VEIN FORMATION IN THE C1 CARBONACEOUS CHONDRITES

Veins in the C1 chondrites Orgueil, Alais, and Ivuna have been deposited during an extended period of impact brecciation and leaching. At least three generations of mineralization, dominated successively by carbonates, calcium sulfate, and magnesium sulfate, can be recognized. Vein minerals are derived locally by closed-system reactions between matrix phyllosilicates and an aqueous fluid, with the result that few, if any, primitive mineral phases still exist in the C1s