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1.
Kyte FT  Wasson JT 《Science (New York, N.Y.)》1986,232(4755):1225-1229
Iridium measured in 149 samples of a continuous 9-meter section of Pacific abyssal clay covering the time span 33 to 67 million years ago shows a well-defined peak only at the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary. In the rest of the section iridium ranges from a minimum concentration near 0.35 nanograms per gram in the Paleocene to a maximum near 1.7 in the Eocene; between 63 and 33 million years ago the mean iridium accumulation rate is approximately 13 nanograms per square centimeter per million years. Correction for terrestrial iridium leads to an extraterrestrial flux of9 +/- 3 nanograms of iridium per square centimeter per million years, and an estimated annual global influx of 78 billion grams of chondritic matter, consistent with recent estimates of the influx of dust, meteorites, and crater-producing bodies with masses ranging from 10(-13) to 10(18 )grams. Combining the recent flux of objects ranging in mass from 10(6) to 10(7) grams with the flux of 10(14) - to 10(15) -gram objects indicates that the number of objects is equal to 0.54 divided by the radius (in kilometers) to the 2.1 power. Periodic comet showers should increase the cometary iridium flux by a factor of 200 to 600 on a time scale of 1 to 3 million years; the predicted iridium maxima (more than 30 times background) are not present in the intervals associated with the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary or the tektiteproducing late Eocene events.  相似文献   

2.
Analyses of marine carbonates through the interval 63.9 to 65.4 million years ago indicate a near-constant flux of extraterrestrial helium-3, a tracer of the accretion rate of interplanetary dust to Earth. This observation indicates that the bolide associated with the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) extinction event was not accompanied by enhanced solar system dustiness and so could not have been a member of a comet shower. The use of helium-3 as a constant-flux proxy of sedimentation rate implies deposition of the K-T boundary clay in (10 +/- 2) x 10(3) years, precluding the possibility of a long hiatus at the boundary and requiring extremely rapid faunal turnover.  相似文献   

3.
Singer SF 《Science (New York, N.Y.)》1967,156(3778):1080-1083
The recent detection of radioactive Al(26) in marine sediments has led to the conclusion that it is brought into the earth's atmosphere by micrometeorites which have been exposed, in interplanetary space, to solar high-energy protons. The Al(26) method is not precise enough to yield directly a reliable value for the mass accretion rate to the earth to better than about 3 orders of magnitude, but is sufficiently accurate to allow a crucial decision between two widely differing of interplanetary dust which have been proposed to explain observations of the zodiacal light. The two models lead to Al(26) concentrations which would differ by about 5 orders of magnitude. Thus, the presence of Al(26) is consistent with the zodiacal dust model with particles of some tens of microns rather then with submicron particles. From this model a mass accretion to the earth then be calculated which is set at 1250 (upper limit, 2500; lower limit, 250) tons per day, or 2.8 x 10(-15) g/cm(2) sec, or 4.5 x 10(11) g over the earth per This value does not depend on the flux of the solar high-energy particles, which may be uncertain by an order of magnitude or more. The presence of Al(26) supports the idea that an important fraction of the dust is stony in composition material density, and thus eliminates some more exotic dust models, as such one consisting entirely of carbon grains. We may also conclude that the accreted dust particles have been in the solar system and exposed to protons from solar high-energy particles for a time interval which is greater than a significant of the Al(26) half-life (0.74 x 10(6) years).  相似文献   

4.
We determined the mass of asteroid 433 Eros, its lower order gravitational harmonics, and rotation state, using ground-based Doppler and range tracking of the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR)-Shoemaker spacecraft and images of the asteroid's surface landmarks. The mass of Eros is (6.687 +/- 0.003) x 10(18) grams, which, coupled with our volume estimate, implies a bulk density of 2. 67 +/- 0.03 grams per cubic centimeter. The asteroid appears to have a uniform density distribution. The right ascension and declination of the rotation pole are 11.37 +/- 0.05 and 17.22 +/- 0.05 degrees, respectively, and at least over the short term, the rotation state of Eros is stable with no measurable free precession of the spin pole. Escape velocities on the surface vary from 3.1 to 17.2 meters per second. The dynamical environment of Eros suggests that it is covered with regolith and that one might expect material transport toward the deepest potential wells in the saddle and 5.5-kilometer crater regions.  相似文献   

5.
The ranging instrument aboard the Hayabusa spacecraft measured the surface topography of asteroid 25143 Itokawa and its mass. A typical rough area is similar in roughness to debris located on the interior wall of a large crater on asteroid 433 Eros, which suggests a surface structure on Itokawa similar to crater ejecta on Eros. The mass of Itokawa was estimated as (3.58 +/- 0.18) x 10(10) kilograms, implying a bulk density of (1.95 +/- 0.14) grams per cubic centimeter for a volume of (1.84 +/- 0.09) x 10(7) cubic meters and a bulk porosity of approximately 40%, which is similar to that of angular sands, when assuming an LL (low iron chondritic) meteorite composition. Combined with surface observations, these data indicate that Itokawa is the first subkilometer-sized small asteroid showing a rubble-pile body rather than a solid monolithic asteroid.  相似文献   

6.
A study of effects of terrestrial biota on the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere suggests that the global net release of carbon due to forest clearing between 1860 and 1980 was between 135 x 10(15) and 228 x 10(15) grams. Between 1.8 x 10(15) and 4.7 x 10(15) grams of carbon were released in 1980, of which nearly 80 percent was due to deforestation, principally in the tropics. The annual release of carbon from the biota and soils exceeded the release from fossil fuels until about 1960. Because the biotic release has been and remains much larger than is commonly assumed, the airborne fraction, usually considered to be about 50 percent of the release from fossil fuels, was probably between 22 and 43 percent of the total carbon released in 1980. The increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is thought by some to be increasing the storage of carbon in the earth's remaining forests sufficiently to offset the release from deforestation. The interpretation of the evidence presented here suggests no such effect; deforestation appears to be the dominant biotic effect on atmospheric carbon dioxide. If deforestation increases in proportion to population, the biotic release of carbon will reach 9 x 10(15) grams per year before forests are exhausted early in the next century. The possibilities for limiting the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere through reduction in use of fossil fuels and through management of forests may be greater than is commonly assumed.  相似文献   

7.
Fields greater than 10 MG can be produced by explosive flux compression and fields up to 3 MG with capacitor banks. Measurement of fields up to 10 MG is reliable, but difficulties may be expected at higher fields. Megagauss fields have been applied successfully as high-pressure sources, in high-energy particle physics, and in solid-state investigations. Other uses remain to be exploited: plasma compression by megagauss fields has been relatively unsuccessful but shows promise; their use as particle accelerators has been studied only theoretically; and much work remains to be done, both experimentally and theoretically, in connection with applications of megagauss fields in solidstate physics. Note added in proof: Since this article was prepared, Grigor'ev et al. have carried out some experiments (48) in which they have compressed hydrogen up to a density of 1.95 grams per cubic centimeter with a calculated pressure of 8 x 10(6) atmospheres. They report five different pressure-density points and claim that their data can be explained by assuming that the transition to the metallic phase occurs at a pressure of 2.8 x 10(6) atmospheres, with a density change from 1.08 to 1.3 g/cm(3). Using the flux compression techniques described earlier in this article, Hawke et al. [see (30, 31)] have obtained a pressure-density point at 1.5 x 10(6) atmospheres and 1.0 g/cm(3), which is also not inconsistent with a predicted equation of state of metallic hydrogen (49). In view of the experimental uncertainties, none of the pressure-density data can yet be used conclusively to establish the transition's existence. Hawke and his co-workers are presently engaged in measurements of the electrical conductivity of the compressed hydrogen. Observation of a significant conductivity at the proposed transition pressure would be a more definitive test of a metallic transition. In addition, two lower pressure-density points have been obtained for deuterium by the Los Alamos group, by means of the flux compression methods described earlier in this article. One point agrees to within experimental error with a slight extrapolation of Stewart's data (50). The second point is at a pressure of 65+/- 3 x 10(3) atmospheres with a density of 0.71 +/- 0.10 g/cm(3). The data are tentative, and efforts are under way to obtain more data points at both higher and lower pressures.  相似文献   

8.
The terminal navigation of the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft during its close flyby of asteroid 253 Mathilde involved coordinated efforts to determine the heliocentric orbits of the spacecraft and Mathilde and then to determine the relative trajectory of the spacecraft with respect to Mathilde. The gravitational perturbation of Mathilde on the passing spacecraft was apparent in the spacecraft tracking data. As a result of the accurate targeting achieved, these data could be used to determine Mathilde's mass as 1.033 (+/- 0.044) x 10(20) grams. Coupled with a volume estimate provided by the NEAR imaging team, this mass suggests a low bulk density for Mathilde of 1.3 grams per cubic centimeter.  相似文献   

9.
Calcium-41 has been suggested as a new tool for radiometric dating in the range of 10(5) to 10(6) years. The concentration of cosmogenic calcium-41 in natural samples of terrestrial origin has now been determined by high-sensitivity accelerator mass spectrometry after pre-enrichment in calcium-41 with an isotope separator. Ratios of calcium-41 to total calcium between 2 x 10(-14) and 3 x 10(-15) were measured for samples of contemporary bovine bone and from limestone deposits. Some prospects for the use of calcium-41 for dating Middle and Late Pleistocene bone and for other geophysical applications are discussed.  相似文献   

10.
Millisecond pulsars are thought to be neutron stars that have been spun-up by accretion of matter from a binary companion. Although most are in binary systems, some 30% are solitary, and their origin is therefore mysterious. PSR J1719-1438, a 5.7-millisecond pulsar, was detected in a recent survey with the Parkes 64-meter radio telescope. We show that this pulsar is in a binary system with an orbital period of 2.2 hours. The mass of its companion is near that of Jupiter, but its minimum density of 23 grams per cubic centimeter suggests that it may be an ultralow-mass carbon white dwarf. This system may thus have once been an ultracompact low-mass x-ray binary, where the companion narrowly avoided complete destruction.  相似文献   

11.
The magnesium isotopic composition of some extraterrestrial dust particles has been measured. The particles are believed to be samples of interplanetary dust, a significant fraction of which originated from the disaggregation of comets and may contain preserved isotopic anomalies. Improvements in mass spectrometric and sample preparation techniques have made it possible to measure the magnesium isotopic composition of the dust particles, which are typically 10 micrometers in size and contain on the order of 10(-10) gram of magnesium. Of the 13 samples analyzed, nine have the terrestrial magnesium isotopic composition within 2 parts per thousand, and one shows isotopic mass fractionation of 1.1 percent per mass unit. A subset of the particles, described as chondritic aggregates, are very close to normal isotopic composition, but their normalized isotopic ratios appear to show nonlinear effects of 3 to 4 parts per thousand, which is near the present limit of detection for samples of this size. The isotopic composition of calcium was also determined in one particle and found to be normal within 2 percent. It is clear that the isotopic composition of interplanetary dust particles can be determined with good precision. Collection of dust particles during the earth's passage through a comet tail or an intense meteor stream may permit laboratory analysis of material from a known comet.  相似文献   

12.
We present measurements of the dust particle flux and mass distribution from the Stardust Dust Flux Monitor Instrument (DFMI) throughout the flyby of comet 81P/Wild 2. In the particle mass regime from 10(-14) to 10(-7) kilograms, the spacecraft encountered regions of intense swarms of particles, together with bursts of activity corresponding to clouds of particles only a few hundred meters across. This fine-scale structure can be explained by particle fragmentation. We estimate that 2800 +/- 500 particles of diameter 15 micrometers or larger impacted the aerogel collectors, the largest being approximately 6 x 10(-7) kilograms, which dominates the total collected mass.  相似文献   

13.
We determined some basic properties of stars that produce spectacular gamma-ray bursts at the end of their lives. We assumed that accretion of the outer portion of the stellar core by a central black hole fuels the prompt emission and that fall-back and accretion of the stellar envelope later produce the plateau in the x-ray light curve seen in some bursts. Using x-ray data for three bursts, we estimated the radius of the stellar core to be approximately (1 - 3) x 10(10) cm and that of the stellar envelope to be approximately (1 - 2) x 10(11) cm. The density profile in the envelope is fairly shallow, with rho approximately r(-2) (where rho is density and r is distance from the center of the explosion). The rotation speeds of the core and envelope are approximately 0.05 and approximately 0.2 of the local Keplerian speed, respectively.  相似文献   

14.
Termites may emit large quantities of methane, carbon dioxide, and molecular hydrogen into the atmosphere. Global annual emissions calculated from laboratory measurements could reach 1.5 x 10(14) grams of methane and 5 x 10(16) grams of carbon dioxide. As much as 2 x 10(14) grams of molecular hydrogen may also be produced. Field measurements of methane emissions from two termite nests in Guatemala corroborated the laboratory results. The largest emissions should occur in tropical areas disturbed by human activities.  相似文献   

15.
Tropical forests and the global carbon cycle   总被引:2,自引:0,他引:2  
New data on the three major determinants of the carbon release from tropical forest clearing are used in a computer model that simulates land use change and its effects on the carbon content of vegetation and soil in order to calculate the net flux of carbon dioxide between tropical ecosystems and the atmosphere. The model also permits testing the sensitivity of the calculated flux to uncertainties in these data. The tropics were a net source of at least 0.4 x 10(15) grams but not more than 1.6 x 10(15) grams of carbon in 1980, considerably less than previous estimates. Decreases in soil organic matter were responsible for 0.1 x 10(15) to 0.3 x 10(15) grams of the release, while the burning and decay of cleared vegetation accounted for 0.3 x 10(15) to 1.3 x 10(15) grams. These estimates are lower than many previous ones because lower biomass estimates and slightly lower land clearing rates were used and because ecosystem recovery processes were included. These new estimates of the biotic release allow for the possibility of a balanced global budget given the large remaining uncertainties in the marine, terrestrial, and fossil fuel components of the carbon cycle.  相似文献   

16.
Analysis of dated oceanic sediments from the Santa Barbara Basin of the Southern California Bight has shown that deposition of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) began about 1945 and that DDE [1,1-dichloro-2-2-bis(p-chloro-phenyl)ethylene] first appeared in sediments deposited about 1952. Concentrations of both show a progressive increase through 1967; estimated deposition rates (in grams per square meter per year) in 1967 of DDE and PCB were 1.9 x 10(-4) and 1.2 x 10(-4), respectively.  相似文献   

17.
Binary asteroids in the near-Earth object population   总被引:2,自引:0,他引:2  
Radar images of near-Earth asteroid 2000 DP107 show that it is composed of an approximately 800-meter-diameter primary and an approximately 300-meter-diameter secondary revolving around their common center of mass. The orbital period of 1.755 +/- 0.007 days and semimajor axis of 2620 +/- 160 meters constrain the total mass of the system to 4.6 +/- 0.5 x 10(11) kilograms and the bulk density of the primary to 1.7 +/- 1.1 grams per cubic centimeter. This system and other binary near-Earth asteroids have spheroidal primaries spinning near the breakup point for strengthless bodies, suggesting that the binaries formed by spin-up and fission, probably as a result of tidal disruption during close planetary encounters. About 16% of near-Earth asteroids larger than 200 meters in diameter may be binary systems.  相似文献   

18.
The oxygen and magnesium isotopic compositions of five individual particles that were collected from the stratosphere and that bear refractory minerals were measured by secondary ion mass spectrometry. Four of the particles exhibit excesses of oxygen-16 similar to those observed in anhydrous mineral phases of carbonaceous chondrites and thus are extraterrestrial. The oxygen and magnesium isotopic abundances of one corundum-rich particle are consistent with a terrestrial origin. Magnesium in the four extraterrestrial particles is isotopically normal. It is unlikely that these particles are derived from carbonaceous chondrites and thus such particles probably represent a new type of collected extraterrestrial material.  相似文献   

19.
Submillimeter-sized metallic spheres extracted from soil in the Tunguska region of central Siberia contain noble metals in cosmic proportions. The trace element composition and geographical distribution of these spheres suggest that they are from the 30 June 1908 Tunguska explosion and not meteoritic ablation products falling continuously on the earth. Debris from this explosion was also discovered in a South Pole ice core; this discovery indicates that the Tunguska object exploded in the atmosphere with subsequent stratospheric injection and transport of the debris. The celestial body that exploded over Tunguska weighed more than 7 million tons, was more than 0.16 kilometer in diameter, and may well have been a stony meteorite. This discovery offers a new precision time marker in polar ice strata for the year 1909. The steady-state influx of cosmic matter at the South Pole is estimated to be 1.8 x 10(-8) grams per square centimeter per year, which corresponds to a global influx of 4 x l0(5) tons per year.  相似文献   

20.
Recombination of O(2)(+) represents a source of fast oxygen atoms in Venus' exosphere, and subsequent collisions of oxygen atoms with hydrogen atoms lead to escape of about 10(7) hydrogen atoms per square centimeter per second. Escape of deuterium atoms is negligible, and the ratio of deuterium to hydrogen should increase with time. It is suggested that the mass-2 ion observed by Pioneer Venus is D(+), which implies a ratio of deuterium to hydrogen in the contemporary atmosphere of about 10(-2), an initial ratio of 5 x 10(-5) and an original H(2)O abundance not less than 800 grams per square centimeter.  相似文献   

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