SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “AR”

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.

SourceResearch connectionFrom yearThrough year

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 37 records · Page 2

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

NASA NTRS1990

Study of electron impact excitation of argon in the extreme ultraviolet - Emission cross section of resonance lines of Ar I, Ar II

In a crossed-beam experiment under optically thin conditions the EUV spectrum of argon produced by electron impact excitation is studied. The cross sections of the resonance lines of Ar I and II are measured. The resonance lines of Ar I at 104.8 nm and 106.7 nm, and of Ar II at 91.96 nm and 93.21 nm are the most prominent features of the EUV spectrum between 40 and 110 nm. The relative-flow technique is used to measure the absolute cross sections of these lines at 200 eV. The measurements are compared with previous estimates. The measured emission cross section values at 200 eV for the Ar I lines at 104.8 nm and 106.7 nm, when compared to the electron energy loss estimates of the direct excitation cross sections, establish that cascading is larger for the Ar I resonance lines than previous emission experiments have indicated. In addition, all the emission cross sections for the Ar I and II Rydberg series in the EUV are measured at 0.5 nm resolution. The FUV spectrum is also surveyed and found to consist of Ar II multiplets from simultaneous ionization-excitation.

Ajello, Joseph M.↗

NASA NTRS1994

Mineralogy and Ar-39 - Ar-40 of an old pristine basalt: Thermal history of the HED parent body

Previous investigations of mineral chemistry and Rb-Sr and Sm-Nd ages indicated that clast,84 from eucrite Yamato 75011 had preserved the pristine nature of its initial crystallization during an early stage of the HED parent body. Microscale mineralogy and Ar-39-Ar-40 ages of this clast, however, revealed local disturbance of microtextures and partially reset ages. This evidence suggests that, in addition to initial crystallization and rapid cooling, the Y75011,84 clast experienced shock deformation, reheating of short duration at higher temperature, and brecciation. These characteristics suggest two or more impact events. Fe-rich olivine filling fractures in pyroxene may have been introduced during the accompanying shock fracturing. The inferred Ar-39-Ar-40 degassing ages for Y75011 matrix and clast, 84 are 3.94 +/- 0.04 Ga and 3.98 +/- 0.03 Ga, respectively. The suggested degassing age for a clast from Y790020, believed to be paired with Y75011, is approximately 4.03 Ga, but could be younger. We consider it likely that all three samples experienced a common degassing event 3.95 +/- 0.05 Ga ago, but we cannot rule out two or more events spaced over a approximately 0.1 Ga interval. Higher temperature extractions of the two clast samples show significantly older apparent ages up to approximately 4.5 Ga and suggest that the time/temperature regime of this event was not sufficient to degas Ar totally. Most likely, the K-Ar ages were reset by thermal metamorphism associated with one or more impact events associated with shock fracturing, formation of Fe-rich olivine veins, and/or meteorite brecciation. The pyroxene annealing that commonly occurs in many eucrites is likely to be a much earlier process than the impact-produced textural changes and reset K-Ar ages observed in these meteorites. The existence of mineralogical and chronological evidence for metamorphism in an otherwise pristine eucrite suggests that the HED parent body experienced an extensive degree of early cratering.

Takeda, Hiroshi↗

NASA NTRS2009

Ar-Ar Impact Heating Ages of Eucrites and Timing of the LHB

Eucrites and howardites, more than most meteorite types, show extensive impact resetting of their Ar-39-Ar-40 (K-Ar) ages approximately equal to 3.4-4.1 Ga ago, and many specimens show some disturbance of other radiometry chronometers as well. Bogard (1995) argued that this age resetting occurred on Vesta and was produced by the same general population of objects that produced many of the lunar impact basins. The exact nature of the lunar late heavy bombardment (LHB or 'cataclysm') remains controversial, but the timing is similar to the reset ages of eucrites. Neither the beginning nor ending time of the lunar LHB is well constrained. Comparison of Ar-Ar ages of brecciated eucrites with data for the lunar LHB can resolve both the origin of these impactors and the time period over which they were delivered to the inner solar system. This abstract reports some new Ar-Ar age data for eucrites, obtained since the authors' 1995 and 2003 papers.

Bogard, Donald↗

NASA NTRS1973

Argon in Apollo 15 green glass spherules /15426/ - Ar-40-Ar-39 age and trapped argon

The results of thermal-release argon analyses of neutron-irradiated green glass spherules separated from the lunar sample 15426 are discussed. It is shown that the gas-retention age determined by the Ar-40-Ar-39 method is similar to that of local mare basalts, and differs from the ages of Appenine Front samples recovered from the same region as 15426. Trapped argon is present in near-surface regions of the spherules, and can be resolved into at least two components requiring separate origins: a shallow (0.1 micron) component with Ar-40/Ar-39 not less than 30, and a deeper (2.0 micron) component with an Ar-40/Ar-39 ratio of 2.9. The ratio of trapped Ar-40 to Ar-36 is higher than in any lunar soil samples, and suggests that the trapped gas was implanted early in the spherules history.

Podosek, F. A.↗

NASA NTRS1990

(Ar-39)-(Ar-40) dating of mesosiderites - Evidence for major parent body disruption less than 4 Ga ago

The (Ar-39) (Ar-40) chronologies were determined for 14 different mesosiderites representing the full range of classification according to recrystallization, and these chronologies were compared with analogous data for other meteorite types and for lunar highland rocks. Results of Ar-Ar chronologies indicate the history of a degassing of Ar due to a major thermal event that occurred less than 3.9 Ga ago; this event is not the metal-silicate mixing event, which is known to have occurred earlier than 4.4 Ga ago. It is suggested that a major collisional disruption-reassembly event less than 3.9 Ga ago took place, leaving the metal-silicate breccias buried under tens of kilometers of rubble, where they cooled slowly through the Ar closure temperatures.

Bogard, D. D.↗

NASA NTRS2003

Ar-39 - Ar-40 Evidence for an Approximately 4.26 Ga Impact Heating Event on the LL Parent Body

Miller Range 99301 is a type 6, unbrecciated LL chondrite. MIL 99301 is of interest because some compositional and petrographic features suggest it experienced rather high shock grades, whereas other features suggest it is relatively unshocked. Inconsistent shock indicators could be explained if MIL 99301 was shocked but then partly annealed by heat produced by impacts on the parent body. The hypothesis that MIL 99301 experienced high temperature metamorphism (type 6) followed by a later shock event that heated, but did not melt, the constituent feldspar can be evaluated using (39)Ar-(40)Ar chronology. This is because (39)Ar-(40)Ar ages of shocked ordinary chondrites are generally <4.2 Ga, whereas (39)Ar-(40)Ar ages of unshocked meteorites are generally older, and between 4.52 - 4.38 Ga.

Dixon, E. T.↗

NASA NTRS2010

An Approximately 4.35 Ga Ar-Ar Age for GRA 8 and the Complex Chronology of its Parent Body

GRA06128 and GRA06129 (hereafter GRA 8 and GRA 9) are partial melts of a parent body of approximately chondritic composition. We reported a conventional Sm-147-Nd-143 isochron age of 4.559+/-0.096 Ga and a 146 Sm-142Nd model age of 4.549+/-0.036 for combined data for the two rocks. Plagioclase plus whole rock and leachate (approx.phosphate) samples gave a secondary Sm-147-Nd-143 age of 3.4+/-0.4 Ga. An Ar-39-Ar-40 age of 4.460+/-0.028 Ga was interpreted as dating metamorphism in GRA 9. We report Ar-39-Ar-40 ages in the range approx.4344-4366 Ma for GRA 8, establishing similar but different Ar-39-Ar-40 ages for the two rocks, consistent with their different Sr-isotopic systematics, and discuss these ages in the context of the complex sequence of events that affected these samples.

Park, J.↗

NASA NTRS2010

An Approximately 4.35 Ga Ar-Ar Age for GRA 8 and the Complex Chronology of its Parent Body

GRA06128 and GRA06129 (hereafter GRA 8 and GRA 9) are partial melts of a parent body of approximately chondritic composition. We reported a conventional SM-147Sm-ND_143 isochron age of 4.559 +/-.096 Ga and a SM-146-142Nd model age of 4.549 +/- 0.036 for combined data for the two rocks. Plagioclase plus whole rock and leachate (approximately phosphate) samples gave a secondary SM-147-ND-143 age of 3.4 +/-0.4 Ga. An Ar-39-Ar-40 age of 4.460+/-0.028 Ga was interpreted by as dating metamorphism in GRA 9. We report Ar-39-Ar-40 ages in the range approximately 4344-4366 Ma for GRA 8, establishing similar but different Ar-39-Ar-40 ages for the two rocks, consistent with their different Sr-istopic systematics, and discuss these ages in the context of the complex sequence of events that affected these samples

Park, J.↗

NASA NTRS2010

Ar-Ar Studies of Lherzolitic Shergottites Yamato 000097 and 984028

The approx.170 Ma age of the rock(s) is (likely) preserved in minor phases of high K content. Terrestrial Ar appears to have a nearly ubiquitous presence in the gas release, and mixes with Martian Ar in variable proportions. The intermediate temperature release of the plag separate shows an apparently higher approx.270 Ma age, and suggests the presence of terrestrial Ar that "torques" the correlation to a steeper slope than for 170 Ma. The intermediate temperature data of the pyroxene is consistent with a "young" age (either approx.170 to approx.270 Ma) and mostly Martian trapped Ar. The low temperature (needs checking) data also are essentially consistent with the approx.170 Ma age, but an intercept near the terrestrial value is suspicious. Would not have had terrestrial Ar on Mars, so this is more likely a mixing line. Admixtures of terrestrial Ar in the pyroxene extractions seems pervasive, but can t explain the variation in 39/36 along the intermediate temp. "isochron".

Park, J.↗

NASA NTRS1978

Ar-40-Ar-39 microanalysis of single 74220 glass balls and 72435 breccia clasts

Ar-40-Ar-39 age measurements on single orange glass balls from the Apollo 17 soil 74220 and individual clasts from the Apollo 17 highland breccia 72435 are reported. The measurements required the use of newly established microanalytical techniques to obtain high quality analyses on about 0.5 mg particles with only a few hundred ppm K. An age of 3.60 plus or minus 0.04 b.y. is determined for the orange glass. No corrections for a trapped Ar-40 component were required. The glass forming event occurred at the very end of or after the extrusion of the mare basalts at the Apollo 17 site. An extremely well defined age plateau at 3.86 plus or minus 0.04 b.y. was determined for a 72435 plagioclase clast with attached matrix. A second large plagioclase crystal yielded significantly older ages over the last 60% of Ar release at high temperatures and is a relict clast incompletely degassed at the time of breccia formation. 72435 also contains plagioclase clasts with primitive Sr and a 4.55 AE old dunite clast. The Ar results provide additional evidence for the association of chemically unequilibrated, relict clasts with both primitive Sr and older K/Ar ages.

Huneke, J. C.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Ar-39-Ar-40 of achondrites: Evidence for a lunar-like cataclysm

The observation that the K-Ar, Pb-Pb, and Rb-Sr ages of a significant number of lunar highland rocks were reset in the interval of 4.1-3.8 Ga ago led to the concept of a cataclysmic bombardment of the moon during this period. An important consideration for understanding the early bombardment history of the solar system, including the moon, is whether evidence also exists in meteorites for resetting of radiometric ages by cataclysmic bombardment of their parent bodies. A comparison of Ar-39-Ar-40 ages of achondritic meteorites with ages of lunar highland rocks should help elucidate the nature of the early bombardment of the solar system. We are participating in various consortia studies of primarily Antarctic eucrites and howardites for which we measured Ar-39-Ar-40 ages of various clasts and matrix samples. The results of these studies are presented.

Bogard, D. D.↗

NASA NTRS2004

Cosmic Ray Exposure Ages, Ar-Ar Ages, and the Origin and History of Eucrites

HED meteorites likely formed at different depths on the large asteroid 4-Vesta, but passed through Vesta-derived, km-sized intermediary bodies (Vestoids), before arriving at Earth. Most eucrites and diogenites (and all howardites) are brecciated, and impact heating disturbed or reset the K-Ar ages (and some Rb-Sr ages) of most eucrites in the time period of approx. 3.4 - 4.1 Gyr ago. Some basaltic eucrites and most cumulate eucrites, however, are not brecciated. We recently showed that the Ar-39 - Ar-40 ages for several of these eucrites tightly cluster about a value of 4.48 +/- 0.02 Gyr, and we argue that this time likely represents a single large impact event on Vesta, which ejected these objects from depth and quenched their temperatures. A different parent body has been suggested for cumulate eucrites, although the Ar-Ar ages argue for a common parent. Similarities in the cosmic-ray (space) exposure ages for basaltic eucrites and diogenites also have been used to infer a common parent body for some HEDs. Here we present CRE ages of several cumulate and unbrecciated basaltic (UB) eucrites and compare these with CRE ages of other HEDs. This comparison also has some interesting implications for the relative locations of various HED types on Vesta and/or the Vestoids.

Wakefield, Kelli↗

NASA NTRS1978

Ar-39-Ar-40 and petrologic study of Luna 24 samples 24077,13 and 24077,63

The ferrogabbro 24077,13, with pyroxene and plagioclase major and minor element chemical ranges comparable to the dominant ferrogabbro component in the Luna 24 core, has a Ar-39-Ar-40 temperature release age of 3.33 plus or minus 0.21 billion years. The metaferrobasalt 24077,63 is very fine-grained with a texture and mineralogy consistent with contact metamorphism between superimposed basalt flows or within a single flow. The Ar-39-Ar-40 plateau age of 24077,63 is 3.26 plus or minus 0.4 billion years. The basalt flows in Mare Crisium are about the same age as those of Mare Imbrium and younger than those of Mare Tranquillitatis and Mare Serenitatis.

Schaeffer, O. A.↗

NASA NTRS1980

Ar-40/Ar-39 dating, Ar diffusion properties, and cooling rate determinations of severely shocked chondrites

The ages of Ar-40/Ar-39 chondrites were computed to be 4.29 to 1.0 Gyr, with degassing times of 0.5 to 1.0 Gyr. The values of the diffusion parameter for Ar in Arrhenius plots show linear relationships which correspond to the degassing of different mineral phases with distinct K/Ca ratios and different average temperatures for Ar release. The experimental values of the diffusion parameter for the high-temperature phase of severely shocked chondrites are 10 to the -7th to 10 to the -5th/s for the shock-heating temperatures in the 950-1200 C range; the inferred reheating temperatures and the fraction of the Ar-40 loss during the reheating event suggest post-shock cooling rates and burial depths of 0.01-0.0001 C/s and 0.5-2m, respectively.

Bogard, D. D.↗

NASA NTRS1983

Xe-129 - Xe-128 and Ar-40 - Ar-39 chronology of two Antarctic enstatite meteorites

Xe-129 - Xe-128 and Ar-40 - Ar-39 analyses has been performed on two Antarctic enstatite meteorites, the chondrite Y-691 and the aubrite (enstatite achondrite) ALH-78113. Both meteorites have complex Ar-40 - Ar-39 release patterns to which no unambiguous age assignment is possible. Both give apparently satisfactory Xe-129 - Xe-128 correlations corresponding to unusual ages. The I-Xe age of the chondrite Y-691 is 16 Ma after Bjurbole, not unusual for chondrites in general but 10 Ma later than previously known ages for enstatite chondrites. The I-Xe age of the aubrite ALH-78113 is 210 Ma after Bjurbole, the latest age (rather than a limit) so far observed by the I-Xe technique, but this age assignment must be considered tentative because of the possibility that it is significantly influenced by terrestrial I contamination.

Honda, M.↗

NASA NTRS2000

Mineralogy, Petrology, Chemistry, and Ar-39 - Ar-40 and Ages of the Caddo County IAB Iron: Evidence for Early Partial Melt Segregation of a Gabbro Area Rich in Plagioclase-Diopside

We found coarse-grained gabbroic material rich in plagioclase and diopside in the Caddo County IAB iron meteorite. The polished thin sections studied were made from areas rich in Al and Ca detected by a micro-focus X-ray fluorescence (XRF) mapping technique. The gabbro is not a clast within a breccia, but rather this area is located mainly at silicate-metal boundaries only a few cm away from an area with fine-grained, ultramafic silicate similar to winonaites. Medium-grained orthopyroxene and olivine are found in transitional areas showing no disturbance of their crystalline textures. A vein-like region, starting at the area rich in fine-grained mafic silicate, extends towards the gabbroic area with a gradual increase in abundance of plagioclase and diopside. This texture and our accumulated knowledge of the formation mechanism of IAB/winonaltes meteorites, suggest that the gabbroic materials were formed by inhomogeneous segregation of partial melts of chondritic source materials. Compositional data on two mineralogically distinct samples of the gabbro-rich portion of the inclusion were obtained by INAA. Compared to an average of LAB silicate inclusions or winonaites, the Caddo County gabbro is enriched in the incompatible lithophile elements Na, Ca, Sc, REE and Hf, which is consistent with a melt origin for the gabbro. The cosmogenic space exposure age of Caddo County (511 Ma) is significantly younger than exposure ages of some other IAB meteorites, An 39Ar-40Ar age determination of the gabbroic material indicates a series of upward steps in age from 4.516 Ga to 4.523 Ga, with a few high temperature ages up to 4.54 Ga. The older age could approximate the primary recrystallization age of silicates. The stepped Ar age spectrum may indicate differences in Ar closure temperatures during slow cooling of -2-20'C/Myr in the parent body. Alternatively, the younger Ar-Ar ages may date a shock event which occurred while Caddo County was hot and which also created textures such as a linear metal vein with rounded zigzag walls in a diopside crystal and slightly miss-oriented rounded plagioclase domain.

Takeda, Hiroshi↗

NASA NTRS2001

Early Thermal History of Eucrites by Ar-39-Ar-40

Ar-39-Ar-40 ages for Piplia Kalan (3.58 +/- 0.02 Ga) and two other eucrites indicate later impact resetting. Older Ar-39-Ar-40 ages exist for the Moama cumulate eucrite (4.42 +/- 0.01 Ga) and the PCA82502 (4.506 +/- 0.009 Ga) and PCA91007 non-brecciated eucrites. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.

Bogard, D. D.↗

NASA NTRS2005

Ar-Ar Ages of Nakhlites Y000593, NWA998, and Nakhla and CRE Ages of NWA998

The seven known Martian nakhlites are Nakhla, Lafayette, Governador Valadares, and four recent finds from hot and cold deserts: MIL03346 from the Transantarctic Mountains, a paired group from the Yamato Mountains (Y000593, Y000749, and Y000802, and two from Morocco (NWA998 and NWA817. Radiometric ages (Sm-Nd, Rb-Sr, U-Pb, and Ar-Ar) for the first three nakhlites, along with Chassigny, fall in the range of 1.19-1.37 Gyr and may suggest a common formation age. These meteorites also show very similar cosmic-ray (space) exposure ages, suggesting a single ejection event from Mars. The ages for nakhlites are different from those of Martian shergottites, whose radiometric ages vary by nearly a factor of three (approx. 165-475 Myr) and whose space exposure ages vary over a factor of approx. 20. Shergottite ages suggest that multiple locations on the Martian surface have been sampled, whereas nakhlite data imply sampling of only one Mars surface location. Because older Martian surfaces are expected to be more abundant, it seems surprising that all nakhlites would represent only one Martian impact event. To address this issue, we are measuring the (39)Ar-(40)Ar ages of Y-000593, NWA-998, Nakhla, and MIL-03346, and the space (CRE) exposure age of NWA998. Additional information is included in the original extended abstract.

Garrison, D. H.↗