Transmission infrared spectra (2-25 microns) of carbonaceous chondrites (CI, CM, CV-CK, CR, C2 ungrouped): mineralogy, water, and asteroidal processes

P. Becka,*, A. Garennea, E. Quiricoa, L. Bonala, G. Montes-Hernandezb, F. Moynierc, B. Schmitta

aUJF-Grenoble 1 / CNRS-INSU, Institut de Planétologie et d’Astrophysique de Grenoble (IPAG) UMR 5274, Grenoble, F-38041, France
bUJF-Grenoble 1 / CNRS-INSU, Institut des Sciences de la Terre (IsTERRE) UMR 5275, Grenoble, F-38041, France
cDepartment of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Washington University in St Louis

In this work, infrared transmission spectra (2-25 μm range, 5000-400 cm-1) of 40 carbonacous chondrites were analyzed (21 CMs, 5 CVs, 6 CRs, 3 CKs, 3 C2s and 2 CIs). All these meteorite groups are known to have experienced significant aqueous alteration (except the CKs). These IR measurements provide information about the parent body processes experienced, as well as spectra for comparison with observations of Solar System small bodies and possibly with astronomical observations of accretion and debris disks.
This study reveals that each meteorite group appears to have specific signatures in the measured IR spectral range measured. In the case of the CI and CM groups, results show a variability in the shape of the silicate features that can be related to the evolution of the mineralogy with increasing extent of aqueous alteration extent as described by several authors with other techniques. This evolution of the silicate feature can be seen in the variation in the relative intensities of olivine and phyllosilicate IR features. The variability in the silicate features is correlated with the intensity of an –OH related absorption at 3-μm, which can be used for the classification of the meteorites according to the level of hydration. Interestingly, in the case of CM chondrites, for which the mineralogy is expected to be dominated by phyllosilicates (serpentine mostly), the shape of the silicate absorption ressembles that of an amorphous silicate, with a broad and symmetric 10-μm band, unlike terrestrial phyllosilicates.
The CV and CK groups have IR spectra that are dominated by olivine absorption. From this feature, it is possible to determine average Mg numbers for the olivine. For the CVs, the olivine Mg numbers appear to decrease in the order Kaba-Grosnaja-Vigarano-Mokoia-Allende. This trend is likely related to the long duration of metamorphism experienced by these samples and the chemical re-equilibration between chondritic components. In the case of CK chondrites, the inferred bulk Mg# of olivine is 67 (+/- 1), and no variation is observed between the three studied samples, which is likely related to their high degree of equilibration.
The 6 CR chondrites show the most variability in their IR spectra, from CM-like spectra in the case of the CR1 Grosvenor Moutains (GRO) 95577 to CV-like spectra for Roberts Massif (RBT) 04133 and Graves Nunataks (GRA) 06100 (one of them being most probably misclassified). Spectra of the remaining CRs show mixtures of various silicate component.
Finally, these spectra can be used for comparison with emission spectra of fine-grained asteroid surfaces and dust-rich cometary tails. In the case of Tempel 1, the only group of CC that matches the observed feature around 10-μm region is the CR group. The spectral comparison shows some striking similarities between CRs and Tempel 1 dust. A genetic link between CR2 and comets is not proven, but mineralogical similarities are suggested from the IR spectra.

Reference
Beck P, Garenne A, Quirico E, Bonal L, Montes-Hernandez G, Moynier F and Schmitt B (in press) Transmission infrared spectra (2-25 microns) of carbonaceous chondrites (CI, CM, CV-CK, CR, C2 ungrouped): mineralogy, water, and asteroidal processes. Icarus
[doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2013.10.019]
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New evidence for chondritic lunar water from combined D/H and noble gas analyses of single Apollo 17 volcanic glasses

Evelyn Füri*, Etienne Deloule, Andrey Gurenko and Bernard Marty

Centre de Recherches Pétrographiques et Géochimiques, 15 rue Notre-Dame des Pauvres, BP20, 54501 Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy Cedex, France

In order to assess the proportion of solar, cosmogenic, and indigenous water (hydrogen) trapped in individual Ti-rich lunar volcanic glasses (LVGs) from the 74002 core obtained during the Apollo 17 mission, we coupled ion microprobe measurements of water abundances and D/H ratios with CO2 laser extraction-static mass spectrometry analyses of noble gases (He, Ne, Ar). The large (∼300-400 μm in diameter) LVGs studied here contain a small amount of solar wind (SW) volatiles implanted at the grain surfaces, as indicated by the small concentrations of solar helium and neon that represent ⩽5% of the respective total noble gas abundances. The large proportion of volume-correlated cosmogenic gases reflects an exposure duration of ∼28 Ma, on average, of the glasses at the lunar surface. Hydrogen abundances determined in the grain interiors of glassy and partially-crystalline LVGs are equivalent to between 6.5 and 54.3 ppm H2O. Based on the noble gas exposure ages, the correction of the measured hydrogen isotope composition for in-situ production of cosmogenic deuterium by spallation reactions varies between -5 to -254 ‰ for the different grains. Corrected δD values range from +38 ‰ to +809 ‰ in the LVGs and are anti-correlated with the water content, consistent with extensive hydrogen isotope fractionation during kinetic H2 loss from a lunar melt with an inferred initial isotope signature of the order of -100 ‰ and a water content of 100-300 ppm. The detection of water in these primitive lunar melts confirms the presence of a non-anhydrous mantle reservoir within the Moon. Furthermore, our results reveal that the hydrogen isotope composition of water in the melt source of the 74002 LVGs is similar to that of carbonaceous chondrites. These observations indicate that the contribution of deuterium-enriched cometary water to the Earth-Moon system is negligible.

Reference
Füri E, Deloule E, Gurenko A and Marty B (in press) New evidence for chondritic lunar water from combined D/H and noble gas analyses of single Apollo 17 volcanic glasses. Icarus
[doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2013.10.029]
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A survey of volatile species in Oort cloud comets C/2001 Q4 (NEAT) and C/2002 T7 (LINEAR) at millimeter wavelengths

M. de Val-Borro1,2, M. Küppers3, P. Hartogh1, L. Rezac1, N. Biver4, D. Bockelée-Morvan4, J. Crovisier4, C. Jarchow1 and G. L. Villanueva5,6

1Max Planck Institute for solar system Research, Max-Planck-Str. 2, 37191 Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany
2Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
3Rosetta Science Operations Centre, European Space Astronomy Centre, European Space Agency, PO Box 78, 28691 Villanueva de la Cañada, Madrid, Spain
4LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, CNRS, UPMC, Université Paris-Diderot, 5 place Jules Janssen, 92195 Meudon, France
5solar system Exploration Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
6Department of Physics, Catholic University of America, Washington, DC 20064, USA

Context. The chemical composition of comets can be inferred using spectroscopic observations in submillimeter and radio wavelengths.
Aims. We aim to compare the production rates ratio of several volatiles in two comets, C/2001 Q4 (NEAT) and C/2002 T7 (LINEAR), which are generally regarded as dynamically new and likely to originate in the Oort cloud. This type of comets is considered to be composed of primitive material that has not undergone considerable thermal processing.
Methods. The line emission in the coma was measured in the comets, C/2001 Q4 (NEAT) and C/2002 T7 (LINEAR), that were observed on five consecutive nights, 7–11 May 2004, at heliocentric distances of 1.0 and 0.7 AU, respectively, by means of high-resolution spectroscopy using the 10-m Submillimeter Telescope at the Arizona Radio Observatory. Both objects became very bright and reached naked-eye visibility during their perihelion passage in the spring of 2004.
Results. We present a search for six parent- and product-volatile species (HCN, H2CO, CO, CS, CH3OH, and HNC) in both comets. Multiline observations of the CH3OH J = 5−4 series allow us to estimate the rotational temperature using the rotation diagram technique. We derive rotational temperatures of 54(9) K for C/2001 Q4 (NEAT) and 119(34) K for C/2002 T7 (LINEAR). The gas production rates are computed using the level distribution obtained with a spherically symmetric molecular excitation code that includes collisions between neutrals and electrons. The effects of radiative pumping of the fundamental vibrational levels by infrared photons from the Sun are considered for the case of HCN. We find an HCN production rate of 2.96(5) × 1026 molec.s-1 for comet C/2001 Q4 (NEAT), corresponding to a mixing ratio with respect to H2O of 1.12(2) × 10-3. The mean HCN production rate during the observing period is 4.54(10) × 1026 molec.s-1 for comet C/2002 T7 (LINEAR), which gives a mixing ratio of 1.51(3) × 103. Relative abundances of CO, CH3OH, H2CO, CS, and HNC with respect to HCN are 3.05(83) × 101, 1.50(25) × 101, 1.16(27), 7.02(30) × 10-1, and 5.75(73) × 10-2 in comet C/2001 Q4 (NEAT) and < 4.12 × 101, 4.07(44) × 101, 4.72(73), 1.32(6), and 1.09(8) × 10-1 in comet C/2002 T7 (LINEAR).
Conclusions. With systematically lower mixing ratios in comet C/2001 Q4 (NEAT), production rate ratios of the observed species with respect to H2O lie within the typical ranges of dynamically new comets in both objects. We find a relatively low abundance of CO in C/2001 Q4 (NEAT) compared to the observed range in other comets based on millimeter/submillimeter observations, and a significant upper limit on the CO production in C/2002 T7 (LINEAR) is derived. Depletion of CO suggests partial evaporation from the surface layers during previous visits to the outer solar system and agrees with previous measurements of dynamically new comets. Rotational temperatures derived from CH3OH rotational diagrams in both C/2001 Q4 (NEAT) and C/2002 T7 (LINEAR) are roughly consistent with observations of other comets at similar distances from the Sun.

Reference
de Val-Borro M, Küppers M, Hartogh P, Rezac L, Biver N, Bockelée-Morvan D, Crovisier J, Jarchow C and Villanueva GL (in press) A survey of volatile species in Oort cloud comets C/2001 Q4 (NEAT) and C/2002 T7 (LINEAR) at millimeter wavelengths. Astronomy & Astrophysics 559:A48.
[doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201322284]
Reproduced with permission © ESO

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Compositional heterogeneity of central peaks within the South Pole-Aitken Basin

D. P. Moriarty1,*, C. M. Pieters1 and P. J. Isaacson2

1Department of Geological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA
2HIGP, University of Hawaii, Manoa, Hawaii, USA

Using high-spectral and -spatial resolution Moon Mineralogy Mapper data, we investigate compositional variations across the central peak structures of four impact craters within the South Pole-Aitken Basin (SPA). Two distinct causes of spectral diversity are observed. Spectral variations across the central peaks of Bhabha, Finsen, and Lyman are dominated by soil development, including the effects of space weathering and mixing with local materials. For these craters, the central peak structure is homogeneous in composition, although small compositional differences between the craters are observed. This group of craters is located within the estimated transient cavity of SPA, and their central uplifts exhibit similar mafic abundances. Therefore, it is plausible that they have all uplifted material associated with melts of the lower crust or upper mantle produced during the SPA impact. Compositional differences observed between the peaks of these craters reflect heterogeneities in the SPA subsurface, although the origin of this heterogeneity is uncertain. In contrast to these craters, Leeuwenhoek exhibits compositional heterogeneity across its central peak structure. The peak is areally dominated by feldspathic materials, interspersed with several smaller exposures exhibiting a mafic spectral signature. Leeuwenhoek is the largest crater included in the study and is located in a region of complex stratigraphy involving both crustal (feldspathic) and SPA (mafic melt and ejecta) materials. The compositional diversity observed in Leeuwenhoek’s central peak indicates that kilometer-scale heterogeneities persist to depths of more than 10 km in this region.

Reference
Moriarty DP, Pieters CM and Isaacson PJ (in press) Compositional heterogeneity of central peaks within the South Pole-Aitken Basin. Journal of Geophysical Research – Planets
[doi:10.1002/2013JE004376]
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons

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The Preliminary Analysis of the 4179 Toutatis Snapshots of the Chang’E-2 Flyby

Zou Xiaoduana,b, Li Chunlaia,*, Liu Jianjuna, Wang Wenruia, Li Hana, Ping Jinsonga

aKey Laboratory of Lunar and Deep Space Exploration, National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, A20 Datun Road, Chaoyang, Beijing 100012, China
bUniversity of Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 19A Yuquan Road, Beijing 100049, China

On 2012 December, 13, 08:30 (UTC), Chang’E-2 flew by asteroid 4179 Toutatis in deep space seven million kilometers away from Earth. The flyby mission returned clear optical images of Toutatis for the first time. The flyby distance and image pixel scale were calculated from the image size of the asteroid compared to a predicted view of an earlier radar shape model. We compared the similarities and differences in both the radar model and the CE-2 photo mosaic, and measured the craters and lumps on the surface of Toutatis. We preliminarily analyzed the topography of the Toutatis surface. We found that the density of craters on the small lobe is less than that on the big lobe.

Reference
Xiaoduan Z, Chunlai L, Jianjun L, Wenrui W, Han L and Jinsong P (in press) The Preliminary Analysis of the 4179 Toutatis Snapshots of the Chang’E-2 Flyby. Icarus
[doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2013.11.002]
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The effects of water vaporization on rock fragmentation during rapid decompression: Implications for the formation of fluidized ejecta on Mars

Audrey Hughes Ragera,b, Eugene I. Smithb,*, Bettina Scheuc and Donald B. Dingwellc

aMaterials Engineering and Research Lab (MERL), U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Denver Federal Center, Bldg. 56, Room 1400, Denver, CO 80225, United States
bDepartment of Geoscience, University of Nevada Las Vegas, 4505 S. Maryland Parkway, Las Vegas, NV 89154-4010, United States
cGeo- und Umweltwissenschaften, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Theresienstrasse 41/III, 80333 München, Germany

Crater and ejecta morphology provide insight into the composition and structure of the target material. Fluidized ejecta surrounding Martian rampart craters are thought to result from the addition of water to the ejecta during impact into a water-rich (ice or liquid) regolith. Here we test experimentally an alternate hypothesis. We propose that the decompression of a rock–water mixture across the water vaporization curve during the excavation stage of impact cratering results in an increased proportion of fines in the ejecta. This enables the ejecta to flow with little or no liquid water present. To test this hypothesis, fragmentation experiments were conducted on sandstone (28 vol% open porosity) from the northern Eldorado Mountains, Nevada, using a shock-tube apparatus at the LMU Munich, Germany. Rock samples with 0–92% of their open pore space filled with water were pressurized to 15 MPa at 177 °C or 300 °C and rapidly decompressed. As the water vaporization curve is crossed, the water in the pore space rapidly flashes to steam causing, together with the expanding gas in the water-free pore space, the sample to fragment. The presence of water has a significant effect on the grain size distribution and grain shape of the fragmented rock samples. In comparison with (dry) control samples, samples with water with 15–50% open pore space exhibit much smaller grain sizes. The predominant grain shape of dry as well as partially water-saturated samples is bladed, reflecting fracturing parallel to the decompression front. Samples with >80% water in open pore space had an increase in fines and larger particles but less intermediate sized particles. Fragments from experiments with>80% water in open pore space also displayed a more equant grain shape, indicating that the decompression of water caused fracturing independent of the orientation of the decompression front. These results may provide insight into the morphology of Martian rampart craters. We propose here that even relatively low water contents in the target (∼16%) may be sufficient to produce a significant increased proportion of fines allowing the ejecta to flow with little or no water present.

Reference
Rager AH, Smith EI, Scheu B and Dingwell DB (2014) The effects of water vaporization on rock fragmentation during rapid decompression: Implications for the formation of fluidized ejecta on Mars. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 385:68–78.
[doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2013.10.029]
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Prolonged eruptive history of a compound volcano on Mercury: Volcanic and tectonic implications

David A. Rotherya,*, Rebecca J. Thomasa, Laura Kerberb

aDepartment of Physical Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, UK
bLaboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique du CNRS, Université Paris 6, Paris, France

A 27×13 km ‘rimless depression’ 100 km inside the southwest rim of the Caloris basin is revealed by high resolution orbital imaging under a variety of illuminations to consist of at least nine overlapping volcanic vents, each individually up to 8 km in diameter. It is thus a ‘compound’ volcano, indicative of localised migration of the site of the active vent. The vent floors are at a least 1 km below their brinks, but lack the flat shape characteristically produced by piston-like subsidence of a caldera floor or by flooding of a crater bottom by a lava lake. They bear a closer resemblance to volcanic craters sculpted by explosive eruptions and/or modified by collapse into void spaces created by magma withdrawal back down into a conduit. This complex of overlapping vents is at the summit of a subtle edifice at least 100 km across, with flank slopes of about only 0.2 degrees, after correction for the regional slope. This is consistent with previous interpretation as a locus of pyroclastic eruptions. Construction of the edifice could have been contributed to by effusion of very low viscosity lava, but high resolution images show that the vent-facing rim of a nearby impact crater is not heavily embayed as previously supposed on the basis of lower resolution flyby imaging. Contrasts in morphology (sharpness versus blurredness of the texture) and different densities of superposed sub-km impact craters inside each vent are consistent with (but do not prove) substantial differences in the age of the most recent activity at each vent. This suggests a long duration of episodic magmagenesis at a restricted locus. The age range cannot be quantified, but could be of the order of a billion years. If each vent was fed from the same point source, geometric considerations suggest a source depth of at least 50 km. However, the migration of the active vent may be partly controlled by a deep-seated fault that is radial to the Caloris basin. Other rimless depressions in this part of the Caloris basin fall on or close to radial lines, suggesting that elements of the Pantheon Fossae radial fracture system that dominates the surface of the central portion of the Caloris basin may continue at depth almost as far as the basin rim.

Reference
Rothery DA, Thomas RJ and Kerber L (2014) Prolonged eruptive history of a compound volcano on Mercury: Volcanic and tectonic implications. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 385:59–67.
[doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2013.10.023]
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Composition of the lunar magma ocean constrained by the conditions for the crust formation

R. Sakaia,*, H. Nagaharaa, K. Ozawaa, S. Tachibanab

aDepartment of Earth and Planetary Science, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan
bDepartment of Natural History Sciences, Hokkaido University, N10 W8, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan

The present study aims to constrain the composition of the initial lunar magma ocean (LMO) with fluid dynamic and thermodynamic consideration. A plausible range of the initial LMO composition is investigated by developing an incremental polybaric fractional crystallization model with variable fractionation efficiency to satisfy three conditions for the anorthosite crust formation: (1) the amount of anorthite crystallized from the LMO is abundant enough to form the crust with the observed thickness, (2) the Mg# (= Mg/(Mg+Fe)) of orthopyroxene crystallized with anorthite in the cooling LMO is consistent with that observed in the lunar highland rocks, ferroan anorthosite, and (3) crystallized anorthite separated to float in the turbulent LMO. A plausible range of FeO and Al2O3 contents of the bulk LMO is successfully constrained as a crescent region tight for FeO and loose for Al2O3. The FeO content must be higher than 1.3 times the bulk silicate Earth (BSE) and lower than 1.8 xBSE unless the Al2O3 content of the Moon is extremely higher than the Earth. These upper and lower limits for FeO are positively correlated with the initial Al2O3 content and fractionation efficiency. The FeO-rich LMO composition may suggest that the circum-Earth disk just after the giant impact of the Earth-Moon system formation was more oxidizing or the impactor was richer in FeO than the Earth’s mantle.

Reference
Sakai R, Nagahara H, Ozawa K and Tachibana S (in press) Composition of the lunar magma ocean constrained by the conditions for the crust formation. Icarus
[doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2013.10.031]
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Complex organic molecules in the interstellar medium: IRAM 30 m line survey of Sagittarius B2(N) and (M)

A. Belloche1, H. S. P. Müller1,2, K. M. Menten1, P. Schilke1,2 and C. Comito1

1Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Auf dem Hügel 69, 53121 Bonn, Germany
2I. Physikalisches Institut, Universität zu Köln, Zülpicher Str. 77, 50937 Köln, Germany

Context. The discovery of amino acids in meteorites fallen to Earth and the detection of glycine, the simplest of them, in samples returned from a comet to Earth strongly suggest that the chemistry of the interstellar medium is capable of producing such complex organic molecules and that they may be widespread in our Galaxy.
Aims. Our goal is to investigate the degree of chemical complexity that can be reached in the interstellar medium, in particular in dense star-forming regions.
Methods. We performed an unbiased, spectral line survey toward Sgr B2(N) and (M), two regions where high-mass stars are formed, with the IRAM 30 m telescope in the 3 mm atmospheric transmission window. Partial surveys at 2 and 1.3 mm were performed in parallel. The spectra were analyzed with a simple radiative transfer model that assumes local thermodynamic equilibrium but takes optical depth effects into account.
Results. About 3675 and 945 spectral lines with a peak signal-to-noise ratio higher than 4 are detected at 3 mm toward Sgr B2(N) and (M), i.e. about 102 and 26 lines per GHz, respectively. This represents an increase by about a factor of two over previous surveys of Sgr B2. About 70% and 47% of the lines detected toward Sgr B2(N) and (M) are identified and assigned to 56 and 46 distinct molecules as well as to 66 and 54 less abundant isotopologues of these molecules, respectively. In addition, we report the detection of transitions from 59 and 24 catalog entries corresponding to vibrationally or torsionally excited states of some of these molecules, respectively, up to a vibration energy of 1400 cm-1 (2000 K). Excitation temperatures and column densities were derived for each species but should be used with caution. The rotation temperatures of the detected complex molecules typically range from ~50 to 200 K. Among the detected molecules, aminoacetonitrile, n-propyl cyanide, and ethyl formate were reported for the first time in space based on this survey, as were five rare isotopologues of vinyl cyanide, cyanoacetylene, and hydrogen cyanide. We also report the detection of transitions from within twelve new vibrationally or torsionally excited states of known molecules. Absorption features produced by diffuse clouds along the line of sight are detected in transitions with low rotation quantum numbers of many simple molecules and are modeled with ~30–40 velocity components with typical linewidths of ~3–5 km s-1.
Conclusions. Although the large number of unidentified lines may still allow future identification of new molecules, we expect most of these lines to belong to vibrationally or torsionally excited states or to rare isotopologues of known molecules for which spectroscopic predictions are currently missing. Significant progress in extending the inventory of complex organic molecules in Sgr B2(N) and deriving tighter constraints on their location, origin, and abundance is expected in the near future thanks to an ongoing spectral line survey at 3 mm with ALMA in its cycles 0 and 1. The present single-dish survey will serve as a solid basis for the line identification and analysis of such an interferometric survey.

Reference
Belloche A, Müller HSP, Menten KM, Schilke P and Comito C (in press) Complex organic molecules in the interstellar medium: IRAM 30 m line survey of Sagittarius B2(N) and (M). Astronomy & Astrophysics 559:A47.
[doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201321096]
Reproduced with permission © ESO

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Magnesium diffusion in plagioclase: Dependence on composition, and implications for thermal resetting of the 26Al–26Mg early solar system chronometer

James A. Van Ormana,*, Daniele J. Cherniakb and Noriko T. Kitac

aDepartment of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, 10900 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA
bDepartment of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY 12180, USA
cDepartment of Geoscience, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA

Experimental data are reported on Mg diffusion in plagioclase crystals with a range of anorthite content (xAn), at temperatures between 800 and 1150 °C. Oriented and polished single crystals of anorthite (xAn=0.93), labradorite (xAn=0.67), andesine (xAn=0.43) and oligoclase (xAn=0.23) were each embedded in powered source material enriched in natural MgO or 25MgO and suspended in a furnace at constant temperature. Diffusion profiles in quenched samples were measured from the polished surface using SIMS depth profiling. The diffusion coefficient does not depend significantly on the Mg concentration gradient, and little anisotropy is observed between the b and c directions in labradorite. Diffusion coefficients increase systematically with decreasing xAn, and the entire data set is described by View the MathML source, where R is the gas constant, T is absolute temperature, and the diffusion coefficient D is in m2/s. 26Al–26Mg ages in albite-rich plagioclase are much more easily reset than in anorthite, with closure temperatures up to 120–150 K lower.

Reference
Van Orman JA, Cherniak DJ and Kita NT (2013) Magnesium diffusion in plagioclase: Dependence on composition, and implications for thermal resetting of the 26Al–26Mg early solar system chronometer. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 385:79–88.
[doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2013.10.026]
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