Publication Date:
2011-08-16
Description:
Noble gas analyses of the Ni-Fe of 9 L, 5 H, and 2 LL chondrites quantitatively support previous suggestions of radiogenic He-4 recoil and He-3 deficits. Furthermore, noble gases in the Ni-Fe show evidence for in situ produced radiogenic He-4 and in some cases for recoil loss of Ar-38 and gain of Ne-21. The ratio of spallogenic Ar-38 and Ne-21 in the metal phase is found to correlate strongly with He-3/Ne-21 and Ne-22/Ne-21 in bulk samples of these chondrites. This is proof of the dependence of these ratios on the irradiation hardness experienced by the meteoroid in space. 'Hardness indices' n equals 1.9-2.2 are found, indicating that on the average the stone meteoroids from which the samples came were smaller in mass than iron meteoroids. The spallogenic Ne-21/Ar-38 ratio in metallic Ni-Fe can be used with the semi-empirical production model deduced from the Grant iron meteorite to calibrate spallogenic He-3/Ne-21 and Ne-21/Ar-38 in bulk samples of L, LL and H chondrites for meteoroid size and sample location allowing the estimation of minimal meteoroid masses.
Keywords:
CHEMISTRY
Type:
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta; 37; July 197
Format:
text
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