The effects of terrestrial weathering on samarium‑neodymium isotopic composition of ordinary chondrites

1,2Hamed Pourkhorsandi,1Vinciane Debaille,1,3Rosalind M.G.Armytage,1,4Matthias van Ginneken,2PierreRochette,2JérômeGattacceca
Chemical Geology 652, 120056 Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemgeo.2020.120056]
1Laboratoire G-Time, Université Libre de Bruxelles, CP, 160/02, 50, Av. F.D. Roosevelt, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
2Aix-Marseille Univ, CNRS, IRD, INRAE, CEREGE, Aix-en-Provence, France
3Jacobs/JETS, NASA Johnson Space Center, 2101 NASA Parkway, Mailcode XI3, Houston, TX, 77058, USA
4Royal Belgium Institute of Natural Sciences, rue Vautier 29, B-1000 Bruxelles, Belgium

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Systematic investigations of high‐pressure polymorphs in shocked ordinary chondrites

1Masaaki Miyahara,2,3Akira Yamaguchi,1Masato Saitoh,1Kanta Fukimoto,4Takeshi Sakai,4Hiroaki Ohfuji,5Naotaka Tomioka,6Yu Kodama,7Eiji Ohtani
Meteoritics & Planetary Science (in Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.13608]
1Graduate School of Advanced Science and Engineering, Hiroshima University, Higashi‐Hiroshima, 739‐8526 Japan
2National Institute of Polar Research, Tokyo, 190‐8518 Japan
3Department of Polar Science, School of Multidisciplinary Science, SOKENDAI (The Graduate University for Advanced Studies), Tokyo, 190‐8518 Japan
4Geodynamics Research Center, Ehime University, Matsuyama, 790‐8577 Japan
5Kochi Institute for Core Sample Research, Japan Agency for Marine‐Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Nankoku, Kochi, 783‐8502 Japan
6Marine Works Japan, Nankoku, Kochi, 783‐8502 Japan
7Department of Earth Sciences, Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University, Sendai, 980‐8578 Japan
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons

Shock‐induced melting textures and high‐pressure polymorphs in 178 ordinary chondrites of all chemical groups and petrologic types were investigated. The shock‐induced melting modes were classified into three types, namely pocket, line, and network. The type of shock‐induced melting depends on the petrologic type. The width of the shock‐induced melt increased with increasing the petrologic type number. The approximate estimated shock‐pressure ranges recorded in and around the shock‐induced melts of the H‐group ordinary chondrites based on the identified high‐pressure polymorphs were as follows: H3, less than 2 GPa; H4–H6, 2–6 GPa. For ordinary chondrites of the L/LL group, the values were as follows: L/LL3, 2–6 GPa; L/LL4, 2–14 GPa; L5: 14–20 GPa; LL5, 2–14 GPa; L6, 17–23 GPa; and LL6, 14–18 GPa. After adopting the estimated shock pressures into the onion shell‐structured parent body model, the shock pressure on the surface was much lower than in the interior. One possibility is that the apparent lower shock pressure on the surface is due to spallation during the impact. Considering the features of the high‐pressure polymorphs, the major disruption history of the parent bodies is different in each chemical group, although the L/LL chondrite parent bodies may have a similar major disruption history.

The discovery of meteorites near the Yamato Mountains: How the 1969 discoveries changed planetary science (Invited Review)

1Akira Yamaguchi,1Kazuyuki Shiraishi,2Ralph Harvey
Meteoritics & Planetary Science (in Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.13624]
1National Institute of Polar Research, Tachikawa, Tokyo, 190‐8518 Japan
2Department of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, 44106‐7216 USA
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons

In-situ visualization of dynamic fracture and fragmentation of an L-type ordinary chondrite by combined synchrotron X-ray radiography and microtomography

1,2Lukasz Farbaniec,1,2David J.Chapman,1Jack R.W.Patten,2Liam C.Smith,3James D.Hogan,4Alexander Rack,1,2Daniel E.Eakins
Icarus (in Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2021.114346]
1Institute of Shock Physics, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK
2Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PJ, UK
3Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G2R3, Canada
4European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, CS40220, 38043 Grenoble Cedex 9, France
Copyright Elsevier

The relationship between the dynamic mechanical properties of stony meteorites and their microstructures was investigated in-situ for an L-type ordinary chondrite using a split-Hopkinson pressure bar apparatus and ultra-high speed phase-contrast X-ray radiography at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF). Synchrotron X-ray microtomography (CT) was performed both prior to and immediately following dynamic compression to correlate key structural features between the initial microstructure and recovered fragments as well as to identify the leading mechanisms for fracture and fragmentation. Real-time visualization of damage evolution in the specimens revealed the very first cracks to be initiated at the sites of FeNi-metal nodules. These cracks propagated rapidly through the largest group of chondrules (the porphyritic olivine type chondrules) along the loading direction, which led to the formation of column-like fragments. CT analysis of the collected fragments confirmed the dominant mode of fracture to be transgranular with a clear link between FeNi-metal nodule statistics and the size distribution of fragments, emphasizing their role in mechanical failure and fragmentation process. The resulting fragmentation was used to validate the predictions of brittle fragmentation models, and found to be in good agreement with the laboratory-scale impacts. In turn, these models can help unravel the consequences of impact-induced fragmentation processes that have helped shape the solar system.

Geochemistry of the Von Kármán crater floor and thickness of the non-mare ejecta over the Chang’e-4 landing area

1Dijun Guo,1,2,3Wenzhe Fa,4Xiaojia Zeng,1Jun Du,4,3Jianzhong Liu
Icarus (in Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2021.114327]
1Institute of Remote Sensing and Geographical Information System, School of Earth and Space Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China
2State Key Laboratory of Lunar and Planetary Sciences, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macau, China
3CAS Center for Excellence in Comparative Planetology, Hefei, China
4Center for Lunar and Planetary Sciences, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang, China
Copyright Elsevier

China’s Chang’e-4 mission has carried out the first ever lunar farside landing exploration on the floor of the Von Kármán crater, a geologically complex region located in the most ancient and deepest South Pole-Aitken (SPA) basin. In order to demonstrate the characteristics of materials in the landing area, we investigated the regional geochemistry and thickness of non-mare ejecta overlaying the mare basalts. Comparative analyses of FeO, TiO2 and Th concentrations suggest that the landing site surface is dominated by non-mare ejecta from nearby craters (e.g., Finsen crater) with part of basaltic materials. The ejecta thickness is estimated based on the excavation depth of dark-haloed and non-dark-haloed craters by using support-vector machine, a supervised machine learning method for classification. The results show that the ejecta thickness in the region of 40 km across the landing site varies from near zero to ~80 m with a mean value of ~41 m. The ejecta at the CE-4 landing site is ~40 m thick, which is comparable to the in situ observations by the Lunar Penetrating Radar onboard the Yutu-2 rover. Our results provide valuable information for interpretation of the on-going returned data and geologic analysis of the Chang’e-4 exploration region.

Salt – A critical material to consider when exploring the solar system

1M.R.M.Izawa,2,3P.L.King,4P.Vernazza,3,5J.A.Berger,3W.A.McCutcheon
Icarus (in Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2021.114328]
1Institute for Planetary Materials, Okayama University – Misasa, 827 Yamada, Misasa, Tottori 682-0122, Japan
2Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
3Inst. Meteoritics, Univ. New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA
4Lab. d’Astrophys. de Marseille, Pôle de l’Etoile Site de Château-Gombert 38, Marseille cedex 13, France
5NASA Johnson Space Center, 2101 E NASA Pkwy, Houston, TX 77058, United States
Copyright Elsevier

Salt-rich deposits may be more widespread on planetary surfaces than is generally appreciated. Remote observations, laboratory studies of meteorites, and cosmochemical constraints all point towards widespread occurrences of salts (including halides, sulfates, and (bi)carbonates) on asteroids, icy bodies, Mars, and elsewhere. We have investigated the mid-infrared (1.8–25 μm) reflectance spectral properties of mixtures of chondritic (ordinary, enstatite and carbonaceous) meteorites with potassium bromide; a mid-infrared transmissive salt like all halides. Our results demonstrate that halide-chondrite mixtures provide spectral signatures that either reveal the presence of transmissive materials or provide evidence for highly porous regolith. Previously, the nature of the surfaces of the asteroids 624 Hektor and 21 Lutetia was inferred using a limited range of spectra from halide-chondrite mixtures. Here, we provide an extensive dataset of halide-chondrite mixtures to encompass a wider set of possible surface compositions.

Study of Bursa L6 ordinary chondrite by X‐ray diffraction, magnetization measurements, and Mössbauer spectroscopy

Alevtina A. Maksimova et al. (>10)
Meteoritics & Planetary Science (in Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.13597]
1Institute of Physics and Technology, Ural Federal University, Ekaterinburg, 620002 Russian Federation
2The Zavaritsky Institute of Geology and Geochemistry of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Ekaterinburg, 620016 Russian Federation
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons

We report the results of the complex study of the bulk interior of Bursa L6 ordinary chondrite using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy, electron microprobe analysis (EMPA), X‐ray diffraction (XRD), magnetization measurements, and Mössbauer spectroscopy. The main and minor iron‐bearing phases and their chemical compositions were determined by these techniques. The detected iron‐bearing phases in the bulk interior of Bursa L6 are the following: olivine; orthopyroxene; Ca‐rich clinopyroxene; troilite; chromite; hercynite; ilmenite; the α2‐Fe(Ni, Co), α‐Fe(Ni, Co), and γ‐Fe(Ni, Co) phases; and ferrihydrite resulting from meteorite terrestrial weathering. Using the EMPA, the values of fayalite and ferrosilite were obtained as ~25.2% and ~21.4%, respectively. The unit cell parameters for silicate crystals were determined from XRD, then the Fe2+ and Mg2+ occupations of the M1 and M2 sites in these crystals were estimated. Further calculations of the ratios of the Fe2+ occupancies in the M1 and M2 sites in olivine and orthopyroxene based on XRD and Mössbauer spectroscopy appeared to be in a good agreement. The temperatures of equilibrium cation distributions for olivine and orthopyroxene obtained from these techniques are consistent: 623 K (XRD) and 625 K (Mössbauer spectroscopy) for olivine and 1138 K (XRD) and 1122 K (Mössbauer spectroscopy) for orthopyroxene.

Study of the Composition of ABA Panu (L3) Meteorite Degassing Products

1A. V. Stennikov,1V. S. Fedulov,1S. G. Naimushin,1N. V. Dushenko,1S. A. Voropaev
Solar System Research 54, 150-154 Link to Article [DOI
https://doi.org/10.1134/S0038094620020070%5D
1Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119991, Moscow, Russia

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