¹M. E. Varela,²J. Roszjar,³P. Sylvester,^1,4L. Garcia
Meteoritics & Planetary Science (in Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.14360]
¹Instituto de Ciencias Astronómicas, de la Tierra y del Espacio (ICATE), CONICET-San Juan, San Juan, Argentina
²Department of Mineralogy and Petrography, Natural History Museum Vienna, Vienna, Austria
³Department of Geosciences, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, USA
⁴Instituto de Mecánica Aplicada, Universidad Nacional de San Juan, San Juan, Argentina
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons

Barred olivine (BO) chondrules are present in ordinary and carbonaceous chondrites. We focus on the bulk major and trace element abundance composition of BO chondrules from carbonaceous, unequilibrated ordinary, and Rumuruti chondrites. Their bulk Fe/(FeO + MgO) wt% content versus the FeO wt% in olivine was used to divide these objects into FeO-poor and FeO-rich BO chondrules. The trace element content of bulk BO chondrules reveals the absence of fractionation among the abundances of elements having different geochemical behavior (e.g. Yb and [La-Ce]). This points to the predominance of a cosmochemical (e.g. gas/liquid or gas/solid condensation) instead of a geochemical process determining their elemental abundances. In addition, their bulk trace element content provides evidence for the physicochemical conditions that prevailed in the solar nebula during their formation. In general, such nebular regions are governed by local redox variations coupled with overall falling temperatures. The bulk chemical composition of the studied BO objects (e.g., Mg/Si bulk) suggests a time scale in which FeO-poor BO chondrules formed first in a chondrule-forming region rich in refractory trace elements. The progressive removal of refractory phases (e.g., hibonite, fassaite, melilite) led to a nebular reservoir depleted in the very refractory elements (e.g., Zr and Y) in which the rare earth elements (REEs) tend to reach equilibrium with the chondritic reservoir. From such a reservoir, the FeO-rich BO chondrules could have formed and were subsequently processed by metasomatic exchange reactions that equilibrated their moderately volatile V and Cr around chondritic values. The observed chemical variations are only possible if the studied BO chondrules behave as open systems exchanging elements with the cooling vapor. The inferred local redox variations coupled with overall falling temperatures could have taken place during the evolution of a single heterogeneous nebular reservoir in which Fe-poor and FeO-rich BO chondrules formed.

^1,2Yash Srivastava et al. (>10)
Meteoritics & Planetary Science (in Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.14357]
¹Planetary Science Division, Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, India
²Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, San Diego, California, USA
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons

Aubrites are rare meteorites from highly reduced differentiated parent bodies. The Rantila meteorite was recovered soon after falling on 17 August 2022 at Rantila and Ravel villages in Gujarat state, India. We report the petrography, mineralogy, chemical composition, oxygen- and chromium-isotope compositions, along with reflectance spectroscopy, all showing that Rantila is an aubrite. Coarse enstatite and diopside grains constitute the main mass of Rantila, while mm-wide fracture domains pervade the coarse enstatites. In the fractures, comminuted enstatite, diopside blebs, olivine, a plagioclase–silica assemblage, sulfides, and metals occur. Rantila consists of enstatite (>85 vol%), diopside (~8 vol%), forsterite, albite, and silica along with various sulfides and Fe-Ni alloys. The concentration of rare earth elements is ~1–2 × CI, consistent with main group aubrites. Noble gas and nitrogen isotopic analyses reveal young exposure ages (13.81 ± 6.47 Ma), a heterogeneous nitrogen isotopic composition, and a major K-Ar resetting event around 3.2 ± 0.4 Ga in the parent body of Rantila. The bulk oxygen isotope values are within the range of aubrites. The chromium isotopic values of Rantila are consistent with main group aubrites. The mineral assemblages, texture, and crystallization modeling suggest that Rantila had an igneous origin. The mineral assemblages in fractures indicate the involvement of external melt possibly during an impact-fracturing event, which aligns well with the heterogeneous N isotopic composition. Additionally, Rantila shows a wider range of oxygen isotopes than other aubrites suggesting some extent of O isotopic heterogeneity, likely stemming from exogenous processes. The variation in intra-sample bulk O and N isotope values implies inherent heterogeneity within the main group aubrites, potentially caused by late-stage impact contamination.

¹Brendan A. Anzures,^1,2Kathleen E. Vander Kaaden,³Francis M. McCubbin,^1,4Richard L. Rowland, II,^1,4Gordon M. Moore,¹Kelsey Prissel,³Richard V. Morris,⁵Rachel L. Klima,⁵Karen R. Stockstill-Cahill,⁶David G. Agresti
American Mineralogist 110, 570-581 Open Access Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.2138/am-2024-9400]
¹Jacobs, NASA Johnson Space Center, 2101 NASA Parkway, Houston, Texas 77058, U.S.A.
²NASA Headquarters, Mary W. Jackson Building, Washington, D.C. 20546, U.S.A.
³ARES NASA Johnson Space Center, 2101 NASA Parkway, Houston, Texas 77058, U.S.A.
⁴Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, U.S.A.
⁵The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, Maryland 20723, U.S.A.
⁶Department of Physics, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 902 14th Street South, Birmingham, Alabama 35294, U.S.A.
Copyright: The Mineralogical Society of America

Results from X-ray remote sensing aboard NASA’s MErcury Surface Space ENvironment GEochemistry and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft have demonstrated that Mercury has a low, but measurable, concentration of Fe on its surface. However, ultraviolet to near-infrared spectroscopic measurements of the mercurian surface do not show the 1 μm absorption band characteristic of ferromagnesian silicates. This observation is consistent across multiple Fe-bearing terranes with a range of ages, suggesting the Fe present on Mercury’s surface may not be stored within silicate phases. To further constrain the possible mineralogy and composition of Fe-bearing phases on Mercury, we used various spectroscopic techniques to characterize synthetic olivine with minor amounts of Fe (i.e., Fo99.62–Fo99.99) and more Fe-rich natural olivines. Our results indicate that the distinctive 1 μm absorption band of olivine is detectable in reflectance spectra of olivine at a concentration as low as 0.03 wt% FeO and 0.01 wt% in continuum removed data. Additionally, MESSENGER’s lack of a 1 μm absorption, taking into account Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)’s limited spectral resolution and Mercury Atmospheric and Surface Composition Spectrometer (MASCS)’s high signal-to-noise ratio, suggests there is <0.38 wt%, and likely <0.01 wt%, FeO on the surface of Mercury. Because the 1 μm band is not observed in surface spectra, these results indicate that the Fe observed on the surface of Mercury is not bound in an olivine structure. Rather, we posit that Fe is present as nano-phase and macroscopic Fe-rich metal or Fe-sulfide that formed as a result of space weathering and igneous smelting processes. Looking forward to ESA/JAXA’s BepiColombo mission that has a planned Mercury orbit arrival time in December 2025, Mercury Radiometer and Thermal Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (MERTIS) mid-infrared spectra should provide a mineralogical detection or absence of olivine where MIR spectral features are still present even in synthetic olivines with minor amounts of Fe (Fo99.99).

^1,2Roberto Borriello,³Fahui Xiong,⁴Chi Ma,¹Sofia Lorenzon,¹Enrico Mugnaioli,⁵Jingsui Yang,⁶Xiangzhen Xu,⁷Edward S. Grew
American Mineralogist 110, 630-642 Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.2138/am-2024-9362]
¹Department of Earth Sciences, University of Pisa, Via S. Maria 53, 56126 Pisa, Italy
²Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Via Torino 155, 30172 Mestre (VE), Italy
³Center for Advanced Research on the Mantle (CARMA), Key Laboratory of Deep-Earth Dynamics of Ministry of Land and Resources, Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing 100037, China
⁴Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, U.S.A.
⁵School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023, China
⁶Center for Advanced Research on the Mantle (CARMA), Key Laboratory of Deep-Earth Dynamics of Ministry of Land and Resources, Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing 100037, China
⁷School of Earth and Climate Sciences, University of Maine, Orono, Maine 04469, U.S.A.
Copyright: The Mineralogical Society of America

^1,2Ziliang Jin,^3,4,5Tong Hou,^1,2Meng-Hua Zhu,^6,7Yishen Zhang,⁶Olivier Namur
American Mineralogist 110, 560–569 Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.2138/am-2024-9448]
¹State Key Laboratory of Lunar and Planetary Science, Macau University of Science and Technology, Taipa, 999078, Macao, China
²CNSA Macau Center for Space Exploration and Science, Taipa 999078, Macau, China
³State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, China University of Geosciences, 100083 Beijing, China
⁴Key Laboratory of Intraplate Volcanoes and Earthquakes (China University of Geosciences, Beijing), Ministry of Education, Beijing 100083, China
⁵Institute of Mineralogy, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Callinstr. 3, 30167, Hannover, Germany
⁶Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, KU Leuven, 3000, Leuven, Belgium
⁷Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, Rice University, 6100 Main Street, MS 126, Houston, Texas 77005, U.S.A.
Copyright: The Mineralogical Society of America

This study investigates silicate liquid immiscibility (SLI) microstructures in the Chang’E-5 (CE-5) lunar ferrobasalt sample, the youngest recovered mare basalt (ca. ∼2.0 Ga). Employing advanced high-resolution imaging techniques and chemical analysis, we examined a subophitic fragment, revealing two distinct types of microstructures indicative of multi-stage SLI events. The first type is observed in the mesostasis pockets and exhibits both “sieve” and “maze” textures, where the Si-K-rich glassy phases are interconnected with Fe-rich minerals, e.g., fayalite. This type of microstructure, similar to previous observations in Apollo and Luna samples, is the product of a stable SLI event. The second type is characterized by K-free but high-Si melt inclusions occurring as emulsions in the rims of plagioclase. The entrapment of these emulsions followed a metastable SLI event, with the Fe-rich liquids serving as precursors to subsequent stable SLI processes. Additionally, the Fe-rich droplets within the emulsions underwent coarsening via Ostwald ripening, a phenomenon in which smaller particles in solution dissolve and deposit on larger particles. Our simulation of this coarsening process suggests a duration of at least 15–32 days for the SLI processes, alongside a slow cooling rate (<0.3 °C/h) of the late-stage CE-5 lava. We propose that metastable SLI may have influenced the effusive signature of the CE-5 lava flow during its late-stage evolution. The metastable SLI process can potentially lead to the formation of various phases during the late-stage evolution of lunar ferrobasaltic magmas, thereby contributing to the diversity of lunar rock types.

^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.

¹Robert W. Nicklas,¹Melody Z.-A. Chen,¹Evan J. Saltman,¹Ethan F. Baxter,¹Andrew J. Lonero,¹Anthony B. Love
Meteoritics & Planetary Science (in Press) Open Access Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.14356]
¹Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons

Brachinites, brachinite-like achondrites (BLA), and other similar primitive achondrites offer important constraints on differentiation processes of the earliest formed planetesimals, as they quenched amidst early differentiation processes on their parent body. Geochemical data for all major mineral phases in two previously poorly characterized meteorites, El Medano (EM) 395 and Northwest Africa (NWA) 12532, show that while EM 395 is a typical brachinite, NWA 12532 is more unusual, containing a high abundance of non-equilibrated apatite (1.26%) likely formed by a late-stage metasomatic event. These new data demonstrate that metasomatism by a P-Cl-Ca-rich fluid probably occurred on the brachinite parent body. This metasomatism may have occurred either during normal cooling of the asteroid or during later impact-related heating, consistent with the late formation of apatite in the paired andesitic achondrites Graves Nunatak (GRA) 06128 and 06129. These conclusions highlight that, while magmatism on small parent bodies ceased shortly after solar system formation, subsolidus processes may have continued much longer, and that metasomatism must be considered when interpreting bulk rock geochemical signatures of primitive achondrites.

¹Mohammad Tauseef,¹Ingo Leya,²Jérôme Gattacceca,³Sönke Szidat,²Régis Braucher,⁴Pascal M. Kruttasch,⁴Anna Zappatini,²ASTER Team
Meteoritics & Planetary Science (in Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.14355]
¹Physics Institute, Space Research and Planetology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
²CNRS, Aix Marseille Université, IRD, INRAE, CEREGE, Aix-en-Provence, France
³Department of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences & Oeschger Center for Climate Change
Research, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
⁴Institute of Geological Sciences, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
Published by arrangment with John Wiley & Sons

This study presents a refined approach to determine 14C saturation activities and 14C/10Be saturation activity ratios in chondritic meteorites with the goal to improve terrestrial age dating. By combining new model calculations for 10Be, 14C, and cosmogenic (22Ne/21Ne)cos, along with experimental data from 17 freshly fallen chondrites, we established reliable correlations for 14C production rates and 14C/10Be production rate ratios as a function of (22Ne/21Ne)cos. The experimental data agree with the model calculations, and they fully confirm that 14C production rates and 14C/10Be production rate ratios depend on shielding. Constrained correlations describe the experimental data for all shielding conditions and all ordinary chondrites mostly within the uncertainties given by the model. The new correlations therefore provide a significant improvement compared to the earlier approaches, in which average meteorite-type-dependent 14C production rates and average 14C/10Be production rate ratios were assumed. Ignoring the shielding dependence introduces a size-dependent bias into the terrestrial age database. This study enables the determination of shielding-corrected 14C saturation activities and 14C/10Be production rate ratios to calculate shielding-corrected terrestrial ages for meteorites reducing or eliminating a size bias in the database. In addition, this novel approach enables to give reliable uncertainty estimates of within 15% for the 14C and 14C-10Be terrestrial ages.

^1,2A. L. Knight,^1,2S. J. VanBommel,³R. Gellert,⁴J. A. Berger,^1,2J. G. Catalano,^5,6J. Gross,^1,2J. R. Christian
Journal of Geophysical Research (Planets) (in Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1029/2024JE008569]
¹Department of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
²McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
³Department of Physics, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada
⁴Jacobs JETSII at NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX, USA
⁵NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX, USA
⁶Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, USA
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons

The Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) Spirit and Opportunity, sent to Gusev crater and Meridiani Planum, respectively, determined the chemical composition of martian materials with their Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometers (APXS). The MER APXS was effective at routinely quantifying major, minor, and select (Ni, Zn, Br) trace elements at levels down to ∼50 ppm but often reached detection limits for other trace elements (e.g., Ga and Ge during typical individual analyses of a single sample). To enable precise quantification of additional trace elements, a database of MER APXS target properties (e.g., location, feature, target, formation, target type, sample preparation) was created, enabling the construction of a library of composite (i.e., summed) spectra with improved statistics. Composite spectra generated from individual spectra with shared characteristics have a higher potential for resolving and thus quantifying trace element peaks. Analyses of composite spectra from Meridiani Planum and Gusev crater indicate that the molar Ga to Al ratio is relatively constant throughout both regions and is in line with predicted values for the martian crust and measured values in martian meteorites. Gallium and aluminum likely do not volatilize and instead remain together during volcanism and aqueous alteration. In contrast, Ge is enriched at least an order of magnitude relative to martian meteorites, and the molar Ge to Si ratio is much more variable across Meridiani Planum and Gusev crater. Enrichment of Ge may be a global phenomenon resulting from volcanic outgassing of volatiles and subsequent overprinting by local mobilization and enrichment via hydrothermal fluids.