1,2Run-Lia Pang,2Dennis Harries,1Kilian Pollok,1,3Ai-Cheng Zhang,2,4Falko Langenhorst
Geochemistry (Chemie der Erde) (In Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemer.2019.125541]
1State Key Laboratory for Mineral Deposits Research, School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210046, China
2Institute of Geosciences, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, D-07745 Jena, Germany
3CAS Center for Excellence in Comparative Planetology, China
4Hawai’i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawai’i at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawai’i 96822, USA
Copyright Elsevier
Shock-induced Ti-rich melt pockets in a basaltic eucrite Northwest Africa (NWA) 8003 were studied using scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Unique mineral assemblages consisting of clinopyroxene, ilmenite, vestaite, corundum, and kyanite are observed. Among them, vestaite and corundum in NWA 8003 are first reported to occur in eucrite meteorites. Petrographic and chemical evidences indicate that the Ti-rich melt pockets have formed by in-situ melting of ilmenite, plagioclase, pyroxene, and possibly minor silica and apatite nearby. The temperature rise and melting were caused by the high shock impedance contrast at interfaces between ilmenite and other phases with a distinctly lower density. Crystallization pressure, temperature and cooling time of the Ti-rich melt pockets in NWA 8003 are constrained to be ∼0.9–∼10 GPa, ∼1300–∼1730 °C, and < 1 ms (5–50 μm in size), respectively.