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Cometary analogue material: Preparation, composition, and thin section petrography
Author(s) -
Stöffler D.,
Düren H.,
Knölker J.,
Hische R.,
Bischoff A.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/90gl02520
Subject(s) - materials science , sublimation (psychology) , grain size , recrystallization (geology) , thin section , porosity , mineralogy , compaction , petrography , silicate , composite material , geology , chemical engineering , psychology , paleontology , engineering , psychotherapist
Cometary analogue material has been synthesized in kilogram quantities by spraying suspensions of silicate mineral dust with a median grain size of 4–8 μm, and carbon (soot of −25 nm grain size) into liquid nitrogen under controlled conditions. The samples with densities between 0.3 and 0.7 g/cm 3 were used for sublimation experiments and for uniaxial compression tests. In one case fragments of consolidated phionolitic tuff (0.6–2.5 and 2.5–10 mm size fractions) were admixed mechanically. By modifying existing techniques polished sections and thin sections were produced from these samples for optical microscopy. Changes in the intergrowth characteristics, the grain size of the ice crystals, and the porosity were observed in the irradiated and compressed samples. They are due to sublimation‐condensation‐recrystallization and compaction‐recrystallization effects, respectively.