Primary nucleosynthesis in the galactic disk

New data on the history of production of C, O, Mg, and Fe are used to reexamine the production of heavy elements in the galactic disk. A standard infall model is used to show that a constant rate of production of heavy elements is consistent with the data and to derive net absolute amounts for several elements. Various models for nucleosynthesis by massive stars are considered. Current models are inconsistent with the simplest picture in which all stars above some limit approx.12 M/sub sun/ explode. Adopting a finite upper or lower mass cutoff to the massive stars which contribute to nucleosynthesis provides a better agreement. Any conclusions that massive stars in a particular mass range explode seem premature, especially when consideration is given to potentially significant contributions to C, O, and Fe production from Type I supernovae