¹Jonathan A. Lewis,^1,2Rhian H. Jones
Meteoritics&Planetary Sciences (in Press) Link to Article [DOI: 10.1111/maps.12719]
¹Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA
²School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons

In ordinary chondrites (OCs), phosphates and feldspar are secondary minerals known to be the products of parent-body metamorphism. Both minerals provide evidence that metasomatic fluids played a role during metamorphism. We studied the petrology and chemistry of phosphates and feldspar in petrologic type 4–6 L chondrites, to examine the role of metasomatic fluids, and to compare metamorphic conditions across all three OC groups. Apatite in L chondrites is Cl-rich, similar to H chondrites, whereas apatite in LL chondrites has lower Cl/F ratios. Merrillite has similar compositions among the three chondrite groups. Feldspar in L chondrites shows a similar equilibration trend to LL chondrites, from a wide range of plagioclase compositions in petrologic type 4 to a homogeneous albitic composition in type 6. This contrasts with H chondrites which have homogeneous albitic plagioclase in petrologic types 4–6. Alkali- and halogen-rich and likely hydrous metasomatic fluids acted during prograde metamorphism on OC parent bodies, resulting in albitization reactions and development of phosphate minerals. Fluid compositions transitioned to a more anhydrous, Cl-rich composition after the asteroid began to cool. Differences in secondary minerals between H and L, LL chondrites can be explained by differences in fluid abundance, duration, or timing of fluid release. Phosphate minerals in the regolith breccia, Kendleton, show lithology-dependent apatite compositions. Bulk Cl/F ratios for OCs inferred from apatite compositions are higher than measured bulk chondrite values, suggesting that bulk F abundances are overestimated and that bulk Cl/F ratios in OCs are similar to CI.

¹J.N. Connelly,¹M. Bizzarro
Earth and Planetary Science Letters 452,36–43 Link to Article [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2016.07.010]
¹Centre for Star and Planet Formation, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5–7, 1350 Copenhagen K, Denm
Copyright Elsevier

A model of a giant impact between two planetary bodies is widely accepted to account for the Earth–Moon system. Despite the importance of this event for understanding early Earth evolution and the inventory of Earth’s volatiles critical to life, the timing of the impact is poorly constrained. We explore a data-based, two-stage Pb isotope evolution model in which the timing of the loss of volatile Pb relative to refractory U in the aftermath of the giant impact is faithfully recorded in the Pb isotopes of bulk silicate Earth. Constraining the first stage Pb isotopic evolution permits calculating an age range of 4.426–4.417 Ga for the inflection in the U/Pb ratio related to the giant impact. This model is supported by Pb isotope data for angrite meteorites that we use to demonstrate volatility-driven, planetary-scale Pb loss was an efficient process during the early Solar System. The revised age is ∼100 Myr younger than most current estimates for the age of the Moon but fully consistent with recent ages for lunar ferroan anorthosite and the timing of Earth’s first crust inferred from the terrestrial zircon record. The estimated loss of ∼98% of terrestrial Pb relative to the Solar System bulk composition by the end of the Moon-forming process implies that the current inventory of Earth’s most volatile elements, including water, arrived during post-impact veneering by volatile-rich bodies.