High-temperature annealing of amoeboid olivine aggregates: Heating experiments on olivine–anorthite mixtures

Amoeboid olivine aggregates (AOAs) are composed of forsteritic olivine, Fe,Ni-metal, and Ca,Al-rich nodules consisting mainly of Al-diopside, spinel, and anorthite. Although the textures, shapes, and mineralogy of AOAs are consistent with their being aggregates of nebular condensates, some textures are in conflict with equilibrium condensation calculations, indicating that AOAs were not produced by a simple one-stage condensation. To examine the origin of the constituent minerals within AOAs and their textural relationships, we performed heating experiments using mineral mixtures analogous to those in AOAs. Isothermal and cooling experiments on forsterite + anorthite mixtures reveal that a high-Ca pyroxene phase forms via the incipient melting of the two minerals. Comparative studies of heating experiments performed using the mineralogy of AOAs suggest that Al-diopside in AOAs can be produced from a small degree of melting of forsterite and anorthite. The formation of Al-diopside in this way is consistent with the annealing textures observed in AOAs, and it may account for the discrepancy between the observed mineralogy of AOAs and the results of equilibrium condensation calculations, the occurrence of two types of diopside (Al,Ti-rich diopside and Al-diopside), and the variable Al₂O₃ content of Al-diopside.     

碳质球粒陨石有机物红外光谱研究

碳质球粒陨石是太阳系中最原始的物质之一.通过对碳质球粒陨石的光谱分析,可以建立其与母体小行星之间的联系,有助于探测小行星表面物质成分、研究太阳系早期的演化历史.研究了6个CM2型碳质球粒陨石和11个煤炭样品(碳质球粒陨石所含有机质的地球类比物)可见-远红外谱段反射光谱特征,并分析了它们与有机组分的关系.结果表明,对于不...     

Cosmic ray exposure ages of Rumuruti chondrites from North Africa

We analyzed noble gases and determined ³He, ²¹Ne, and ³⁸Ar cosmic ray exposure ages (CREAs) of Rumuruti chondrites from North West Africa (NWA) to rule on potential pairings and/or source pairings of North Africa R chondrite samples. The ²¹Ne exposure ages range between 10 and 74 Ma, with NWA 2897 and 1668 having the highest known exposure ages among R chondrites. We also include other R chondrites from North Africa (Schultz et al., 2005) and, based on their noble gas characteristics and their ²¹Ne CREAs, propose pairings of the following samples: NWA 2198, 5069, 755, 4615, 845, 851, 978, 1471, and possibly DaG 013 belonging to one fall with a CREA of ∼10 Ma, and NWA 753, 4360, 4419, 5606, 1472, 1476, 1477, 1478, and 1566 representing one fall with a CREA of ∼14 Ma. NWA 2821, 2503, 2289, 3364, 3146, 4619, 4392, 3098, and 2446 seem to belong to one single fall with a CREA of ∼20 Ma, and NWA 2897 and 1668 seem to be paired and show a common CREA of ∼66 Ma. Overall, all R chondrite samples from North Africa analyzed for noble gases so far represent ∼16 individual falls. Comparing falls from North Africa to literature CREAs of R chondrites worldwide, it seems possible that a significant number of all R chondrite falls studied for noble gases were ejected from the R chondrite parent body during one large collisional event between 15 and 25 Ma ago. However, the database is still too small to draw definitive conclusions. The large portion of brecciated R chondrites in collections suggests severe impact brecciation of the R chondrite parent body.     

Impact features of enstatite-rich meteorites

Enstatite-rich meteorites include EH and EL chondrites, rare ungrouped enstatite chondrites, aubrites, a few metal-rich meteorites (possibly derived from the mantle of the aubrite parent body), various impact-melt breccias and impact-melt rocks, and a few samples that may be partial-melt residues ultimately derived from enstatite chondrites. Members of these sets of rocks exhibit a wide range of impact features including mineral-lattice deformation, whole-rock brecciation, petrofabrics, opaque veins, rare high-pressure phases, silicate darkening, silicate-rich melt veins and melt pockets, shock-produced diamonds, euhedral enstatite grains, nucleation of enstatite on relict grains and chondrules, low MnO in enstatite, high Mn in troilite and oldhamite, grains of keilite, abundant silica, euhedral graphite, euhedral sinoite, F-rich amphibole and mica, and impact-melt globules and spherules. No single meteorite possesses all of these features, although many possess several. Impacts can also cause bulk REE fractionations due to melting and loss of oldhamite (CaS) – the main REE carrier in enstatite meteorites. The Shallowater aubrite can be modeled as an impact-melt rock derived from a large cratering event on a porous enstatite chondritic asteroid; it may have been shock melted at depth, slowly cooled and then excavated and quenched. Mount Egerton may share a broadly similar shock and thermal history; it could be from the same parent body as Shallowater. Many aubrites contain large pyroxene grains that exhibit weak mosaic extinction, consistent with shock-stage S4; in contrast, small olivine grains in some of these same aubrites have sharp or undulose extinction, consistent with shock stage S1 to S2. Because elemental diffusion is much faster in olivine than pyroxene, it seems likely that these aubrites experienced mild post-shock annealing, perhaps due to relatively shallow burial after an energetic impact event. There are correlations among EH and EL chondrites between petrologic type and the degree of shock, consistent with the hypothesis that collisional heating is mainly responsible for enstatite-chondrite thermal metamorphism. Nevertheless, the apparent shock stages of EL6 and EH6 chondrites tend to be lower than EL3-5 and EH3-5 chondrites, suggesting that the type-6 enstatite chondrites (many of which possess impact-produced features) were shocked and annealed. The relatively young Ar–Ar ages of enstatite chondrites record heating events that occurred long after any ²⁶Al that may have been present initially had decayed away. Impacts remain the only plausible heat source at these late dates. Some enstatite meteorites accreted to other celestial bodies: Hadley Rille (EH) was partly melted when it struck the Moon; Galim (b), also an EH chondrite, was shocked and partly oxidized when it accreted to the LL parent asteroid. EH, EL and aubrite-like clasts also occur in the polymict breccias Kaidun (a carbonaceous chondrite) and Almahata Sitta (an anomalous ureilite). The EH and EL clasts in Kaidun appear unshocked; some clasts in Almahata Sitta may have been extensively shocked on their parent bodies prior to being incorporated into the Almahata Sitta host.     

南极格罗夫山23个普通球粒陨石的化学群及岩石类型

对南极格罗夫山蓝冰地区收集的23个陨石进行了系统研究。经激光共聚焦显微镜观察,未查出碳质球粒陨石。经电子探针鉴定,也未发现顽火辉石球粒陨石。系统的研究确定这些陨石均为普通球粒陨石。运用X射线能谱仪进行全视域元素成分面分析方法,获得了23个陨石的化学成分。应用陨石中SiO_2、∑FeO、MgO、CaO的含量进行图解对比,划分出陨石的化学群,取得了初步的结果。又以电子探针测得的橄榄石、辉石矿物化学成分,采用Fa-Fs图解法进行化学群分类。这两种方法对23个陨石化学群的划分,取得了较为一致结果。陨石岩石类型的确定,主要根据陨石中球粒及基质的特征,参考其它标志,如橄榄石成分、辉石的结构、长石的特征等进行分类,效果较好。对于岩石类型为第3类的非平衡陨石,由于矿物成分变化较大,并可能有水等易挥发成分的存在,其化学群的划分不易确定。     

南极陨石研究的启示Ⅶ:南极新的和独特的陨石类型

近年来在南极及澳大利亚、非洲和北美的沙漠地区发现和回收了大量的陨石，改变了以前的球粒陨石分类。球粒陨石群由９个增加到１３个（ＥＨ、ＥＬ、Ｈ、Ｌ、ＬＬ、Ｒ、ＣＩ、ＣＲ、ＣＨ、ＣＭ、ＣＯ、ＣＶ及ＣＫ），并提出了３个碳质球粒陨石小群。ＣＫ、ＣＲ、ＣＨ和Ｒ为１３个球粒陨石群中新的化学群。不同的球粒陨石群，其岩石学、矿物学、化学及氧同位素组成均有明显的差异。根据其结构、矿物、化学及氧同位素组成特征，将１３个球粒陨石群划分为碳质球粒陨石系（由ＣＩ－ＣＲ－ＣＨ、ＣＭ－ＣＯ及ＣＶ－ＣＫ族组成）和顽辉石－普通球粒陨石系（由ＥＨ－ＥＬ、Ｈ－Ｌ－ＬＬ及Ｒ族组成）。碳质球粒陨石系是在相对远离太阳的区域形成，它以高的氧化态为特征。顽辉石－普通球粒陨石系是在靠近太阳的内太阳系区域形成的     

Nickel isotope heterogeneity in the early Solar System

We report small but significant variations in the ⁵⁸Ni/⁶¹Ni-normalised ⁶⁰Ni/⁶¹Ni and ⁶²Ni/⁶¹Ni ratios (expressed as ε⁶⁰Ni and ε⁶²Ni) of bulk iron and chondritic meteorites. Carbonaceous chondrites have variable, positive ε⁶²Ni (0.05 to 0.25), whereas ordinary chondrites have negative ε⁶²Ni (− 0.04 to − 0.09). The Ni isotope compositions of iron meteorites overlap with those of chondrites, and define an array with negative slope in the ε⁶⁰Ni versus ε⁶²Ni diagram. The Ni isotope compositions of the volatile-depleted Group IVB irons are similar to those of the refractory CO, CV carbonaceous chondrites, whereas the other common magmatic iron groups have Ni isotope compositions similar to ordinary chondrites. Only enstatite chondrites have identical Ni isotope compositions to Earth and so appear to represent the most appropriate terrestrial building material. Differences in ε⁶²Ni reflect distinct nucleosynthetic components in precursor solids that have been variably mixed, but some of the ε⁶⁰Ni variability could reflect a radiogenic component from the decay of ⁶⁰Fe. Comparison of the ε⁶⁰Ni of iron and chondritic meteorites with the same ε⁶²Ni allows us to place upper limits on the ⁶⁰Fe/⁵⁶Fe of planetesimals during core segregation. We estimate that carbonaceous chondrites had initial ⁶⁰Fe/⁵⁶Fe < 1 × 10^− 7. Our data place less good constraints on initial ⁶⁰Fe/⁵⁶Fe ratios of ordinary chondrites but our results are not incompatible with values as high as 3 × 10^− 7 as determined by in-situ measurements. We suggest that the Ni isotope variations and apparently heterogeneous initial ⁶⁰Fe/⁵⁶Fe results from physical sorting within the protosolar nebula of different phases (silicate, metal and sulphide) that carry different isotopic signatures.     

100块南极格罗夫山陨石的分类及其成对陨石的初步判别

通过岩石矿物学特征的观察和矿物成分的电子探针分析,对采自南极格罗夫山的100块陨石进行了分类研究,确定了它们的化学群、岩石类型、冲击变质程度和风化程度,其中8块陨石划分为H4型,15块为H5型,3块为H6型,1块为L3型,2块为L4型,16块为L5型,47块为L6型,5块为LL3型,1块为LL4型,2块为LL5型。经过岩石矿物学特征和矿物成分的对比分析,初步判定成对陨石21组。     

Mineralogy,petrography, and oxygen and aluminum-magnesium isotope systematics of grossite-bearing refractory inclusions

Grossite (CaAl₄O₇) is one of the one of the first minerals predicted to condense from a gas of solar composition, and therefore could have recorded isotopic compositions of reservoirs during the earliest stages of the Solar System evolution. Grossite-bearing Ca,Al-rich inclusions (CAIs) are a relatively rare type of refractory inclusions in most carbonaceous chondrite groups, except CHs, where they are dominant. We report new and summarize the existing data on the mineralogy, petrography, oxygen and aluminum-magnesium isotope systematics of grossite-bearing CAIs from the CR, CH, CB, CM, CO, and CV carbonaceous chondrites. Grossite-bearing CAIs from unmetamorphosed (petrologic type 2―3.0) carbonaceous chondrites preserved evidence for heterogeneous distribution of ²⁶Al in the protoplanetary disk. The inferred initial ²⁶Al/²⁷Al ratio [(²⁶Al/²⁷Al)₀] in grossite-bearing CAIs is generally bimodal, ˜0 and ˜5×10⁻⁵; the intermediate values are rare. CH and CB chondrites are the only groups where vast majority of grossite-bearing CAIs lacks resolvable excess of radiogenic ²⁶Mg. Grossite-bearing CAIs with approximately the canonical (²⁶Al/²⁷Al)₀ of ˜5×10⁻⁵ are dominant in other chondrite groups. Most grossite-bearing CAIs in type 2–3.0 carbonaceous chondrites have uniform solar-like O-isotope compositions (Δ¹⁷O ˜ ‒24±2‰). Grossite-bearing CAIs surrounded by Wark-Lovering rims in CH chondrites are also isotopically uniform, but show a large range of Δ¹⁷O, from ˜ ‒40‰ to ˜ ‒5‰, suggesting an early generation of gaseous reservoirs with different oxygen-isotope compositions in the protoplanetary disk. Igneous grossite-bearing CAIs surrounded by igneous rims of ±melilite, Al-diopside, and Ca-rich forsterite, found only in CB and CH chondrites, have uniform ¹⁶O-depleted compositions (Δ¹⁷O ˜ ‒14‰ to ‒5‰). These CAIs appear to have experienced complete melting and incomplete O-isotope exchange with a ¹⁶O-poor (Δ¹⁷O ˜ ‒2‰) gas in the CB impact plume generated about 5 Ma after CV CAIs. Grossite-bearing CAIs in metamorphosed (petrologic type >3.0) CO and CV chondrites have heterogeneous Δ¹⁷O resulted from mineralogically-controlled isotope exchange with a ¹⁶O-poor (Δ¹⁷O ˜ ‒2 to 0‰) aqueous fluid on the CO and CV parent asteroids 3–5 Ma after CV CAIs. This exchange affected grossite, krotite, melilite, and perovskite; corundum, hibonite, spinel, diopside, forsterite, and enstatite preserved their initial O-isotope compositions. The internal ²⁶Al-²⁶Mg isochrons in grossite-bearing CAIs from weakly-metamorphosed CO and CV chondrites were not disturbed during this oxygen-isotope exchange.HCCJr is grateful to Klaus Keil for all his sound profession counsel and collegial friendship over the years. He has always been willing to talk and has the generous nature of listening and sharing his thoughts freely and constructively. Professor Klaus Keil has been a mentor to and played a key role in the careers of three of the authors of this paper (ANK, KN, and GRH). He has also influenced the careers of the other authors and most of the people who have worked on meteorites over the past 50+ years. We therefore dedicate this paper to Professor Keil and present it in this Special Issue of Geochemistry.