Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “ELEMENT ABUNDANCE”

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.

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

At least 109 records · Page 6
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1998

Temperature and Gravity Dependence of Trace Element Abundances in Hot DA White Dwarfs (94-EUVE-094)

EUV spectroscopy has shown that DA white dwarfs hotter than about 45,000 K may contain trace heavy elements, while those hotter than about 50,000 K almost always have significant abundances of trace heavy elements. One of our continuing challenges is to identify and determine the abundances of these trace constituents, and then to relate the observed abundance patterns to the present conditions and previous evolutionary histories of the hot DA white dwarfs.

Finley, David S.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Major and trace element abundances in samples from the lunar highlands

Analyses for major elements, REE, Co, Cr, Cs, Ga, Hf, Ni, Rb, Sc, and Zn have been done on samples of Apollo 16 rocks 60025, 60335, 64455, 65015, 67075, and 67629 and on fines 60601, 61221, 61241, 64501, 65701, 67601, and 69941. FeO, Na2O, REE, Co, Cr, Hf, and Sc have been determined in four 4-5 mg chips from 65015 and 20 individual, 2.5-9.5 mg fragments from 65702. It appears that trace element characteristics of small fragments are similar to those of larger rocks. No simple mixing relationship was found among KREEP basalts, VHA basalts, anorthosites, fines, and meteorites. Balances could not be simultaneously achieved for Al2O3 and LIL elements, using analyzed samples as end members for mixing models. Most samples analyzed have negative Eu anomalies, in contrast to the positive anomalies expected for plagioclase cumulates. Most samples may be derived from LIL-rich liquids that flowed into highland valleys.

Haskin, L. A.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Heavy element abundances and massive star formation

The determination of the stellar initial mass function (IMF) remains a great challenge in astronomy. In the solar neighborhood, the IMF is reasonable well determined for stellar masses from about 0.1 to 60 solar mass. However, outside the solar neighborhood, the IMF is poorly known. Among those frequently discussed arguments favoring a different IMF outside the solar neighborhood are the estimated time to consume the remaining gas in spiral galaxies, and the high rate of forming massive stars in starburst galaxies. An interesting question then is whether there may be an independent way of testing possible variations in the IMF. Indeed, the heavy elements in the interstellar medium are mostly synthesized in massive stars, so increasing, or decreasing, the fraction of massive stars naturally leads to a variation in the heavy element yield, and thus, the metallicity. The observed abundance should severely constrain any deviations of the IMF from the locally determined IMF. We focus on element oxygen, which is the most abundant heavy element in the interstellar medium. Oxygen is ejected only by massive stars that can become Type 1 supernovae, and the oxygen abundance is, therefore, a sensitive function of the fraction of massive stars in the IMF. Adopting oxygen enables us to avoid uncertainties in Type 1 supernovae. We use the nucleosynthesis results to calculate the oxygen yield for given IMF. We then calculate the oxygen abundance in the interstellar medium assuming instantaneous recycling of oxygen.

Wang, Boqi↗
NASA NTRS1992

The ALICE instrument and the measured cosmic ray elemental abundances

A Large Isotopic Composition Experiment (ALICE) is a balloon-borne spectrometer which can determine the elemental and isotopic composition of galactic cosmic rays with energies near 1 GeV/nucleon. ALICE was flown from Prince Albert, Canada in August 1987, and remained at float altitude (120,000 feet) for 14.7 hours. In this paper, we describe the experimental methods and analysis which will be used for subsequent isotopic analysis. We obtained very precise charge resolution over the entire designed range: 0.10 and 0.16 charge units at neon and iron, respectively. Results on the galactic cosmic ray abundances and absolute fluxes of the elements from neon through nickel are reported.

Esposito, J. A.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Highly Siderophile Element Abundances in Martian Meteorites

Critical evaluation of new and literature data for highly siderophile elements (HSE) in Martian (SNC) meteorites allows several first order conclusions to be drawn. (i) Re concentrations in SNC meteorites are nearly constant (within a factor of two) and do not correlate with rock type. Exceptions to this rule are Chassigny and Dar al Gani (DaG) 476, both of which are inferred to have experienced terrestrial Re contamination. (ii) Fractionations between Rh and Pd are small. Excluding Shergotty, the Rh/Pd ratio of the SNC suite is 0.22\pm0.05. (iii) Os and Ir contents vary by about four orders of magnitude; and positive correlations with MgO, Cr, and Ni suggest that these variations are not controlled by sulfide fractionation. A possible exception is the orthopyroxenite ALH84001, whose HSE's (including Ni, which is compatible in opx) are very low. (iv) Zagami, Shergotty, and Nakhla have nearly identical HSE signatures. Shergotty and Zagami have experienced assimilation-fractional crystallization (AFC) and have "crustal" Sr and Nd isotopic signatures. Conversely, the Nakhla parent was a small degree partial melt of a depleted mantle that interacted little with the Martian crust. These observations suggest that "evolved" HSE signatures can be produced by either fractional crystallization or small degrees of partial melting. (v) Chassigny and other mafic SNC's have HSE signatures that are very distinct from those of Nakhla-Zagami-Shergotty. The HSE elemental ratios of mafic SNC's approach chondritic, implying that the Martian mantle has nearly chondritic relative abundances of the HSE's. (vi) This chondritic HSE signature is observed in SNC's of various ages, suggesting that this is an ancient feature that has not evolved over time. (vii) No correlation is observed between HSE's and signatures of crustal contamination (e.g., Sr isotopes), indicating that the HSE signatures of the SNC suite are not derived from the crust. (vii) The Ru/Pd for the SNC suite ratio is about 0.5 chondritic. We attribute this depletion of Ru to the presence of spinel in the SNC source regions. (viii) Assignment of this depletion of Ru to spinel seems to also imply that spinel is not the cause of Os and Ir fractionations, requiring some other mafic phase to account for the observed variations. -----.

Jones, J. H.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Coronal element abundances derived from solar energetic particles

The large gradual solar-energetic-particle (SEP) events, where abundances are commonly measured, are produced when coronal mass ejections (CMEs) drive shock waves through the corona and the interplanetary medium. The shock accelerates particles from the highly-ionized, approximately 1.5 MK, plasma in a manner that depends only weakly upon the Q/A of the ion, except at very high energies. Averaging the approximately 1 MeV/amu abundances over many events compensates for the acceleration effects to produce abundances that appear to correspond directly to those in the coronal source for all observed elements, including H. The resulting abundances reflect the 4 x enhancement of ions with low values of first ionization potential (FIP) arising from ion-neutral fractionation that occurs as the atoms are transported up from the photosphere. A different pattern of fractionation is found for ions that are shock-accelerated from the high speed solar wind emerging from coronal holes.

Reames, Donald V.↗
NASA NTRS2024

The Relationship Between Volatile Element Abundances and Iron Carrying Capacity in Lunar Volcanic and Impact Vapors

The highly volatile elements (e.g. H, C, S, Cl) released during lunar volcanism provide important insights into the bulk volatile composition of the Moon. Once erupted, some fraction of the species containing these elements may have migrated to the poles where they could have become sequestered in shadowed cold traps such as those found near the lunar South pole. The volatiles trapped in the lunar South pole are of great interest to the upcoming Artemis missions, which will be operating nearby and could sample some of those materials. Volcanic vapor deposits in the polar regions might also be supplemented by volatiles from other sources both exogenous (i.e. comets) and endogenous (i.e. remobilization of lunar volatiles by impact). Characterizing these endogenous sources is challenging because the highly volatile elements often leave little trace behind in the rocks themselves, which are inherently refractory by nature. Minerals are found on vug, vesicle, or fracture surfaces that have characteristics consistent with phases formed via direct deposition of a vapor, as opposed to crystallization from a liquid or via solid state decomposition. One common vapor-deposited species is metallic Fe, typically observed as subhedral to euhedral crystals found on vug or vesicle walls in mare basalts and on select breccia clast surfaces in regolith soil samples returned from the Moon. A particularly striking example is seen below in Fig. 1, where numerous Fe crystals are deposited onto the wall of a vug in Apollo 17 basalt sample 71036. Euhedral Fe crystals are not very common in Apollo breccia samples, though this may be from the limited number of systematic searches that have been performed. However, when Fe crystals are found, they can occur in extremely high abundance(e.g., sample 15402 which was specifically selected because of its numerous Fe crystals, was found to have a clast with 477 euhedral Fe crystals in a 570 x 570 μm area). What struck us as interesting about this was not only that it takes a large amount of Fe to make these crystal-rich deposits, but also that these crystal-rich deposits are not ubiquitous, and therefore they must be controlled by some aspect of their depositional conditions that varies. Since those conditions are inherently difficult to investigate and are critically interesting, we used thermochemical modeling as a tool to investigate the relationship between vapor-deposited Fe and various intensive and extensive parameters. We assumed that a high abundance of Fe in the vapor is required to form these crystals, thus the mass of Fe in the vapor was used to determine the plausibility of the vapor-deposited, euhedral Fe crystals observed in Apollo samples.

thermodynamics↗
NASA NTRS1991

Generation of abnormal trace element abundances in Antarctic eucrites by weathering processes

Data were obtained on the trace- and major-element compositions of 16 Antarctic abnormal eucrites, many of which exhibiting positive (but sometimes negative) Ce anomalies, positive Eu anomalies, and low abundances of the remainder of the REEs. The results of data analysis suggest that the unusual REE patterns of abnormal Antarctic eucrites arise from weathering effects generated in or on the Antarctic ice. The suggested scenario involves the formation of melt water and its equilibration with the atmosphere, promoting the dissolution of REE-rich phosphates and the oxidation of Ce. As a result, tetravalent Ce is fractionated from the trivalent REE in solution.

Mittlefehldt, David W.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Ultraviolet spectral evolution and heavy element abundances in Nova Austrinae 1981

Nova CrA 1981, a moderately fast galactic nova, was systematically observed over a period of seven months with the IUE satellite. The initial evolution of the UV spectrum was similar to that of previously observed novae; however, several months after maximum, weak emission due to very high ionizating forbidden lines of Na, Mg, Al, and Si appeared, eventually decreasing in strength over the next two months. The spectral development of the lines is consistent with the photoionization of an expanding shell; a high-temperature 'coronal' origin is ruled out. Abundances deduced from the spectra show that most of the observed heavy elements in the ejected material are enhanced with respect to helium, with neon the most abundant of these. In addition, there are substantial deviations of the Na/Mg/Al/Si abundance ratios from solar values. This is interpreted as evidence for the mixing of core material with the accreted envelope on a massive O-Ne-Mg (as opposed to a C-O) white dwarf. Furthermore, the proportion of core material in the ejecta implies that the mass of the white dwarf decreased as a consequence of the outburst.

Williams, R. E.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Central Elemental Abundance Ratios In the Perseus Cluster: Resonant Scattering or SN Ia Enrichment?

We have determined abundance ratios in the core of the Perseus Cluster for several elements. These ratios indicate a central dominance of Type 1a supernova (SN Ia) ejects similar to that found for A496, A2199 and A3571. Simultaneous analysis of ASCA spectra from SIS1, GIS2, and GIS3 shows that the ratio of Ni to Fe abundances is approx. 3.4 +/- 1.1 times solar within the central 4'. This ratio is consistent with (and more precise than) that observed in other clusters whose central regions are dominated by SN Ia ejecta. Such a large Ni overabundance is predicted by "convective deflagration" explosion models for SNe Ia such as W7 but is inconsistent with delayed detonation models. We note that with current instrumentation the Ni K(alpha) line is confused with Fe K(beta) and that the Ni overabundance we observe has been interpreted by others as an anomalously large ratio of Fe K(beta) to Fe K(alpha) caused by resonant scattering in the Fe K(alpha) line. We argue that a central enhancement of SN Ia ejecta and hence a high ratio of Ni to Fe abundances are naturally explained by scenarios that include the generation of chemical gradients by suppressed SN Ia winds or ram pressure stripping of cluster galaxies. It is not necessary to suppose that the intracluster gas is optically thick to resonant scattering of the Fe K(alpha) line.

Dupke, Renato A.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Elemental abundances in high-excitation planetary nebulae

The IUE satellite was used to obtain low dispersion spectra of the high excitation planetary nebulae IC 351, IC 2003, NGC 2022, IC 2165, NGC 2440, Hu 1-2, and IC 5217. Numerical modeling was undertaken to determine the chemical composition of these objects with particular emphasis on obtaining elemental carbon and nitrogen abundances. Large variations in the C/N ratio from object to object are suggested.

Marionni, P. A.↗
NASA NTRS2007

Highly Sideophile Element Abundance Constraints on the Nature of the Late Accretionary Histories of Earth, Moon and Mars

The highly siderophile elements (HSE) include Re, Os, Ir, Ru, Pt and Pd. These elements are initially nearly-quantitatively stripped from planetary silicate mantles during core segregation. They then may be re-enriched in mantles via continued accretion sans continued core segregation. This suite of elements and its included long-lived radiogenic isotopes systems (Re-187 (right arrow) Os-187; Pt-190 (right arrow) Os-186) can potentially be used to fingerprint the characteristics of late accreted materials. The fingerprints may ultimately be useful to constrain the prior nebular history of the dominant late accreted materials, and to compare the proportion and genesis of late accretionary materials added to the inner planets. The past ten years have seen considerable accumulation of isotopic and compositional data for HSE present in the Earth's mantle, lunar mantle and impact melt breccias, and Martian meteorites. Here we review some of these data and consider the broader implications of the compiled data.

Walker, R. J.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Element abundances in solar (He-3) rich events

The results of a survey of over 228 (He-3)-rich events, with He-3/H-4 of more than 0.1, observed by the ISEE-3 spacecraft from 1978 August through 1991 April. In these events the elements above C are enhanced relative to the corresponding abundances in the corona and the degree of enhancement increases with Z or A. The flare-to-flare variations in abundances are different in character from those seen in large proton events. For example, using Fe/C as a parameter to describe these variations, the slope of the least-squares fits to ln(X/C) vs ln(Fe/C), where X is the intensity of N, O, Ne, Mg, Si, or S. Slopes of these abundance-correlation lines are much steeper for the (He-3)-rich events than for a sample of 36 large proton events, especially for Ne and heavier ions. The event-to-event variations for the (He-3)-rich events distinguish 3 groups of elements, He-O, Ne-S, and Fe. The abundances of all of the species within each group seem to vary in unison.

Reames, D. V.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Temperature and elemental abundances in the Abell cluster A576 derived from X-ray observations

Results of the Einstein Solid State Spectrometer (SSS) observations of the central region of Abell 576 combined with HEAO 1 spectra of the total cluster are reported. Line emission due to Fe, Si, and S from a hot plasma in the central region of the object are detected. Abundances roughly one-half of the solar value are derived for these elements. The total cluster spectrum is well fitted by a thermal bremsstrahlung model with a temperature of 4 +3.5 or -1.4 x 10 to the 7th K. This temperature is in conflict with the SSS temperature determination for the center of the cluster. This difference can be explained if cooling takes place in the central part of the cluster, or if the X-ray emission in the center is dominated by the emission of a single galaxy.

Rothenflug, R.↗
NASA NTRS1981

High resolution determination of elemental abundances for Z equals 8-28 at 1.2-2.4 GeV/n

Results are reported from a series of high-altitude balloon flights of a combination scintillator-double Cerenkov counter telescope to obtain abundances for the nuclei oxygen through nickel corrected to the top of the atmosphere. Over this charge range unambiguous element separation, including the rare element cobalt, has been achieved. Final results are presented of an analysis giving relative abundances over this charge and energy range and compared with other recent experiments.

Dwyer, R.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Coronal Element Abundances of the Post-Common Envelope Binary V471 Tauri with ASCA

We report on ASCA observations of the coronally active companion star in the post-common envelope binary V471 Tau. While it would be prudent to check the following results with grating spectroscopy, we find that a single-temperature plasma model does not fit the data. Two temperature models with variable abundances indicate that Fe is underabundant compared to the Hyades photospheric mean, whereas, the high first ionization potential element Ne is overabundant. This is indicative of the inverse first ionization effect, believed to result from the fractionation of ionized material by the magnetic field in the upper atmosphere of the star. Evolutionary calculations indicate that there should be no peculiar abundances on the companion star resulting from the common envelope epoch. Indeed, we find no evidence for peculiar abundances, although uncertainties are high.

Still, Martin↗