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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]

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]

Freshwater limestones are uncommon in the sedimentary record of the East African Rift System. Recent research in the Olduvai Basin, Tanzania has revealed an extensive carbonate unit ca 1.8 Ma in age that varies spatially in thickness, petrography, trace element and rare earth geochemistry, C and O isotope values and freshwater microfossils. Five distinct lithologies are recognized. Four reflect deposition in carbonate‐rich environments that occurred at the same time in a catena‐like pattern over a heterogeneous landscape: spring, wetland, freshwater lake/pond and saline playa lake. The fifth is carbonate nodular soil that formed by paedogenesis on areas of topographically higher terrane. The δ18O of the carbonate, as negative as −6.5‰, indicates that the groundwater is meteoritic derived. The origin of the carbonate comprising this thick, extensive, isochronostratigraphic deposit has not been determined, but it is believed that carbonatite volcanism may have supplied elevated levels of carbonate to the basin which then entered the groundwater system. The carbonate was deposited just prior to a major trachyte‐phonolite eruption of Mount Olmoti, and the deposition of a basin wide tuff, Tuff IF. The region is seismically active today and seismic events were likely associated with Olmoti volcanism. The widespread carbonate unit may have preceded the Olmoti eruption and formed from a recurring seismically induced increase in aquifer porosity and permeability. The carbonate‐enriched groundwater episodically discharged onto the land surface, interacting locally with both fresh and saline ponded water. [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]

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]