^1,2Nian Wang,^3,4Guiqin Wang,^1,2Ting Zhang,¹Lixin Gu,¹Chi Zhang,¹Sen Hu,⁵Bingkui Miao,^1,2Yangting Lin
Journal of Geophysical Research (Planets) (In Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JE006847]
¹Key Laboratory of Earth and Planetary Physics, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100029 China
²University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049 China
³State Key Laboratory of Isotope Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510640 China
⁴CAS Center for Excellence in Comparative Planetology, China
⁵Key Laboratory of Geological Engineering Center of Guangxi Province, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin, 541004 China
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons

The Huoyanshan iron meteorite shower, recently found in the Gobi Desert of Hami, Xinjiang, China, has very high Ni (21.1 wt%) content and low Au (2.0 ppm), Ir (0.02 ppm), Ge (1.7 ppm), and Ga (1.1 ppm) contents, and was classified into IAB-sLH subgroup. The iron has a finest octahedrite structure of Widmanstätten pattern (the intergrowth of kamacite (α) and taenite (γ)) with plessite matrix, and euhedral schreibersite (Sch) crystals exclusively enclosed in kamacite bands. The textural features suggest the following formation process: γ→γ + Sch →γ+ Sch + α, and then γ→α2 + γ. The metallographic cooling rate of Huoyanshan iron was determined to be 3–50 °C/Myr using both the taenite Ni profile-matching and taenite central Ni content methods, with the bandwidths corrected for crystallographic orientation by electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). The cooling rate of Huoyanshan is consistent with other sLH and confirms the slow cooling history of the IAB low-Au subgroups. The slow cooling rates of non-magmatic irons required immediate re-accretion with a thick brecciated fragments layer in the parent body after the impact melting event. The depleted but unfractionated Re, Os, Ir, Ru, and Pt and the enriched Pd and Au abundances of Huoyanshan iron and other sLH subgroup show complementary feature to that of refractory metal nuggets in Ca-, Al-rich inclusions (CAIs), which could be explained by extracting the metallic Fe-Ni with HSE predominantly remained in CAIs from a CAI-bearing asteroid. The very high Ni content of sLH subgroup suggests a highly oxidized parental asteroid, but non-carbonaceous chondrite based on Mo isotopic compositions (Worsham et al., 2017). We propose that the Huoyanshan iron and other sLH subgroup were produced by impact melting of a LL like and CAI-bearing asteroid, followed by fast burying of thick and porous silicate breccia.

¹David W. Mittlefehldt et al. (>10)
Journal of Geophysical Research (Planets)(In Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JE006915]
¹Mail code XI3, Astromaterials Research Office, NASA/Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, 77058 USA
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons

We have used Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity data to investigate the origin and alteration of lithic types along the western rim of Noachian-aged Endeavour crater on Meridiani Planum. Two geologic units are identified along the rim: the Shoemaker and Matijevic formations. The Shoemaker formation consists of two types of polymict impact breccia: clast-rich with coarser clasts in upper units; clast-poor with smaller clasts in lower units. Comparisons terrestrial craters show that the lower units represent more distal ejecta from at least two earlier impacts, and the upper units are proximal ejecta from Endeavour crater. Both are mixtures of target rocks of basaltic composition with subtle compositional variations caused by differences in post-impact alteration. The Matijevic formation and lower Shoemaker units represent pre-Endeavour geology, which we equate with the regional Noachian subdued cratered unit. An alteration style unique to these rocks is formation of smectite and Si- and Al-rich vein-like structures crosscutting outcrops. Post-Endeavour alteration is dominated by sulfate formation. Rim-crossing fracture zones include regions of alteration that produced Mg-sulfates as a dominant phase, plausibly closely associated in time with the Endeavour impact. Calcium-sulfate vein formation occurred over extended time, including before the Endeavour impact and after the Endeavour rim had been substantially degraded, likely after deposition of the Burns formation that surrounds and embays the rim. Differences in Mg, Ca and Cl concentrations on rock surfaces and interiors indicate mobilization of salts by transient water that has occurred recently and may be ongoing.