Evidence from polymict ureilite meteorites for a disrupted and re-accreted single ureilite parent asteroid gardened by several distinct impactors

Ureilites are ultramafic achondrites that exhibit heterogeneity in mg# and oxygen isotope ratios between different meteorites. Polymict ureilites represent near-surface material of the ureilite parent asteroid(s). Electron microprobe analyses of >500 olivine and pyroxene clasts in several polymict ureilites reveal a statistically identical range of compositions to that shown by unbrecciated ureilites, suggesting derivation from a single parent asteroid. Many ureilitic clasts have identical compositions to the anomalously high Mn/Mg olivines and pyroxenes from the Hughes 009 unbrecciated ureilite (here termed the “Hughes cluster”). Some polymict samples also contain lithic clasts derived from oxidized impactors. The presence of several common distinctive lithologies within polymict ureilites is additional evidence that ureilites were derived from a single parent asteroid.In situ oxygen three isotope analyses were made on individual ureilite minerals and lithic clasts, using a secondary ion mass spectrometer (SIMS) with precision typically better than 0.2-0.4‰ (2SD) for δ¹⁸O and δ¹⁷O. Oxygen isotope ratios of ureilitic clasts fall on a narrow trend along the CCAM line, covering the range for unbrecciated ureilites, and show a good anti-correlation with mineral mg#. SIMS analysis identifies one ferroan lithic clast as an R-chondrite, while a second ferroan clast is unlike any known meteorite. An exotic enstatite grain is derived from an enstatite chondrite or aubrite, and another pyroxene grain with Δ¹⁷O of −0.4 ± 0.2‰ is unrelated to any known meteorite type.Ureilitic olivine clasts with mg#s < 85 are much more common than those with mg# > 85 which include the melt-inclusion-bearing “Hughes cluster” ureilites. Thus melt was present in regions of the parent ureilite asteroid with a bulk mg# > 85 when the asteroid was disrupted by impact, giving rise to two types of ureilites: common ferroan ones that were residual after melting and less common magnesian ones that were still partially molten when disruption occurred. One or more daughter asteroids re-accreted from the remnants of the mantle of the proto-ureilite asteroid. Polymict ureilite meteorites represent regolith that subsequently formed on the surface of a daughter asteroid, including impact-derived material from at least six different meteoritic sources.     

Siderophile geochemistry of ureilites: A record of early stages of planetesimal core formation

New bulk-compositional data, including trace siderophile elements such as Ir, Os, Au, and Ni, are presented for 25 ureilites. Without exception, ureilites have siderophile abundances too high to plausibly have formed as cumulates. Ureilites undoubtedly underwent a variety of “smelting,” by which C was oxidized to CO gas while olivine FeO was reduced to Fe-metal. However, pressure-buffered equilibrium smelting is not a plausible model for engendering the wide range (75-96 mol%) of mafic-silicate core mg among ureilites. The smelting reaction produces too much CO gas. Even supposing a disequilibrium process with the smelt-gas leaking out of the mantle, none of the ureilites, least of all the ureilite with the most “reduced” (highest) olivine-core mg (ALH84136), has the high Fe-metal abundance predicted by the smelted-cores model. In principle, the Fe-metal generated by smelting could have been subsequently lost, but siderophile data show that ureilites never underwent efficient depletion of Fe-metal. Ureilites display strong correlations among siderophile ratios such as Au/Ir, Ni/Ir, Co/Ir, As/Ir, Se/Ir, and Sb/Ir. Ureilite siderophile depletion patterns loosely resemble siderophile fractionations, presumably nebular in origin, among carbonaceous chondrites. However, Zn, for an element of moderate volatility, is anomalously high in ureilites. A tight correlation between Au and Ni extrapolates to the low-Ni/Au side of the compositional range of carbonaceous chondrites. From this mismatch, mild but nonetheless significant depletions of refractory siderophile elements such as Ir and Os, and moderate depletions of strongly siderophile, weakly chalcophile elements such as Ni and Au, we infer that the ureilite siderophile fractionations are largely the result of a non-nebular process, i.e., removal of S-rich metallic melt, possibly with minor entrainment of Fe-metal. Several lines of trace-element evidence indicate that melt porosity during ureilite anatexis was at least moderate. The ureilite pattern of very mild depletions of extremely siderophile elements, but much deeper depletions of moderately siderophile, chalcophile elements, suggests that asteroidal core formation probably occurs in two discrete stages. In general, separation of a considerable proportion (several wt%) of S-rich metallic melt probably occurs long before, and at a far lower temperature than, separation of the remaining S-poor Fe-metal. Apart from the Fe-metal itself, only extremely siderophile elements wait until the second stage to sequester mainly into the core.     

Experimental constraints on ureilite petrogenesis

This experimental study explores the petrogenesis of ureilites by a partial melting/smelting process. Experiments have been performed over temperature (1150-1280 °C), pressure (5-12.5 MPa), and low oxygen fugacity (graphite-CO gas) conditions appropriate for a hypothetical ureilite parent body ∼200 km in size. Experimental and modeling results indicate that a partial melting/smelting model of ureilite petrogenesis can explain many of the unique characteristics displayed by this meteorite group. Compositional information preserved in the pigeonite-olivine ureilites was used to estimate the composition of melts in equilibrium with the ureilites. The results of 20 experiments saturated with olivine, pyroxene, metal, and liquid with appropriate ureilite compositions are used to calibrate the phase coefficients and pressure-temperature dependence of the smelting reaction. The calibrated coefficients are used to model the behavior of a hypothetical residue that is experiencing fractional smelting. The residue is initially olivine-rich and smelting progressively depletes the olivine content and enriches the pyroxene and metal contents of the residues. The modeled residue composition at 1260 °C best reproduces the trend of ureilite bulk compositions. The model results also indicate that as a ureilite residue undergoes isothermal decompression smelting over a range of temperatures, Ca/Al values and Cr₂O₃ contents are enriched at lower temperatures (below ∼1240 °C) and tend to decrease at higher temperatures. Therefore, fractional smelting can account for the high Ca/Al and Cr₂O₃ wt% values observed in ureilites. We propose that ureilites were generated from an olivine-rich, cpx-bearing residue. Smelting began when the residue was partially melted and contained liquid, olivine, and carbon. These residues experienced varying degrees of fractional smelting to produce the compositional variability observed within the pigeonite-bearing ureilites. Variations in mineral composition, modal proportions, and isotopic signatures are best described by heterogeneous accretion of the ureilite parent body followed by minimal and variable degrees of igneous processing.     

Fractional melting and smelting on the ureilite parent body

We investigate petrologic and physical aspects of melt extraction on the parent asteroid of the ureilite meteorites (UPB). We first develop a petrologic model for simultaneous melting and smelting (reduction of FeO by C) at various depths. For a model starting composition, determined from petrologic constraints to have been CV-like except for elevated Ca/Al (2.5 × CI), we determine (1) degree of melting, (2) the evolution of mg, (3) production of CO + CO₂ gas and (4) the evolution of mineralogy in the residue as a function of temperature and pressure. We then use these relationships to examine implications of fractional vs. batch melt extraction.In the shallowest source regions (∼30 bars), melting and smelting begin simultaneously at ∼1050 °C, so that mg and the abundance of low-Ca pyroxene (initially pigeonite, ultimately pigeonite + orthopyroxene) begin to increase immediately. However, in the deepest source regions (∼100 bars), smelting does not begin until ∼1200 °C, so that mg begins to increase and low-Ca pyroxene (pigeonite) appears only after ∼21% melting. The final residues in these two cases, obtained just after the demise of augite, match the end-members of the ureilite mg range (∼94-76) in pyroxene abundance and type. In all source regions, production of CO + CO₂ by smelting varies over the course of melting. The onset of smelting results in a burst of gas production and very high incremental gas/melt ratios (up to ∼2.5 by mass); after a few % (s)melting, however, these values drastically decline (to <0.05 in the final increments).Physical modelling based on these relationships indicates that melts would begin to migrate upwards after only ∼1-2% melting, and thereafter would migrate continuously (fractionally) and rapidly (reaching the surface in < a year) in a network of veins/dikes. All melts produced during the smelting stage in each source region have gas contents sufficient to cause them to erupt explosively and be lost. However, since in all but the shallowest source regions part of the melting sequence occurs without smelting, fractional melting implies that a significant fraction of UPB melts may have erupted more placidly to form a thin crust (∼3.3 km thick for a 100 km radius body).Our calculations suggest that melt extraction was so rapid that equilibrium trace element partitioning may not have been attained. We present a model for disequilibrium fractional melting (in which REE partitioning is limited by diffusion) on the UPB, and demonstrate that it produces a good match to the ureilite data. The disequilibrium model may also apply to trace siderophile elements, and might help explain the “overabundance” of these elements in ureilites relative to predictions from the smelting model.Our results suggest that melt extraction on the UPB was a rapid, fractional process, which can explain the preservation of a primitive oxygen isotopic signature on the UPB.     

Amphibole-bearing Cumulate Inclusions, Grand Canyon, Arizona and their bearing on Silica-Undersaturated Hydrous Magmas in the Upper Mantle

Rare inclusions in Holocene basanite within the western GrandCanyon are comprised of poikilitic titaniferous amphibole togetherwith variable proportions of relatively Fe-rich clinopyroxene,orthopyroxene, olivine, Cr-poor spinel, and pyropic garnet,magnesian ilmenite, and titaniferous phlogopite. No feldsparhas been found in the 219 inclusions investigated. Availableexperimental data suggest crystallization at approximately 20kb (65 km depth) in a region where the crust is 30–40km thick. On the basis of their fabric, the inclusions appear to representcumulates, but other modes of origin cannot be completely ruledout. Anhydrous grains, including some considered to be postcumulusprecipitates, experienced extensive resorption into the interstitialhydrous melt before it ultimately crystallized, perhaps 100?C below liquidus temperatures, as the poikilitic amphibole.In spite of these crystal-melt reactions, and some probablesubsolidus recrystallization as well, systematic variationsin cumulus phase compositions exist and indicate one main precipitationsequence was ol+sp, ol+sp+cpx, cpx+cpx+sp, cpx+sp, cpx+sp+ilm.The local pyropic garnet appears postcumulus in the last threecumulus assemblages. The igneous bodies represented by the inclusions comprised arelatively small portion of the upper mantle sampled by theascending basanitic magma. But in contrast to the thin amphibole-bearingveins in the mantle-derived massif at Etang de Lherz, the igneousbodies beneath the Grand Canyon are considered to be substantiallylarger in dimension, on the order of at least meters ratherthan a few centimeters. Primary nephelinite-basanite melts produced by variable butsmall degrees of partial melting of hydrous upper mantle arenot represented by the poikilitic amphiboles because of complexprocesses at the site of emplacement, including reactions betweenmelt and chromian-spinel peridotite wall rocks.     

The rate of water loss from olivine-hosted melt inclusions

Diffusive water loss from olivine-hosted melt inclusions has been reported previously. This process must be considered when interpreting melt inclusion data. This study measured the rate of water loss from olivine-hosted melt inclusions during heating-stage experiments to test a previous diffusive reequilibration model and the hydrogen diffusion mechanism that controls the rate. Olivine-hosted melt inclusions were heated to a constant temperature in reduced Ar gas in a heating stage for a few hours, and unpolarized Fourier transform infrared spectra were repeatedly measured through the inclusions. Water loss occurred rapidly in the experiments. Within a few hours, the water absorbance at 3,500 cm⁻¹ wavenumber decreased by half. The observed water loss rate can be explained by the diffusive reequilibration model and hydrogen diffusion in olivine coupled with metal vacancy. The beginning of water loss was different in the low- and high-temperature experiments. At low temperatures (1,423 and 1,437 K), water loss did not occur in the initial 1 or 2 h. At high temperatures (1,471–1,561 K), water loss began immediately. The initial time period without water loss at low temperatures may be explained by a hydrogen fugacity barrier in the host olivine. At low temperatures, the internal pressure may be lower than the equilibrium pressure of melt inclusion and olivine, causing lower hydrogen fugacity in the melt inclusion than in the olivine, which will delay the water loss from the melt inclusion. The tested model and diffusivity were used to estimate the rate of water loss during homogenization experiments and magma eruption and cooling. For 1-h homogenization experiment, the model shows that large inclusions (50 μm radius) in large olivines (500 μm radius) are robust against water loss, while large or small inclusions (50–10 μm radius) in small olivines (150 μm radius) may suffer 30–100% water loss. For natural samples, the correlation between water concentration and melt inclusion and olivine sizes may be helpful to infer the initial water concentration, degree of diffusive reequilibration, and magma cooling rate.     

Osmium isotope systematics of ureilites

The ¹⁸⁷Os/¹⁸⁸Os for 22 ureilite whole rock samples, including monomict, augite-bearing, and polymict lithologies, were examined in order to constrain the provenance and subsequent magmatic processing of the ureilite parent body (or bodies). The Re/Os ratios of most ureilites show evidence for a recent disturbance, probably related to Re mobility during weathering, and no meaningful chronological information can be extracted from the present data set. The ureilite ¹⁸⁷Os/¹⁸⁸Os ratios span a range from 0.11739 to 0.13018, with an average of 0.1258 ± 0.0023 (1σ), similar to typical carbonaceous chondrites, and distinct from ordinary or enstatite chondrites. The similar mean of ¹⁸⁷Os/¹⁸⁸Os measured for the ureilites and carbonaceous chondrites suggests that the ureilite parent body probably formed within the same region of the solar nebula as carbonaceous chondrites. From the narrow range of the ¹⁸⁷Os/¹⁸⁸Os distribution in ureilite meteorites it is further concluded that Re was not significantly fractionated from Os during planetary differentiation and was not lost along with the missing ureilitic melt component. The lack of large Re/Os fractionations requires that Re/Os partitioning was controlled by a metal phase, and thus metal had to be stable throughout the interval of magmatic processing on the ureilite parent body.     

Magma ascent rate and initial water concentration inferred from diffusive water loss from olivine-hosted melt inclusions

As the water concentration in magma decreases during magma ascent, olivine-hosted melt inclusions will reequilibrate with the host magma through hydrogen diffusion in olivine. Previous models showed that for a single spherical melt inclusion in the center of a spherical olivine, the rate of diffusive reequilibration depends on the partition coefficient and diffusivity of hydrogen in olivine, the radius of the melt inclusion, and the radius of the olivine. This process occurs within a few hours and must be considered when interpreting water concentration in olivine-hosted melt inclusions. A correlation is expected between water concentration and melt inclusion radius, because small melt inclusions are more rapidly reequilibrated than large ones when the other conditions are the same. This study investigates the effect of diffusive water loss in natural samples by exploring such a correlation between water concentration and melt inclusion radius, and shows that the correlation can be used to infer the initial water concentration and magma ascent rate. Raman and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy measurements show that 31 melt inclusions (3.6–63.9 μm in radius) in six olivines from la Sommata, Vulcano Island, Aeolian Islands, have 0.93–5.28 wt% water, and the host glass has 0.17 wt% water. The water concentration in the melt inclusions shows larger variation than the data in previous studies (1.8–4.52 wt%). It correlates positively with the melt inclusion radius, but does not correlate with the major element concentrations in the melt inclusions, which is consistent with the hypothesis that the water concentration has been affected by diffusive water loss. In a simplified hypothetical scenario of magma ascent, the initial water concentration and magma ascent rate are inferred by numerical modeling of the diffusive water loss process. The melt inclusions in each olivine are assumed to have the same initial water concentration and magma ascent rate. The melt inclusions are assumed to be quenched after eruption (i.e., the diffusive water loss after eruption is not considered). The model results show that the melt inclusions initially had 3.9–5.9 wt% water and ascended at 0.002–0.021 MPa/s before eruption. The overall range of ascent rate is close to the lower limit of previous estimates on the ascent rate of basalts.     

Highly siderophile elements in ureilites

The abundances of the highly siderophile elements (HSE) Ru, Pd, Re, Os, Ir, and Pt were determined by isotope dilution mass spectrometry for 22 ureilite bulk rock samples, including monomict, augite-bearing, and polymict lithologies. This report adds significantly to the quantity of available Pt and Pd abundances in ureilites, as these elements were rarely determined in previous neutron activation studies. The CI-normalized HSE abundance patterns of all ureilites analyzed here except ALHA 81101 show marked depletions in the more volatile Pd, with CI chondrite-normalized Pd/Os ratios (excluding ALHA 81101) averaging 0.19 ± 0.23 (2σ). This value is too low to be directly derived from any known chondrite group. Instead, the HSE bulk rock abundances and HSE interelement ratios in ureilites can be understood as physical mixtures of two end member compositions. One component, best represented by sample ALHA 78019, is characterized by superchondritic abundances of refractory HSE (RHSE—Ru, Re, Os, Ir, and Pt), but subchondritic Pd/RHSE, and is consistent with residual metal after extraction of a S-bearing metallic partial melt from carbonaceous chondrite-like precursor materials. The other component, best represented by sample ALHA 81101, is RHSE-poor and has HSE abundances in chondritic proportions. The genesis of the second component is unclear. It could represent regions within the ureilite parent body (UPB), in which metallic phases were completely molten and partially drained, or it might represent chondritic contamination that was added during disruption and brecciation of the UPB. Removal of carbon-rich melts does not seem to play an important role in ureilite petrogenesis. Removal of such melts would quickly deplete the ureilite precursors in Re/Os and As/Au, which is inconsistent with measured osmium isotope abundances, and also with literature As/Au data for the ureilites. Removal of ²⁶Al during silicate melting may have acted as a switch that turned off further metal extraction from ureilite source regions.     

Petrogenesis of olivine-phyric shergottites Sayh al Uhaymir 005 and Elephant Moraine A79001 lithology A

Martian meteorites Sayh al Uhaymir (SaU) 005 and lithology A of EETA79001 (EET-A) belong to a newly emerging group of olivine-phyric shergottites. Previous models for the origin of such shergottites have focused on mixing between basaltic shergottite-like magmas and lherzolitic shergottite-like material. Results of this work, however, suggest that SaU 005 and EET-A formed from olivine-saturated magmas that may have been parental to basaltic shergottites.SaU 005 and EET-A have porphyritic textures of large (up to ∼3 mm) olivine crystals (∼25% in SaU 005; ∼13% in EET-A) in finer-grained groundmasses consisting principally of pigeonite (∼50% in SaU 005; ∼60% in EET-A), plagioclase (maskelynite) and < 7% augite. Low-Ti chromite occurs as inclusions in the more magnesian olivine, and with chromian ulvöspinel rims in the more ferroan olivine and the groundmass. Crystallization histories for both rocks were determined from petrographic features (textures, crystal shapes and size distributions, phase associations, and modal abundances), mineral compositions, and melt compositions reconstructed from magmatic inclusions in olivine and chromite. The following observations indicate that the chromite and most magnesian olivine (Fo 74-70 in SaU 005; Fo 81-77 in EET-A) and pyroxenes (low-Ca pyroxene [Wo 4-6] of mg 77-74 and augite of mg 78 in SaU 005; orthopyroxene [Wo 3-5] of mg 84-80 in EET-A) in these rocks are xenocrystic. (1) Olivine crystal size distribution (CSD) functions show excesses of the largest crystals (whose cores comprise the most magnesian compositions), indicating addition of phenocrysts or xenocrysts. (2) The most magnesian low-Ca pyroxenes show near-vertical trends of mg vs. Al₂O₃ and Cr₂O₃, which suggest reaction with a magma. (3) In SaU 005, there is a gap in augite composition between mg 78 and 73. (4) Chromite cores of composite spinel grains are riddled with cracks, indicating that they experienced some physical stress before being overgrown with ulvöspinel. (5) Magmatic inclusions are absent in the most magnesian olivine, but abundant in the more ferroan, indicating slower growth rates for the former. (6) The predicted early crystallization sequence of the melt trapped in chromite (the earliest phase) in each rock produces its most magnesian olivine-pyroxene assemblage. However, in neither case is the total crystallization sequence of this melt consistent with the overall crystallization history of the rock or its bulk modal mineralogy.Further, the following observations indicate that in both SaU 005 and EET-A the fraction of solid xenocrystic or xenolithic material is small (in contrast to previous models for EET-A), and most of the material in the rock formed by continuous crystallization of a single magma (possibly mixed). (1) CSD functions and correlations of crystal size with composition show that most of the olivine (Fo 69-62 in SaU 005; Fo 76-53 in EET-A) formed by continuous nucleation and growth. (2) Groundmass pigeonites are in equilibrium with this olivine, and show continuous compositional trends that are typical for basalts. (3) The CSD function for groundmass pigeonite in EET-A indicates continuous nucleation and growth (Lentz and McSween, 2000). (4) The melt trapped in olivine of Fo 76 to 67 in EET-A has a predicted crystallization sequence similar to that inferred for most of the rock and produces an assemblage similar to its modal mineralogy. (5) Melt trapped in late olivine (Fo ∼ 64) in SaU 005 has a composition consistent with the inferred late crystallization history of the rock.The conclusion that only a small fraction of either SaU 005 or EET-A is xenocrystic or xenolithic implies that both rocks lost fractionated liquids in the late stages of crystallization. This is supported by: (1) high pigeonite/plagioclase ratios; (2) low augite contents; and (3) olivine CSD functions, which show a drop in nucleation rate at high degrees of crystallization, consistent with loss of liquid. For EET-A, this fractionated liquid may be represented by EET-B.     

Ureilitic breccias: clues to the petrologic structure and impact disruption of the ureilite parent asteroid

The majority of the 143 ureilite meteorites are monomict (unbrecciated) ultramafic rocks, which represent the mantle (olivine+low-Ca pyroxene residues and less abundant cumulates) of a partially melted (25–30%), carbon-rich asteroid 125 km in radius. Accumulated petrologic and geochemical studies of these meteorites have led to a picture of a ureilite parent body (UPB) that was stratified in mg#, pyroxene abundance and pyroxene type, due to the pressure dependence of carbon redox control, and which preserved a pre-magmatic heterogeneity in Δ¹⁷O. The absence, however, of ureilitic crustal rocks (i.e. basalts) in the meteorite record, leads to significant gaps in our knowledge of the geologic history of the UPB.

Ureilitic breccias provide considerable information that cannot be obtained from the monomict samples, and help to fill in those gaps. Fourteen ureilites are polymict breccias (at least three of which contain solar wind gases) that formed in a regolith. They contain a variety of clast types representing indigenous ureilitic lithologies not known among the monomict samples, as well as several types of non-indigenous impactor materials. In addition, one ureilite (FRO 93008) is a dimict breccia, consisting of two ultramafic lithologies that could not have formed in close proximity on the UPB.

Several feldspathic lithologies representing melts complementary to the monomict ureilite residues or cumulates have been recognized in polymict ureilites. From these lithologies we infer that melt extraction on the UPB was a rapid, fractional process in which trace element and oxygen isotopic equilibrium was not achieved. The majority of melts that reached the surface erupted explosively (due to high contents of CO/CO₂) and were lost into space. Thus, it is likely that the UPB never had an extensive basaltic crust. Melts generated at the shallowest depths and late fractionates, in which carbon had largely been consumed by reduction, were the most likely to have been preserved. Our sample of the UPB is limited to depths equivalent to 100 bars pressure or less, but minor augite-bearing feldspathic lithologies and related cumulates may represent melts derived from deeper.

In addition, we infer that the UPB was catastrophically disrupted, while still hot, by an impacting projectile. Meter-sized ejecta from this impact reaccreted into one or more daughter bodies, on which the brecciated ureilites formed. Ureilite meteorites are derived from these offspring, rather than from the UPB. The remnant of the original UPB may consist largely of olivine plus augite, and thus not resemble the majority of ureilites.     

大兴安岭地幔橄榄岩中熔体的多样性及其成因

本文报道了大兴安岭第四纪火山岩中的地幔橄榄岩中橄榄石、单斜辉石和斜方辉石颗粒内部熔体产状(囊体、包裹体和反应边)和成分(低硅熔体和高硅熔体)的多样性,初步讨论了不同熔体的成因。低硅熔体囊体是在地幔深部玄武岩浆与橄榄岩中单斜辉石发生交代反应的产物,斜方辉石反应边的高硅熔体是橄榄岩被捕获上升过程中玄武岩浆与斜方辉石反应的产物,高硅熔体包裹体是地幔中存在的交代熔体。     

Searching for parental kimberlite melt

Constraining the composition of primitive kimberlite magma is not trivial. This study reconstructs a kimberlite melt composition using vesicular, quenched kimberlite found at the contact of a thin hypabyssal dyke. We examined the 4 mm selvage of the dyke where the most elongate shapes of the smallest calcite laths suggest the strongest undercooling. The analyzed bulk compositions of several 0.09-1.1 mm² areas of the kimberlite free from macrocrysts were considered to be representative of the melt. The bulk analyses conducted with a new “chemical point-counting” technique were supplemented by modal estimates, studies of mineral compositions, and FTIR analysis of olivine phenocrysts. The melt was estimated to contain 26-29.5 wt% SiO₂, ∼7 wt% of FeO_T, 25.7-28.7 wt% MgO, 11.3-15 wt% CaO, 8.3-11.3 wt% CO₂, and 7.6-9.4 wt% H₂O. Like many other estimates of primitive kimberlite magma, the melt is too magnesian (Mg# = 0.87) to be in equilibrium with the mantle and thus cannot be primary. The observed dyke contact and the chemistry of the melt implies it is highly fluid (η = 10¹-10³ Pa s at 1100-1000 °C) and depolymerized (NBO/T = 2.3-3.2), but entrains with 40-50% of olivine crystals increasing its viscosity. The olivine phenocrysts contain 190-350 ppm of water suggesting crystallization from a low SiO₂ magma (a_SiO2 below the olivine-orthopyroxene equilibrium) at 30-50 kb. Crystallization continued until the final emplacement at depths of few hundred meters which led to progressively more Ca- and CO₂-rich residual liquids. The melt crystallised phlogopite (6-10%), monticellite (replaced by serpentine, ∼10%), calcite rich in Sr, Mg and Fe (19-27%), serpentine (29-31%) and minor amounts of apatite, ulvöspinel-magnetite, picroilmenite and perovskite. The observed content of H₂O can be fully dissolved in the primitive melt at pressures greater than 0.8-1.2 kbar, whereas the amount of primary CO₂ in the kimberlite exceeds CO₂ soluble in the primitive kimberlite melt. A mechanism for retaining CO₂ in the melt may require a separate fluid phase accompanying kimberlite ascent and later dissolution in residual carbonatitic melt. Deep fragmentation of the melt as a result of volatile supersaturation is not inevitable if kimberlite magma has an opportunity to evolve.     

Melt Inclusions in Primitive Olivine Phenocrysts: the Role of Localized Reaction Processes in the Origin of Anomalous Compositions

Melt inclusions are small portions of liquid trapped by growingcrystals during magma evolution. Recent studies of melt inclusionshave revealed a large range of unusual major and trace elementcompositions in phenocrysts from primitive mantle-derived magmaticrocks [e.g. in high-Fo olivine (Fo > 85 mol %), spinel, high-Anplagioclase]. Inclusions in phenocrysts crystallized from moreevolved magmas (e.g. olivine Fo < 85 mol %), are usuallycompositionally similar to the host lavas. This paper reviewsthe chemistry of melt inclusions in high-Fo olivine phenocrystsfocusing on those with anomalous major and trace element contentsfrom mid-ocean ridge and subduction-related basalts. We suggestthat a significant portion of the anomalous inclusion compositionsreflects localized, grain-scale dissolution–reaction–mixing(DRM) processes within the magmatic plumbing system. The DRMprocesses occur at the margins of primitive magma bodies, wheremagma is in contact with cooler wall rocks and/or pre-existingsemi-solidified crystal mush zones (depending on the specificenvironment). Injection of hotter, more primitive magma causespartial dissolution (incongruent melting) of the mush-zone phases,which are not in equilibrium with the primitive melt, and mixingof the reaction products with the primitive magma. Localizedrapid crystallization of high-Fo olivines from the primitivemagma may lead to entrapment of numerous large melt inclusions,which record the DRM processes in progress. In some magmaticsuites melt inclusions in primitive phenocrysts may be naturallybiased towards the anomalous compositions. The occurrence ofmelt inclusions with unusual compositions does not necessarilyimply the existence of new geologically significant magma typesand/or melt-generation processes, and caution should be exercisedin their interpretation. KEY WORDS: melt inclusions; olivine; geochemistry; mush zones; MORB; subduction-related magmas     

Evidence for heterogeneous enriched shergottite mantle sources in Mars from olivine-hosted melt inclusions in Larkman Nunatak 06319

Larkman Nunatak (LAR) 06319 is an olivine-phyric shergottite whose olivine crystals contain abundant crystallized melt inclusions. In this study, three types of melt inclusion were distinguished, based on their occurrence and the composition of their olivine host: Type-I inclusions occur in phenocryst cores (Fo_77-73); Type-II inclusions occur in phenocryst mantles (Fo_71-66); Type-III inclusions occur in phenocryst rims (Fo_61-51) and within groundmass olivine. The sizes of the melt inclusions decrease significantly from Type-I (∼150-250 μm diameter) to Type-II (∼100 μm diameter) to Type-III (∼25-75 μm diameter). Present bulk compositions (PBC) of the crystallized melt inclusions were calculated for each of the three melt inclusion types based on average modal abundances and analyzed compositions of constituent phases. Primary trapped liquid compositions were then reconstructed by addition of olivine and adjustment of the Fe/Mg ratio to equilibrium with the host olivine (to account for crystallization of wall olivine and the effects of Fe/Mg re-equilibration). The present bulk composition of Type-I inclusions (PBC1) plots on a tie-line that passes through olivine and the LAR 06319 whole-rock composition. The parent magma composition can be reconstructed by addition of 29 mol% olivine to PBC1, and adjustment of Fe/Mg for equilibrium with olivine of Fo₇₇ composition. The resulting parent magma composition has a predicted crystallization sequence that is consistent with that determined from petrographic observations, and differs significantly from the whole-rock only in an accumulated olivine component (∼10 wt%). This is consistent with a calculation indicating that ∼10 wt% magnesian (Fo_77-73) olivine must be subtracted from the whole-rock to yield a melt in equilibrium with Fo₇₇. Thus, two independent estimates indicate that LAR 06319 contains ∼10 wt% cumulate olivine.The rare earth element (REE) patterns of Type-I melt inclusions are similar to that of the LAR 06319 whole-rock. The REE patterns of Type-II and Type-III melt inclusions are also broadly parallel to that of the whole-rock, but at higher absolute abundances. These results are consistent with an LAR 06319 parent magma that crystallized as a closed-system, with its incompatible-element enrichment being inherited from its mantle source region. However, fractional crystallization of the reconstructed LAR 06319 parent magma cannot reproduce the major and trace element characteristics of all enriched basaltic shergottites, indicating local-to-large scale major- and trace-element variations in the mantle source of enriched shergottites. Therefore, LAR 06319 cannot be parental to the enriched basaltic shergottites.     

Compositions of magmas and carbonate–silicate liquid immiscibility in the Vulture alkaline igneous complex, Italy

This paper presents a study of melt and fluid inclusions in minerals of an olivine-leucite phonolitic nephelinite bomb from the Monticchio Lake Formation, Vulture. The rock contains 50 vol.% clinopyroxene, 12% leucite, 10% alkali feldspars, 8% hauyne/sodalite, 7.5% nepheline, 4.5% apatite, 3.2% olivine, 2% opaques, 2.6% plagioclase, and < 1% amphibole. We distinguished three generations of clinopyroxene differing in composition and morphology. All the phenocrysts bear primary and secondary melt and fluid inclusions, which recorded successive stages of melt evolution. The most primitive melts were found in the most magnesian olivine and the earliest clinopyroxene phenocrysts. The melts are near primary mantle liquids and are rich in Ca, Mg and incompatible and volatile elements. Thermometric experiments with the melt inclusions suggested that melt crystallization began at temperatures of about 1200 °C. Because of the partial leakage of all primary fluid inclusions, the pressure of crystallization is constrained only to minimum of 3.5 kbar. Combined silicate–carbonate melt inclusions were found in apatite phenocrysts. They are indicative of carbonate–silicate liquid immiscibility, which occurred during magma evolution. Large hydrous secondary melt inclusions were found in olivine and clinopyroxene. The inclusions in the phenocrysts recorded an open-system magma evolution during its rise towards the surface including crystallization, degassing, oxidation, and liquid immiscibility processes.     

Behaviour of Li and its isotopes during metasomatism of French Massif Central lherzolites

Li behaviour and distribution in the mantle were investigated by ion microprobe in situ measurements on co-existing olivine (ol), orthopyroxene (opx), clinopyroxene (cpx) and amphibole (amp) in xenoliths from the French Massif Central. The fertile spinel lherzolites of this study record increasing degrees of mantle metasomatism, from unmetasomatised anhydrous samples through cryptically metasomatised samples to highly metasomatised amphibole-rich samples. In anhydrous lherzolites, Li is preferentially incorporated into olivine (1.1-1.4 ppm, average values) compared to pyroxenes (0.2-0.9 ppm). The hydrous samples clearly show enrichment of Li in ol (1.5-5.0 ppm), opx (1.1-2.4 ppm) and cpx (2.4-5.4 ppm), while amphibole incorporates less Li than the co-existing phases (0.8-1.3 ppm). Average δ⁷Li values range from +7.6 to +14.5‰ in ol, from 5.1 to +13.7‰ in opx and from 8.8 to +10.3‰ in cpx from the anhydrous lherzolites. A layered peridotite sample (Sdi) shows higher Li content in all phases, with lighter isotopic composition in opx and cpx (−0.6 and −2‰ average δ⁷Li values, respectively). In the hydrous lherzolites average δ⁷Li values both overlap and extend beyond these ranges in ol (up to 17.5 ‰) and in opx (up to 22.9‰), and vary widely in cpx (−2.7 to +9.7‰). Low δ⁷Li values are observed in some opx (−10.4‰) and cpx (−13‰) from sample Sdi, and in cpx from three hydrous samples (from −9.7 to −5.3‰). The different anhydrous phases from the hydrous samples show large intra-grain variations in Li isotopic ratios (e.g., up to 18‰) compared to the same phases from the anhydrous samples (mostly less than 6‰), excepting sample Sdi which has up to 20.4‰ variation in cpx. Similar to the anhydrous silicates, amphiboles show a wide variation of δ⁷Li values on the intra-grain scale (2-27‰). These variations are interpreted to result from fractionation processes during metasomatism by a silicate melt undergoing compositional changes as it percolates through and reacts with the peridotite phases. Thus Li abundances and isotopic in situ measurements are useful for tracing metasomatic processes but the heterogeneities observed in the samples preclude any identification of a specific mantle source by its Li signature.     

Comparative petrology of silicates in the Udei Station (IAB) and Miles (IIE) iron meteorites: Implications for the origin of silicate-bearing irons

The textures and mineral chemistries of silicate inclusions in the Udei Station (IAB) and Miles (fractionated IIE) iron meteorites were studied using optical and electron microscopy, SEM, EMPA, and LA-ICP-MS techniques to better understand the origin of silicate-bearing irons. Inclusions in Udei Station include near-chondritic, basaltic/gabbroic, feldspathic orthopyroxenitic, and harzburgitic lithologies. In Miles, most inclusions can be described as feldspathic pyroxenite or pyroxene-enriched basalt/gabbro. The trace-element compositions of both orthopyroxene and plagioclase grains are similar in different lithologies from Udei Station; whereas in different inclusions from Miles, the compositions of orthopyroxene grains are similar, while those of clinopyroxene, plagioclase, and especially Cl-apatite are variable. Orthopyroxene in Miles tends to be enriched in REE compared to that in Udei Station, but the reverse is true for plagioclase and clinopyroxene.The data can be explained by models involving partial melting of chondritic protoliths, silicate melt migration, and redox reactions between silicate and metal components to form phosphate. The extent of heating, melt migration, and phosphate formation were all greater in Miles. Silicates in Miles were formed from liquids produced by ∼30% partial melting of a chondritic precursor brought to a peak temperature of ∼1250 °C. This silicate melt crystallized in two stages. During Stage 1, crystallizing minerals (orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene, chromite, and olivine) were largely in equilibrium with an intercumulus melt that was evolving by igneous fractionation during slow cooling, with a residence time of ∼20 ka at ∼1150 °C. During Stage 2, following probable re-melting of feldspathic materials, and after the silicate “mush” was mixed with molten metal, plagioclase and phosphate fractionally crystallized together during more rapid cooling down to the solidus. In Udei Station, despite a lower peak temperature (<1180 °C) and degree of silicate partial melting (∼3-10%), silicate melt was able to efficiently separate from silicate solid to produce melt residues (harzburgite) and liquids or cumulates (basalt/gabbro, feldspathic orthopyroxenite) prior to final metal emplacement. Olivine was generally out of equilibrium with other minerals, but orthopyroxene and plagioclase largely equilibrated under magmatic conditions, and clinopyroxene in basalt/gabbro crystallized from a more evolved silicate melt.We suggest that a model involving major collisional disruption and mixing of partly molten, endogenically heated planetesimals can best explain the data for IAB and fractionated IIE silicate-bearing irons. The extent of endogenic heating was different (less for the IABs), and the amount of parent body disruption was different (scrambling with collisional unroofing for the IAB/IIICD/winonaite body, more complete destruction for the fractionated IIE body), but both bodies were partly molten and incompletely differentiated at the time of impact. We suggest that the post-impact secondary body for IAB/IIICD/winonaite meteorites was mineralogically zoned with Ni-poor metal in the center, and that the secondary body for fractionated IIE meteorites was a relatively small melt-rich body that had separated from olivine during collisional break-up.     

Pyroxene-selective impact smelting in ureilites

A characteristic feature of ureilite meteorites is reduction of FeO. But the reduction is usually confined to the rims of olivine. In the LAR 04315, LAP 03587 and Almahata Sitta ureilites, pyroxene was extensively reduced by impact smelting. In LAR 04315, the impact caused nearly all of the original pigeonite to melt or otherwise become sufficiently structurally compromised to allow smelting, and yet a minor proportion of the pyroxene escaped smelting and survived with its original composition (En_74.1Wo_10.2). Olivine mosaicism confirms that LAR 04315 experienced a major shock event. The smelted pyroxenes also show a distinctive patchiness in their interference colors (although each grain’s basic optical continuity, often including twinning, is still discernible). They also have reduced compositions, are ubiquitously porous (∼15%), and contain sprinklings of Fe-metal and felsic glass. For the most part the olivine underwent only very slight reduction. Much of the (small) pyroxene component of LAP 03587 shows the same oddly porous texture. LAR 04315 also contains large traces of silica and felsic glass (with a typical composition of, in wt%, 61 SiO₂, 23 Al₂O₃, 11 CaO, 3.7 Na₂O) glass; these two phases together form selvages that line the walls of many of the largest voids in the rock. Silica is a by-product of pyroxene smelting. The felsic glass probably derives largely from interstitial basaltic melt that predated the impact. However, the comparatively stiff surrounding/included silica may have promoted unusually high melt retention within LAR 04315 through the smelting episode (one aspect of which was a major stream-out, through the same large voids, of CO_x gas). The impact-smelted pyroxene of LAP 03587 is enigmatic because this ureilite also features little-shocked euhedral graphite laths and no olivine mosaicism. The fine-grained ureilitic component of Almahata Sitta appears to have likewise formed by impact smelting, but with more extensive melting of pyroxene (especially a Ca-rich pyroxene component), more pulverization and melting of olivine, and more displacement of both. However, in places the original coarse-equant ureilite texture is still discernible in relict form. Ordinarily, an impact shock melts olivine before, or at least no later than, pyroxene. But in the case of LAR 04315 and LAP 03587, the great shock event evidently occurred when the material was already anatectic or very nearly so; and thus the difference in melting temperature between pyroxene and olivine, ∼300 degrees lower for pyroxene, was decisive. If literature inferences of extremely fast cooling rates, implying shallow burial depths, are accurate, the proportion of CO_x gas generated by ureilite smelting exceeded by a very large factor (of order 10³ but possibly much greater) the volume represented as porosity in the final ureilites. The outflow of so much gas may have, by near-surface explosive expansion and jetting, enhanced the thoroughness of the impact-triggered catastrophic impact disruption of the parent asteroid.     

Evidence from Antarctic mantle peridotite xenoliths for changes in mineralogy, geochemistry and geothermal gradients beneath a developing rift

Garnet and spinel peridotite xenoliths associated with the Phanerozoic Lambert-Amery Rift in eastern Antarctica contain evidence for several stages in the development of the mantle beneath the rift. Despite the fact that equilibria were only partly attained, a combination of petrography, whole-rock geochemistry, mineral chemistry and thermobarometry can be used to decipher four stages prior to entrainment of the xenoliths in the host magma during the initial stages of the breakup of Antarctica, India and Madagascar. The first chronological stage is represented by harzburgitic protoliths represented by rare occurrences of low-Ca olivines and orthopyroxenes in spinel lherzolites: these yield the lowest temperatures of 830-850 °C, and are also characterized by distinct trace element contents; lower Ti, Cr, V and Zn in olivine and orthopyroxene, and additionally lower Cu, Ni, Ga and Li in orthopyroxene. Some garnets are subcalcic, indicating that the spinel-garnet lherzolites also formed from harzburgitic protoliths. The second stage is the formation of garnet due to a pressure increase probably related to collision at 1.1 Ga. The third stage is marked by the growth of clinopyroxene, demonstrably in cpx-poor spinel lherzolites but probably in all xenolith groups: equilibrium of clinopyroxene with olivine and orthopyroxene was not attained in all samples, so that the non-judicious use of thermobarometers can produce bewildering results. The fourth stage is an enrichment episode that affected all spinel-garnet peridotites and about half of the spinel peridotites. During this stage, reaction rims were produced on the clinopyroxenes that formed during stage 3, the modal content of olivine and Mg/(Mg + Fe) in the rocks was reduced, CaO, Al₂O₃ and trace elements were enriched, and garnets were almost completely transformed to kelyphites. A later stage is documented by interstitial glasses and films around spinels related to infiltration of melt from the host magma. These post-date, and are more enriched in alkalies than, partially melted rims on clinopyroxenes, demonstrating that all the three earlier episodes were pre-entrainment events. Pressures indicated by the spinel + garnet lherzolites are restricted to 20-24 kbar at 1040-1180 °C. Early harzburgitic assemblages are interpreted to represent an earlier, cooler geotherm, whereas the kelyphite assemblages indicate temperatures 180-200 °C hotter than the main xenolith geotherm. This event also caused recrystallization of the clinopyroxene rims and is attributed to heating during rifting, but not due to the host magma itself. The preservation of evidence for three progressively hotter geotherms can be related to the upward movement of isotherms during the development of the sub-rift mantle.