the isotopic composition of uranium and lead in allende inclusions and meteoritic phosphates we measured the isotopic compositions of u and pb in eight ca al rich inclusions from the allende chondrite in whitlockite from the st severin chondrite and in a whitlockite and a whole rock sample from the angra dos reis achondrite ador the total range in 235 u 238 u in the acid soluble phases of the allende inclusions and meteoritic whitlockites is from 1 137 6 to 1 138 3 and to within the error limits 3 20 indistinguishable from normal terrestrial u the 235 u 238 u ratios for whitlockites from st severin and ador are the same as that in the bulk meteorites and are normal the pb isotopic compositions of the acid soluble phases of the allende coarse grained inclusions except c 1 give a mean 207 pb 206 pb model age of4 559 0 015ae which is consistent with the observation of normal u isotopic composition the pb isotopic compositions of coarse grained fun inclusion c 1 and of two fine grained inclusions from allende indicate that the u pb systems of these samples have evolved differently from the rest of the meteorite the 207 pb 206 pb model ages for the whitlockites and for bulk ador are the same as those for st severin whitlockite 4 551 0 004ae the pb results from st severin indirectly constrain the value of the u isotopic abundance to be within 7 4 of normal both the directly measured235u 238u and the pb data on st severin are in complete disagreement with claims of large 235 u excess reported by other workers on the same meteorite the th u ratios of some acid soluble phases of allende inclusions and of meteoritic whitlockite show varying degrees of enrichment of th relative to u by factors of 2 to 25 relative to the bulk meteorites previous studies have shown that 244 pu 238 u ratios in whitlockite are also fractionated relative to the bulk meteorites the observation of no isotopic effects in u reported here does not support the claims of either fractionation of 247 cm 238 u or of a large amount of live 247 cm at the early stage of formation of the solar system using the present data we obtain a limit of 247 cm 235 u 4 10 3 at the time of meteorite formation or differentiation this implies that the last major r process contribution to the material in the protosolar nebula was 10 8 years prior to 26 al formation and injection

implications of the carbonaceous chondrite mn cr isochron for the formation of early refractory planetesimals and chondrules abstract an excellent 53 mn 53 cr isochron for bulk ci cm co cv cb and ungrouped c3 chondrites seems to suggest that each carbonaceous chondrite group acquired its mn cr ratio 4568 1 myr ago this age is indistinguishable from the age of ca al rich inclusions cais which is considered to be the start of the solar system t 0 however carbonaceous chondrites were not assembled until at least 1 5 5 myr after t 0 to judge by the 207 pb 206 pb and 26 al 26 mg ages of the chondrules within them and by the fact that they were not melted by heat from the decay of 26 al presumably therefore these meteorites inherited their bulk mn cr isochron from precursor materials which experienced mn cr fractionation at t 0 as a possible physical mechanism for how the isochron was established initially and later inherited by the carbonaceous chondrites we propose the rapid formation at t 0 of planetesimals that were variably depleted in moderately volatile elements and hence had variably low mn cr the planetesimals and the undepleted high mn cr primitive dust from which they were made shared the same initial e 53 cr and therefore evolved on an isochron we suggest that later impact disruption of the planetesimals produced dusty debris which became mixed in various proportions with unprocessed high mn cr dust before accreting to the carbonaceous chondrite parent bodies with mixing in a closed system the isochron was unchanged we infer that some debris rich material was converted to chondrules prior to accretion the chondrules could have been formed by flash melting of the mixed dust or could instead have been made directly by the impact splashing of molten planetesimals or by condensation from impact generated vapor plumes

mn cr isotope systematics of the d orbigny angrite we have conducted a detailed study of the mn cr systematics of the angrite d orbigny here we report cr isotopic abundances and mn cr ratios in olivine pyroxene glass chromite and bulk rock samples from d orbigny 53cr excesses in these samples correlate well with their respective mn cr ratios and define an isochron with a slope that corresponds to an initial 53mn 55mn ratio 3 24 0 04 x 10 6 and initial 53cr 52cr ratio of 53 0 30 0 03 at the time of isotopic closure the 53mn 55mn ratio of the d orbigny bulk rock is more than two fold the 53mn 55mn ratio of the angrites lewis cliff 86010 lew and angra dos reis ador and implies an older mn cr age of 4562 9 0 6 ma for d orbigny relative to a pb pb age of 4557 8 0 5 ma for lew and ador one of the most unusual aspects of d orbigny is the presence of glass a phase that has not been identified in any of the other angrites the mn cr data for glass and a pyroxene fraction found in druses indicate that they formed contemporaneously with the main phases of the meteorite since the mn cr age of d orbigny is 5 ma years older than the angrites lew and ador d orbigny likely represents an earlier stage in the evolution of the angrite parent body

age of the eucrite caldera from convergence of long lived and short lived chronometers abstract the long lived 147 sm 143nd chronometer has been used in conjunction with the short lived 146 sm 142 nd and 53 mn 53 cr chronometers to constrain the time of formation for the eucrite caldera the combination of these three chronometers has produced results that are consistent with one another and converge on a precise high resolution age of 4537 12 ma within 95 confidence limits so far this is the youngest crystallization age that has been confirmed for a noncumulate eucrite thus this basaltic meteorite formed relatively late as compared to other noncumulate eucrites on a differentiated asteroidal parent body most likely between 17 and 41 million years after the formation of the first condensates in the early solar system from these age constraints it is evident that caldera either formed within a magma body on a large 500 km asteroid or in an extensive impact melt on the crust of its parent body

high spatial resolution ion microprobe measurements refine chronology of carbonate formation in orgueil aqueous activity on meteorite parent bodies is indicated by the presence of carbonates high spatial resolution ion microprobe analyses of nine individual carbonate grains four dolomites five breunnerites from the orgueil meteorite reveal linear correlations between 53cr excesses and mn cr ratios in all grains indicative of in situ decay of radioactive 53mn half life 3 7 million years the well defined isochrons appear to have chronological significance if this is the case then 53mn 55mn ratios between 2 1 and 4 7 x 10 6 are inferred for the time of carbonate formation and absolute ages of between 4561 and 4565 ma are calculated systematic uncertainty of 2 ma dolomites tend to have formed slightly earlier than the breunnerites our data imply extensive aqueous activity on the orgueil parent body over a period of several million years starting 3 4 myr after formation of the solar system that most likely was the result of impact heating and latent heat from the decay of radioactive 26al and 60fe

a short duration of chondrule formation in the solar nebula evidence from 26al in semarkona ferromagnesian chondrules abstract the 26 al 26 mg systems of five ferromagnesian chondrules from the least metamorphosed ordinary chondrite semarkona ll3 0 were studied using a secondary ion mass spectrometer their glass or plagioclase portions contain excesses of 26 mg and in two chondrules the 26 mg excesses are well correlated with 27 al 24 mg which demonstrates the in situ decay of 26 al the initial 26 al 27 al ratios in these chondrules obtained from the slope of isochrons show a narrow range of between 6 10 6 and 9 10 6 indicating their short formation duration of less than 1 my if the solar nebula was initially homogeneous in al isotopes the chondrule formation ages are 2 my younger than those of cais our results based on the study of the least metamorphosed uoc are consistent with the previous studies on al rich chondrules that the chondrule formation started at least 2 my after cais alternatively the older records before 2 my were erased by chondrule recycling process it further suggests that the young apparent ages 3 to 5 my after cais for chondrules in type 3 4 uocs are due to the disturbance of the 26 al 26 mg system possibly during parent body metamorphism the result is not consistent with the extended nebular time scale of 5 my and the chondrule formation by planetary processes the ni isotopic analysis of the feo rich olivines in a type ii chondrule in semarkona did not show any detectable excess 60 ni in spite of their high fe ni ratios the upper limit of the initial 60 fe 56 fe ratio of the solar system was estimated to be 3 4 10 7 which is consistent with the previous estimate 0 2 1 9 10 7 from eucrites this result confirms that the 60 ni excess previously observed from cais was not due to the decay of the short lived nuclide 60 fe but a ni isotopic anomaly of nucleosynthetic origin

evidence for the presence of 53mn in the early solar system chromium isotopic anomalies appear to be widespread in the allende inclusions clear anomalies are shown in the 53cr 52cr isotopic ratio deviations from the terrestrial value are correlated with the mn cr ratios indicating that 53mn half life t 3 7 106y existed at the time of formation of the meteorite inclusions the initial 53cr 52cr in the inclusions is lower than the terrestrial value recent results have shown that chromium isotopic anomalies are frequent on the 54cr isotope birck and allegre 1984 at the same time our results suggested the possibility of some anomalies on the 53cr isotope which can be produced by the decay of 53mn the present article presents improved precision measurements on the same inclusions of the allende meteorite and an extension of the measurements to mineral separates these results are the first evidence for live 53mn in the early solar system noted 53mn in the following

the paris meteorite the least altered cm chondrite so far the paris chondrite provides an excellent opportunity to study cm chondrules and refractory inclusions in a more pristine state than currently possible from other cms and to investigate the earliest stages of aqueous alteration captured within a single cm bulk composition it was found in the effects of a former colonial mining engineer and may have been an observed fall the texture mineralogy petrography magnetic properties and chemical and isotopic compositions are consistent with classification as a cm2 chondrite there are 45 vol high temperature components mainly type i chondrules with olivine mostly fa0 2 mean fa0 9 with granular textures because of low mesostasis abundances type ii chondrules contain olivine fa7 to fa76 these are dominantly of type iia but there are iiab and iib chondrules ii a b chondrules with minor highly ferroan olivine and iia c with augite as the only pyroxene the refractory inclusions in paris are amoeboid olivine aggregates aoas and fine grained spinel rich ca al rich inclusions cais the cai phases formed in the sequence hibonite perovskite grossite spinel gehlenite anorthite diopside fassaite and forsterite the most refractory phases are embedded in spinel which also occurs as massive nodules refractory metal nuggets are found in many cai and refractory platinum group element abundances pge decrease following the observed condensation sequences of their host phases mn cr isotope measurements of mineral separates from paris define a regression line with a slope of 53mn 55mn 5 76 0 76 106 if we interpret cr isotopic systematics as dating paris components particularly the chondrules the age is 4566 44 0 66 myr which is close to the age of cai and puts new constraints on the early evolution of the solar system eleven individual paris samples define an o isotope mixing line that passes through cm2 and co3 falls and indicates that paris is a very fresh sample with variation explained by local differences in the extent of alteration the anhydrous precursor to the cm2s was co3 like but the two groups differed in that the cms accreted a higher proportion of water paris has little matrix 47 plus 8 fine grained rims and is less altered than other cm chondrites chondrule silicates except mesostasis cai phases submicron forsterite and amorphous silicate in the matrix are all well preserved in the freshest domains and there is abundant metal preserved metal alteration stage 1 of palmer and lauretta 2011 metal and sulfide compositions and textures correspond to the least heated or equilibrated cm chondrites category a of kimura et al 2011 the composition of tochilinite cronstedtite intergrowths gives a pcp index of 2 9 cronstedtite is more abundant in the more altered zones whereas in normal highly altered cm chondrites with petrologic subtype 2 6 2 0 based on the s sio2 and feo sio2 ratios in pcp or tochilinite cronstedtite intergrowths rubin et al 2007 cronstedtite is destroyed by alteration the matrix in fresh zones has ci chondritic volatile element abundances but interactions between matrix and chondrules occurred during alteration modifying the volatile element abundances in the altered zones paris has higher trapped ne contents more primitive organic compounds and more primitive organic material than other cms there are gradational contacts between domains of different degree of alteration on the scale of 1 cm but also highly altered clasts suggesting mainly a water limited style of alteration with no significant metamorphic reheating

molybdenum isotope anomalies in meteorites constraints on solar nebula evolution and origin of the earth the early evolution of the solar nebula involved substantial transport of mass resulting in mixing and homogenization of isotopically diverse materials that were contributed to the solar system from multiple stellar nucleosynthetic sources the efficiency of this mixing as well as its timescale can be quantified by determining nucleosynthetic isotope variations among meteorites and terrestrial planets here we present mo isotopic data for a wide range of samples including ca al rich inclusions chondrites and differentiated meteorites as well as martian and terrestrial samples most meteorites are depleted in s process mo relative to the earth and only the iab iiicd irons angrites and martian meteorites have terrestrial mo isotopic compositions in contrast most ca al rich inclusions are enriched in r process mo but one inclusion is characterized by a large s process deficit molybdenum isotopic anomalies in the bulk meteorites correlate with those in ru exactly as predicted from nucleosynthetic theory but no obvious correlation is apparent between mo and ni anomalies therefore s process mo and ru seem to be hosted in the same carrier which must be distinct from the carrier responsible for isotopic anomalies in the fe group elements ni cr ti furthermore the isotopic heterogeneity in mo and other elements contrasts with the isotopic homogeneity for hf and os indicating that different s process carriers once existed in the early solar nebula and that only some of these were heterogeneously distributed the mo isotopic anomalies of meteorites and their components decrease over time and with increasing size of the parent bodies providing evidence for a progressive homogenization of the solar nebula however the carbonaceous chondrites exhibit larger mo anomalies than expected for their age indicating that they received a greater portion of material from the outer solar system where homogenization was slow than other meteorite parent bodies and terrestrial planets compared to the meteorites earth is enriched in s process mo and must have accreted from material distinct from the meteorites combined mo and o isotopic data show that the composition of the earth cannot be reconstructed by any known combination of meteorites implying that meteorites may be inappropriate proxies for the isotopic composition of the bulk earth this is exemplified by the covariation of 92mo and 142nd anomalies in chondrites showing that the 142nd deficit of chondrites compared to the accessible earth may not unequivocally be interpreted as a signature of an early differentiation of the earth however further high precision isotopic data are needed to evaluate the role of chondrites in defining the isotopic composition of the earth

paired renazzo type cr carbonaceous chondrites from the sahara ten chondrites with chemical and mineralogical similarities to the carbonaceous chondrite renazzo were recovered at two locations of the sahara acfer 059 087 097 114 139 186 187 209 270 and el djouf 001 although the el djouf location is more than 500 km away from the acfer location all samples appear to result from a single fall based on chemical and petrographic similarities and supported by light element stable isotope geochemistry noble gas record and similar 26al contents the acfer el djouf meteorite is classified as a cr renazzo type carbonaceous chondrite this group presently comprises three non antarctic members al rais renazzo acfer el djouf and five antarctic meteorites the major lithological components of the acfer el djouf meteorite are large chondrules up to 1 cm in size mean diameter 1 0 0 6 mm chondrule and mineral fragments ca al rich inclusions feni metal about 8 10 vol and dark inclusions embedded in a fine grained fragment bearing groundmass mineral compositions of the ten acfer el djouf samples are similar to those of other cr chondrites most of the ca al rich inclusions are below 300 m in size and rich in melilite and spinel in some cais the rare phase caal4o7 is dominant fo rich cr bearing olivine fa0 4 and enstatite fs0 4 are the major phases of the chondrite the meteorite is mildly shocked with a shock stage of s2 indicating a peak shock pressure of 5 10 gpa for the bulk meteorite the oxygen isotopic compositions and carbon and nitrogen stable isotope geochemistry of the acfer el djouf samples are very similar to those of the other cr type chondrites the major element composition of the acfer el djouf meteorite is indistinguishable from cr chondrites when compared to renazzo the acfer el djouf samples however have systematically lower contents of the moderately volatile elements zn ga as au sb and se and the highly volatile elements br c and n this is thought to reflect primary differences between renazzo and the acfer el djouf meteorite

petrology and geochemistry of the unbrecciated achondrite northwest africa 1240 nwa 1240 an hed parent body impact melt nwa 1240 is an unusual eucrite recently recovered in morocco as a single stone of 98 g it is an unbrecciated greenish brown rock nearly devoid of fusion crust it displays porphyritic texture consisting of skeletal hollow low ca pyroxene phenocrysts set in a variolitic fan spherulitic mesostasis of fine elongate pyroxene and plagioclase crystals minor phases are skeletal chromite iron silica troilite ilmenite and minute amounts of phosphate and fayalite pyroxenes are unequilibrated and show one of the widest ranges of composition so far described for a eucrite from en 76 0 wo 1 9 fs 22 1 to compositions nearly devoid of mg unusual ferrosilite and fe augite symplectites and possibly pyroxferroite plagioclase crystals contain significant amounts of fe and mg which are possibly controlled by the ca mg fe2 si3o8 plagioclase component

radar enabled recovery of the sutter s mill meteorite a carbonaceous chondrite regolith breccia doppler weather radar imaging enabled the rapid recovery of the sutter s mill meteorite after a rare 4 kiloton of tnt equivalent asteroid impact over the foothills of the sierra nevada in northern california the recovered meteorites survived a record high speed entry of 28 6 kilometers per second from an orbit close to that of jupiter family comets tisserand s parameter 2 8 0 3 sutter s mill is a regolith breccia composed of cm mighei type carbonaceous chondrite and highly reduced xenolithic materials it exhibits considerable diversity of mineralogy petrography and isotope and organic chemistry resulting from a complex formation history of the parent body surface that diversity is quickly masked by alteration once in the terrestrial environment but will need to be considered when samples returned by missions to c class asteroids are interpreted

mn cr systematics in primitive meteorites insights from mineral separation and partial dissolution abstract cr isotopic compositions have been measured on carbonaceous chondrites cc tafassasset paris niger i nwa 5958 nwa 8157 and jbilet winselwan in bulk samples the 54 cr 52 cr ratios expressed as e 54 cr range from 0 93 to 1 58 e units these values are in agreement with values characteristic for distinct petrologic types despite this 54 cr heterogeneity the variability in the 53 cr 52 cr ratios expressed as e 53 cr of 0 2 e units and the mn cr ratios is consistent with the previous finding of an isochron in the mn cr evolution diagram the mn cr ratio in cc corresponds to variable abundances of high t condensate formed and separated at the beginning of the solar system thus the canonical 53 mn 55 mn ratio can be defined based on a consistent chronology for u pb and mn cr between the earliest objects formed in the solar nebula and the d orbigny angrite we define a canonical 53 mn 55 mn ratio and e 53 cr i of 6 8 10 6 and 0 177 respectively the internal mn cr systematics in tafassasset and paris were studied by two approaches leaching technique and mineral separation despite variable e 54 cr values up to 30 e linear co variations were found between e 53 cr and mn cr ratio the mineral separates as well as the leachates of tafassasset fall on a common isochron indicating that 1 cooling of the tafassasset s parent body occurred at 4563 5 0 25 ma and that 2 54 cr is decoupled from the other isotopes even though temperatures 900 c have been reached during metamorphism in the case of paris the leachates form an alignment with a 53 mn 55 mn ratio higher than the canonical value this alignment is not an isochron but rather a mixing line based on leachates from various cm and ci we propose the occurrence of three distinct cr reservoirs in meteoritic material pure54 high53 and low53 characterized by a e 53 cr and e 54 cr of 0 and 25 000 2 17 and 8 and 0 5 and 151 respectively pure54 has already been described and is carried by highly refractory nano spinel high53 is mn rich and most probably carried by sulfides in the matrix whereas low53 is characterized by low mn cr ratios and it is sensitive to metamorphism this component could correspond to mineral phases such as refractory oxides and carbide variable mixing proportions of high53 and low53 would explain the larger than expected uncertainty mswd of 5 5 on the cc bulk regression line a monte carlo simulation allows us to evaluate the impact of the dispersion of the initial cr isotopic ratios as a function of variable high53 the co variation of the mn cr ratio and the e 53 cr defined by the mineral separates from paris corresponds to an age of 4566 44 0 66 0 75 ma while their e 54 cr still differ by at least 0 42 e this age is likely to date the segregation of forsteritic olivines most probably from type i chondrules from fayalitic olivines from type ii chondrules and given the sampling procedure by handpicking of hundreds of grains corresponds to the average age of chondrule formation

late accretion as a natural consequence of planetary growth the mantles of the terrestrial planets contain elemental abundances that suggest accretion continued at a late stage after core formation geochemical data of meteorites from differentiated asteroids are consistent with such a late accretion event suggesting that the phenomenon occurred throughout the solar system and was related to planet formation

differentiation history of the mesosiderite parent body constraints from trace elements and manganese chromium isotope systematics in vaca muerta silicate clasts abstract we report here the results of a study of trace element microdistributions and 53mn 53cr systematics in several basaltic and orthopyroxenitic clasts from the vaca muerta mesosiderite ion microprobe analyses of selected trace and minor element abundances in minerals of the silicate clasts indicate that following igneous crystallization these clasts underwent extensive metamorphic equilibration that resulted in intra and inter grain redistribution of elements there is also evidence in the elemental microdistributions that these clasts were subsequently affected to varying degrees by alteration resulting from redox reactions involving the indigenous silicates and externally derived reducing agents such as phosphorus derived from the mesosiderite metal at the time of metal silicate mixing furthermore our results suggest that the varying degrees of alteration by redox reactions recorded in the different clasts were most likely facilitated by different degrees of remelting induced by heating during the metal silicate mixing event after taking into account the effects of these postmagmatic secondary processes comparison of the trace and minor element concentrations and distributions in minerals of basaltic and orthopyroxenitic clasts with those of noncumulate eucrites and diogenites respectively suggests that the primary igneous petrogenesis including parent magma and source compositions of vaca muerta silicates were similar to those of achondritic meteorites of the howardite eucrite diogenite hed association internal 53mn 53cr isochrons obtained for two basaltic pebble 16 and 4679 and two orthopyroxenitic 4659 and 4670 clasts show that chromium isotopes are equilibrated within each clast nevertheless just as for noncumulate eucrites and diogenites 53cr excesses in whole rock samples of the basaltic clasts 1 01 e in pebble 16 1 07 e in 4679 are significantly higher than in the orthopyroxene rich clasts 0 62 e in 4659 0 53 e in 4670 as in the case of the hed parent body this suggests that mn cr fractionation in the parent body of the vaca muerta silicate clasts occurred very early in the history of the solar system when 53mn was still extant however the slope of the 53mn 53cr isochron defined by the whole rock samples of vaca muerta clasts corresponding to a 53mn 55mn ratio of 3 3 0 6 10 6 is distinctly lower than that defined by the hed whole rock samples corresponding to a 53mn 55mn ratio of 4 7 0 5 10 6 indicating that the global mn cr fractionation event that established mantle source reservoirs on the parent body of the vaca muerta silicate clasts occurred 2 ma after a similar event on the hed parent body

comparison of the trace element composition of tagish lake with other primitive carbonaceous chondrites a meteorite fall on 18 january 2000 was detected by u s defense department satellites which established its pre impact orbit fresh samples were collected from frozen tagish lake in british columbia a week later and some properties of these samples reveal it to be a unique meteorite we characterized tagish lake and 8 other samples using icpms and rnaa data for 47 elements reveal that each of 9 carbonaceous chondrites of different type exhibit the orgueil normalized plateaus expected for members of such types trends evident in tagish lake differ from all other carbonaceous chondrites including ci and cm samples of tagish lake collected later show similar patterns affected by weathering

new noble gas data of primitive and differentiated achondrites including northwest africa 011 and tafassasset this work reports on the noble gas inventory of 3 new acapulcoites 3 brachinites 2 new eucrites from the dar al gani region in libya the unique achondrite dar al gani dag 896 from the same locality the new eucrite like achondrite northwest africa nwa 011 and the controversial sample tafassasset we determined cosmic ray exposure and gas retention ages evaluated shielding conditions and discuss the trapped noble gas component of the specimens all exposure ages are within the known range of stony meteorites and partly confirm previously established age clusters shielding conditions vary suggesting substantial shielding for all 3 brachinites and tafassasset we cannot exclude however that the mg rich composition of brachinites simply simulates heavy shielding regarding the trapped component we found q like compositions only for the acapulcoite thiel mountains til 99002 the brachinite elephant moraine eet 99402 yields a high subsolar 36ar 132xe ratio of 400 along with a slightly elevated 84kr 132xe ratio indicating minor atmospheric contamination all the other samples particularly the eucrite dag 983 are characterized by clearly elevated ar kr xe ratios due to significant terrestrial alteration tafassasset exhibits noble gas parameters that are different from those of cr chondrites including a relatively high cosmic ray exposure age the absence of a solar component low 132xe concentrations a low trapped 36ar 132xe ratio of 30 and a noticeable amount of radiogenic 129xe similar attributes have been observed for some primitive achondrites these attributes are also consistent with the metamorphic character of the sample we therefore consider tafassassets noble gas record to be inconclusive as to its classification primitive achondrite versus metamorphosed cr chondrite

comparison of flat topped stellate seamounts on earth s seafloor with stellate domes on venus using side scan sonar and magellan synthetic aperture radar abstract the diameters of many domes on venus imaged by the magellan synthetic aperture radar sar are an order of magnitude larger than terrestrial subaerial domes however surveys of the seafloor using sonar imaging systems such as gloria geological long range inclined asdic and seabeam have revealed flat topped volcanic features with similar diameters volumes and slope angles suggested analogies between domes on venus and seamounts on the northern east pacific rise and off hawaii have been tested by d k smith j volcanol geotherm res 73 1996 47 64 using comparisons of size and shape and significant differences identified gloria images of flat topped seamounts near hawaii show them to have stellate planforms over half of the total population of 375 domes on venus have been modified and many have stellate planforms we have focused on the similarities in stellate planforms between flat topped seamounts and modified domes on venus we have used gloria sonar and magellan radar data to constrain the formation and evolution of both flat topped seamounts on the ocean floor and volcanic domes on venus to see if the processes that formed them are similar we propose that flat topped seamounts on the hawaiian ridge are built on sediments overlying the oceanic crust and that available evidence supports three processes that can form stellate margins 1 radial dike intrusions related to flank rift zones 2 dike intrusions which cause slope failures and 3 gravitational slope failures unrelated to intrusions for venus where low erosion rates and the absence of a sediment layer results in lavas being emplaced directly onto the crust the available evidence supports stellate margins originating by gravitational slope failures unrelated to diking though intrusions cannot be ruled out with existing data

the tafassasset primitive achondrite insights into initial stages of planetary differentiation abstract tafassasset is an exceptional meteorite that has been linked to both the cr chondrites and the primitive achondrites because previous evidence suggests it might be a primitive achondrite from a known chondrite type we have undertaken a study of the petrology geochemistry and formation history of the meteorite tafassasset is predominantly feo rich olivine 58 yet contains abundant fe ni metal 10 vol and sulfide 3 vol other phases include high and low ca pyroxene plagioclase chromite and phosphate it has a recrystallized texture containing equigranular grains that often meet at 120 triple junctions there are no relict chondrules in the thin sections examined although they have been reported previously electron microprobe analyses reveal homogeneous olivine fa 28 6 both low and high ca pyroxene fs 23 6 wo 3 7 and fs 12 2 wo 39 3 1 a range of plagioclase composition an 23 47 fe ni metal with 5 3 36 6 wt ni and 0 1 0 8 wt co troilite chromite and ca phosphate bulk composition analyses reveal two chips depleted in refractory lithophile and some siderophile elements compared to ci chondrites exceptions are enrichments in fe ni and co a third chip is essentially chondritic in bulk composition different stones of the meteorite have slightly different oxygen isotope composition yet all lie in the cr chondrite trend with one in the acapulcoite lodranite field thermodynamic calculations show that tafassasset equilibrated at a temperature above the fe ni fes eutectic and at an oxygen fugacity of iw 1 the texture heterogeneous distribution of mineral phases plagioclase composition two mineral closure temperatures and bulk composition all provide evidence that tafassasset partially melted on its parent body a comparison with the cr chondrites the brachinites and two anomalous achondrites indicates that tafassasset is most similar to ungrouped primitive achondrites lewis cliff lew 88763 and divnoe and to the brachinites in overall petrography modal mineralogy mineral compositions oxidation state and bulk composition the comparison also excludes the possibility that tafassasset formed by partial melting of a cr chondrite tafassasset is a primitive achondrite and likely evolved on a parent body that experienced incomplete melting never reached isotopic homogeneity and was from the same oxygen isotopic reservoir as the cr chondrite parent body

manganese chromium isotope systematics of carbonaceous chondrites abstract in this article we present the results of cr isotope investigations of different types of carbonaceous chondrites and of the pallasite eagle station the 53 cr 52 cr ratios in the bulk samples of carbonaceous chondrites are correlated with 55 mn 52 cr ratios the slope of the correlation line yields a 53 mn 55 mn ratio of 8 5 1 5 10 6 at the time of mn cr fractionation mapping this ratio onto an absolute time scale yields a time for this event of 4568 1 0 8 1 1 ma ago this time is very similar to the formation age of efremovka cais of 4567 2 0 6 ma y amelin a n krot i d hutcheon a a ulyanov lead isotopic ages of chondrules and calcium aluminum rich inclusions science 297 2002 1678 1683 to a time of the chondrule formation of 4568 1 ma ago l e nyquist d lindstrom d mittlefehldt c y shih h wiesmann s wentworth r martinez manganese chromium formation intervals for chondrules from the bishunpur and chainpur meteorites meteorit planet sci 36 2001 911 938 which most likely constrains early global high temperature mn cr fractionation in a nebular setting the bulk samples of carbonaceous chondrites exhibit clear 54 cr excesses 54 cr that are correlated with the 53 cr excesses 53 cr and also with mn cr ratios one possible explanation of this correlation is that 54 cr is also radiogenic like 53 cr and was formed by the decay of the short lived parent radionuclide 54 mn the very short half life of 54 mn of 312 days would require that both short lived radionuclides 53 mn and 54 mn were generated locally in spallation reactions during the early period of an active sun the alternative and possibly more plausible explanation is the heterogeneous addition of presolar material the presolar component enriched in 54 cr is mostly contained in the matrix of carbonaceous chondrites the relative amount of matrix decreases in the sequence ci cm co cv a large proportion of mn is associated with the matrix while cr preferentially resides in the chondrules thus the mn cr ratio also follows the sequence ci cm co cv and is correlated with 54 cr the acid resistant residues of carbonaceous chondrites are characterized by relatively large excesses of 54 cr and moderate deficits of 53 cr the magnitude of these excesses and deficits decreases in the sequence ci cm cv and may imply that cr in the cm and cv residues is increasingly more equilibrated with cr from the rest of the meteorites the 53 cr 52 cr and 54 cr 52 cr ratios in the residues are anti correlated indicating that there are at least two cr components of possibly presolar origin all residues have large excesses of the most neutron rich ti isotope 50 ti the pattern of 50 ti does not exactly follow that observed for 54 cr but it is generally similar the cr isotope systematic of the pallasite eagle station indicates that the precursor of this meteorite was a cv type material the 53 mn 53 cr system indicates that the cr isotopes equilibrated in this meteorite 4557 5 0 6 ma ago

upb systematics of phosphates from equilibrated ordinary chondrites u pb systematics were determined from fifteen phosphate separates from equilibrated ordinary chondrites and from small bulk fragments of the same meteorites the high 238u204pb ratios of thirteen of these phosphate separates lead to extremely radiogenic pb whose 206pb204pb ratios range from 250 up to 3500 the pb pb model ages for these phosphates range from 4 563 to 4 502 ga with an analytical precision of 106 y and the u pb system is apparently concordant the time interval observed 60 106 y reflects the thermal processing of the equilibrated chondrites and is consistent with that previously derived from the rb sr k ar and pu chronologies the pb pb ages of the phosphates from the seven h chondrites show a negative correlation versus their metamorphic grade this is the first clear relationship ever observed between a long lived chronometer and the intensity of metamorphism as reflected by metamorphic grade assuming that the pb pb age indicates the accurate u pb closure time in phosphates the pb pb chronology is compatible with the model of a layered h chondrite parent body however this interpretation of the u pb systematics is not unique it postulates a slow cooling of the equilibrated materials at high temperature in apparent conflict with petrological observations except for the h chondrites which agree rather well with pu systematics comparison of the pb pb chronology with published radiochronometric data does not reveal simple correlations in the present debate concerning the thermal history of chondrites the chronometric information derived from each isotope system is interpreted as the time of its thermal closure however this basic assumption may not be correct for all the radiochronologies and must be evaluated before the radiochronometric data can be applied as compelling time constraints for the period of 4 56 4 4 ga of proto planetary history

tafassasset evidence of early incipient differentiation on a metal rich chondritic parent body abstract tafassasset is a primitive meteorite the origin of which is still debated its possible relationship to either the cr chondrites considered among the most primitive meteorites or the brachinites complex primitive achondrites makes it an interesting sample for studying the initial stages of planetary accretion and differentiation in the early solar system here we report tungsten w isotope data for bulk rock samples as well as for mineral fractions from tafassasset along with micro computed tomography of a piece of the meteorite silicates show mass independent w isotope anomalies while the metal phase does not these nucleosynthetic anomalies are interpreted as reflecting the presence of sic presolar grains in the matrix of the meteorite carrying s process 184w after correction of the nucleosynthetic anomalies a correlation is observed between the 182w 184w isotope compositions and the hf w ratios of the different fractions a 182hf 182w age of ca 2 9 ma after cais is inferred from the 182hf 182w chronometer slightly older than other estimates based on the 53mn 53cr 26al 26mg and pb pb chronometers but consistent with the difference in closure temperatures of the different isotopic systems numerical modeling of the thermal evolution of tafassasset indicates accretion of a parent body less than 50 km in diameter 1 ma after the formation of cais at a time when short lived radio nuclides induced metal silicate separation and partial melting of the silicates with extraction of a basaltic component according to our new data tafassasset may represent an inner part of a cr like parent body with a differentiation history similar to but less severe than that of brachinites

u pb ages of angrites abstract precise u pb ages determined with double spike 202 pb 205 pb thermal ionization m1ass spectrometry are reported for angrites angra dos reis ador lewis cliff 86010 lew and d orbigny nineteen of 23 acid washed pyroxene fractions from these meteorites and whole rock fractions from d orbigny contain between 0 5 and 1 3 pg of total common pb indistinguishable from analytical blank measured 206 pb 204 pb ratios in these fractions are between 6300 and 14 100 for ador 1160 4500 for lew and 608 8500 for d orbigny blank corrected 206 pb 204 pb ratios for all three meteorites vary from 2160 to over 100 000 these fractions yielded precise and reproducible 207 pb 206 pb dates with the average values of 4557 65 0 13 ma for ador 4558 55 0 15 ma for lew and 4564 42 0 12 ma for d orbigny pb pb isochrons including data with slightly elevated common pb and u pb upper concordia intercepts yield similar dates the implications of these new pb isotopic ages of angrites are threefold first they demonstrate that ador and lew are not coeval and the group of slowly cooled angrites is therefore genetically diverse second the new age of lew suggests an upward revision of 53 mn 53 cr absolute ages by 0 7 ma third a precise age of d orbigny allows consistent linking of the 53 mn 53 cr and 26 al 26 mg extinct nuclide chronometers to the absolute lime scale

on early solar system chronology implications of an heterogeneous spatial distribution of 26al and 53mn abstract early solar system chronology is usually built with the assumption that the distribution of short lived radionuclides was homogeneous through the solar accretion disk at present there is no unambiguous evidence for a homogeneous distribution of short lived radionuclides in the solar accretion disk while some data point to a heterogeneous distribution of short lived radionuclides in this paper we explore a possible chronology based on a heterogeneous distribution of 26 al and 53 mn in the accretion disk our basic assumption is that the different abundances of extinct short lived radionuclides in calcium aluminium rich inclusions cais and chondrules are due to spatial rather than temporal differences we develop a simple model where cais and chondrules form contemporaneously in different spatial locations and are characterised by distinct initial 26 al and 53 mn abundances in this model all evolved bodies are supposed to be originally chondritic i e to be made of a mixture of cais chondrules and matrix this mixture determines the initial content in 26 al and 53 mn of a chondritic parent body as a function of its cai and chondrule abundance fraction this approach enables us to calculate coherent 26 al and 53 mn ages from the agglomeration of the parent body precursors cais and chondrules until the isotopic closure of 26 al and 53 mn thereafter called 26 al 53 mn age we calculate such 26 al 53 mn ages for a diversity of evolved objects with the constraint that they should be found for realistic chondritic parent body precursors i e objects having similar or identical petrograpy to the existing chondrite groups the so defined age of the d orbigny angrite is 4 3 1 1 myr for the asuka 881394 eucrite 2 8 1 0 myr for the h4 chondrite sainte marguerite 3 myr and for h4 forest vale 5 myr the calculated 26 al 53 mn ages give timescales for the evolution of the respective parent bodies meteorites that can be investigated in the light of further petrographic studies we anchor the calculated relative chronology to an absolute chronology using absolute pb pb ages and relative hf w ages of the objects under scrutiny the precursors of sainte marguerite and forest vale agglomerated at the same time 4565 8 1 2 ma ago the precursors of eucrites asuka 881394 agglomerated 4564 8 1 2 ma ago the precursors of angrites agglomerated late 4561 5 1 8 ma ago our model provides a fully compatible al mg mn cr pb pb chronology and is shown to be robust to reasonable changes in the input parameters the calculated initial 26 al 27 al ratios are high enough to have 26 al as a possible heat source for differentiation

variable isostatic uplift patterns during the holocene in southeast sweden based on high resolution ams radiocarbon datings of lake isolations the construction of a new highway between uppsala and mehedeby in northern uppland southeastern sweden has motivated extensive archaeological excavations to describe changes in shoreline configuration over time the isolation of nine lake basins has been interpreted from diatom analysis their isolation ages were determined from 45 ams radiocarbon dates five per site of terrestrial macrofossils mainly betula and alnus seeds the isolation ages and the corresponding altitudes indicate a complicated pattern of isostatic uplift during the late holocene neither the present day isobases nor those for the neolithic sea seem to explain their isolation ages and corresponding altitudes in relation to their geographic distribution since at least some of the lakes are situated in a relatively pronounced topographic landscape we are inclined to explain the observations as the result of small scale irregular uplift earthquakes are rare in the area at present suggesting short term tectonic activities along e

nickel and chromium isotopes in allende inclusions high precision nickel and chromium isotopic measurements have been carried out on nine allende inclusions 62ni 64ni excesses are present in at least three of the samples the magnitudes of the excesses are about 3 e units 1 e unit 1 part in 10 000 for64ni and about 1 e unit for62ni chromium isotopes measured for some of the same samples show general excesses on54cr of about 7 e units while small deficits are observed for53cr considering these isotope anomalies except those for53cr together with the excesses present in the samples of other neutron rich isotopes of the iron group elements the most likely mechanism responsible for these anomalies is a neutron rich statistical equilibrium process in addition there is an indication of elevated60ni in almost every inclusion measured however for alk 111 this excess was clearly resolved by our experimental technique this effect may be related to the decay of now extinct60fe but the present data are not sufficient to clearly demonstrate its existence in the early solar system an upper limit of 1 6 10 6 can be calculated for60fe 56fe at the time these allende inclusions crystallized

53mn 53cr ages of kaidun carbonates 53mn 53cr ages of kaidun carbonates abstract we report the 53mn 53cr systematics of three dolomite grains from two different ci1 clasts contained within the kaidun meteorite breccia three internal isochrones result in initial 53mn 55mn ratios of 4 2 0 4 10 6 4 6 1 3 10 6 and 5 2 1 1 10 6 these initial values are consistent with those measured for dolomite in the orgueil ci1 chondrite hoppe et al 2007 petitat et al 2009 but significantly lower than the initial ratio determined by hutcheon et al 1999 from a combination of different carbonate types within various lithologies of the kaidun meteorite we construct an accretion scenario for the kaidun breccia by comparing the mineralogy and formation time scales of carbonates in the kaidun ci1 lithologies to the analogous ones of the ci1 chondrite orgueil in orgueil dolomite precipitation precedes the formation of the first bruennerite grains by a few million years hoppe et al 2007 petitat et al 2009 as the ci1 clasts in kaidun lack breunnerite grains and considering that aqueous alteration occurred prior to reaccretion of the various clasts onto the kaidun parent body e g macpherson et al 2009 we hypothesize that after rapid accretion and early aqueous alteration occurring within the first approximately 4 myr after solar system formation impact disruption of several asteroids and their reassembly into the kaidun parent asteroid was complete within an additional approximately 2 myr this confirms that aqueous alteration impact and reaccretion of material in the asteroid belt were early processes that began contemporaneously with chondrule formation