^1,2Naoya Imae, ³Hiroshi Isobe
Earth and Planetary Science Letters (in Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2017.05.040]
¹Antarctic Meteorite Research Center, National Institute of Polar Research, 10-3 Midori-cho, Tachikawa, Tokyo 190-8518, Japan
²Department of Polar Science, School of Multidisciplinary Sciences, SOKENDAI (The Graduate University for Advanced Studies), 10-3 Midori-cho, Tachikawa, Tokyo 190-8518, Japan
³Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Advanced Science and Technology, Kumamoto University, Chuo-ku, Kumamoto 860-8555, Japan
Copyright Elsevier

Chondrules, igneous objects of ∼1 mm in diameter, formed in the earliest solar system via a transient heating event, are divided into two types: main (type I, FeO-poor) and minor (type II, FeO-rich). Using various chondritic materials for different redox conditions and grain sizes, chondrule reproduction experiments were carried out at IW-2 to IW-3.8, with cooling rates mainly ∼100°C/h, with peak temperatures mainly at 1450 °C, and mainly at 100 Pa in a Knudsen cell providing near chemical equilibrium between the charge and the surrounding gas at the peak temperatures. Vapor pressures in the capsule were controlled using solid buffers. After and during the significant evaporation of the iron component from the metallic iron-poor starting materials in near equilibrium, crystallization occurred. This resulted in the formation of a product similar to the type I chondrules. Dusty olivine grains occurred in charges that had precursor type II chondrules containing coarse ferroan olivine, but such grains are not common in type I chondrules. Therefore fine-grained ferroan matrices rather than type II chondrules are main precursor for type I chondrules. The type I chondrules would have evolved via evaporation and condensation in the similar conditions to the present experimental system. Residual gas, which escaped in experiments, could have condensed to form matrices, leading to complementary compositions. Clusters of matrices and primordial chondrules could have been recycled to form main-generation chondrules originated from the shock heating.

^1,2B.J. Shaulis, ¹M. Rightera, T.J. Lapen, ³B.L. Jolliff, ⁴A.J. Irving
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (in Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2017.06.031]
¹Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Houston, Houston, Texas 77204-5007
²Department of Geosciences, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701
³Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130
⁴Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195
Copyright Elsevier

The Northwest Africa (NWA) 773 clan of meteorites is a group of paired and/or petrogenetically related stones that contain at least six different lithologies: magnesian gabbro, ferroan gabbro, anorthositic gabbro, olivine phyric basalt, regolith breccia, and polymict breccia. Uranium-lead dates of baddeleyite in the magnesian gabbro, ferroan gabbro, and components within breccia lithologies of paired lunar meteorites NWA 773, NWA 3170, NWA 6950, and NWA 7007 indicate a chronologic link among the meteorites and their components. A total of 50 baddeleyite grains were analyzed and yielded weighted average 207Pb-206Pb dates of 3119.4 ± 9.4 (n = 27), 3108 ± 20 (n = 13), and 3113 ± 15 (n = 10) Ma for the magnesian gabbro, ferroan gabbro, and polymict breccia lithologies, respectively. A weighted average date of 3115.6 ± 6.8 Ma (n = 47/50) was calculated from the baddeleyite dates for all lithologies. A single large zircon grain found in a lithic clast in the polymict breccia of NWA 773 yielded a U-Pb concordia date of 3953 ± 18 Ma, indicating a much more ancient source for some of the components within the breccia. A U-Pb concordia date of apatite and merrillite grains from the magnesian gabbro and polymict breccia lithologies in NWA 773 is 3112 ± 33 Ma, identical to the baddeleyite dates. Magnesian and ferroan gabbros, as well as the dated baddeleyite and Ca-phosphate-bearing detritus in the breccia lithologies, formed during the same igneous event at about 3115 Ma. These data also strengthen proposed petrogenetic connections between magnesian and ferroan gabbro lithologies, which represent some of the youngest igneous rocks known from the Moon.