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At least 37 records · Page 2

Modelling the Phanerozoic carbon cycle and climate - Constraints from the Sr-87/Sr-86 isotopic ratio of seawater

A numerical model is developed for simulating the long-term changes of atmospheric CO2 and climate during the Phanerozoic. The model describes the coupled evolution of the biogeochemical cycles of C, S, Ca, Mg, P, and Sr, with the emphasis on the effect of coupling the cycles of carbon and strontium and on interpreting the observed seawater Sr-87/Sr-86 ratios. The abilities of continental weathering, volcanism, and surface lithology in generating that signal are tested and compared. The results obtained are used to reconstruct a history of atmospheric CO2 and climate during Phanerozoic time, consistent with the strontium isotopic data. It is shown that the predicted history is compatible with paleoclimatic indicators, such as the timing of glaciation and the estimates of Cretaceous paleotemperatures.

Francois, Louis M.↗

Workshop on Parent-Body and Nebular Modification of Chondritic Materials

Topics considered include: thermal Metamorphosed Antarctic CM and CI Carbonaceous Chondrites in Japanese Collections, and Transformation Processes of Phyllosilicates; use of Oxygen Isotopes to Constrain the Nebular and Asteroidal Modification of Chondritic Materials; effect of Revised Nebular Water Distribution on Enstatite Chondrite Formation; interstellar Hydroxyls in Meteoritic Chondrules: Implications for the Origin of Water in the Inner Solar System; theoretical Models and Experimental Studies of Gas-Grain Chemistry in the Solar Nebula; chemical Alteration of Chondrules on Parent Bodies; thermal Quenching of Silicate Grains in Protostellar Sources; an Experimental Study of Magnetite Formation in the Solar Nebula; the Kaidun Meteorite: Evidence for Pre- and Postaccretionary Aqueous Alteration; a Transmission Electron Microscope Study of the Matrix Mineralogy of the Leoville CV3 (Reduced-Group) Carbonaceous Chondrite: Nebular and Parent-Body Features; rubidium-Strontium Isotopic Systematic of Chondrules from the Antarctic CV Chondrites Yamato 86751 and Yamato 86009: Additional Evidence for Late Parent-Body Modification; oxygen-Fugacity Indicators in Carbonaceous Chondrites: Parent-Body Alteration or High-Temperature Nebular Oxidation; thermodynamic Modeling of Aqueous Alteration in CV Chondrites; asteroidal Modification of C and O Chondrites: Myths and Models; oxygen Fugacity in the Solar Nebular; and the History of Metal and Sulfides in Chondrites.

Zolensky, M. E.↗

Rare earth and trace element geochemistry of a fragment of Jurassic seafloor, Point Sal, California

Rocks from an ophiolite suite once on the seafloor were analyzed for rare earth elements (REE), Sc, Co, Na2O, Cr, Zn and FeO. Strontium isotope exchange noted in some of the lavas is attributed to basalt-seawater interaction; the Ce abundance in smectite- and zeolite-bearing lavas may also be due to prolonged exposure to seawater. The higher grades of metamorphic rock, however, show no variation from the usual flat or slightly light REE depleted profiles. Plutonic igneous rock, all light REE depleted, have total REE abundances varying by a factor of 100 between the dunites and diorites. In order of decreasing REE abundance are hornblende, clinopyroxene, plagioclase, orthopyroxene and olivine. Calculations of REE contents of liquids in equilibrium with early cumulative clinopyroxenes suggest that the parent to the stratiform sequence was more depleted in light REE than the parent to the lava pile.

Menzies, M.↗

Seventh Annual V. M. Goldschmidt Conference

Topics considered include: Subduction of the Aseismic Cocos Ridge Displaced Magma Sources Beneath the Cordillera de Talamanca, Costa Rica; Topography of Transition Zone Discontinuities: A Measure of 'Olivine' Content and Evidence for Deep Cratonic Roots; Uranium Enrichment in Lithospheric Mantle: Case Studies from French Massif Central; Rare-Earth-Element Anomalies in the Decollement Zone of the nankai Accretionary Prism, Japan: Evidence of Fluid Flow?; Rare Earth Elements in Japanese Mudrocks: The Influence of Provenance; The Evolution of Seawater Strontium Isotopes in the Last Hundred Million Years: Reinterpretation and Consequences for Erosion and Climate Models; From Pat to Tats: The Lead Isotope Legacy in the Studies of the Continental Crust-Upper Mantle System; Geochronology of the Jack Hills Detrital Zircons by Precise Uranium-Lead Isotope-Dilution Analysis of Crystal Fragments; Iridium in the Oceans; The Helium-Heat-Lead Paradox; Control of Distribution Patterns of Heavy Metals in Ganga Plain Around Kanpur Region, India, by Fluvial Geomorphic Domains; Geochemical and Isotopic Features of Ferrar Magmatic Provience (Victoria Land, Antarctica); Rare Earth Elements in Marine Fine-Grained Sediments from the Northwestern Portuguese Shelf (Atlantic); Aspects of Arc Fluxes; General Kinetic Model for Dolomite Precipitation Rate with Application to the Secular History of Seawater Composition; High-Precision Uranium-series Chronology from Speleothems; Trace-Element Modeling of Aqueous Fluid-Peridotite Interaction in the Mantle Wedge of Subduction Zones; Rainfall Variations in Southeastern Australia over the Last 500,000 Years from Speleothem Deposition; The Role of Water in High-Pressure Fluids; The Kinetic Conditions of Metamorphic Minearogenesis: Evidence from Minerals and Assemblages.

Source record↗

Interpretation of Ferroan Anorthosite Ages and Implications for the Lunar Magma Ocean

Ferroan Anorthosites (FANs) are considered to have purportedly crystallized directly from the lunar magma ocean (LMO) as a flotation crust. LMO modeling suggests that such anorthosites started to form only after greater than 70 percent of the LMO had crystallized. Recent age dates for FANs have questioned this hypothesis as they span too large of an age range. This means a younger age for the Moon-forming giant impact or the LMO hypothesis is flawed. However, FANs are notoriously difficult to age-date using the isochron method. We have proposed a mechanism for testing the LMO hypothesis through using plagioclase trace element abundances to calculate equilibrium liquids and compare them with LMO crystallization models. We now examine the petrography of the samples that have Sm-Nd (Samarium-Neodymium) age dates (Rb-Sr (Rubidium-Strontium) isotopic systematics may have been disturbed) and propose a relative way to age date FANs.

Neal, C. R.↗

Strontium and oxygen isotope study of M-1, M-3 and M-4 drill core samples from the Manson impact structure, Iowa: Comparison with Haitian K-T impact glasses

Strontium and oxygen isotope analyses were performed on 8 samples from the M-1, M-3, and M-4 cores recently drilled at the Manson impact structure. The samples were three elastic sedimentary rocks (of probable Cretaceous age) which occurred as clasts within the sedimentary clast breccia, two samples of crystalline rock breccia matrix, and three samples of dolomite and limestone. The Sr-87/Sr-86 (corrected to 65 Ma) ratios were much higher than those in impact glasses from the Haitian Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) boundary. Isotope mixing calculations demonstrate that neither the silicate or carbonate rocks analyzed from the Manson crater, or mixtures of these rocks are appropriate source materials for the Haitian impact glasses. However, the Sr-87/Sr-86 (65Ma) ratio and delta O-18 value of the Ca-rich Haitian glasses are well reproduced by mixtures of Si-rich Haitian glass with platform carbonate of K-T age.

Blum, Joel D.↗

Strontium and neodymium isotopes in hot springs on the East Pacific Rise and Guaymas Basin

Solutions collected from 21 deg N, East Pacific Rise (Epr) and Guaymas Basin, Gulf of California, are analyzed for Nd isotopic composition and Sm and Nd concentrations. The results indicate extensive but not complete isotopic exchange with Sr in the depleted oceanic crust and that Sr concentrations in these solutions are buffered. In contrast, the Nd data exhibit a wide range in isotopic composition and concentration between vents. Many samples show substantial contributions from MORB, but all have isotopic compositions below MORB, in spite of enrichments in Nd up to 100 times seawater. It is shown that the fluids must exchange Nd with a sedimentary reservoir having an isotopic composition less than Pacific seawater. Low-temperature reactions with metalliferous sediments on the flanks of the EPR may provide such a source. Using a simple box method, estimates of the hydrothermal fluxes of Nd are compared to fluxes which are necessary to maintain a radiogenic isotopic composition of about -3 in the Pacific against the influx of Antarctic waters. It is concluded that erosion from island arcs is the main source of radiogenic Nd in the Pacific.

Piepgras, D. J.↗

Strontium and neodymium isotopic variations in early Archean gneisses affected by middle to late Archean high-grade metamorphic processes: West Greenland and Labrador

Relicts of continental crust formed more than 3400 Ma ago are preserved fortuitously in most cratons. The cratons provide the most direct information about crust and mantle evolutionary processes during the first billion years of Earth history. In view of their polymetamorphic character, these terrains are commonly affected by subsequent tectonothermal events. Hence, their isotope systematics may be severely disturbed as a result of bulk chemical change or local isotopic homogenization. This leads to equivocal age and source information for different components within these terrains. The Sr and Nd isotopic data are presented for early Archean gneisses from the North Atlantic Craton in west Greenland and northern Labrador which were affected by younger metamorphic events.

Collerson, K. D.↗

A strontium and neodymium isotopic study of Apollo 17 high-Ti mare basalts - Resolution of ages, evolution of magmas, and origins of source heterogeneities

The geochronological and compositional differences between previously identified magma types (A, B1, B2, and C) were investigated using high-precision Rb-Sr and Sm-Nd isotopic data for a set of Apollo 17 high-Ti mare basalt samples chosen to span the range of each of the magma types. These data, combined with previously reported geochemical ages, suggest that Apollo 17 volcanism was initially dominated by an eruption of Type B basalts. Data obtained from new whole-rock Sr and Nd isotopic analyses exhibited distinct differences in initial Sr and Nd isotopic compositions between Types A, B1, B2, and C basalts and were found to be consistent with existing petrogenetic models.

Paces, James B.↗

Neodymium, strontium and chromium isotopic studies of the LEW86010 and Angra dos Reis meteorites and the chronology of the angrite parent body

Neodymium, stontium, and chromium isotopic studies of the LEW86010 angrite established its absolute age and the formation interval between its crystallization and condensation of Allende CAIs from the solar nebula. Pyroxene and phosphate were found to contain approximately 8% of its Sm and Nd inventory. A conventional Sm-147-Nd-143 isochron yielded an age of 4.53 +/- 0.04 Ga (2 sigma and Epsilon(sub Nd sup 143)) = 0.45 +/- 1.1. An Sm-146-Nd-142 isochron gives initial Sm-146/Sm-144 = 0.0076 +/- 0.0009 and Epsilon (sub Nd sup 142) = -2.5 +/- 0.4. The Rb-Sr analyses give initial Sr-87/Sr-86 Iota(sub Sr sup 87) = 0.698972 +/- 8 and 0.698970 +/- 18 for LEW and ADOR, respectively, relative to Sr-87/Sr-86 = 0.71025 for NBS987. The difference, Delta Iota(sub Sr Sup 87), between Iota (sub sr sup 87) for the angrites and literature values for Allende CAIs, corresponds to approximately Ma of growth in a solar nebula with a CI chondrite value of Rb-87/Sr-86 = 0.91, or approximately 5 Ma in a nebula with solar photospheric Rb-87/Sr-86 = 1.51. Excess Cr-53 from extinct Mn-53(t(sub 1/2) = 3.7 Ma)in LEW86010 corresponds to initial Mn-53/Mn-55 = 4.4 +/- 1.0 x 10(exp -5) for the inclusions as previously reported by the Paris group (Birck and Allegre, 1988). The Sm-146/Sm-144 value found for LEW86010 corresponds to solar system initial (Sm-146/Sm-144) = 0.0080 +/- 0.0009 for crystallization 8 Ma after Allende, the difference between Pb-Pb ages of angrites and Allende, or 0.0086 +/- 0.0009 for crystallation 18 Ma after Allende, using the Mn-Cr formation interval. The isotopic data are discussed in the context of a model in which an undifferentiated 'chondritic' parent body formed from the solar nebula approximately Ma after Allende CAIs and subsequently underwent differentiation accompanied by loss of volatiles. Parent bodies with Rb/Sr similar to that of CI, CM, or CO chondrites could satisfy the Cr and Sr isotopic systematics. If the angrite parent body had Rb/Sr similar to that of CV meteorites, it would have to form slightly later, approximately 2.6 Ma after the CAIs, to satisfy the Sr and CR isotopic systematics.

Nyquist, L. E.↗

Integrated chronostratigraphy of Proterozoic-Cambrian boundary beds in the western Anabar region, northern Siberia

Carbonate-rich sedimentary rocks of the western Anabar region, northern Siberia, preserve an exceptional record of evolutionary and biogeochemical events near the Proterozoic/Cambrian boundary. Sedimentologically, the boundary succession can be divided into three sequences representing successive episodes of late transgressive to early highstand deposition; four parasequences are recognized in the sequence corresponding lithostratigraphically to the Manykal Formation. Small shelly fossils are abundant and include many taxa that also occur in standard sections of southeastern Siberia. Despite this coincidence of faunal elements, biostratigraphic correlations between the two regions have been controversial because numerous species that first appear at or immediately above the basal Tommotian boundary in southeastern sections have first appearances scattered through more than thirty metres of section in the western Anabar. Carbon- and Sr-isotopic data on petrographically and geochemically screened samples collected at one- to two-metre intervals in a section along the Kotuikan River, favour correlation of the Staraya Reckha Formation and most of the overlying Manykai Formation with sub-Tommotian carbonates in southeastern Siberia. In contrast, isotopic data suggest that the uppermost Manykai Formation and the basal 26 m of the unconformably overlying Medvezhya Formation may have no equivalent in the southeast; they appear to provide a sedimentary and palaeontological record of an evolutionarily significant time interval represented in southeastern Siberia only by the sub-Tommotian unconformity. Correlations with radiometrically dated horizons in the Olenek and Kharaulakh regions of northern Siberia suggest that this interval lasted approximately three to six million years, during which essentially all 'basal Tommotian' small shelly fossils evolved.

Non-NASA Center↗

Isotopic composition of lithium, potassium, rubidium, and strontium in lunar surface material

The isotopic composition of alkali and alkaline earth elements in the Luna 16 regolith was investigated by the method of thermionic emission, without chemical separation. The isotopic composition of the lithium in two regolith samples did not differ (within the limits 0.5 percent) from the mean of the terrestrial reference standard. At the same time, the observed difference (1 percent) in the isotopic composition of lithium between the samples requires further investigation and confirmation. The isotopic compositions of K and Rb did not differ within the limits of experimental error from the isotopic composition of the reference standard.

Zaslavskiy, V. G.↗

Learning to tell Neoproterozoic time

In 1989, the International Commission on Stratigraphy established a Working Group on the Terminal Proterozoic Period. Nine years of intensive, multidisciplinary research by scientists from some two dozen countries have markedly improved the framework for the correlation and calibration of latest Proterozoic events. Three principal phenomena--the Marinoan ice age, Ediacaran animal diversification, and the beginning of the Cambrian Period--specify the limits and character of this interval, but chemostratigraphy and biostratigraphy based on single-celled microfossils (acritarchs), integrated with high-resolution radiometric dates, provide the temporal framework necessary to order and evaluate terminal Proterozoic tectonic, biogeochemical, climatic, and biological events. These data also provide a rational basis for choosing the Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) that will define the beginning of this period. A comparable level of stratigraphic resolution may be achievable for the preceding Cryogenian Period, providing an opportunity to define this interval, as well, in chronostratigraphic terms--perhaps bounded at beginning and end by the onset of Sturtian glaciation and the decay of Marinoan ice sheets, respectively. Limited paleontological, isotopic, and radiometric data additionally suggest a real but more distant prospect of lower Neoproterozoic correlation and stratigraphic subdivision.

NASA Discipline Exobiology↗

Radioisotope thermal photovoltaic application of the GaSb solar cell

An examination of a RTVP (radioisotopic thermophotovoltaic) conceptual design has shown a high potential for power densities well above those achievable with radioisotopic thermoelectric generator (RTG) systems. An efficiency of 14.4 percent and system specific power of 9.25 watts/kg were predicted for a system with sixteen GPHS (general purpose heat source) sources operating at 1100 C. The models also showed a 500 watt system power by the strontium-90 isotope at 1200 C at an efficiency of 17.0 percent and a system specific power of 11.8 watts/kg. The key to this level of performance is a high-quality photovoltaic cell with narrow bandgap and a reflective rear contact. Recent work at Boeing on GaSb cells and transparent back GaAs cells indicate that such a cell is well within reach.

Morgan, M. D.↗