Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.
Science Career Fair

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Science 21 October 1988:
Vol. 242. no. 4877, pp. 417 - 419
DOI: 10.1126/science.242.4877.417
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Articles

Rapid Growth of Magnesium-Carbonate Weathering Products in a Stony Meteorite from Antarctica

A. J. T. JULL 1, S. CHENG 2, J. L. GOODING 3, and M. A. VELBEL 4

1 National Science Foundation Accelerator Facility for Radioisotope Analysis and Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721.
2 Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721.
3 National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Johnson Space Center, Planetary Science Branch, Houston, TX 77058.
4 Department of Geological Sciences, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824.

Nesquehonite, a hydrous magnesium carbonate, occurs as a weathering product on the surface of the Antarctic meteorite LEW 85320(H5 chondrite). Antarctic meteorites have resided on the earth for periods of 104 to 106 years, but the time needed for weathering products to form has been uncertain. Isotopic measurements of dgr13C and dgr18O indicate that the nesquehonite formed at near freezing temperatures by reaction of meteoritic minerals with terrestrial water and carbon dioxide. Results from carbon-14 dating suggest that, although the meteorite has been in Antarctica for at least 3.2 x 104 to 3.3 x 104 years, the nesquehonite formed after A.D.1950.

Submitted on June 16, 1988
Accepted on September 2, 1988


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Decay-induced biomineralization of the saguaro cactus (Carnegiea gigantea).
L. A. J. Garvie and L. A.J. Garvie (2003)
American Mineralogist 88, 1879-1888
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Nanobacteria-like calcite single crystals at the surface of the Tataouine meteorite.
K. Benzerara, N. Menguy, F. Guyot, C. Dominici, and P. Gillet (2003)
PNAS 100, 7438-7442
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Preparation of TEM samples by focused ion beam (FIB) techniques: applications to the study of clays and phyllosilicates in meteorites.
M. R. Lee, M. R. Lee, P. A. Bland, and G. Graham (2003)
Mineralogical Magazine 67, 581-592
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)