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The Almahata Sitta (AhS) meteorite consists of disaggregated clasts from the impact of the polymict asteroid 2008 TC3, including ureilitic (70%–80%) and diverse non‐ureilitic materials. We determined the 40Ar/39Ar release patterns for 16 AhS samples (3–1500 μg) taken from three chondritic clasts, AhS 100 (L4), AhS 25 (H5), and MS‐D (EL6), as well as a clast of ureilitic trachyandesite MS‐MU‐011, also known as ALM‐A, which is probably a sample of the crust of the ureilite parent body (UPB). Based on our analyses, best estimates of the 40Ar/39Ar ages (Ma) of the chondritic clasts are 4535 ± 10 (L4), 4537–4555 with a younger age preferred (H5), and 4513 ± 17 (EL6). The ages for the L4 and the H5 clasts are older than the most published 40Ar/39Ar ages for L4 and H5 meteorites, respectively. The age for the EL6 clast is typical of older EL6 chondrites. These ages indicate times of argon closure ranging up to 50 Ma after the main constituents of the host breccia, that is, the ureilitic components of AhS, reached the >800°C blocking temperatures of pyroxene and olivine thermometers. We suggest that these ages record the times at which the clasts cooled to the Ar closure temperatures on their respective parent bodies. This interpretation is consistent with the recent proposal that the majority of xenolithic materials in polymict ureilites were implanted into regolith 40–60 Ma after calcium–aluminum‐rich inclusion and is consistent with the interpretation that 2008 TC3 was a polymict ureilite. With allowance for its 10‐Ma uncertainty, the 4549‐Ma 40Ar/39Ar age of ALM‐A is consistent with closure within a few Ma of the time recorded by its Pb/Pb age either on the UPB or as part of a rapidly cooling fragment. Plots of age versus cumulative 39Ar release for 10 of 15 samples with ≥5 heating steps indicate minor losses of 40Ar over the last 4.5 Ga. The other five such samples lost some 40Ar at estimated times no earlier than 3800–4500 Ma bp. Clustering of ages in the low‐temperature data for these five samples suggests that an impact caused localized heating of the AhS progenitor ~2.7 Ga ago. In agreement with the published work, 10 estimates of cosmic‐ray exposure ages based on 38Ar concentrations average 17 ± 5 Ma but may include some early irradiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[sup.2]Be and [sup.26]Al concentrations measured by accelerator mass spectrometry in 20 samples of quartz separated from rhyolitic volcanic ash-flow tuffs collected on the Pajarito plateau of the Valles caldera, New Mexico, were used to model time-integrated erosion rates and cosmic-ray-expo histories. The model erosion rates determined for different stratigraphic units within the Tshirege member, upper Bandelier Tuff, vary from 0.1 cm/ka for the resistant unit to 1.1 cm/ka for the softer unit. Intermediate erosion rates are thought to indicate earlier age cover by post-tuff lithologies of different hardness. The geographic distribution of these intermedi rates allows an approximate determination of the extent of material now gone (stratigraphic ghosts). Periods of burial can be determined from [sup.26]Al/[sup.10]Be ratios. For the Pajarito plateau, burial most likely resulted from cover by soil and sediment held in place by vegetation. Our data allow us to model the duration and extent of thick forest cover, which today exists only at higher altitudes.

We present a method for 40Ar/39Ar step‐heating measurements on anhydrous K‐bearing minerals. Samples placed in dimples on Ta foil platforms are heated indirectly with a laser while temperatures are measured with a two‐color pyrometer. The system provides a simple, inexpensive, and reliable means for the heating of samples as small as a few to tens of micrograms. Results for plagioclase separates from the Rustenburg Layered Suite of the circa 2.06 Ga Bushveld Complex closely match previously published data. Key Points: Tantalum platforms provide a simple and reliable support for the indirect, reproducible, stepwise laser heating of microgram samplesPlagioclase diffusion parameters measured from the Bushveld Complex closely match published data from the complex, validating the method [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Hayabusa mission to asteroid 25143, Itokawa, brought back 2000 small particles, which most closely resemble material found in LL4-6 chondrites. We report an 40Ar/39Ar age of 1.3 ± 0.3 Ga for a sample of Itokawa consisting of three grains with a total mass of ~2 µg. This age is lower than the >4.0 Ga ages measured for 75% of LL chondrites but close to one for Y-790964 and its pairs. The flat 40Ar/39Ar release spectrum of the sample suggests complete degassing 1.3 Ga ago. Recent solar heating in Itokawa's current orbit does not appear likely to have reset that age. Solar or impact heating 1.3 Ga ago could have done so. If impact heating was responsible, then the 1.3 Ga age sets an upper bound on the time at which the Itokawa rubble pile was assembled and suggests that rubble pile creation was an ongoing process in the inner solar system for at least the first 3 billion years of solar system history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

No 60Ni or 61Ni anomalies have been detected in troilite inclusions from Muonionalusta, a 4565.3 4 ± 0.1 Ma old IVA iron meteorite, to the level of the analytical precision of 10 ppm. Because Muonionalusta troilite is very old, has a high Fe/Ni ratio, and is free of 61Ni anomalies, it is the ideal material in which to search for potential excesses of 60Ni produced by the decay of 60Fe (t1/2 = 2.62 Ma). The 60Ni/58Ni and Fe/Ni ratios (up to 1680) measured here imply an upper limit for the initial 60Fe/56Fe for the Muonionalusta troilite of 3 x 10-9. Assuming that 60Fe was homogeneously distributed across the nebula, this result suggests that the solar system initial 60Fe/56Fe ratio was less than 5 x 10-9, which is lower than previously measured by at least a factor of 50. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

- Cross sections were measured for the nuclear reactions natMg(3He,x)26Al, 27Al(3He,x)26Al, natCa(3He,x)41Ca, and natCa(3He,x)36Cl in the energy region from approximately 5-35 MeV. The rates of these reactions are important for studies of early solar system irradiation scenarios. The 26Al, 36Cl, and 41Ca were separated chemically, and the numbers of atoms produced in each reaction channel were measured using accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). From these results, 26 cross sections were determined and compared with predictions of the TALYS code. Agreement is within 40% for most cross sections. Our measurements were used to model the production of 7Be, 10Be, 26Al, and 41Ca in the early solar system. For projectiles 1H, 3He, and 4He, we assumed energy spectra of the general form E−α. For a wide range of parameterizations, the modeled ratios of 7Be/Be and 10Be/Be on the one hand and of 26Al/27Al and 41Ca/Ca on the other are coupled because the excitation functions for the relevant nuclear reactions have similar shapes. Modeling of a closed system with the constraint that 10Be/9Be = 0.001 fails to reproduce simultaneously the range of 7Be/9Be, 26Al/27Al, and 41Ca/Ca ratios inferred for the early solar system from studies of meteorites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The Almahata Sitta (AhS) meteorite consists of disaggregated clasts from the impact of the polymict asteroid 2008 TC3, including ureilitic (70%–80%) and diverse non‐ureilitic materials. We determined the 40Ar/39Ar release patterns for 16 AhS samples (3–1500 μg) taken from three chondritic clasts, AhS 100 (L4), AhS 25 (H5), and MS‐D (EL6), as well as a clast of ureilitic trachyandesite MS‐MU‐011, also known as ALM‐A, which is probably a sample of the crust of the ureilite parent body (UPB). Based on our analyses, best estimates of the 40Ar/39Ar ages (Ma) of the chondritic clasts are 4535 ± 10 (L4), 4537–4555 with a younger age preferred (H5), and 4513 ± 17 (EL6). The ages for the L4 and the H5 clasts are older than the most published 40Ar/39Ar ages for L4 and H5 meteorites, respectively. The age for the EL6 clast is typical of older EL6 chondrites. These ages indicate times of argon closure ranging up to 50 Ma after the main constituents of the host breccia, that is, the ureilitic components of AhS, reached the >800°C blocking temperatures of pyroxene and olivine thermometers. We suggest that these ages record the times at which the clasts cooled to the Ar closure temperatures on their respective parent bodies. This interpretation is consistent with the recent proposal that the majority of xenolithic materials in polymict ureilites were implanted into regolith 40–60 Ma after calcium–aluminum‐rich inclusion and is consistent with the interpretation that 2008 TC3 was a polymict ureilite. With allowance for its 10‐Ma uncertainty, the 4549‐Ma 40Ar/39Ar age of ALM‐A is consistent with closure within a few Ma of the time recorded by its Pb/Pb age either on the UPB or as part of a rapidly cooling fragment. Plots of age versus cumulative 39Ar release for 10 of 15 samples with ≥5 heating steps indicate minor losses of 40Ar over the last 4.5 Ga. The other five such samples lost some 40Ar at estimated times no earlier than 3800–4500 Ma bp. Clustering of ages in the low‐temperature data for these five samples suggests that an impact caused localized heating of the AhS progenitor ~2.7 Ga ago. In agreement with the published work, 10 estimates of cosmic‐ray exposure ages based on 38Ar concentrations average 17 ± 5 Ma but may include some early irradiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]