Meteorite mineralogy

Meteorite mineralogy (Table 6.2) is complicated and is diagnostic of the origin of the sample. Two subclasses of the stony meteorites are chosen of particular relevance to the study of the origins of life. 

Primarily iron and nickel and similar in composition to M-type asteroids iron, 91% nickel, 8.5% cobalt, 0.6%. A recent find of an iron meteorite on the surface of Mars is shown on p. 7 of the colour plate section 

Mixtures of iron and stone principally as the silicate mineral olivine, (Mg,Fe)2Si04, with additional Fe and Ni 

The largest category with a composition similar to terrestrial rocks oxygen, 36% iron, 26% silicon, 18% magnesium, 14% aluminium, 1.5% nickel, 1.4% calcium, 1.3% 

Similar composition to chondrites but also contain organic compounds embedded in a kero gen-like substance 

---

Our description of meteorite mineralogy starts with the minerals characteristic of the calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions (CAIs). The mineralogy of CAIs varies systematically with their composition. The most Al-rich CAIs contain spinel, hibonite, and/or grossite. More rarely, corundum or calcium mono-aluminate is present. As the bulk composition becomes more Si-rich, the melilite solid solution becomes important. With additional Mg and Si in the bulk composition, fassaite and anorthite are present. 

Buseck P. R. (1977) Pallasite meteorites—mineralogy, petrology, and geochemistry. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 41, 711-740. 

Among the rarest of all meteorites are the lunar meteorites. Isotopic, mineralogical, and compositional properties of these samples provide positive identification as lunar samples because of the unique properties of lunar materials that have been discovered by extensive analyses of lunar materials returned by the manned ApoUo and unstaffed Luna missions. AH but one of the lunar meteorites that have been found to date have been recovered from Antarctica. 

Meteorites General classification into stony, stony-iron and iron, each with an interesting mineralogy, notably the carbonaceous chondrites... 

Valley JW, EUer JM, Graham CM, Gibson EK, Romanek CS, Stolper EM (1997) Low temperature carbonate concretions in the martian meteorite ALH 84001 evidence from stable isotopes and mineralogy. Science 275 1633-1637... 

D. W. Allen, C.C. Britt, D.T. (2000) Mineralogy, composition, and alteration of Mars Pathfinder rocks and sods Evidence from multispectral, elemental, and magnetic data on terrestrial analogue, SNC meteorite, and Pathfinder samples. J. Geophys. Res. 105 1757-1817... 

When water, the universal solvent, is present on a planet, an asteroid, or in a meteorite, a wide variety of chemical reactions take place that can completely alter the mineralogy and chemistry of an object. Some meteorites show extensive evidence of aqueous alteration. To understand the conditions under which the alteration occurred, one must be able to infer the amount, composition, and temperature of the fluids from the minerals that they produced. 

The documented mineralogy of meteorites is quite varied more than 300 different meteoritic minerals have been reported (tabulated by Lodders and Fegley, 1998). In the list below we focus only on those minerals that are especially important, either because they are volumetri-cally abundant or provide important constraints on meteorite formation. 

Mittlefehldt, D. W., McCoy, T. J., Goodrich, C. A. and Kracher, A. (1998) Non-chondritic meteorites from asteroidal bodies. In Planetary Materials, Reviews in Mineralogy 36, ed. Papike, J. J. Washington, D.C. Mineralogical Society of America, pp. 4-1 to... 

McSween, H. Y. (2008) Martian meteorites as crustal samples. In I he Martian Surface Composition, Mineralogy, and Physical Properties, ed. Bell, J. E, III. Cambridge Cambridge University Press, pp. 383-396. 

Ott, U. (2002) Noble gases in meteorites trapped components. Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry, 47, 71-100. 

McCoy, T. J. etal. (2001)The composition of433 Eros a mineralogical-chemical synthesis. Meteoritics and Planetary Science, 36, 1661-1672. 

---