Isotope fractionation in silicate melts by thermal diffusion.

The phenomenon of thermal diffusion (mass diffusion driven by a temperature gradient, known as the Ludwig-Soret effect) has been investigated for over 150 years, but an understanding of its underlying physical basis remains elusive. A significant hurdle in studying thermal diffusion has been the difficulty of characterizing it. Extensive experiments over the past century have established that the Soret coefficient, S(T) (a single parameter that describes the steady-state result of thermal diffusion), is highly sensitive to many factors. This sensitivity makes it very difficult to obtain a robust characterization of thermal diffusion, even for a single material. Here we show that for thermal diffusion experiments that span a wide range in composition and temperature, the difference in S(T) between isotopes of diffusing elements that are network modifiers (iron, calcium and magnesium) is independent of the composition and temperature. On the basis of this finding, we propose an additive decomposition for the functional form of S(T) and argue that a theoretical approach based on local thermodynamic equilibrium holds promise for describing thermal diffusion in silicate melts and other complex solutions. Our results lead to a simple and robust framework for characterizing isotope fractionation by thermal diffusion in natural and synthetic systems.

A close-up look at Io from Galileo's near-infrared mapping spectrometer.

Infrared spectral images of Jupiter's volcanic moon Io, acquired during the October and November 1999 and February 2000 flybys of the Galileo spacecraft, were used to study the thermal structure and sulfur dioxide distribution of active volcanoes. Loki Patera, the solar system's most powerful known volcano, exhibits large expanses of dark, cooling lava on its caldera floor. Prometheus, the site of long-lived plume activity, has two major areas of thermal emission, which support ideas of plume migration. Sulfur dioxide deposits were mapped at local scales and show a more complex relationship to surface colors than previously thought, indicating the presence of other sulfur compounds.

Prometheus: Io's wandering plume.

Unlike any volcanic behavior ever observed on Earth, the plume from Prometheus on Io has wandered 75 to 95 kilometers west over the last 20 years since it was first discovered by Voyager and more recently observed by Galileo. Despite the source motion, the geometric and optical properties of the plume have remained constant. We propose that this can be explained by vaporization of a sulfur dioxide and/or sulfur "snowfield" over which a lava flow is moving. Eruption of a boundary-layer slurry through a rootless conduit with sonic conditions at the intake of the melted snow can account for the constancy of plume properties.

Numerical models of caldera-scale volcanic eruptions on Earth, venus, and Mars.

Volcanic eruptions of gassy magmas on Earth, Venus, and Mars produce plumes with markedly different fluid dynamics regimes. In large part the differences are caused by the differing atmospheric pressures and ratios of volcanic vent pressure to atmospheric pressure. For each of these planets, numerical simulations of an eruption of magma containing 4 weight percent gas were run on a workstation. On Venus the simulated eruption of a pressure-balanced plume formed a dense fountain over the vent and continuous pyroclastic flows. On Earth and Mars, simulated pressure-balanced plumes produced ash columns, ash falls, and possible small pyroclastic flows. An overpressured plume, illustrated for Mars, exhibited a complex supersonic velocity structure and internal shocks.

Emplacement of cretaceous-tertiary boundary shocked quartz from chicxulub crater.

Observations on shocked quartz in Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) boundary sediments compellingly tied to Chicxulub crater raise three problems. First, in North America shocked quartz occurs above the main K-T ejecta layer. Second, shocked quartz is more abundant west than east of Chicxulub. Third, shocked quartz reached distances requiring initial velocities up to 8 kilometers per second, corresponding to shock pressures that would produce melt, not the moderate-pressure shock lamellae observed. Shock devolatilization and the expansion of carbon dioxide and water from impacted wet carbonate, producing a warm, accelerating fireball after the initial hot fireball of silicate vapor, may explain all three problems.

Triton's Geyser-Like Plumes: Discovery and Basic Characterization.

At least four active geyser-like eruptions were discovered in Voyager 2 images of Triton, Neptune's large satellite. The two best documented eruptions occur as columns of dark material rising to an altitude of about 8 kilometers where dark clouds of material are left suspended to drift downwind over 100 kilometers. The radii of the rising columns appear to be in the range of several tens of meters to a kilometer. One model for the mechanism to drive the plumes involves heating of nitrogen ice in a subsurface greenhouse environment; nitrogen gas pressurized by the solar heating explosively vents to the surface carrying clouds of ice and dark partides into the atmosphere. A temperature increase of less than 4 kelvins above the ambient surface value of 38 +/- 3 kelvins is more than adequate to drive the plumes to an 8-kilometer altitude. The mass flux in the trailing clouds is estimated to consist of up to 10 kilograms of fine dark particles per second or twice as much nitrogen ice and perhaps several hundred or more kilograms of nitrogen gas per second. Each eruption may last a year or more, during which on the order of a tenth of a cubic kilometer of ice is sublimed.

Droplet Chondrules: Jetting on high-velocity collision of small meteoritie particles may have produced droplet chondrules.

I have proposed that droplet chondrules were formed by jetting during collision of meteoritic particles with diameters ranging in order of magnitude from 0.5 mm to 20 cm. This conclusion, based on a dynamic model for the collision process, supports the hypotheses of Wasson (2) (based on geochemical considerations) and Whipple (35) and Cameron (36) (based on dynamic model considerations) that chondrules were formed from objects less than 1 m in radius. In this model, the formation of chondrules is viewed as a textural, but not substantial chemical, change in the material of the early solar system. Droplets of melt produced by jetting are mixtures of material derived from two parent grains. Jets are probably not appreciably fractionated (except in volatile elements) either in the short duration of the shock events (several microseconds) or in subsequent cooling. This model for the formation of droplet chondrules implies that they were formed at a time in the history of the solar system when particle sizes were small. The most likely time for this condition is early in the process of accretion of nebular dust to planetary matter. Since velocities less than approximately 1.5 km/sec are required for the agglomeration and accretion of particles (37), the relatively higher velocities indicated for droplet chondrule-forming collisions indicate an early high-velocity destructive epoch amidst the general trend toward accretion of material.