^1,2Naoya Imae,¹Makoto Kimura,^1,2Akira Yamaguchi
Meteoritics & Planetary Science (in Press) Open Access Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.14348]
¹Antarctic Meteorite Research Center, National Institute of Polar Research, Tokyo, Japan
²Department of Polar Science, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, SOKENDAI, Tokyo, Japan
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons

The in-plane rotation method is used to obtain X-ray random diffraction (XRD) patterns of polished thin sections of 10 CM chondrites. The samples include five intermediately altered CM chondrites with subtypes 2.6–2.3, two heavily altered CM chondrites with subtype 2.0 and three with secondary heating after hydration (Y 980036, Y 980051, and Jbilet Winselwan). These CM chondrites are compared to each other as well as four previously analyzed CM meteorites of subtypes 3.0–2.8 and 2.0. The same thin sections also underwent textural observations and compositional analyses. Unheated CM chondrites display systematic mineralogical changes. As the alteration degree increases from subtypes 3.0–2.0, the presence of olivine and clinoenstatite decreases, while that of serpentines increases. The abundance of tochilinite significantly increases from 2.7 to 2.3 but then decreases from 2.3 to 2.0. Subtype 2.0 consists of relatively more Mg-rich serpentine than Fe-rich serpentine (cronstedtite). The XRD identified only Mg-serpentine from Jbilet Winselwan, suggesting selective decomposition of Fe-rich serpentine (cronstedtite), while all hydrous minerals in Y 980036 and Y 980051 decomposed. Additionally, all three CM chondrites with secondary heating after hydration show stage II or category B heating by the peak metamorphic temperature of 300–750°C. Compared to previous studies using XRD, the combination of XRD with the textural and compositional analyses using the same polished thin section, avoiding the preparation for powder samples, is a straightforward approach to characterize hydrated chondritic samples. The approach is nondestructive and can be correlated with SEM/EPMA, unlike previous XRD studies that required powdered samples.

^1,2K.Righter et al. (> 10)
Meteoritics & Planetary Science (in Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.14353]
¹Dept. Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USA
²ARES, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, USA
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons

The Meteorite Hills dense collection area in the Transantarctic Mountains has yielded 1130 meteorites over several ANSMET field seasons. Twenty-three CM carbonaceous chondrites were recovered as part of the 2000–2001 and 2001–2002 field seasons. Many of these CMs have unique or rare features, but most are small (<50 g), making their preservation of highest priority, so material can be available for future researchers. One major contributor to preservation is knowing which samples are paired with others. Because CM chondrites are fine grained and petrographic features are subtle, standard petrography is not as helpful in classification. To strengthen the understanding of pairing and classification, we initiated a focused study of the 23 CM chondrites recovered from Meteorite Hills. Combining magnetic susceptibility (MS), modal mineralogy as determined using X-ray diffraction (XRD), and published information about a subset of samples, we have reassessed the classification and pairing. Many samples have MS log χ values between 3.7 and 3.9, but there are a few exceptions such as MET 00432 (4.85), MET 01076 and 77 (4.06 and 4.63, respectively), and MET 01073 (3.21). Fifteen of the samples exhibit intermediate to high levels of aqueous alteration with phyllosilicate fractions (PSF) of 0.88–0.93. A trio of samples exhibit even higher levels of alteration with PSFs of 0.96–0.98. Find locations and cosmic ray exposure (CRE) ages of these two groups are similar and the latter very short at 0.1–0.2 Ma, raising the possibility that they are all part of the same heterogeneous fall. Since the three heavily altered samples are rare and have distinctive mineralogy relative to other MET CMs, they should be preserved regardless of whether they are from one large fall or two separate falls. Two samples (MET 01076 and MET 01077) contain a much greater fraction of olivine and pyroxene, have longer CRE ages, and most likely are heated CM chondrites. Three samples are unpaired and have unique characteristics: MET 00432 has a high magnetite fraction and other mineralogical and chemical properties comparable to C2 ungrouped chondrites such as Tagish Lake and Tarda, while MET 001087 (PSF = 0.77) and MET 00633 (PSF = 0.76) are less aqueously altered than the other meteorites, with the former in particular showing a significant tochilinite peak in its XRD pattern. Although MET 00633 could arguably be part of the larger pairing group of samples given its similar find location, we recommend keeping it unpaired given its distinct mineralogy.