Metamorphic reactions in mesosiderites: origin of abundant phosphate and silica

The high modal abundances of merrillite Ca₃(PO₄)₂] and tridymite in most mesosiderites are not the result of igneous fractionation but are attributed to redox reactions between silicates and P-bearing Fe-Ni metal within a limited T-fO₂ range at low pressure. The Emery mesosiderite is the most tridymite- and merrillite-rich mesosiderite so it is used as the model for this study. Examination of reactions in the system CaO-SiO₂-MgSiO₃-Fe-P-O indicate that essentially all of the present phosphorus in Emery should have been dissolved in the metallic portion (calculated to have contained 0.65 wt% P originally), and that it largely reacted to form phosphate. The thermodynamic calculations predict that the reactions would have occurred between 970°C, log fO₂ = ?16.5 and 1030°C, log fO₂ = ?15.0 for the range of phase compositions in Emery. A narrower range of conditions is expected for other mesosiderites. Phosphide (schreibersite) formed only later at temperatures < 600°C during slow cooling. The recalculated amounts of dissolved P and S in the metallic portion of Emery reduce the temperature of the metal liquidus to < 1350°C and the solidus to < 800°C. Thus mixing of liquid metal with cold silicates near the parent body's surface would not have resulted in substantial melting of the silicates but would have resulted in their metamorphism, which is consistent with the textural relationships observed in Emery. This scenario of redox reactions and redistributions of components between metal and silicates represents a new insight into the complexities of mesosiderite processing that helps unravel the mesosiderite history and recalculate their original components.