ALBERT

Description: Physical and compositional measurements are made at the approx. 7 km-long (approx. 2200 years B.P.) Kings Bowl basaltic fissure system and surrounding lava field in order to further understand the interaction of fissure-fed lavas with phreatic explosive events. These assessments are intended to elucidate the cause and potential for hazards associated with phreatic phases that occur during basaltic fissure eruptions. In the present paper we focus on a general understanding of the geological history of the site. We utilize geospatial analysis of lava surfaces, lithologic and geochemical signatures of lava flows and explosively ejected blocks, and surveys via ground observation and remote sensing.

Description: The Sariiek howardite meteorite shower consisting of 343 documented stones occurred on September 2, 2015 in Turkey and is the first documented howardite fall. Cosmogenic isotopes show that Sariiek experienced a complex cosmicray exposure history, exposed during ~1214 Ma in a regolith near the surface of a parent asteroid, and that an ~1 m sized meteoroid was launched by an impact 22 2 Ma ago to Earth (as did onethird of all HED meteorites). SIMS dating of zircon and baddeleyite yielded 4550.4 2.5 Ma and 4553 8.8 Ma crystallization ages for the basaltic magma clasts. The apatite UPb age of 4525 17 Ma, KAr age of ~3.9 Ga, and the U,ThHe ages of 1.8 0.7 and 2.6 0.3 Ga are interpreted to represent thermal metamorphic and impactrelated resetting ages, respectively. Petrographic; geochemical; and O, Cr, and Tiisotopic studies confirm that Sariiek belongs to the normal clan of HED meteorites. Petrographic observations and analysis of organic material indicate a small portion of carbonaceous chondrite material in the Sariiek regolith and organic contamination of the meteorite after a few days on soil. Video observations of the fall show an atmospheric entry at 17.3 0.8 km/s from NW; fragmentations at 37, 33, 31, and 27 km altitude; and provide a preatmospheric orbit that is the first dynamical link between the normal HED meteorite clan and the inner Main Belt. Spectral data indicate the similarity of Sariiek with the Vesta asteroid family (Vclass) spectra, a group of asteroids stretching to delivery resonances, which includes (4) Vesta. Dynamical modeling of meteoroid delivery to Earth shows that the complete disruption of a ~1 km sized Vesta family asteroid or a ~10 km sized impact crater on Vesta is required to provide sufficient meteoroids 4 m in size to account for the influx of meteorites from this HED clan. The 16.7 km diameter Antionia impact crater on Vesta was formed on terrain of the same age as given by the 4He retention age of Sariiek. Lunar scaling for crater production to crater counts of its ejecta blanketshow it was formed ~22 Ma ago.