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Cascade mountains volcanic ash deposits elemental abundances correlation by computerized gamma ray spectra analysis of TRIGA reactor activated glass separates
Apollo 11 and 12 lunar rocks and soil chemical composition, considering petrogenesis and major and trace elements abundance
Apollo 12 specimens elemental abundance from neutron activation analysis, discussing fractional crystallization, partial melting, rare earth abundances and soil mixing model
Apollo 12 lunar rock rare earth element abundances, comparing to Icelandic basalt flow
Two Bragg crystal spectrometers were placed on the OSO-4 satellite to study solar flare plasmas by their spectral emissions. The solar flare plasma parameters were measured with these spectrometers, which together covered a total wavelength range of 0.6 to 8.4 A. With these instruments, knowledge could be gained into the mechanisms governing the plasma behavior in the high temperature-low density regime of flare production and in solar evolution and elemental abundances in the sun. However, spacecraft limitations forced many restrictions on the design of the instrument, so the final instrument could not measure all the solar flare plasma state parameters.
Review of some Harvard Observatory programs aimed at defining the physical conditions in quiet and active solar regions on the basis of data obtained from the OSO-IV and OSO-VI spacecraft. The spectral range covered is from 300 A to 1400 A. This spectral range consists of emission lines and continua from abundant elements such as hydrogen, helium, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, silicon, magnesium, aluminum, neon, iron, and calcium in various ionization states ranging from neutral to 15 times ionized. The structure is discussed of the quiet solar atmosphere as deduced from center-to-limb behavior of spectral lines and continua formed in the chromosphere and corona. In reviewing investigations of solar active regions, it is shown that the structure of these regions varies in a complicated manner from point to point. The local structure is influenced by factors such as the magnetic field configuration within the active region and the age or evolutionary state of the region.
Basaltic rocks, hyaloclastites, and fossil fragments incorporated in volcanic material, dredged from the flanks of Northeast Bank on the Southern California Borderland, show trace element abundances typical of eastern Pacific basin alkali basalts but enriched (880 ppm) Ba. The fossil fragments, incorporated in breccia, hyaloclastite, and agglomerate, include a fauna which lived in less than 50 m of water, as well as forms from the intertidal zone. Bathymetry of the bank and the depth range of the dredged zone indicate that there has been at least 300 or as much as 500 m subsidence since the volcanism which incorporated the fauna in volcanic material. Isostatic adjustments due to crustal load of the bank can account for this subsidence.
Detailed photoionization calculations are used to examine the information conveyed by relative emission-line intensities in QSO spectra. It is found that the elemental abundances cannot be estimated with any assurance; but if ?conventional' values are assumed, then certain restrictions may be placed on the ionizing spectra and gas densities. In particular, the ratio between radiation density and gas density is determined. Narrow filaments or sheets of ionized gas seem to be indicated; these may be compressed regions behind shock fronts.
The lunar mare basalt 15555 from the edge of Hadley Rille has been dated at 3.3 b.y. by both rubidium-strontium and potassium-argon techniques. Age and trace element abundances closely resemble those of the Apollo 12 mare basalts. Data from lunar basalts obtained thus far indicate that they cannot be derived by simple fractionation from a homogeneous source.
The primordial gas out of which the Galaxy condensed may have been significantly enriched in heavy elements. A specific mechanism of enrichment is described, in which quasi-stellar sources eject enriched matter into the intergalactic medium. This matter is recycled through successive generations of these sources, and is progressively enriched. The enriched intergalactic matter is accreted by the protogalaxy and we find, for rates of mass ejection by quasi-stellar sources equal to about one solar mass per year in heavy elements, that this mechanism can account for the heavy-element abundances in the oldest Population II stars. Expressions are given for the degree of enrichment of the intergalactic gas as a function of redshift, and we show that our hypothesis implies that the present density of intergalactic gas must be at least a factor 3 larger than the mean density in galaxies at the present epoch.
The luminosity, mass, and elemental abundances, as well as other properties of each star are studied in order to locate them in an evolutionary pattern. A method for determining the flux, gravity, and abundances at the stellar surface is the construction of theoretical stellar atmospheric models that predict the observed energy distribution and detailed stellar spectrum.
Analysis of micrometer-sized stratospheric particulates suggests that the majority of extraterrestrial material in the atmosphere is the product of ablation of larger bodies. Ablation debris is of considerable interest because of the possibility that much of it may have originated from classes of easily fragmented meteoroids that are incapable of surviving atmospheric entry to become meteorites. Comparison is made between the elemental abundance patterns found in stratospheric particulates and that found in fusion crusts of primitive meteorite types. Also discussed are criteria for distinguishing ablation products from primary unablated micrometeoroids.
X-ray and ultraviolet line emission from hot, optically thin material forming coronal active regions on the sun may be described in terms of an emission measure distribution function, Phi (T). A relationship is developed between line flux and Phi (T), a theory which assumes that the electron density is a single-valued function of temperature. The sources of error involved in deriving Phi (T) from a set of line fluxes are examined in some detail. These include errors in atomic data (collisional excitation rates, assessment of other mechanisms for populating excited states of transitions, element abundances, ion concentrations, oscillator strengths) and errors in observed line fluxes arising from poorly - known instrumental responses. Two previous analyses are discussed in which Phi (T) for a non-flaring active region is derived. A least squares method of Batstone uses X-ray data of low statistical significance, a fact which appears to influence the results considerably. Two methods for finding Phi (T) ab initio are developed. The coefficients are evaluated by least squares. These two methods should have application not only to active-region plasmas, but also to hot, flare-produced plasmas.
The possibility of helium dwarf evolution to sufficiently high densities for violent helium ignition in low-massed binary systems is investigated. During accretional evolution the occurrence of thermonuclear runaway is found to be probable when the dwarf's mass approaches 1 solar mass, and steady-state discontinuous wave propagation considerations indicate that the dwarf is totally incinerated (i.e., its total mass burns to nuclear equilibrium) by a detonation wave. A numerical stellar dynamic investigation, including the full effects of nuclear statistical equilibrium and electron capture indicates total disruption for all reasonable dwarf central densities. For consistency with the cosmic element abundances, the conclusion of total disruption requires a low frequency for helium supernova events, implying that helium ignition in mass-exchanging binaries must occur at the lower densities of the relatively mild helium flash.
The proportions of major oxides in the Allende carbonaceous chondrite after partial reduction are remarkably similar to those in possible mantle material of the earth. When heated, the Allende meteorite generates a sulfide melt, a ferrobasaltic melt, and olivine with or without pyroxene, over a wide pressure range (5 to 25 kilobar). The silicate melt contains more sodium and less titanium than lunar ferrobasalts. An aggregate of the Allende chondrite rich in calcium and aluminum produces silica-undersaturated, calcium-rich melt and spinel over a wide pressure and temperature range. It is suggested that the earth's core contains significant amounts of both nickel and sulfur and that a 3:2 mixture of Allende bulk sample and calcium- and aluminum-rich agregates is closer in major element abundances than either of these components to the average composition of the moon.
Thermal volatilization studies on Apollo 16 soils and crystalline rocks have been carried out to measure the depletion of K, Rb, and Na and changes in K/Rb ratios during heating under vacuum. Rubidium can be lost from both soils and rocks at temperatures as low as 1000 C. Because of the greater volatility of Rb as compared to K, the K/Rb ratio can be changed from normal values of 330-360 for the Apollo 16 samples to values as high as 1100 by thermal volatilization. Rapid heating experiments on soil samples were carried out to approximate agglutinate formation conditions in order to measure changes in alkali element abundances. Equal changes in K/Rb ratios can be produced with longer heating at lower temperatures or heating at higher temperatures for shorter times.
Melilite and pyroxene were separated from a coarsely crystalline chondrule in the Allende meteorite and analyzed by microprobe and spark source mass spectrometer techniques. Elemental abundances in the bulk chondrule are consistent with a mixture of equal amounts of the two minerals, as observed microscopically. The lanthanide distributions are markedly different in the two minerals; relative to chondrite abundances, melilite shows progressive depletion of the lanthanides La-Sm, a positive Eu anomaly, and relatively constant abundances of the heavier lanthanides (Gd-Yb, and Y) whereas pyroxene shows progressive enrichment towards the heavier lanthanides, on which is superimposed a negative Eu anomaly. Both minerals, and the bulk chondrule, show unusual concentrations of the platinum metals, but the crystallographic site or sites of these metals remains to be determined.
Expected wavelengths and intensities are computed for 1s2l-1snl prime transitions in helium-like ions of the abundant elements from oxygen to iron under coronal conditions. Probable observations of some of these lines in the spectra of solar flares are discussed, and attention is called to a possible reversal of singlet and triplet intensities as compared to laboratory observations.