¹Haskins, J.B.,¹Stern, E.C.,¹Bauschlicher, C.W., Jr.,²Lawson, J.W.
Journal of Applied Physics 125, 235105 Link to Article [DOI: 10.1063/1.5079418]
¹Thermal Protection Materials Branch, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035, United States
²Intelligent Systems Division, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035, United States

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^1,2,3Alexander N. Krot
Meteoritics & Planetary Science (in Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.13350]
¹Hawai’i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, School of Ocean, Earth Science, and Technology, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, Honolulu, Hawaii, 96822 USA
²Centre for Star and Planet Formation, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
³Geoscience Institute, Goethe University, Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons

Chondrites consist of three major components: refractory inclusions (Ca,Al‐rich inclusions [CAIs] and amoeboid olivine aggregates), chondrules, and matrix. Here, I summarize recent results on the mineralogy, petrology, oxygen, and aluminum‐magnesium isotope systematics of the chondritic components (mainly CAIs in carbonaceous chondrites) and their significance for understanding processes in the protoplanetary disk (PPD) and on chondrite parent asteroids. CAIs are the oldest solids originated in the solar system: their U‐corrected Pb‐Pb absolute age of 4567.3 ± 0.16 Ma is considered to represent time 0 of its evolution. CAIs formed by evaporation, condensation, and aggregation in a gas of approximately solar composition in a hot (ambient temperature >1300 K) disk region exposed to irradiation by solar energetic particles, probably near the protoSun; subsequently, some CAIs were melted in and outside their formation region during transient heating events of still unknown nature. In unmetamorphosed, type 2–3.0 chondrites, CAIs show large variations in the initial 26Al/27Al ratios, from <5 × 10–6 to ~5.25 × 10–5. These variations and the inferred low initial abundance of 60Fe in the PPD suggest late injection of 26Al by a wind from a nearby Wolf–Rayet star into the protosolar molecular cloud core prior to or during its collapse. Although there are multiple generations of CAIs characterized by distinct mineralogies, textures, and isotopic (O, Mg, Ca, Ti, Mo, etc.) compositions, the 26Al heterogeneity in the CAI‐forming region(s) precludes determining the duration of CAIs formation using 26Al‐26Mg systematics. The existence of multiple generations of CAIs and the observed differences in CAI abundances in carbonaceous and noncarbonaceous chondrites may indicate that CAIs were episodically formed and ejected by a disk wind from near the Sun to the outer solar system and then spiraled inward due to gas drag. In type 2–3.0 chondrites, most CAIs surrounded by Wark–Lovering rims have uniform Δ17O (= δ17O−0.52 × δ18O) of ~ −24‰; however, there is a large range of Δ17O (from ~−40 to ~ −5‰) among them, suggesting the coexistence of 16O‐rich (low Δ17O) and 16O‐poor (high Δ17O) gaseous reservoirs at the earliest stages of the PPD evolution. The observed variations in Δ17O of CAIs may be explained if three major O‐bearing species in the solar system (CO, H2O, and silicate dust) had different O‐isotope compositions, with H2O and possibly silicate dust being 16O‐depleted relative to both the Genesis solar wind Δ17O of −28.4 ± 3.6‰ and even more 16O‐enriched CO. Oxygen isotopic compositions of CO and H2O could have resulted from CO self‐shielding in the protosolar molecular cloud (PMC) and the outer PPD. The nature of 16O‐depleted dust at the earliest stages of PPD evolution remains unclear: it could have either been inherited from the PMC or the initially 16O‐rich (solar‐like) MC dust experienced O‐isotope exchange during thermal processing in the PPD. To understand the chemical and isotopic composition of the protosolar MC material and the degree of its thermal processing in PPD, samples of the primordial silicates and ices, which may have survived in the outer solar system, are required. In metamorphosed CO3 and CV3 chondrites, most CAIs exhibit O‐isotope heterogeneity that often appears to be mineralogically controlled: anorthite, melilite, grossite, krotite, perovskite, and Zr‐ and Sc‐rich oxides and silicates are 16O‐depleted relative to corundum, hibonite, spinel, Al,Ti‐diopside, forsterite, and enstatite. In texturally fine‐grained CAIs with grain sizes of ~10–20 μm, this O‐isotope heterogeneity is most likely due to O‐isotope exchange with 16O‐poor (Δ17O ~0‰) aqueous fluids on the CO and CV chondrite parent asteroids. In CO3.1 and CV3.1 chondrites, this process did not affect Al‐Mg isotope systematics of CAIs. In some coarse‐grained igneous CV CAIs, O‐isotope heterogeneity of anorthite, melilite, and igneously zoned Al,Ti‐diopside appears to be consistent with their crystallization from melts of isotopically evolving O‐isotope compositions. These CAIs could have recorded O‐isotope exchange during incomplete melting in nebular gaseous reservoir(s) with different O‐isotope compositions and during aqueous fluid–rock interaction on the CV asteroid.

¹Ryan C. Ogliore,²Donald E. Brownlee,³Kazuhide Nagashima,²David J. Joswiak,¹Josiah B. Lewis,³Alexander N. Krot,¹Kainen L. Utt,³Gary R. Huss
Meteoritics & Planetary Science (in Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.13364]
¹Department of Physics, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, 63130 USA
²Department of Astronomy, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, 98195 USA
³Hawai’i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, Honolulu, Hawaii, 96822 USA
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons

Filamentary enstatite crystals are found in interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) of likely cometary origin but are very rare or absent in meteorites. Crystallographic characteristics of filamentary enstatites indicate that they condensed directly from vapor. We measured the O isotopic composition of an enstatite ribbon from a giant cluster IDP to be δ¹⁸O = 25 ± 55, δ¹⁷O = −19 ± 129, ∆¹⁷O = −32 ± 134 (2σ errors), which is inconsistent at the 2σ level with the composition of the Sun inferred from the Genesis solar wind measurements. The particle’s O isotopic composition, consistent with the terrestrial composition, implies that it condensed from a gas of nonsolar O isotopic composition, possibly as a result of vaporization of disk region enriched in ¹⁶O‐depleted solids. The relative scarcity of filamentary enstatite in asteroids compared to comets implies either that this crystal condensed from dust vaporized in situ in the outer solar system where comets formed or it condensed in the inner solar system and was subsequently transported outward to the comet‐forming region.

¹Cosette M. Gilmour,¹Christopher D. K. Herd,²Pierre Beck
Meteoritics & Planetary Science (in Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.13362]
¹Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, 1‐26 Earth Sciences Building, Edmonton, Alberta, T6G 2E3 Canada
²UJF‐Grenoble 1, CNRS‐INSU, Institut de Planétologie et d’Astrophysique de Grenoble (IPAG), UMR 5274, Grenoble, F‐38041 France
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons

Here, we evaluate the extent of aqueous alteration among five pristine specimens of the ungrouped Tagish Lake carbonaceous chondrite (TL5b, TL11h, TL11i, TL4, and TL10a) using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and infrared (IR) transmission spectroscopy. Both TGA and IR spectroscopy have proven to be reliable methods for determining the extent of aqueous alteration among different carbonaceous chondrites, in particular the CM chondrites (e.g., Garenne et al. 2014), with which Tagish Lake shares some affinities. Using these two methods, our goal is to incorporate TL4 and TL10a into the known alteration sequence of TL5b < TL11h < TL11i (Herd et al. 2011; Blinova et al. 2014a). This study highlights the compositional variability of the Tagish Lake specimens, which we ascribe to its brecciated nature. Our TGA and IR spectroscopy results are congruent with the reported alteration sequence, allowing us to introduce the TL4 and TL10a specimens in the following order: TL4 < TL5b ≤ TL10a < TL 11h < TL11i. Notably, these two specimens appear to be similar to the least altered lithologies previously reported, and the alteration of Tagish Lake is similar to that experienced by lesser altered members of the CM chondrites (>CM1.6). Based on these findings, Tagish Lake could be considered a 1.6–2.0 ungrouped carbonaceous chondrite. Visible and near‐IR reflectance measurements of Tagish Lake were also acquired in this study to revisit the Tagish Lake parent body connection. While other studies have paired Tagish Lake with D‐ and T‐type asteroid parent bodies, the reflectance spectra acquired in this study are variable among the different Tagish Lake specimens in relation to their alteration sequences; results match with spectra characteristic of C‐, X‐, Xc‐, and D‐type asteroids. The heterogeneity of Tagish Lake coupled with its low albedo makes the parent body connection a challenge.

^1,2Chen Zhao,¹Katharina Lodders,¹Hannah Bloom,¹Heng Chen,¹Zhen Tian,¹Piers Koefoed,³Mária K. Pető,¹Kun Wang (王昆)
Meteoritics & Planetary Science (in Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.13358]
¹Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, Campus Box 1169, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, Missouri, 63130 USA
²Faculty of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, Hubei, 430074 China
³Konkoly Observatory, Research Center for Astronomy and Earth Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, H‐1121 Budapest, Hungary
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons

Enstatite chondrites and aubrites are meteorites that show the closest similarities to the Earth in many isotope systems that undergo mass‐independent and mass‐dependent isotopic fractionations. Due to the analytical challenges to obtain high‐precision K isotopic compositions in the past, potential differences in K isotopic compositions between enstatite meteorites and the Earth remained uncertain. We report the first high‐precision K isotopic compositions of eight enstatite chondrites and four aubrites and find that there is a significant variation of K isotopic compositions among enstatite meteorites (from −2.34‰ to −0.18‰). However, K isotopic compositions of nearly all enstatite meteorites scatter around the bulk silicate earth (BSE) value. The average K isotopic composition of the eight enstatite chondrites (−0.47 ± 0.57‰) is indistinguishable from the BSE value (−0.48 ± 0.03‰), thus further corroborating the isotopic similarity between Earth’s building blocks and enstatite meteorite precursors. We found no correlation of K isotopic compositions with the chemical groups, petrological types, shock degrees, and terrestrial weathering conditions; however, the variation of K isotopes among enstatite meteorite can be attributed to the parent‐body processing. Our sample of the main‐group aubrite MIL 13004 is exceptional and has an extremely light K isotopic composition (δ41K = −2.34 ± 0.12‰). We attribute this unique K isotopic feature to the presence of abundant djerfisherite inclusions in our sample because this K‐bearing sulfide mineral is predicted to be enriched in 39K during equilibrium exchange with silicates.

¹QuinnR.Shollenberger,²Andreas Wittke,¹Jan Render,³Prajkta Mane,⁴Stephan Schuth,⁴Stefan Weyer,²Nikolaus Gussone,³Meenakshi Wadhwa,¹Gregory A.Brennecka
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (in Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2019.07.021]
¹Institut für Planetologie, University of Münster, Wilhelm-Klemm-Straße 10, 48149 Münster, Germany
²Institut für Mineralogie, University of Münster, Corrensstraße 24, 48149 Münster, Germany
³School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, PO Box 871404, Tempe, AZ 85287-1404 USA
⁴Institut für Mineralogie, Leibniz University Hannover, Callinstraße 3, 30167 Hannover, Germany
Copyright Elsevier

Calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions (CAIs) are the oldest dated materials that provide crucial information about the isotopic reservoirs present in the early Solar System. For a variety of elements, CAIs have isotope compositions that are uniform yet distinct from later formed solid material. However, despite being the most abundant metal in the Solar System, the isotopic composition of Fe in CAIs is not well constrained. In an attempt to determine the Fe isotopic compositions of CAIs, we combine extensive work from a previously studied CAI sample set with new isotopic work characterizing mass-dependent and mass-independent (nucleosynthetic) signatures in Mg, Ca, and Fe. This investigation includes work on three mineral separates of the Allende CAI Egg 2. For all isotope systems investigated, we find that in general, fine-grained CAIs exhibit light mass-dependent isotopic signatures relative to terrestrial standards, whereas igneous CAIs have heavier isotopic compositions relative to the fine-grained CAIs. Importantly, the mass-dependent Fe isotope signatures of bulk CAIs show a range of both light (fine-grained CAIs) and heavy (igneous CAIs) isotopic signatures relative to bulk chondrites, suggesting that Fe isotope signatures in CAIs largely derive from mass fractionation events such as condensation and evaporation occurring in the nebula. Such signatures show that a significant portion of the secondary alteration experienced by CAIs, particularly prevalent in fine-grained inclusions, occurred in the nebula prior to accretion into their respective parent bodies.

Regarding nucleosynthetic Fe isotope signatures, we do not observe any variation outside of analytical uncertainty in bulk CAIs compared to terrestrial standards. In contrast, all three Egg 2 mineral separates display resolved mass-independent excesses in ⁵⁶Fe compared to terrestrial standards. Furthermore, we find that the combined mass-dependent and nucleosynthetic Fe isotopic compositions of the Egg 2 mineral separates are well correlated, likely indicating that Fe indigenous to the CAI is mixed with less anomalous Fe, presumably from the solar nebula. Thus, these reported nucleosynthetic anomalies may point in the direction of the original Fe isotope composition of the CAI-forming region, but they likely only provide a minimum isotopic difference between the original mass-independent Fe isotopic composition of CAIs and that of later formed solids.

¹Elena Dobrică,²Ryan C. Ogliore,³Cécile Engrand,⁴Kazuhide Nagashima,¹Adrian J. Brearley
Meteoritics & Planetary Science (in Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.13366]
¹Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences MSC03‐2040, 1 University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 87131‐0001 USA
²Department of Physics, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, 63117 USA
³Centre de Sciences Nucléaire et de Sciences de la Matière, Université Paris Sud, Université Paris‐Saclay, 91405 Orsay Campus, Saint‐Aubin, France
⁴Hawai’i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI, 96822 USA
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons

We report the mineralogy and texture of magnetite grains, a magnetite‐dolomite assemblage, and the adjacent mineral phases in five hydrated fine‐grained Antarctic micrometeorites (H‐FgMMs). Additionally, we measured the oxygen isotopic composition of magnetite grains and a magnetite‐dolomite assemblage in these samples. Our mineralogical study shows that the secondary phases identified in H‐FgMMs have similar textures and chemical compositions to those described previously in other primitive solar system materials, such as carbonaceous chondrites. However, the oxygen isotopic compositions of magnetite in H‐FgMMs span a range of ∆¹⁷O values from +1.3‰ to +4.2‰, which is intermediate between magnetites measured in carbonaceous and ordinary chondrites (CCs and OCs). The δ¹⁸O values of magnetites in one H‐FgMM have a ~27‰ mass‐dependent spread in a single 100 × 200 μm particle, indicating that there was a localized control of the fluid composition, probably due to a low water‐to‐rock mass ratio. The ∆¹⁷O values of magnetite indicate that H‐FgMMs sampled a different aqueous fluid than ordinary and carbonaceous chondrites, implying that the source of H‐FgMMs is probably distinct from the asteroidal source of CCs and OCs. Additionally, we analyzed the oxygen isotopic composition of a magnetite‐dolomite assemblage in one of the H‐FgMMs (sample 03‐36‐46) to investigate the temperature at which these minerals coprecipitated. We have used the oxygen isotope fractionation between the coexisting magnetite and dolomite to infer a precipitation temperature between 160 and 280 °C for this sample. This alteration temperature is ~100–200 °C warmer than that determined from a calcite‐magnetite assemblage from the CR2 chondrite Al Rais, but similar to the estimated temperature of aqueous alteration for unequilibrated OCs, CIs, and CMs. This suggests that the sample 03‐36‐46 could come from a parent body that was large enough to attain temperatures as high as the OCs, CIs, and CMs, which implies an asteroidal origin for this particular H‐FgMM.

^1,2Atsushi Takenouchi,³Takashi Mikouchi,⁴Takamichi Kobayashi,^5,6Toshimori Sekine,^1,7Akira Yamaguchi,⁸Haruka Ono
Meteoritics & Planetary Science (in Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.13367]
¹National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR), 10‐3 Midori‐cho, Tachikawa, Tokyo, 190‐8518 Japan
²Department of Basic Science, The University of Tokyo, 3‐8‐1 Komaba, Meguro‐ku, Tokyo, 153‐8902 Japan
³The University Museum, The University of Tokyo, 7‐3‐1 Hongo, Bunkyo‐ku, Tokyo, 113‐0033 Japan
⁴National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), 1‐1 Namiki, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305‐0044 Japan
⁵Center for High Pressure Science and Technology Advanced Research (HPSTAR), 1690 Cailun Rd, Pudong, Shanghai, 201203 P.R. China
⁶Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, 2‐1 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka, 565‐0871 Japan
⁷Department of Polar Science, School of Multidisciplinary Science, SOKENDAI (The Graduate University for Advanced Studies), Tachikawa, Tokyo, 190‐8518 Japan
⁸Department of Earth and Planetary Science, The University of Tokyo, 7‐3‐1 Hongo, Bunkyo‐ku, Tokyo, 113‐0033 Japan
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons

We performed shock recovery experiments on an olivine‐phyric basalt at shock pressures of 22.2–48.5 GPa to compare with shock features in Martian meteorites (RBT 04261 and NWA 1950). Highly shocked olivine in the recovered basalt at 39.5 and 48.5 GPa shows shock‐induced planar deformation features (PDFs) composed of abundant streaks of defects. Similar PDFs were observed in olivine in RBT 04261 and NWA 1950 while those in NWA 1950 were composed of amorphous lamellae. Based on the present results and previous studies, the width and the abundance of lamellar fine‐structures increased with raising shock pressure. Therefore, these features could be used as shock pressure indicators while the estimated pressures may be lower limits due to no information of temperature dependence. For Martian meteorites that experienced heavy shocks, the minimum peak shock pressures of RBT 04261 and NWA 1950 are estimated to be 39.5–48.5 GPa and 48.5–56 GPa, respectively, which are found consistent with those estimated by postshock temperatures expected by the presence of brown olivine. We also investigated shock‐recovered basalts preheated at 750 and 800 °C in order to check the temperature effects on shock features. The results indicate a reduction in vitrifying pressure of plagioclase and a pressure increase for PDFs formation in olivine. Further temperature‐controlled shock recovery experiments will provide us better constraints to understand and to characterize various features found in natural shock events.

¹Philipp Gleißner,¹Harry Becker
Meteoritics & Planetary Science (in Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.13363]
¹Institut für Geologische Wissenschaften, Freie Universität Berlin, Malteserstr. 74‐100, 12249 Berlin, Germany
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons

Ejecta at North Ray crater (Apollo 16) sampled a unique section of the lunar highlands not accessible at most other landing sites and provide important constraints on the composition of late accreted materials. New data on multiple aliquots of four fragmental matrix breccias and a fragment‐laden melt breccia from this site display a variety of highly siderophile element patterns which may represent the signatures of volatile element‐depleted carbonaceous chondrite‐like material, primitive achondrite, differentiated metal, and an impactor component that cannot be related to known meteoritic material. The latter component is prevalent in these rocks besides characterized by depletions in Re and Os compared to Ir, Ru and Pt, chondritic Re/Os, and a gradual depletion of Pd and Au. The observed characteristics are more consistent with fractionations by nebular processes, like incomplete condensation or evaporation, than with lunar crustal processes, like partial melting or volatilization. The impactor signature preserved in these breccias may stem from primitive meteorites with a refractory element composition moderately different from known chondrites. The presence of distinct impactor components within the North Ray crater breccias together with observed correlations of characteristic element ratios (e.g., Re/Os, Ru/Pt, Pd/Ir) in different impact lithologies of four Apollo landing sites constrains physical mixing processes ranging from the scale of gram‐sized samples to the area covered by the Apollo missions.

¹Daniella N. DellaGiustina,¹Namrah Habib,¹Kenneth J. Domanik,¹Dolores H. Hill,⁴Dante S. Lauretta,²Yulia S. Goreva,³Marvin Killgore,⁴Yang Hexiong,⁴Robert T. Downs
Meteoritics & Planetary Science (in Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.13313]
¹Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, 1629 E University Blvd Tucson, Arizona, 85721 USA
²Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, 91109 USA
³Southwest Meteorite Laboratory, PO Box 95, Payson, Arizona, 85547 USA
⁴Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, 1040 4th St, Tucson, Arizona, 85721 USA
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons

We report the results of a study of the Fukang pallasite that includes measurements of bulk composition, mineral chemistry, mineral structure, and petrology. Fukang is a Main‐group pallasite that consists of semiangular olivine grains (Fo 86.3) embedded in an Fe‐Ni matrix with 9–10 wt% Ni and low‐Ir (45 ppb). Olivine grains sometimes occur in large clusters up to 11 cm across. The Fe‐Ni phase is primarily kamacite with accessory taenite and plessite. Minor phases include schreibersite, chromite, merrillite, troilite, and low‐Ca pyroxene. We describe a variety of silicate inclusions enclosed in olivine that contain phases rarely or not previously reported in Main‐group pallasites, including clinopyroxene (augite), tridymite, K‐rich felsic glass, and an unknown Ca‐Cr silicate. Pressure constraints determined from tridymite (<0.4 GPa), two‐pyroxene barometry (0.39 ± 0.07 GPa), and geophysical calculations that assume pallasite formation at the core–mantle boundary (CMB), provide an upper estimate on the size of the Main‐group parent body from which Fukang originated. We conclude that Fukang originated at the CMB of a large differentiated planetesimal 400–680 km in radius.