Jean-Alix Barrat¹ and Akira Yamaguchi^2,3

¹Université de Bretagne Occidentale and Institut Universitaire Européen de la Mer, CNRS UMR 6538, Plouzané Cedex, France
²National Institute of Polar Research, Tachikawa, Tokyo, Japan
³Department of Polar Science, School of Multidisciplinary Science, Graduate University for Advanced Sciences, Tachikawa, Tokyo, Japan

Mandler and Elkins-Tanton () recently proposed an upgraded magma ocean model for the differentiation history of the giant asteroid 4 Vesta. They show that a combination of both equilibrium crystallization and fractional crystallization processes can reproduce the major element compositions of eucritic melts and broadly the range of mineral compositions observed in diogenites. They assert that their model accounts for all the howardites, eucrites, and diogenites (HEDs), and use it to predict the crustal thickness and the proportions of the various lithologies. Here, we show that their model fails to explain the trace element diversity of the diogenites, contrary to their claim. The diversity of the heavy REE enrichment exhibited by the orthopyroxenes in diogenites is inconsistent with crystallization of these cumulates in either shallow magma chambers replenished by melts from a magma ocean or in a magma ocean. Thus, proportions of the various HED lithologies and the crustal thickness predicted from this model are not necessarily valid.

Reference
Barrat J-A and Yamaguchi A (in press) Comment on “The origin of eucrites, diogenites, and olivine diogenites: Magma ocean crystallization and shallow magma processes on Vesta” by B. E. Mandler and L. T. Elkins-Tanton. Meteoritics & Planetary Science
[doi:10.1111/maps.12250]
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons

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