OXYGEN AND IRON ABUNDANCES IN 2 METAL-POOR DWARFS

We have derived oxygen abundances from the [O I] line at 6300 angstrom in two metal-poor K dwarfs, HD 25329 and HD 134440. The spectra were obtained with the KPNO 4 m echelle spectrograph and long camera yielding a resolution of 32 000 and a S/N of about 125. Model atmospheres with T(e) = 4770 were appropriate to both stars, whose metallicities were found to be [Fe/H] = - 1.74 and - 1.43 for HD 25329 and HD 134440, respectively. Our oxygen abundances then are [O/Fe] = 0.3 and 0.4 for the two stars. From the resolution and S/N we have also derived a 3-sigma upper limit on [O/Fe] for each star of 0.8 which may be combined into an upper limit of [O/Fe] of 0.6 for a generic K dwarf with [Fe/H] of - 1.6. These values are more in line with [O/Fe] as seen in similarly metal-poor red giant than those reported in metal-poor subdwarfs by Abia & Rebolo [ApJ, 347, 186 (1989)].