1A. N. Krot,1K. Nagashima,2M. I. Petaev,1E. Dobrică,3C. Ma,4B. Jacobsen
Meteoritics & Planetary Science (in Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.70036]
1Hawai‘i Institute of Geophysics & Planetology, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Honolulu, Hawai‘i, USA
2Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
3Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
4Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California, USA
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons
We report on the mineralogy, petrology, oxygen, and aluminum–magnesium isotopic systematics of the secondary corundum-bearing assemblages in type B CAIs 3529Z and 3529G and fluffy type A (FTA) CAI ALH-2 from Allende (CV > 3.6). In 3529Z and 3529G, 2–5 μm-sized euhedral-to-subhedral corundum grains associate with secondary alumoåkermanite [(Ca,Na)2AlSi2O7], grossular, spinel, grossite, celsian, kushiroite, and wadalite. In ALH-2, 2–5 μm-sized euhedral-to-subhedral corundum grains associate with secondary grossular, nepheline, spinel, and kushiroite. In 3529Z and 3529G, corundum and associated secondary grossite, spinel, alumoåkermanite, grossular, and kushiroite have similar 16O-poor compositions (Δ17O = −2.2 ± 1.5‰); primary spinel is 16O-rich (Δ17O ~ −23‰); Al,Ti-diopside shows a range of Δ17O (from ~ −24‰ to ~ −15‰); anorthite and melilite are 16O-depleted to various degrees (−6.5‰ ≤ Δ17O ≤ −4.5‰ and Δ17O = −2.7 ± 0.8‰, respectively). In ALH-2, corundum shows a range of Δ17O, from ~ −9‰ to ~ −1‰; primary hibonite and spinel are 16O-rich (Δ17O ~ −23‰); melilite and perovskite are 16O-poor (Δ17O = −2.6 ± 1.5‰ and −3.1 ± 1.3‰, respectively). On the Al-Mg isotope diagram (26Mg* versus 27Al/24Mg), primary Al,Ti-diopside, hibonite, melilite, and spinel in the Allende CAIs studied along the canonical isochron with inferred initial 26Al/27Al ratio [(26Al/27Al)0] of ~5 × 10−5. All secondary minerals have resolved excesses of 26Mg*: alumoåkermanite, corundum, and grossite plot below the canonical isochron, whereas most spinel analyses plot above it. An internal isochron defined by the coexisting secondary corundum and alumoåkermanite in 3529Z has (26Al/27Al)0 = (7.5 ± 2.6) × 10−7. We conclude that the corundum-bearing assemblages in Allende CAIs resulted from metasomatic alteration of primary melilite and anorthite, ~4–5 Ma after their crystallization. Metasomatic alteration of CAIs in the Allende parent asteroid by an aqueous fluid having Δ17O of ~ −3 ± 2‰ modified the O-isotope composition of their primary melilite, anorthite, and Ti-rich pyroxene; O-isotope compositions of primary hibonite, spinel, and low-Ti pyroxene escaped this modification.