Mineralogy of the Ibitira eucrite and comparison with other eucrites and lunar samples

Ibitira meteorite is interpreted as a strongly metamorphosed, unbrecciated, vesicular eucrite with a primary variolitic and secondary hornfelsic texture dominated by 60% pyroxene (bulk composition En₃₇Fs₄₈Wo₁₅ exsolved into lamellae several micrometers wide of augite En₃₂Fs₂₇Wo₄₁ and pigeonite En₄₀Fs₅₆Wo₄) and 30% plagioclase An₉₄ (mosaic extinction and variable structural state). Minor phases are 5% tridymite plates one-quarter occupied by plagioclase (An₉₄) inclusions; several percent intergrowths of ilmenite and Ti-chromite with trace kamacite Fe₉₉Co_0.5Ni_0.2 and narrow olivine (Fa₈₃) rims; one grain of low-Ti-chromite enclosed in tridymite; trace troilite with kamacite Fe₉₈Co_1.0Ni_0.9. Euhedral ilmenite, Ti-chromite, plagioclase and merrillite in vesicles indicate vapor deposition. These properties can be explained by a series of processes including at least the following: (1) igneous crystallization under pressure low enough to allow vesiculation, (2) prolonged metamorphism, perhaps associated with vapor deposition and reduction, to produce the coarse exsolution of the pyroxene and the coarse ilmenite-chromite intergrowths, (3) strong shock which affected the plagioclase and tridymite but not the pyroxene, (4) sufficient annealing to allow recrystallization of the plagioclase and tridymite, and partial conversion to the low structural state of the former.