Bo Xian (LL3.9): Oxygen‐isotopic and mineralogical characterisation of separated chondrules

Abstract— We report the results of a mineralogical and O‐isotopic study of 362 chondrules disaggregated from the Bo Xian chondrite. The range of mineral compositions (Fa = 0.8–31.2%, mean = 23.5%, mode = 27–28%) are consistent with a reclassification of this meteorite from LL4 to LL3.9. Chondrule diameters range from 0.20 to 3.40 mm (mean = 0.74 mm) in the disaggregated population. A lower mean diameter (0.64 mm) calculated from thin‐section measurements partly reflects the high proportion of chondrule fragments. The chondrule size distribution, which is approximately log‐normal, is consistent with size‐sorting mechanisms. This sorting could be linked to the fragmentation of many chondrules on the parent body. However, in detail, the variation in diameter of different chondrule types and a hiatus in the size distribution at 0.6 mm indicate that there may have been complex controls perhaps partly being determined by the chondrule formation mechanism. Seven percent of the sectioned chondrules (102) contain chemically fractionated mineral assemblages: cristobalite‐bearing and Al‐rich. This significant degree of chemical heterogeneity probably resulted from both igneous and volatility controls. Oxygen‐isotopic compositions were determined on mineral separates and 16 of the sectioned chondrules. Three separate isotopic exchange events have been identified. The dominant one is a low‐temperature hydrous gas‐solid exchange event between ¹⁶O‐rich solid and ¹⁶O‐poor gas reservoirs that lay along a slope 1.0 line on three‐isotope plots. Partial equilibration with the gas by feldspar and cristobalite, which exchanged more rapidly than olivine or pyroxene, led to formation of a slope 0.77 mixing line for Bo Xian and other LL chondrites. Mineralogy is the dominant control on the extent of this exchange; no relationship between isotopic composition and chondrule texture or size was identified. The feldspar separate and cristobalite‐rich chondrules have the most ¹⁶O‐poor compositions. Subsequently, thermal metamorphism in the parent body led to partial isotopic equilibration between the different mineral phases. A third exchange event, predating the other two events, is probably shown by one of the Al‐rich chondrules. This has an ¹⁶O‐rich composition, lying below the terrestrial fractionation line. Another Al‐rich chondrule has a normal ordinary chondrite isotopic composition. It is not clear whether the isotopic fractionation recorded in some Al‐rich chondrules can be achieved by the dominant gas‐solid exchange. Instead, the precursor O to the mineral phases may have become ¹⁶O‐rich during an earlier phase of mass‐independent fractionation.