¹Peter Mc Ardle,¹Rhian H. Jones,^2,3,4Luke Daly,¹Romain Tartèse,⁵Patricia L. Clay,⁵Brian O’Driscoll,¹Ray Burgess,⁶William Smith,⁶Colin How,¹Lewis Hughes
Meteoritics & Planetary Science (in Press) Open Access Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.70073]
¹Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
²School of Geographical and Earth Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
³Department of Materials, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
⁴Australian Centre for Microscopy & Microanalysis, University of Sydney, Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia
⁵Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
⁶School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons

Enstatite chondrites formed under extremely reducing conditions in the protoplanetary disk. They are derived from two or more parent bodies, EH and EL, and both EH and EL groups contain petrologic type 3–6 samples. The rare lithophile- and halogen-bearing sulfide, djerfisherite, occurs in low abundance in enstatite chondrites, most frequently in the EH3 chondrites. In some EH3 chondrites, but not in EL chondrites, djerfisherite is associated with a fine-grained mineral assemblage, termed the “Qingzhen Reaction,” which has previously been interpreted as an alteration product of djerfisherite. The Qingzhen Reaction is notable as perhaps the only record of fluid-mediated alteration on the EH parent body. In this study, we undertook a high-resolution chemical and mineralogical analysis of the Qingzhen Reaction and its djerfisherite host, in order to determine its composition, relationship to djerfisherite and its formation environment. We show that the Qingzhen Reaction is an alteration product of djerfisherite, predominantly comprised of porous troilite with remnant djerfisherite. Trace quantities of halite and (likely) sphalerite are also present. We suggest that the Qingzhen Reaction formed by the interaction of an anhydrous fluid with djerfisherite on the EH parent body.