We report on studies of the concentrations of cosmogenic nuclides in the magnetic fraction of cosmic dust particles recovered from the South Pole Water Well (SPWW) and from Greenland. Our results confirm that cosmic dust material from these locations contains measurable amounts of cosmogenic nuclides.The Antarctic particles (and possibly those from Greenland as well) also contain minor amounts of solar Ne. Concentrations of cosmogenic nuclides are consistent with irradiation of this material as small objects in space, with exposure ages similar to the expected Poynting-Robertson (P-R) lifetimes of 50-200 kyr for particles 25-100 micrometers in size.

This study explores the controls of oxygen fugacity and temperature on the solubilities of Fe, Ni, Co, Mo, and W in natural eucritic liquids to better constrain the formation of eucritic melts. The solubilities of all five elements in molten silicate in equilibrium with FeNiCo-, FeMo-, and FeWalloys increase with increasingly oxidizing conditions and decrease with decreasing temperatures. In applying these data to formation scenarios of the eucrite parent body, we find that the siderophile element abundances in eucrites (meteoritic basalts) cannot be explained by a single-step partialmelting process from a chondritic, metal-containing source. The Ni content of the partial melt is too high, and the W and Mo contents are too low compared to the abundances in eucritic meteorites. But Fe, Ni, and Co concentrations in eucrites can be modeled by metal-silicate equilibrium during more or less complete melting of the eucrite parent body with subsequent fractional crystallization of olivine and orthopyroxene. However, the computed values of Mo are still too low and those of W too high when compared with Mo and W abundances in eucritic meteorites. One possibility is that the Mo and W partition coefficients strongly depend on pressure, although the howardite-eucrite-diogenite (HED) parent body only had a minimal pressure gradient (maximum interior pressure = 0.1 GPa). Alternatively, sulfides may have played some role in establishing Mo abundances.

We obtained color images of near-Earth asteroid 25143 Itokawa by the Hayabusa multiband imaging camera to characterize the regional color properties. Images were obtained for the whole disk from the gate position (GP) and home position (HP) at a spatial resolution of 0.8-3.7 m/ pixel. Whole-disk spectra are adjusted to the telescopic data obtained by the University of Hawai'is 88-inch telescope using the Eight Color Asteroid Survey (ECAS) system. The disk-resolved measurements show large variations in the three visible channels. We present a map of an index related to the degree of space weathering, which has been newly developed based on laboratory measurements. We find large variations in the degree of space weathering on Itokawa. Fresh materials are observed in regions of steep slopes and craters, whereas mature materials are ubiquitously distributed. This result suggests that pristine ordinary chondrite-like materials have been exposed through weathered layers by excavation. By also examining close-up images obtained during touchdown rehearsal, we find that most rocks in Itokawas rough terrains are weathered. Instead of a regolith blanket, the surface of this small asteroid is covered with weathered rocks and gravels.

The maximum diameter of chromite (FeCr2O4) grains within L chondrites reflects the petrographic type of the sample. On the basis of our measurements of nine recent L chondrites, L3 chromite Dmax = 34-50 micrometers, L4 = 87-150 micrometers, L5 = 76-158 micrometers, and L6 = 253-638 micrometers. This variation reflects the crystallization of the chromite grains during parent body thermal metamorphism.We use this calibration to classify six fossil meteorites from the Middle Ordovician in Sweden as type 3 (or 4) to 6. The high flux of L chondrites at 470 Ma contained a range of petrographic types and may have had a higher proportion of lower petrographic type meteorites than are found in recent L chondrite falls. The fossil meteorites have in places preserved recognizable chondrule textures, including porphyritic olivine, barred olivine, and radiating pyroxene. A large relict clast and fusion crust have also been tentatively identified in one fossil meteorite. Apart from chromite, all of the original meteorite minerals have been replaced by carbonate (and sheet silicate and sulfate) during diagenesis within the limestone host. The preservation of chondrule definition has allowed us to measure the mean diameters of relict chondrules. The range (0.4-0.6 mm) is consistent with measurements made in the same way on recent L chondrites.

Following discoveries of blue ice areas in Greenland resembling meteorite-bearing blue ice fields in Antarctica, a surface search of several of the most promising sites was carried out in August 2003. The ice fields are located in Kong Christian X Land, in northeastern Greenland around 74 degrees N at elevations between 2100 and 2400 m. No meteorites were found in any of the localities that were searched. Evidence of occasional significant melting (filled crevasses and melt sheets) suggest that summer temperatures are sometimes high enough that dark rocks, like meteorites, can melt through the upper layers of ice. Small terrestrial rocks and cryogenite were found down to 50 cm below the ice surface. Meter-sized terrestrial rocks were found on top of the ice downstream from nunataks. These rocks shade the ice below, and since they were apparently too massive to warm up during warm days, they remained at the surface as the surrounding ice ablated away. Our findings strongly suggest that Greenland is currently unlikely to harbor significant meteorite concentrations on blue ice fields.

Iron meteorites exhibit a large range in Ni concentrations, from only 4% to nearly 60%. Most previous experiments aimed at understanding the crystallization of iron meteorites have been conducted in systems with about 10% Ni or less. We performed solid metal/liquid metal experiments to determine the effect of Ni on partition coefficients for 20 trace elements pertinent to iron meteorites. Experiments were conducted in both the end-member Ni-S system as well as in the Fe-Ni-S system with intermediate Ni compositions applicable to high-Ni iron meteorites. The Ni content of the system affects solid metal/liquid metal partitioning behavior. For a given S concentration, partition coefficients in the Ni-S system can be over an order of magnitude larger than in the Fe-S system. However, for compositions relevant to even the most Ni-rich iron meteorites, the effect of Ni on partitioning behavior is minor, amounting to less than a factor of two for the majority of trace elements studied. Any effect of Ni also appears minor when it is compared to the large influence S has on element partitioning behavior. Thus, we conclude that in the presence of an evolving S-bearing metallic melt, crystallization models can safely neglect effects from Ni when considering the full range of iron meteorite compositions.

Queen Alexandra Range (QUE) 97990 (CM2.6) is among the least-altered CM chondrites known. It contains 1.8 vol% refractory inclusions; 40 were studied from a single thin section. Inclusion varieties include simple, banded and nodular structures as well as simple and complex distended objects. The inclusions range in mean size from 30 to 530 micrometers and average 130 +/- 90 m. Many inclusions contain 25 +/- 15 vol% phyllosilicate (predominantly Mg-Fe serpentine); several contain small grains of perovskite. In addition to phyllosilicate, the most abundant inclusions in QUE 97990 consist mainly of spinel-pyroxene (35%), followed by spinel (20%), spinel-pyroxene-olivine (18%), pyroxene (12%), pyroxene-olivine (8%) and hibonite spinel (8%). Four pyroxene phases occur: diopside, Al-rich diopside (with 8.0 wt% Al2O3), Al-Ti diopside (i.e., fassaite), and (in two inclusions) enstatite. No inclusions contain melilite. Aqueous alteration of refractory inclusions transforms some phases (particularly melilite) into phyllosilicate; some inclusions broke apart during alteration. Melilite-free, phyllosilicate-bearing, spinel inclusions probably formed from pristine, phyllosilicate-free inclusions containing both melilite and spinel. Sixty-five percent of the refractory inclusions in QUE 97990 appear to be largely intact; the major exception is the group of spinel inclusions, all of which are fragments. Whereas QUE 97990 contains about 50 largely intact refractory inclusions/cm2, estimates from literature data imply that more-altered CM chondrites have lower modal abundances (and lower number densities) of refractory inclusions: Mighei (CM ~ 2.3) contains roughly 0.3-0.6 vol% inclusions (~10 largely intact inclusions/cm2); Cold Bokkeveld (CM2.2) contains ~0.01 vol% inclusions (on the order of 6 largely intact inclusions/cm^2).