noble gases in h chondrites and potential differences between antarctic and non antarctic meteorites abstract thirty one antarctic h chondrites from the allan hills have been analyzed for their noble gases seven of the specimens contain solar gases thirteen have a cosmic ray exposure age around 8 ma both fractions are as observed for h chondrites from the rest of the world scrutiny of the data for paired samples yields a minimum number of 17 independent falls with 6 falls required for the 8 ma peak of exposure age the distribution of exposure ages as well as that of radiogenic 4 he and 40 ar yield no evidence that h chondrites from the allan hills region represent a mixture of populations that is different from that brought to moderate latitudes of the earth in more recent times

the classification and complex thermal history of the enstatite chondrites we have carried out instrumental neutron activation analyses of 11 enstatite chondrites and electron microprobe analyses of 17 enstatite chondrites most of which were previously little described we report here the third known eh5 chondrite lew 88180 and an unusual el6 chondrite lew 87119 new data on four el3 chondrites alh 85119 eet 90299 pca 91020 and mac 88136 which is paired with mac 88180 and mac 88184 the second el5 chondrite til 91714 and an unusual metal rich and sulfide poor el3 chondrite lew 87223 the often discussed differences in mineral composition displayed by the eh and el chondrites are not as marked after the inclusion of the new samples in the database and the two classes apparently experienced a similar range of equilibration temperatures however texturally the el chondrites appear to have experienced much higher levels of metamorphic alteration than eh chondrites of similar equilibration temperatures most of the petrologic type criteria are not applicable to enstatite chondrites and unlike the ordinary chondrites texture and mineralogy reflect different aspects of the meteorite history we therefore propose that the existing petrologic type scheme not be used for enstatite chondrites we suggest that while textural type reflects peak metamorphic temperatures the mineralogical type reflects equilibration during postmetamorphic probably regolith processes unlike the ordinary chondrites and eh chondrites el chondrites experienced an extensive low temperature metamorphic episode there are now a large number of enstatite meteorite breccias and impact melts and apparently surface processes were important in determining the present nature of the enstatite chondrites

abee and related eh chondrite impact melt breccias abstract the abee eh chondrite is an impact melt breccia about 80 90 of the chondrules were melted many of those that remain have been partly resorbed euhedral enstatite phenocrysts are abundant many have nucleated on the surfaces of relict chondrules and now protrude into kamacite globules euhedral laths of graphite essentially identical to those produced magmatically on earth occur throughout the rock abee experienced two episodes of impact melting with an intervening period of brecciation the first impact melting event produced a relatively homogeneous rock with abundant melt upon cooling the rock was shattered by bombarding meteoroids igneous oldhamite rich dark inclusions were introduced at this time a second impact event produced melt which engulfed the abee fragments and dark inclusions primarily digesting the small ones heat lost to the surrounding clastic debris caused the groundmass melt to quench previously described diamonds in abee containing typical solar system isotopic compositions of n and xe were probably produced from graphite by shock several other eh chondrites may also be impact melt breccias the most extensively melted of these is adhi kot which contains shocked but largely unmelted chondrule rich clasts as well as chondrule free sulfide and silica rich clasts that also appear to be impact products

mineralogical and spectroscopic investigation of enstatite chondrites by x ray diffraction and infrared reflectance spectroscopy 1 the mineralogy and infrared reflectance spectra of 13 enstatite e chondrite meteorite finds spanning the full range of textural alteration grades in both el and eh classes have been investigated rietveld refinement of high resolution powder x ray diffraction xrd data was used to determine quantitative major mineral abundances sample correlated mid infrared 2 0 to 25 0 m 4500 cm 1 to 400 cm 1 reflectance infrared spectra were collected for each meteorite spectral features due to the fundamental lattice vibrations of the silicates primarily enstatite dominate the spectra of these meteorites over most of the spectral range investigated the spectral features related to primary i e pre terrestrial mineralogy include fundamental stretching and bending lattice modes 8 3 25 0 m 1200 400 cm 1 overtones and combinations of the fundamental modes 4 5 6 1 m 2200 1650 cm 1 and the principle christensen feature 8 3 m 1200 cm 1 terrestrial weathering products including fe oxyhydroxides gypsum and carbonates occur in most of these meteorites and contribute to some spectral features particularly an asymmetric feature near 2 6 to 3 8 m 3800 to 2600 cm 1 attributed to adsorbed hydrogen bonded and or structural oh and h 2 o and a feature near 6 2 m 1625 cm 1 attributed to adsorbed hydrogen bonded and or structural h 2 o modal mineral abundances determined by rietveld refinement have been used to calculate model grain densities for each meteorite bulk magnetic susceptibility measurements combined with modal mineralogy and grain densities reveal a trend toward lower grain density and lower bulk susceptibility with increased terrestrial weathering

chemical and physical studies of type 3 chondrites v the enstatite chondrites abstract we report instrumental neutron activation analysis determinations of 19 major minor and trace elements in three enstatite chondrites based on these and literature data on the bulk and mineral composition of enstatite chondrites we discuss the history of the type 3 or unequilibrated enstatite chondrites and their relationship with the other enstatite chondrites the type 3 enstatite chondrites have e chondrite lithophile element abundances and their siderophile element abundances place them with the eh chondrites well resolved from the el chondrites moderately volatile chalcophile elements are at the low end of the eh range and cr appears to be intermediate between eh and el we suggest that the type 3 enstatite chondrites are eh chondrites which have suffered small depletions of certain chalcophile elements through the loss of shock produced sulfurous liquids the oxygen isotope differences between type 3 and other enstatite chondrites is consistent with equilibration with the nebula gas 30 higher than the others or with the loss of a plagioclase rich liquid the mineral chemistry of the type 3 chondrites is consistent with either low temperature equilibration or in some instances with shock effects

the compositional classification of chondrites ii the enstatite chondrite groups we present new data from a neutron activation analysis of four enstatite chondrites including the taxonomically important st sauveur and discuss the classification of enstatite chondrites the enstatite chondrites can be divided into two compositionally distinct sets in one set abundances of nonrefractory siderophiles and moderately volatile chalcophiles and alkalis are 1 5 2 0 higher than in the other a well resolved compositional hiatus separates these two sets the differences in composition are as great as those between the groups of ordinary chondrites and therefore it appears best to treat these sets as separate groups by analogy with the symbols used for ordinary chondrites we propose to designate the high fe high siderophile group eh and the low fe low siderophile group el known members of the eh group belong to petrologic types 4 and 5 whereas all el members are petrologic type 6 within the eh group no correlation is observed between petrologic type and abundance of nonrefractory siderophiles or moderately volatiles or alkalis two physical properties show only modest overlap between the eh and el groups cosmic ray ages for eh chondrites are 0 5 7 ma while those for el chondrites are 4 18 ma relative to bjurbole i xe formation intervals are 1 3 0 6 ma for eh chondrites and 2 9 0 5 ma for el chondrites the weight of the chemical and physical evidence indicates that the eh and el groups formed separate bodies at similar distances from the sun the available evidence for shallowater and happy canyon two strongly recrystallized silicate rich meteorites containing 40 mg g fe ni indicates that the former is an enstatite clan chondrite altered by loss of sulfide and plagioclase rich melts whereas the latter is intermediate in composition between el chondrites and the chondritic silicates in the pine river iab anomalous meteorite

compositional continuity of enstatite chondrites and implications for heterogeneous accretion of the enstatite chondrite parent body abstract chemical compositions of eleven enstatite chondrites 1 eh5 4 eh3 3 el3 i el5 and 2 el6 and their metal and nonmagnetic fractions determined by instrumental neutron activation analysis are reported the abundances of nonvolatile lithophile elements such as al sc and mg increase from eh to el while those of siderophile and moderately volatile elements decrease in the sequence of eh5 to eh3 el3 and el5 6 the continuity in compositions of enstatite chondrites and in particular the inverse variations of moderately volatile element abundances with petrographic type between eh and el groups demonstrate that enstatite chondrites have been derived from a common parent body the enstatite chondrite parent body formed by heterogeneous accretion of materials available in the accretional region metal was effectively accreted into the core where eh5 chondrites were derived and the abundances of metal decreased as accretion proceeded in complement silicate abundances gradually increased in the layers that accreted later the lack of correlation between volatile element abundances and metamorphic degree demonstrates that losses of moderately volatile elements from enstatite chondrites cannot have resulted from parent body processes furthermore it is expected that during accretion various components would mix and thus erase any early fractionation of moderately volatile elements of a single parent body variations of ambient gas temperatures during accretion are also impossible to produce the volatile element pattern of enstatite chondrites it is suggested that moderately volatile elements in the enstatite chondrites were lost during local heating the chondrule formation process formation of chondrules appears to have proceeded during the accretion of the enstatite chondrite parent body and lasted for a certain period the mineralogical and textural features of enstatite chondrites can be explained in terms of two stages of metamorphism the metamorphic trend from eh3 to eh5 resulted from internal heating whereas the trend from el3 to el6 was due to an external heat source it seems very likely that the eh chondrites were metamorphosed during accretion thus cooled rather rapidly activities of the early sun could serve as an energy source for the external heating

mineralogy of meteorite groups approximately 275 mineral species have been identified in meteorites reflecting diverse redox environments and in some cases unusual nebular formation conditions anhydrous ordinary carbonaceous and r chondrites contain major olivine pyroxene and plagioclase major opaque phases include metallic fe ni troilite and chromite primitive achondrites are mineralogically similar the highly reduced enstatite chondrites and achondrites contain major enstatite plagioclase free silica and kamacite as well as nitrides a silicide and ca mg mn na cr k and ti rich sulfides aqueously altered carbonaceous chondrites contain major amounts of hydrous phyllosilicates complex organic compounds magnetite various sulfates and sulfides and carbonates in addition to kamacite and taenite iron meteorites contain carbides elemental c nitrides phosphates phosphides chromite and sulfides silicate inclusions in iab iiicd and iie iron meteorites consist of mafic silicates plagioclase and various sulfides oxides and phosphates eucrites howardites and diogenites have basaltic to orthopyroxenitic compositions and consist of major pyroxene and calcic plagioclase and several accessory oxides ureilites are made up mainly of calcic chromian olivine and low ca clinopyroxene embedded in a carbonaceous matrix accessory phases include the c polymorphs graphite diamond lonsdaleite and chaoite as well as metallic fe ni troilite and halides angrites are achondrites rich in fassaitic pyroxene i e al ti diopside minor olivine with included magnesian kirschsteinite is also present martian meteorites comprise basalts lherzolites a dunite and an orthopyroxenite major phases include various pyroxenes and olivine minor to accessory phases include various sulfides magnetite chromite and ca phosphates lunar meteorites comprise mare basalts with major augite and calcic plagioclase and anorthositic breccias with major calcic plagioclase several meteoritic phases were formed by shock metamorphism martensite 2 fe ni has a distorted body centered cubic structure and formed by a shear transformation from taenite during shock reheating and rapid cooling the c polymorphs diamond lonsdaleite and chaoite formed by shock from graphite suessite formed in the north haig ureilite by reduction of fe and si possibly from olivine via reaction with carbonaceous matrix material ringwoodite the spinel form of mg fe 2sio4 and majorite a polymorph of mg fe sio3 with the garnet structure formed inside shock veins in highly shocked ordinary chondrites secondary minerals in meteorite finds that formed during terrestrial weathering include oxides and hydroxides formed directly from metallic fe ni by oxidation phosphates formed by the alteration of schreibersite and sulfates formed by alteration of troilite

mineralogy of meteorite groups an update twenty minerals that were not included in the most recent list of meteoritic minerals have been reported as occurring in meteorites extraterrestrial anhydrous ca phosphate should be called merrillite not whitlockite

noble gases in 21 saharan ll chondrites exposure ages and possible pairings nineteen ll chondrites and two l ll chondrites adrar 003 and tanezrouft 010 from the saharan desert of algeria and libya have been analysed for their he ne and ar composition as well as for their abundance of 84kr and 132xe calculated 21ne cosmic ray exposure ages vary between 2 and 35 ma the age distribution is consistent with that of modern ll chondrite falls except that no dominant peaks can be observed especially not the one related to a 15 ma collisional event however the lack of young exposure ages of 8 ma is obvious this is a characteristic feature of ll chondrites only one of the 21 ll chondrites namely acfer 066 contains solar gases and is thus considered a regolith breccia three specimens reveal considerable loss of 3he probably due to periods of elevated temperatures in orbits with small perihelion distances furthermore severe loss of 4he and 40ar is found in two samples considering possible pairings we suggest 14 individual falls basically on the basis of the noble gas data the petrographic sub classification and by taking the find location into consideration however there are constraints on confirming pairings solely on the basis of our studies thus we can only exclude individual samples with a unique noble gas fingerprint from paired specimens

low latitude ionospheric disturbances results for march 22 1979 and their general characteristics low latitude ionospheric disturbances which were characterized by severe scintillations in the c band range accompanied by complex dynamical behavior of the low latitude ionosphere were examined taking into consideration previous results from the analyses of fof2 and h f data these disturbance events are found to be characterized by a two stage process during the first stage which starts during the magnetospheric energy storage process before the onset of substorms h f begins to increase simultaneously at all observing stations due to eastward electric fields penetrating from the magnetosphere at subequatorial stations increases of fof2 follow as a signature of enhancements of the equatorial anomaly during the second stage values of h f increase again indicating a motion from north to south with no increase of fof2 in this stage dynamical effects including neutral winds become important as well as electric fields in addition it is shown from the analysis of one year s data for 1978 that the occurrence of disturbance events as presented in this paper is a general feature in the evening section under the condition of ring current developments

complex exposure histories for meteorites with short exposure ages we report measurements of 26al and 10be activities in nine ordinary chondrites and of the light noble gas concentrations and 36cl and 41ca activities in subsets of those meteorites all but murray have low 21ne concentrations 1 0 10 8cm3stp g and have previously been used to estimate 21ne production rates ladder creek murchison sena and timochin have inventories of cosmogenic radionuclides that are compatible with a single stage of irradiation and give 21ne production rates that are consistent with the standard l chondrite value of 0 33 10 8cm3stp g ma in contrast cullison guenie shaw and tsarev experienced complex irradiation histories they and several other meteorites with low nominal exposure ages also have lower 3he 21ne ratios than expected based on their 22ne 21ne ratios a general association between low 21ne contents and 3he losses suggests that meteorites with short lifetimes often occupy orbits with small perihelia however meteorites with low 21ne contents one stage exposure histories and losses of cosmogenic 3he are rare possible explanations for the scarcity are 1 statistical 2 that it is harder for more deeply buried protometeoroids to lose gas in a liberating collision and 3 that it is harder to insert more deeply buried protometeoroids directly into orbits with small perihelia

the meteoritical bulletin no 84 2000 august meteoritical bulletin no 84 lists information for 1341 newly classified meteorites comprising 842 from antarctica 341 from africa 66 from australia 48 from asia including 42 from the arabian peninsula 38 from north america 4 from europe and 2 from south america information is provided for 11 recent falls bilanga devri khera djoumine guangmingshan kitchener kobe leighlinbridge sabrum songyuan tagish lake and vissannapeta 4 martian meteorites dar al gani 670 735 dhofar 019 los angeles and sayh al uhaymir 005 008 3 lunar meteorites northwest africa 032 dhofar 025 and 026 an ungrouped enstatite rich meteorite zaklodzie 11 iron meteorites and a wide variety of other interesting stony meteorites including ck cm co cr cv r enstatite and unequilibrated ordinary chondrites primitive achondrites hed achondrites ureilites and aubrites

noble gases in enstatite chondrites ii the trapped component the trapped noble gas record of 57 enstatite chondrites e chondrites has been investigated basically two different gas patterns have been identified dependent on the petrologic type all e chondrites of type 4 to 6 show a mixture of trapped common chondritic rare gases q and a subsolar component range of elemental ratios for e4 6 chondrites 36ar 132xe 582 270 and 36ar 84kr 242 88 e3 chondrites usually contain q gases but also a composition with lower 36ar 132xe and 36ar 84kr ratios which we call sub q 36ar 132xe 37 0 18 0 and 36ar 84kr 41 7 18 1 the presence of either the subsolar or the sub q signature in particular petrologic types cannot be readily explained by parent body metamorphism as postulated for ordinary chondrites we therefore present a different model that can explain the bimodal distribution and composition of trapped heavy noble gases in e chondrites trapped solar noble gases have been observed only in some e3 chondrites about 30 of each group eh3 and el3 chondrites amounting to 9 of all analyzed e chondrites show the solar signature notably only one of those meteorites has been explicitly described as a regolith breccia

noble gases in enstatite chondrites i exposure ages pairing and weathering effects cosmic ray exposure ages calculated from cosmogenic noble gas nuclides are reported for 57 enstatite e chondrites 43 of them were measured for the first time with a total of 62 individual e chondrites literature and this data corrected for pairing the observed spectrum of ages ranges between 0 07 and 66 ma three clusters seem to develop at about 3 5 8 and 25 ma respectively since the uncertainty of ages is estimated to be 20 in contrast to 10 to 15 for ordinary chondrites and the number of examined samples is still comparatively small these peaks have to be confirmed by more measurements regarding the two subgroups eh and el chondrites no systematic trend is apparent in the distribution of cosmic ray exposure ages several e chondrites yield significantly lower 38ar ages compared to those calculated from cosmogenic 3he and 21ne for these e chondrites we suggest a reduction of cosmogenic 38ar as a result of weathering in order to prove the possible influence of terrestrial alteration on the cosmogenic noble gas record of e chondritic material we simulated terrestrial weathering in an experiment of 12 weeks duration the treatment showed that a significant amount of cosmogenic 38ar is lost on earth by the influence of water

the non trivial problem of meteorite pairing pairing is the procedure of identifying fragments of a single meteorite fall that were separated during atmospheric passage or during terrestrial history by establishing the similarity of two or more meteorite fragments we argue that pairing is governed by two principles that only a single mismatch of properties is required to refute a proposed pairing and that virtually all pairings bear some degree of uncertainty using data distributions for modern falls we take a probability approach to estimate degrees of certainty associated with proposed pairings emphasizing the importance of unusual features for new pairing criteria or new analytical additions to old criteria the degree of variation within individual meteorites must be delineated and the degree of variation within meteorite classes must be quantified criteria for pairing can be divided into 1 parent body history indicators 2 meteoroid space history indicators and 3 terrestrial history indicators included in these categories are 11 specific criteria including petrographic textures mineralogy and mineral composition terrestrial age estimates cosmic ray exposure ages and natural thermoluminescence tl levels not all criteria are applicable to all meteorite types about 2275 pairings suggested in the literature have been subjected to this analysis many literature pairings especially those involving common meteorite types bear large uncertainties due to lack of data

climate and rock weathering a study of terrestrial age dated ordinary chondritic meteorites from hot desert regions abstract ordinary chondrites oc recovered from the desert areas of roosevelt county new mexico the nullarbor region of western australia and the algerian and libyan sahara for which 14c terrestrial ages have been determined were examined by 57fe mossbauer spectroscopy oc were chosen as a standard sample to investigate weathering processes as their well constrained trace and bulk element chemistry normative mineralogy and isotopic composition define a known pre weathering starting composition given that terrestrial ages are known it is possible to compare initially very similar samples that have been subsequently weathered in a range of climatic regimes from the present day to 44 ka bp in addition recently fallen equilibrated oc contain iron only as fe0 and fe2 thus the abundance of ferric iron is directly related to the level of terrestrial weathering mossbauer spectroscopy identifies two broad types of ferric alteration paramagnetic phases akaganeite lepidocrocite and goethite and magnetically ordered principally magnetite and maghemite oc finds show a range in the percentage of total fe existing as fe3 from zero to over 80 however oxidation is comparable between fragments of the same oc separated since their time of fall i e paired meteorites our results indicate several features of meteorite weathering that may result from climatic or geomorphologic conditions at the accumulation site 1 saharan samples are overall less weathered than non saharan samples which may be related to the relatively recent age ca 20 ka of the saharan accumulation surface 2 broad differences between sites in the rate of weathering arising from regional differences in climate 3 consistent differences in the weathering products between samples that fell during humid periods and those that fell during more arid periods those falling during humid periods contain a higher proportion of magnetically ordered ferric oxides 4 one region the nullarbor that shows a variation in the total amount of ferric species that closely matches the climatic record for this area of australia for the last 30 ka points 3 and 4 may be related to the identification of a rapid initial weathering phase the majority of weathering occurs in the first few hundred years after fall followed by passivation of weathering by porosity reduction porosity reduction and the associated restriction in the ability of water to penetrate the sample appears to be the mechanism whereby a weathering assemblage formed during the brief initial period of oxidation is preserved through subsequent climatic cycles over the terrestrial lifetime of the sample

ejection times of martian meteorites noble gas isotopic analyses were made for four meteorites whose origin is mars basaltic shergottites queen alexandra range 94201 zagami the iherzolite lew88516 and orthopyroxenite allan hills 84001 the latter one was separated into orthopyroxene chromite and maskelynite fractions ejection times were calculated for all martian meteorites using cosmic ray exposure ages based on 3he 21ne and 38ar concentrations and literature data on the terrestrial ages we discuss the arguments for a scenario in which they were ejected from mars by asteroidal or cometary impact as small meteoroids and were delivered to earth within and up to 15 million years the basaltic shergottites que94201 shergotty and zagami show an ejection age cluster at 2 76 ma the fourth basaltic shergottite eet79001 being younger 0 82 ma lherzolites lew88516 and alh77005 were ejected by a later event 3 84 ma ago all nakhlites nakhla governador valadares and lafayette originate from an event 11 0 ma ago although chassigny is chemically distinct from the nakhlites its ejection age is 11 6 ma whether this is a separate event cannot be decided from the available data finally orthopyroxenite alh84001 was launched from mars 14 4 ma ago the distribution of the delivery times for martian meteorites to earth reflect individual impact events onto five or six different source terrains this result is significant in the context of a comprehensive knowledge of the martian crust composition finally we derived the k 40ar gas retention age of alh84001 mineral fractions adopting two different models assuming a component of martian atmospheric ar with 40ar36ar 1790 trapped by this meteorite we obtained an age of 3390 ma on the other hand assuming no contribution of martian atmospheric ar the resulting k 40ar age is about 4100 ma that is roughly 500 ma younger than the reported sm nd crystallization age

noble gases in e chondrites noble gas data are reported for 12 e chondrites combined with literature data they show that k ar ages are 4 ae for 14 out of 18 meteorites yet u th he ages are often shorter perhaps due to late mild reheating cosmic ray exposure ages differ systematically between types 4 and 6 with e4 s mostly below 16 myr and e6 s above 30 myr this may mean that the e chondrite parent body contains predominantly a single petrologic type on the 1 km scale of individual impacts in contrast to the more thoroughly mixed parent bodies of the ordinary chondrites the heavy noble gases consist of at least two primordial components the usual planetary component 36ar132xe 80 and a less fractionated subsolar component 2700 36ar132xe 3800 the latter is found in highest concentration in the e4 chondrite south oman 36ar 760 10 8cc g 36ar132xe 2700 the isotopic compositions of both components are similar to typical planetary values indicating that some factor other than mass controlled the noble gas elemental ratios the heavy xe isotopes occasionally show some of the lowest 134xe132xe and 136xe132xe ratios measured in bulk chondrites suggestive of nearly fission free xe e g 136xe132xe 0 3095 0 0020 amounts of planetary gas in e4 e6 chondrites fall in the range for ordinary chondrites of types 4 6 but in contrast to the ordinary chondrites fail to correlate with petrologic type or volatile trace element contents another unusual feature of e chondrites is that primordial ne is present even in most 4 s and 5 s 20nep 1 to 7 10 8cc g with an isotopic composition consistent with planetary ne analyses of mineral separates show that the planetary gases are concentrated in an hf and hcl insoluble mineral similar to phase q the poorly characterized hno3 soluble carrier of primordial gases in carbonaceous and ordinary chondrites the subsolar gases on the other hand are located in an hcl and hno3 resistant phase possibly enstatite or a minor phase included in enstatite much of the 129xer 50 for e4 s 70 for e6 s is in hcl resistant but hf soluble sites suggestive of a silicate a similar subsolar component may be responsible for the high 36ar132xe ratios of some c3 s unequilibrated ordinary chondrites and the unique aubrite shallowater the planet venus also has a high arkr ratio well above the planetary range and hence may have acquired its noble gases from an e chondrite like material similar to south oman