Methane evolution from UV-irradiated spacecraft materials under simulated martian conditions: Implications for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission     

Andrew C. Schuerger  Christian Clausen 《Icarus》2011,213(1):393-403

Fifteen organic and three inorganic compounds were tested for methane (CH₄) evolution under simulated martian conditions of 6.9 mbar; UVC (200-280 nm) flux of 4 W m⁻²; 20 °C; simulated optical depth of 0.1; and a Mars gas composition of CO₂ (95.3%), N₂ (2.7%), Ar (1.7%), O₂ (0.13%), and water vapor (0.03%). All three inorganic compounds (i.e., NaCl, CaCO₃, graphite) failed to evolve methane at the minimum detection level 0.5 ppm, or above. In contrast, all organic compounds evolved methane when exposed to UV irradiation under simulated martian conditions. The polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, pyrene, released the most methane per unit of time at 0.175 nmol CH₄ g⁻¹ h⁻¹, and a spectral reflectance target material used for the MER rovers and Phoenix lander released the least methane at 0.00065 nmol CH₄ cm⁻² h⁻¹. Methane was also released from UV-killed bacterial endospores of Bacillus subtilis. Although all organic compounds evolved methane when irradiated with UV photons under martian conditions, the concentrations of residual organics, biogenic signature molecules, and dead microbial cells should be relatively low on the exterior surfaces of the MSL rover, and, thus, not significant sources of methane contamination. In contrast, kapton tape was found to evolve methane at the rate of 0.00165 nmol CH₄ cm⁻² h⁻¹ (16.5 nmol m⁻² h⁻¹) under the UV and martian conditions tested. Although the evolution of methane from kapton tape was found to decline over time, the large amount of kapton tape used on the MSL rover (lower bound estimated at 3 m²) is likely to create a significant source of terrestrial methane contamination during the early part of the mission.  相似文献   

Planar deformation features in quartz from impact‐produced polymict breccia of the Xiuyan crater,China     

Ming CHEN  Christian KOEBERL  Wansheng XIAO  Xiande XIE  Dayong TAN 《Meteoritics & planetary science》2011,46(5):729-736

Abstract– The 1.8 km‐diameter Xiuyan crater is an impact structure in northeastern China, exposed in a Proterozoic metamorphic rock complex. The major rocks of the crater are composed of granulite, hornblendite, gneiss, tremolite marble, and marble. The bottom at the center of the crater covers about 100 m thick lacustrine sediments underlain by 188 m thick crater‐fill breccia. A layer of polymict breccia composed of clasts of granulite, gneiss, hornblendite, and fragments of glass as well as clastic matrix, occurs near the base, in the depth interval from 260 to 295 m. An investigation in quartz from the polymict breccia in the crater‐fill units reveals abundant planar deformation features (PDFs). Quartz with multiple sets of PDFs is found in clasts of granulite that consist of mainly quartz and feldspar, and in fine‐grained matrix of the impact‐produced polymict breccia. A universal stage was used to measure the orientation of PDFs in 70 grains of quartz from five thin sections made from the clasts of granulite of polymict breccia recovered at the depth of 290 m. Forty‐four percent of the quartz grains contain three sets of PDFs, and another 40% contain two sets of PDFs. The most abundant PDFs are rhombohedron forms of , , and with frequency of 33.5, 22.3, and 9.6%, respectively. A predominant PDF form of in quartz suggests a shock pressure >20 GPa. The occurrence of PDFs in quartz from the polymict breccia provides crucial evidence for shock metamorphism of target rocks and confirms the impact origin of this crater, which thus appears to be the first confirmed impact crater in China.  相似文献   

Gero Kurat (1938–2009)     

Franz Brandstätter  Christian Koeberl  Herbert Palme 《Meteoritics & planetary science》2010,45(2):333-335

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Brownish inclusions and dark streaks in Libyan Desert Glass: Evidence for high‐temperature melting of the target rock     

Ansgar GRESHAKE  Christian KOEBERL  Jrg FRITZ  W. Uwe REIMOLD 《Meteoritics & planetary science》2010,45(6):973-989

Abstract– Dark streaks and different types of inclusions in Libyan Desert Glass (LDG) collected from the LDG strewn field in Egypt were investigated. Rare transparent spherules enclosed in the glassy matrix are characterized by concentric cracks, irregular internal cracks, intense twinning, and considerable amounts of Ti and Al. Raman spectra show that the spherules are α‐cristobalite. Their occurrence together with lechatelierite indicates quick heating of the source rock to at least 1550 °C, followed by rapid quenching leading to crystallization of β‐cristobalite, which upon cooling inverted into α‐cristobalite. Brownish inclusions are irregularly shaped, elongated objects with smooth contacts to the surrounding glass. They contain small roundish to elliptical droplets, and a few larger angular grains, which compositionally and according to their Raman spectra most closely resemble low‐Ca, Al‐rich orthopyroxene. Composition and texture of the orthopyroxene suggest that the brownish inclusions formed by incomplete melting of an Al‐rich orthopyroxene bearing precursor, e.g., mafic phases present in desert surface sands or also of orthopyroxene‐bearing granulite dykes in the LDG target. Experimental data on Ca‐poor enstatite also support that the inclusions were heated to about 1550 °C. Analyses of dark streaks in LDG reveal high abundances of Al, Ti, Mn, Cr, Fe, and Ni and a pronounced correlation between the abundances of Cr, Mn, Fe, and Ni. As the Fe/Ni, Mn/Ni, and Cr/Ni ratios are all clearly nonchondritic, the source of this material is most likely terrestrial and the dark streaks studied here represent a different type of schlieren compared to those which contain a meteoritic component. These findings suggest LDG formation during a short high‐temperature event. Melting of Al‐rich orthopyroxene bearing target material seems to suggest an asteroid impact rather than a near‐surface airburst.  相似文献   

Excess of bottom-released methane in an Arctic shelf sea polynya in winter     

Ellen Damm  Ursula Schauer  Bert Rudels  Christian Haas 《Continental Shelf Research》2007

Latent heat polynyas are regions generating strong ice formation, convection and extensive water mass formation. Here we report on the effects of these processes on resuspension of sediments and subsequent methane release from the seafloor and on the resulting excess methane concentration in surface water on a polar shelf during winter. The study is based on measurements of concentration and δ¹³C values of methane, water temperature, salinity, light transmission and sea ice data collected in March 2003 in Storfjorden, southern Svalbard. In winter, strong and persistent northeasterly winds create polynyas in eastern Storfjorden and cause ice formation. The resulting brine-enriched water cascades from the Storfjordbanken into the central depression thereby enhancing the turbulence near the seafloor. A distinct benthic nepheloid layer was observed reflecting the resuspension of sediments by the cascading dense bottom water. High concentrations of ¹³C-depleted methane suggest submarine discharge of methane with the resuspended sediments. As the source of the submarine methane, we propose recent bacterial methanogenesis near the sediment surface because of extremely high accumulation rates of organic carbon in Storfjorden. Convective mixing transports newly released methane from the bottom to the sea surface. This eventually results in an excess concentration in surface water with respect to the atmospheric equilibrium, and a sea-air flux of methane during periods of open water. When a new ice cover is formed, methane becomes trapped in the water column and subsequently oxidized. Thus, the residual methane is strongly enriched in ¹³C in relation to the δ¹³_CCH4${\delta }^{13}{\mathrm{C}}_{{\mathrm{CH}}_4}$ signature of atmospheric methane. Our results show that latent heat polynyas may induce a direct pathway for biogases like methane from sediments to the atmosphere through coupling of biogeochemical and oceanographic processes. Extrapolating these processes to all Arctic ocean polynyas, we estimate a transfer of CH₄ between 0.005 and 0.02 Tg yr⁻¹. This is not a large contribution but the fluxes from the polynyas are 20–200 times larger than the ocean average and the methane evasion process in polynyas is certainly one that can be altered under climate change.  相似文献   

Ocean/ice shelf interaction in the southern Weddell Sea: results of a regional numerical helium/neon simulation     

Christian B. Rodehacke  Hartmut H. Hellmer  Oliver Huhn  Aike Beckmann 《Ocean Dynamics》2007,57(1):1-11

Ocean/ice interaction at the base of deep-drafted Antarctic ice shelves modifies the physical properties of inflowing shelf waters to become Ice Shelf Water (ISW). In contrast to the conditions at the atmosphere/ocean interface, the increased hydrostatic pressure at the glacial base causes gases embedded in the ice to dissolve completely after being released by melting. Helium and neon, with an extremely low solubility, are saturated in glacial meltwater by more than 1000%. At the continental slope in front of the large Antarctic caverns, ISW mixes with ambient waters to form different precursors of Antarctic Bottom Water. A regional ocean circulation model, which uses an explicit formulation of the ocean/ice shelf interaction to describe for the first time the input of noble gases to the Southern Ocean, is presented. The results reveal a long-term variability of the basal mass loss solely controlled by the interaction between waters of the continental shelf and the ice shelf cavern. Modeled helium and neon supersaturations from the Filchner–Ronne Ice Shelf front show a “low-pass” filtering of the inflowing signal due to cavern processes. On circumpolar scales, the simulated helium and neon distributions allow us to quantify the ISW contribution to bottom water, which spreads with the coastal current connecting the major formation sites in Ross and Weddell Seas.

Christian B. RodehackeEmail:

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Temporal and geochemical evolution of the Cenozoic intraplate volcanism of Zealandia     

Christian Timm  Kaj Hoernle  Reinhard Werner  Folkmar Hauff  Paul van den Bogaard  James White  Nick Mortimer  Dieter Garbe-Schönberg 《Earth》2010,98(1-2):38-64

In order to constrain better the distribution, age, geochemistry and origin of widespread Cenozoic intraplate volcanism on Zealandia, the New Zealand micro-continent, we report new ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar and geochemical (major and trace element and Sr–Nd–Hf–Pb isotope) data from offshore (Chatham Rise, Campbell and Challenger Plateaus) and onland (North, South, Auckland, Campbell, Chatham and Antipodes Islands of New Zealand) volcanism on Zealandia. The samples include nephelinite, basanite through phonolite, alkali basalt through trachyte/rhyolite, and minor tholeiite and basaltic andesite, all of which have ocean island basalt (OIB)-type trace element signatures and which range in age from 64.8 to 0.17 Ma. Isotope ratios show a wide range in composition (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr = 0.7027–0.7050, ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd = 0.5128–0.5131, ¹⁷⁷Hf/¹⁷⁶Hf = 0.2829–0.2831, ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb = 18.62–20.67, ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Pb = 15.54–15.72 and ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁴Pb = 38.27–40.34) with samples plotting between mid-ocean-ridge basalts (MORB) and Cretaceous New Zealand intraplate volcanic rocks.Major characteristics of Zealandia's Cenozoic volcanism include longevity, irregular distribution and lack of age progressions in the direction of plate motion, or indeed any systematic temporal or spatial geochemical variations. We believe that these characteristics can be best explained in the context of lithospheric detachment, which causes upwelling and melting of the upper asthenospheric mantle and portions of the removed lithosphere. We propose that a large-scale seismic low-velocity anomaly, that stretches from beneath West Antarctica to Zealandia at a depth of > 600 km may represent a geochemical reservoir that has been in existence since the Cretaceous, and has been supplying the upper mantle beneath Zealandia with HIMU-type plume material throughout the Cenozoic. In addition, the sources of the Cenozoic intraplate volcanism may be at least partially derived through melting of locally detached Zealandia lower lithosphere.  相似文献   

Isotopic fractionation of Cu in tektites   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Frederic Moynier  Christian Koeberl  Fred Jourdan 《Geochimica et cosmochimica acta》2010,74(2):799-271

Tektites are terrestrial natural glasses of up to a few centimeters in size that were produced during hypervelocity impacts on the Earth’s surface. It is well established that the chemical and isotopic composition of tektites is generally identical to that of the upper terrestrial continental crust. Tektites typically have very low water content, which has generally been explained by volatilization at high temperature; however, the exact mechanism is still debated. Because volatilization can fractionate isotopes, comparing the isotopic composition of volatile elements in tektites with those of their source rocks may help to understand the physical conditions during tektite formation.Interestingly, volatile chalcophile elements (e.g., Cd and Zn) seem to be the only elements for which isotopic fractionation is known so far in tektites. Here, we extend this study to Cu, another volatile chalcophile element. We have measured the Cu isotopic composition for 20 tektite samples from the four known different strewn fields. All of the tektites (except the Muong Nong-types) are enriched in the heavy isotopes of Cu (1.98 < δ⁶⁵Cu < 6.99) in comparison to the terrestrial crust (δ⁶⁵Cu ≈ 0) with no clear distinction between the different groups. The Muong Nong-type tektites and a Libyan Desert Glass sample are not fractionated (δ⁶⁵Cu ≈ 0) in comparison to the terrestrial crust. To refine the Cu isotopic composition of the terrestrial crust, we also present data for three geological reference materials (δ⁶⁵Cu ≈ 0).An increase of δ⁶⁵Cu with decreasing Cu abundance probably reflects that the isotopic fractionation occurred by evaporation during heating. A simple Rayleigh distillation cannot explain the Cu isotopic data and we suggest that the isotopic fractionation is governed by a diffusion-limited regime. Copper is isotopically more fractionated than the more volatile element Zn (δ^66/64Zn up to 2.49‰). This difference of behavior between Cu and Zn is predicted in a diffusion-limited regime, where the magnitude of the isotopic fractionation is regulated by the competition between the evaporative flux and the diffusive flux at the diffusion boundary layer. Due to the difference of ionic charge in silicates (Zn²⁺ vs. Cu⁺), Cu has a diffusion coefficient that is larger than that of Zn by at least two orders of magnitude. Therefore, the larger isotopic fractionation in Cu than in Zn in tektites is due to the significant difference in their respective chemical diffusivity.  相似文献   

Ammonium in aqueous fluids to 600 °C, 1.3 GPa: A spectroscopic study on the effects on fluid properties, silica solubility, and K-feldspar to muscovite reactions     

Christian Schmidt  Anke Watenphul 《Geochimica et cosmochimica acta》2010,74(23):6852-6866

The behavior of ammonium, NH₄⁺, in aqueous systems was studied based on Raman spectroscopic experiments to 600 °C and about 1.3 GPa. Spectra obtained at ambient conditions revealed a strong reduction of the dynamic three-dimensional network of water with addition of ammonium chloride, particularly at small solute concentrations. The differential scattering cross section of the ν₁-NH₄⁺ Raman band in these solutions was found to be similar to that of salammoniac.The Raman band of silica monomers at ∼780 cm⁻¹ was present in all spectra of the fluid at high temperatures in hydrothermal diamond-anvil cell experiments with H₂O ± NH₄Cl and quartz or the assemblage quartz + kyanite + K-feldspar ± muscovite/tobelite. However, these spectra indicated that dissolved silica is less polymerized in ammonium chloride solutions than in comparable experiments with water. Quantification based on the normalized integrated intensity of the H₄SiO₄⁰ band showed that the silica solubility in experiments with H₂O + NH₄Cl was significantly lower than that in equimolal NaCl solutions. This suggests that ammonium causes a stronger decrease in the activity of water in chloridic solutions than sodium.The Raman spectra of the fluid also showed that a significant fraction of ammonium was converted to ammonia, NH₃, in all experiments at temperatures above 300 °C. This indicates a shift towards acidic conditions for experiments without a buffering mineral assemblage. The estimated pH of the fluid was ∼2 at 600 °C, 0.26 GPa, 6.6 m initial NH₄Cl, based on the ratio of the integrated ν₁-NH₃ and ν₁-NH₄⁺ intensities and the HCl⁰ dissociation constant. The NH₃/NH₄⁺ ratio increased with temperature and decreased with pressure. This implies that more ammonium should be retained in K-bearing minerals coexisting with chloridic fluids upon high-P low-T metamorphism. At 500 °C, 0.73 GPa, ammonium partitions preferentially into the fluid, as constrained from infrared spectroscopy on the muscovite and from mass balance.The conversion of K-feldspar to muscovite proceeded much faster in experiments with NH₄Cl solutions than in comparable experiments with water. This is interpreted as being caused by enhancement of the rate-limiting alumina solubility, suggesting complexation of Al with NH₄. Nucleation and growth of mica at the expense of K-feldspar and NH₄⁺/K⁺ exchange between fluid and K-feldspar occurred simultaneously, but incorporation of NH₄⁺ into K-feldspar was distinctly faster than K-feldspar consumption.  相似文献   

Localization and characterization of an active fault in an urbanized area in central Guatemala by means of geoelectrical imaging     

Barbara Suski  Gilles Brocard  Christine Authemayou  Beatriz Consenza Muralles  Christian Teyssier  Klaus Holliger 《Tectonophysics》2010,480(1-4):88-98

The Polochic and Motagua faults define the active plate boundary between the North American and Caribbean plates in central Guatemala. A splay of the Polochic Fault traverses the rapidly growing city of San Miguel Uspantán that is periodically affected by destructive earthquakes. This fault splay was located using a 2D electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) survey that also characterized the fault damage zone and evaluated the thickness and nature of recent deposits upon which most of the city is built. ERT images show the fault as a ~50 m wide, near-vertical low-resistivity anomaly, bounded within a few meters by high resistivity anomalies. Forward modeling reproduces the key aspects of the observed electrical resistivity data with remarkable fidelity thus defining the overall location, geometry, and internal structure of the fault zone as well as the affected lithologies. Our results indicate that the city is constructed on a ~20 m thick surficial layer consisting of poorly consolidated, highly porous, water-logged pumice. This soft layer is likely to amplify seismic waves and to liquefy upon moderate to strong ground shaking. The electrical conductivity as well as the major element chemistry of the groundwater provides evidence to suggest that the local aquifer might, at least in part, be fed by water rising along the fault. Therefore, the potential threat posed by this fault splay may not be limited to its seismic activity per se, but could be compounded its potential propensity to enhance seismic site effects by injecting water into the soft surficial sediments. The results of this study provide the basis for a rigorous analysis of seismic hazard and sustainable development of San Miguel Uspantán and illustrate the potential of ERT surveying for paleoseismic studies.  相似文献