¹Brynna G. Downey, ¹Robin M. Canup
Icarus (in Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2026.117208]
¹Solar System Science and Exploration Division, Southwest Research Institute, 1301 Walnut Street, Boulder, 80302, CO, USA
Copyright Elsevier

In the giant impact theory for the origin of the Moon, a protoplanet collided with the Earth, producing a disk of melt-vapor debris from which the Moon accreted. Simulations of canonical impacts in which the impactor is  Mars-sized produce disks with mass 1 to  (lunar masses). However, most prior models of lunar accretion require that the initial disk have mass  because of the assumed disk state, modelled processes, and initial conditions. This inconsistency has been a challenge for the canonical impact model. To bridge this gap, we (i) update a model of the disk interior to the Roche limit to treat melt and vapor as separate, vertically stratified layers, and (ii) adopt as initial conditions for the accretion model more realistic radial mass distributions for the disk based on impact simulations. We find that treating the inner melt and vapor as vertically stratified layers lowers the final Moon mass by 20% on average compared to prior work that assumed they remained well-mixed, a relatively small effect. In contrast, the initial radial mass distribution has a substantial effect. We show that for outer disk mass , which is often 60% of the total disk mass, an  Moon accretes in as little as  days and at most  months. For almost all successful cases, only 5% of the final Moon is from the inner melt and vapor layers that might have isotopically equilibrated with the Earth’s vapor atmosphere. The Moon’s rapid accretion from material originally emplaced in an outer canonical disk requires that the isotopic similarities between the Earth and Moon be inherited from similarities between Earth and the impactor Theia, rather than through disk-planet equilibration.

¹Dylan M. Seal, ¹Melody Z. Chen, ²Robert W. Nicklas, ¹Ethan F. Baxter, ³James M.D. Day, ⁴Ben G. Rider-Stokes, ⁵Anthony B. Love, ⁴James Malley
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (in Press) Link to Article [10.1016/j.gca.2026.06.035]
¹Department of Environmental Sciences, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, USA
²Lunar and Planetary Institute, USRA, Houston, TX 77058, USA
³Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0244, USA
⁴School of Physical Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK
⁵Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC 28608, USA
Copyright Elsevier

Here we report on the petrology, mineralogy, geochemistry, and O and Sm-Nd isotope compositions for Northwest Africa (NWA) 13441, an olivine-phyric shergottite rich in melt glass that was recovered from Algeria in 2019. The meteorite is a basalt containing abundant olivine megacrysts set in a groundmass of pigeonite, olivine, and maskelynite with accessory chromite and merrillite. The Fe/Mn ratios of olivine (56.1 ± 7.2; 2σ, n = 15) and pyroxene (30.1 ± 2.1; 2σ, n = 10), and bulk rock O isotope ratios of Δ17O = 0.270 ± 0.014 ‰, confirm its martian origin. Pyroxene Ti/Al barometry indicates that crystallization began near the crust-mantle boundary of Mars. The meteorite contains ∼7 vol% pyroxene-dominated melt glass that together with undulatory extinction and mosaicism in olivine, mechanical twinning in pyroxene, and amorphized plagioclase, suggests a relatively high level of shock metamorphism at estimated peak conditions of ∼28–34 GPa and ∼200–250 °C. The bulk rock rare earth element pattern ((La/Yb)CI = 0.64) suggests an affinity to intermediate shergottites. Hand-picked mineral separates and leachates define a 147Sm-143Nd errorchron corresponding to an age of 1273 ± 21 Ma (MSWD = 19; n = 9) and a chondritic εNdi composition of + 0.93 ± 1.04 that is distinct from other shergottites, which are typically younger (<600 Ma). Comparison with the 147Sm-143Nd evolution of different martian sources indicates that the chondritic composition of NWA 13441 could represent a previously unsampled undifferentiated reservoir or mixing between known enriched and depleted shergottite sources. Regardless, NWA 13441 expands the temporal and isotopic range of shergottite magmatism and demonstrates that the martian meteorite record incompletely samples the diversity of compositions produced from the melting of Mars’ mantle.

^1,2M. Germanà et al (>10)
Meteoritics & Planetary Science (in Press) Open Access Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.70190]
¹Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Universita degli Studi di Catania, Catania, Italy
²INAF-Osservatorio Astrofisico di Catania, Catania, Italy
Published by arrangement with John Wiley and Sons

Amorphous carbon (αC) is found in various extraterrestrial particles, including those thought to originate from the outer Solar System. αC can form through two main processes involving C-rich materials: exposure to energetic charged particles and thermal processing. Laboratory analyses can constrain the origin of αC in space, as it is not easily detectable through remote sensing. We here investigate the formation of αC on the icy surface of Trans-neptunian objects and Oort cloud comets throughout their exposure to energetic ions. We use organic refractory residues (ORRs), which are laboratory simulants of refractory organics in space, obtained from the irradiation (200 keV ions) of various icy mixtures (N2, CO, CH4, CH3OH). As formed ORRs were further irradiated at room temperature (αC-ORRs) and analyzed by Raman spectroscopy. Our as formed ORRs do not exhibit αC that is in turn detected in αC-ORRs. The carbonaceous structure of αC-ORRs shows high disorder and dependence on the initial icy composition. Nitrogen-bearing αC-ORRs exhibit structural properties similar to some extraterrestrial particles likely originating from icy outer bodies, whereas annealed αC-ORRs mimic materials that underwent different degrees of metamorphism. Our findings highlight how Raman characterization of αC in extraterrestrial samples serves as a strong analysis tool in providing insights into the evolution of different Solar System objects.

¹Aelita Girich,¹Addi Bischoff,¹Samuel Ebert,²Kazuhide Nagashima,¹Andreas Morlok,¹Harald Hiesinger,³Jasper Berndt
Meteoritics & Planetary Science (in Press) Open Access Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.70195]
¹Institut f€ur Planetologie, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
²University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
³Institut f€ur Mineralogie, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons

An unusual chondritic xenolith was found in two sequentially prepared thin sections of a sample from the Krymka (LL3.2) chondrite. The xenolith has a rounded, slightly deformed shape of about 5 mm in apparent diameter and is partially surrounded by a double rim made of an inner fine-grained silicate-rich rim and an outer sulfide-rich rim. The xenolithic inclusion is characterized by partially equilibrated mineral constituents, a recrystallized chondritic texture with relic chondrules, and a high abundance of CAIs (0.11 vol%). Within the core of the xenolith, olivine and low-Ca pyroxene are the most abundant mineral phases, and randomly analyzed grains by grid analysis revealed mean compositions of Fa9.8±5.5 and Fs7.2±4.4Wo2.9±2.2 for olivine and low-Ca pyroxene, respectively. Within the entire clast, a feldspar-normative mesostasis is embedding all constituents, indicating partial melting of the xenolith, probably during impact metamorphism. Thus, the xenolithic clast is very likely an impact melt rock. Infrared (IR) spectroscopic studies revealed the dominance of olivine and low-Ca pyroxene in the obtained spectra from the fine-grained silicate-rich rim of the xenolith. Oxygen isotope analyses by SIMS show that, in the three-oxygen isotope diagram, most individual olivine grains from the xenolith plot within the field of bulk ordinary chondrites and their chondrules, except for three olivines: Two grains from the xenolith’s core (Δ17O = −1.6 ± 0.5‰ and −2.4 ± 0.5‰) and one olivine from the rim (Δ17O = −6.5 ± 0.4‰) show significant 16O enrichments. The chondritic impact melt rock studied here clearly demonstrates that this xenolithic clast formed prior to the Krymka parent body accretion within another pre-existing chondritic parent body. While previous studies have discussed a potential late-stage accretion of large Krymka constituents, the components within the apparent first-generation parent body experienced thermal annealing, and, subsequently, the xenolith suffered partial melting due to a shock event that probably caused this fragment to be ejected from its first-generation parent body.

^1,2Swarna Prava Das,³Alessandro Maturilli,³Aurélie Van den Neucker,⁴Markus Patzek,⁵Dipak Kumar Panda,⁶Gopal K. Pradhan,^1,2Guneshwar Thangjam,^1,2,7Surya Snata Rout
Meteoritics & Planetary Science (in Press) Open Access Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.70183]
¹School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER), Khordha, Odisha,752050, India
²Homi Bhabha National Institute, Training School Complex, Mumbai, 400094, India
³Institute of Space Research, German Aerospace Centre (DLR), Berlin, 12489, Germany
⁴Institut für Planetologie (IfP), Universität Münster, Münster, 48149, Germany
⁵Planetary Science Division, Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, 380009, India
⁶Department of Physics, School of Applied Sciences, KIIT Deemed to be University, Bhubaneswar, 751024, India
⁷Center for Interdisciplinary Sciences (CIS), NISER Bhubaneswar, Khordha, Odisha, 752050, India
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons

Volatile-rich xenolithic clasts in different types of brecciated meteorites represent unique pristine solar system material. This study investigates the maturity and thermal history of organic matter using Raman spectroscopy and aqueous alteration effects using infrared spectroscopy in the matrix of 15 volatile-rich clasts (C1 and CM-like) present in a polymict eucrite (NWA 7542) and a howardite (Sarıçiçek). Most of the studied C1 and CM-like clasts show similar maturity of organic matter as CI chondrites and CM chondrites, respectively. One CM-like clast from the polymict eucrite NWA 7542 shows Raman spectral signatures of heating after aqueous alteration, and another C1 and a CM-like clast from the howardite Sarıçiçek exhibit unique Raman spectral properties probably related to differences in accreted precursor organics compared to CI and CM-chondrites. One olivine-rich, unclassified clast has a high concentration of fayalitic olivine in its matrix, similar to oxidized CV chondrites and other features similar to CM- or C2 chondrites. Various evidence shows that this clast was heated up to 700–800 °C post aqueous alteration followed by the formation of fayalitic olivine during a metasomatic alteration process. Peak metamorphic temperature (PMT) estimated using different thermometric approaches does not provide reliable data for clasts altered at low temperatures (<200 °C).

^1,2Olga Ageeva,³Cyril Lorenz,¹Gerlinde Habler,⁴Lutz Nasdala,²Leonid Aranovich,²Olga Zhilicheva,²Sergey Borisovsky,¹Rainer Abart
Meteoritics & Planetary Science (in Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.70185]
¹Department of Lithospheric Research, University of Vienna, Josef-Holaubek-Platz 2, Wien, 1090, Austria
²Institute of Geology of Ore Deposits, Petrography, Mineralogy, and Geochemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences(IGEM RAS), Staromonetny Per. 35, Moscow, 119017, Russia
³Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences (GEOHI RAS),Kosygin Street 19, Moscow, 119991, Russia
⁴Department of Mineralogy and Crystallography, University of Vienna, Josef-Holaubek-Platz 2, Wien, 1090, Austria
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons

Two samples of the meteorite Northwest Africa 8741 (NWA 8741) were investigated using petrographic, mineral chemical, and crystal orientation analysis to reconstruct its evolution. NWA 8741 is an A4 mesosiderite composed of lithic clasts of pyroxenite and single-grain porphyroclasts of olivine and orthopyroxene as well as aggregates of Ni-rich metallic iron embedded in a medium-grained matrix of plagioclase, orthopyroxene, cristobalite, tridymite, minor chromite, clinopyroxene, and small grains of metallic iron with low Ni-contents. The mesosiderite NWA 8741 formed by a collision event, which led to the ejection of silicate and metal melts and of solid fragments from a differentiated parent body and the projectile. The matrix minerals crystallized from the silicate melt, while the metallic melt forming the Ni-rich metallic iron aggregates, and the silicate clasts were incorporated by mechanical mixing. The crystallization of the matrix phases proceeded at low oxygen fugacity, ensuring the stability of metallic iron. Interaction between the metallic and silicate melt caused partial oxidation of phosphorus and chromium originally dissolved in the metallic melt, leading to the formation of merrillite and Cr-rich spinel. The melt was out of equilibrium with the inherited olivine and orthopyroxene clasts, and a series of mineral-melt reactions led to the partial replacement of the inherited olivine by aggregates of orthopyroxene and Cr-spinel and to the partial replacement of the inherited orthopyroxene by aggregates of cristobalite, Cr-spinel, and plagioclase. During the subsequent sub-solidus evolution, the oxygen fugacity was still low, allowing the formation of Ni-poor iron grains and silica by the partial reduction of ferrous iron from the Fe-Mg silicates, and the partial replacement of olivine by symplectic orthopyroxene-metallic iron intergrowth. Finally, the replacement of olivine by troilite-orthopyroxene and of orthopyroxene by troilite-tridymite aggregates and the partial transformation of Ni-poor metallic iron to troilite indicate an elevated sulfur fugacity during the late sub-solidus evolutionary stages of mesosiderite NWA 8741. Overall, NWA 8741 records a multistage history of impact-induced mixing, melt-rock interaction, and subsequent sub-solidus metamorphism during the evolution of the mesosiderite parent body.

^1,2M. L. Gray,^1,2,3M. K. Weisberg,⁴C. M. O’D. Alexander,⁴J. Wang,⁴D. I. Foustoukos,^1,2,5D. S. Ebel
Meteoritics & Planetary Science (in Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.70192]
¹Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, CUNY Graduate Center, New York, New York, USA
²Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, American Museum of Natural History, New York, New York, USA
³Department of Physical Sciences, CUNY Kingsborough College, Brooklyn, New York, USA
⁴Earth and Planets Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington, DC, USA
⁵Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons

Measurements of bulk H, N, and C abundances and isotopic compositions were conducted on (metal-free) aliquots of 12 powdered enstatite chondrite (EC) samples, from both EH and EL chemical groups, and four aubrites. The ECs covered a range of petrologic types, including both falls and finds. To understand the internal H distributions, the H concentrations of individual silicate minerals were analyzed in situ by NanoSIMS in polished thick sections of six of the ECs. Using these data, combined with published data on H carriers and their modal abundances in ECs, we estimate here that the major silicate minerals, matrix, and mesostasis in unequilibrated ECs account for less than 20% of the total H budget. For the metamorphosed E4–6 chondrites, which exhibit a recrystallized matrix and mesostasis, over 99% of the bulk H contents remain unexplained. We attribute the discrepancies between our analyzed bulk H elemental compositions and the bulk H values reconstituted from in situ measurements are attributed to terrestrial contamination, as water adheres to grain boundaries, surfaces, and fractures. Water also reacts with reduced phases, regardless of whether the meteorite is a fall or find. Similar H isotopic compositions for falls and heavily weathered finds are consistent with, but do not require, that the majority of EC H is terrestrial. Attempts to remove organic terrestrial contamination by solvent extractions only served to moderately shift the H, N, and C isotopic compositions. The δD, δ15N, and δ13C values of EC powders are lighter than BSE, although δD and δ13C values partially overlap with atmospheric values. Reconstruction of the H budget of an EL-like parent body with an onion-shell structure suggests that such bodies could account for at most a fourth of the bulk silicate Earth’s (BSE’s) water budget.

¹Toni Schulz,¹Sophia Wernitznig,¹Christian Koeberl,²Bérengère Mougel,³Alessandro Montanari,⁴Frédéric Moynier
Meteoritics & Planetary Science (in Press) Open Access Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.70174]
¹Department of Lithospheric Research, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
²Instituto de Geociencias, UNAM, Queretaro, Mexico
³Osservatorio Geologico di Coldigioco, Frontale di Apiro, MC, Italy
⁴Universite Paris Cite, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, CNRS, 75005, Paris, France
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons

Within the Danian Scaglia Rossa Formation appears a regionally correlatable horizon cutting across multiple sections and outcrops within the Umbria–Marche Basin of NE Italy, where it is intercalated with uniform pelagic carbonate successions. This horizon is called “ALE layer” and has tentatively been interpreted as a fine-grained volcanic ash. A key motivation for this study is the striking agreement between the ages of the ALE bed (65.440 ± 0.005 Ma) and the Boltysh impact event (65.39 ± 0.14/0.16 Ma), raising the possibility that the ALE layer preserves a distal Boltysh ejecta component transported over ~1600 km, while its bulk may reflect a longer duration volcanosedimentary depositional interval. To test this hypothesis, we combine impact-scaling considerations with highly siderophile element (HSE) and Cr-Os isotope data for Boltysh impactites and geochemical and Os isotopic analyses of the ALE horizon. Chromium isotope compositions of the Boltysh impactites (as low as ε54Cr = −0.31) may indicate an extraterrestrial contribution; however, their interpretation remains ambiguous. If interpreted as such, implausibly high IIIAB iron meteoritic admixtures would be required. By contrast, HSE abundances and 187Os/188Os systematics indicate clearly resolvable meteoritic components of up to 1 wt% CI-equivalent, forming coherent crust–chondrite mixing arrays. The ALE bed, though dominated by volcanosedimentary material, consistently shows Os–Ir–Pt–Pd enrichments far above the pelagic background, requiring up to ~0.8 wt% CI meteoritic input if interpreted in terms of an impact event horizon. Unradiogenic 187Os/188Os excursions occur primarily within the ALE layer, but in some cases extend into adjacent pelagic carbonate layers stratigraphically above and below the ALE layer. These unradiogenic 187Os/188Os excursions define chondritic-trending trajectories that mirror those in the Boltysh samples and are interpreted as diffusion-modified expressions of an originally ALE-centered meteoritic Os input. Taken together, the temporal coincidence between the Boltysh impact event and the ALE layer, impact-scaling relationships, and HSE- and Os-isotopic signatures favors the interpretation that the ALE layer preserves a distal equivalent of the Boltysh impact ejecta diluted within a volcanosedimentary depositional system that was subsequently modified by diagenetic processes.

¹K. Righter et al. (>10)
Meteoritics & Planetary Science (in Press) Open Access Link to Articlel [https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.70182]
¹Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USA
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons

Examination of 10 Bennu aggregate particles has revealed the presence of many phases which taken together can provide constraints on the oxygen fugacity (fO2) of Bennu samples. Phyllosilicates (saponite and serpentine), carbonates, oxides (magnetite, chromite), sulfides (pyrrhotite, pentlandite), phosphate (hydroxyapatite, Na-Mg-phosphate), and phosphides (schreibersite, andreyivanovite) all occur in most Bennu particles. The Bennu samples have experienced a high degree of aqueous alteration leaving only <1% of the original mineralogy unaltered. However, both the precursor anhydrous and alteration phases can present different constraints on fO2. Precursor phases include olivine, pyroxene, spinel, hibonite, chromite, phosphide, very rare Fe-Ni metal, apatite, and possibly MgS and MnS, all of which are typically <25 μm in size. Alteration phases include phyllosilicates, carbonates, magnetite, sulfides, sulfates, phosphates, chlorides, and fluorides. Detailed calculations of fO2 rely on having quantitative electron microprobe analyses of the phases involved in equilibria amongst both the precursor and alteration phases. In general, the absence of Fe-Ni metal, coupled with the stability of the Fe3O4 component in chromite, places a lower limit on the fO2. Concomitantly, the absence of Fe sulfates places an upper limit on fO2. Altogether, the textures, mineral compositions, and calculations suggest that some components in the Bennu samples (chondrules, inclusions) may have originally equilibrated at fO2 well below the iron-wüstite buffer but then experienced higher fO2 near or higher than the fayalite-magnetite-quartz (FMQ) buffer during aqueous alteration that produced coarser grained oxidized assemblages.

¹A. C. Singleton,¹G. R. Osinski
Meteoritics & Planetary Science (in Press) Open Access Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.70184]
¹Department of Earth Sciences, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons

The ~28 km Kamestastin (Mistastin) Lake impact structure is a relatively well-preserved and well-exposed complex impact structure. The central uplift of this structure is accessible as two islands in the middle of Kamestastin Lake. We present an updated, detailed geological map and description of Horseshoe and Bullseye islands that provides increased accuracy and detail of the target rock outcrop and contact locations. In addition, we document six occurrences of impact melt-poor breccia dikes and one occurrence of impact melt rock on Horseshoe Island for the first time. The impact melt rock outcrop is proposed to be a remnant of a veneer of impact melt on the original central peak, and the impact melt-bearing breccia dikes to have had a dynamic emplacement mechanism. We also carried out the first detailed, systematic shock study of the central uplift. Planar deformation features in quartz and diaplectic feldspar glass suggest local peak shock pressure of up to 45 GPa. These shock pressures are higher than the peak pressures recorded in the central uplifts of similarly sized impact structures. We suggest that this difference is due to the minimal erosion of the central uplift at the Kamestastin Lake impact structure.