, and fissiogenic Xe from U/Th in the matrix rock in which the diamonds have been stored for so long. These implanted species are absent in diamonds from the much younger (about 20 Ma) Ellendale pipe. Implantation formulas for several models of inhomogeneously distributed U/Th are given. Differences in He-3 content between pipe and alluvial Argyle samples are consistent with expected cosmogenic production in the latter. An expanded data base for helium and carbon isotopic data on the same samples supports a negative (He-4)-delta(C-13) correlation seen in earlier work.

Mcconville, P.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Lunar western limb pyroclastic deposits

It has become increasingly evident that the lunar pyroclastic volcanism played an important role in the formation and resurfacing of many areas of the Moon. On-going analysis of lunar Orbiter and Apollo photographs continues to locate and identify pyroclastic deposits and suggests that they just may be more ubiquitous than once thought. Located near mare/highland boundaries, many of these deposits formed contemporaneously with effusive mare volcanism. The mantling deposits formed as products of fire-fountaining. Probable source vents for these deposits include irregular depressions at the head of associated sinuous rilles and/or along irregular fractures in the floors of ancient craters. Here, researchers provide a brief synopsis of the nature of the dark mantling deposits and briefly discuss several newly identified deposits on the western limb.

Coombs, Cassandra R.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Optically thin cirrus clouds over oceans and possible impact on sea surface temperature of warm pool in western Pacific

Over the convectively active tropical ocean regions, the measurement made from space in the IR and visible spectrum have revealed the presence of optically thin cirrus clouds, which are quite transparent in the visible and nearly opaque in the IR. The Nimbus-4 IR Interferometer Spectrometer (IRIS), which has a field of view (FOV) of approximately 100 km, was utilized to examine the IR optical characteristics of these cirrus clouds. From the IRIS data, it was observed that these optically thin cirrus clouds prevail extensively over the warm pool region of the equatorial western Pacific, surrounding Indonesia. It is found that the seasonal cloud cover caused by these thin cirrus clouds exceeds 50 percent near the central regions of the warm pool. For most of these clouds, the optical thickness in the IR is less than or = 2. It is deduced that the dense cold anvil clouds associated with deep convection spread extensively and are responsible for the formation of the thin cirrus clouds. This is supported by the observation that the coverage of the dense anvil clouds is an order of magnitude less than that of the thin cirrus clouds. From these observations, together with a simple radiative-convective model, it is inferred that the optically thin cirrus can provide a greenhouse effect, which can be a significant factor in maintaining the warm pool. In the absence of fluid transports, it is found that these cirrus clouds could lead to a runaway greenhouse effect. The presence of fluid transport processes, however, act to moderate this effect. Thus, if a modest 20 W/sq m energy input is considered to be available to warm the ocean, then it is found that the ocean mixed-layer of a 50-m depth will be heated by approximately 1 C in 100 days.

Prabhakara, C.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Early Archean (approximately 3.4 Ga) prokaryotic filaments from cherts of the apex basalt, Western Australia: The oldest cellularly preserved microfossils now known

In comparison with that known from later geologic time, the Archean fossil record is miniscule: although literally hundreds of Proterozoic formations, containing more that 2800 occurrences of bona fide microfossils are now known, fewer than 30 units containing some 43 categories of putative microfossils (the vast majority of which are of questionable authenticity) have been reported from the Archean. Among the oldest known fossils are Early Archean filaments reported from cherts of the Towers Formation and the Apex Basalt of the 3.3-3.6 Ga-old Warrawoona Group of Western Australia. The paleobiologic significance of the Towers Formation microstructures is open to question: thin aggregated filaments are properly regarded as dubiomicrofossils (perhaps biogenic, but perhaps not); therefore, they cannot be regarded as firm evidence of Archean life. Although authentic, filamentous microfossiles were reported from a second Towers Formation locality, because the precise layer containing the fossiliferous cherts was not relocated, this discovery can neither be reconfirmed by the original collector nor confirmed independently by other investigators. Discovery of microfossils in bedded cherts of the Apex Basalt, the stratigraphic unit immediately overlying the Towers Formation, obviates the difficulties stored above. The cellularly preserved filaments of the Apex Basalt meet all of the criteria required of a bona fide Archean microfossils. Recent studies indicate that the Apex assemblage includes at least six morphotypes of uniseriate filaments, composed of barrel-shaped, discoidal, or quadrate cells and exhibiting rounded or conical terminal cells and medial bifurcated and paired half-cells that reflect the occurrence of prokaryotic binary cell division. Interestingly, the majority of these morphotypes are morphologically more similar to extant cyanobacteria than to modern filamentous bacteria. Prokaryotes seem clearly to have been hypobradytelic, and the evidence suggests (but does not prove) that physiologically advanced oxygen-producing photosynthesizers may have been represented in the Early Archean biota.

Schopf, J. W.↗