Meteorites pyroxenes

According to Cameron and Papike (1982), pyroxenes contain Cr " and TF" in rocks equilibrated at low fo (lunar specimens, meteorites). However, spectroscopic evidence is ambiguous and insufficient for a safe attribution (Rossman, 1982). Some authors (Bocchio et ah, 1979 Ghose et al., 1986 Griffin and Mot-tana, 1982) report the presence of Mn " in Ml sites in clinopyroxene. Davoli (1987) reexamined this hypothesis, proposing precise structural criteria to detect the presence of Mn " in the monoclinic phase (the ratio Mn /Mn may be a potential /02 barometer). 

As might be anticipated for minerals with chain structures, pyroxenes commonly occur in columnar, prismatic, rodlike, and acicular forms. Enstatite has been found in the form of rosettes of fine-fibrous crystals. Special names such as victorite, chladnite, and shepardite were assigned to different occurrences in this distinctive morphology, possibly because the fibrous aggregates were located in iron meteorites. However, the composition and crystal... 

Transmitted-light photomicrograph of the Tieschitz chondritic meteorite. Horizontal field of view is 3.5 mm. The rounded, millimeter-size chondrules contain crystals of olivine and pyroxene, and the chondrules are set in a fine-grained, opaque matrix. 

Photomicrograph of the ALH84001 Martian meteorite, field of view = 1.3 cm. Large, broken grains of pyroxene form this breccia. This sample created a stir when it was proposed to contain evidence for extraterrestrial life. Image from Lauretta and Kilgore (2005), with permission. 

Among the elements that make up rocks and minerals, silicon, magnesium, and iron are of almost equal abundance followed by sulfur, aluminum, calcium, sodium, nickel, and chromium. Two of the most common minerals in meteorites and in the terrestrial planets are olivine ((Mg,Fe)2Si04) and pyroxene ((Mg,Fe,Ca)Si03). The composition obtained by averaging these two minerals is very similar to the bulk solar system composition, so it is really no surprise that they are so abundant. 

Matrix minerals are complex mixtures of silicates (especially olivine and pyroxene), oxides, sulfides, metal, phyllosilicates, and carbonates. The bulk chemical composition of matrix is broadly chondritic, and richer in volatile elements than the other chondrite components. Some chondrules have rims of adhering matrix that appear to have been accreted onto them prior to final assembly of the meteorite. Small lumps of matrix also occur in many chondrites. Presolar grains, described in Chapter 5, occur in the matrix. 

Stony irons are nonchondritic meteorites that contain roughly equal proportions of silicate minerals and metal. Two types of stony irons - pallasites and mesosiderites - are distinguished. Pallasites consist of approximately equal amounts of metal and olivine (one small group contains pyroxene as well). Mesosiderates also have approximately equal proportions of metal and silicate, but the silicate fraction is basalt. 

The ureilites (Fig. 6.7c) constitute the second largest group of non-chondritic meteorites (Takeda, 1987). They are composed primarily of olivine and pyroxene, with interstitial... 

The winonaites are compositionally similar to silicate inclusions in some IAB irons (described below). They have chondritic compositions, and relict chondrules have been found in some meteorites. They consist of olivine, pyroxenes, plagioclase, metal, troilite, and other minor minerals (Benedix et al., 1998), and most have been recrystallized. Like the acapulcoites, they have experienced only small degrees of melting. 

Mesosiderites are a highly enigmatic group of differentiated meteorites. They are breccias composed of iron-nickel metal and silicate in roughly equal proportions. The metal represents molten material from the deep interior of an asteroid, whereas the silicate fraction consists of basalts and pyroxene cumulates similar to HED meteorites that formed near the surface. It is difficult to construct models that allow mixing of such diverse materials, but these disparate materials are generally thought to have been violently mixed by impact. 

Martian meteorites, viewed in plane polarized light with FOV = 5.4 mm. (a) Zagami basaltic shergottite, composed of pyroxene and plagiodase (white), which has been converted to maskelynite by shock, (b) Lafayette nakhlite, composed mostly of high-calcium pyroxene, (a) from Lauretta and Killgore (2005), with permission. 

Slater-Reynolds, V. and McSween, H. Y. (2005) Peak metamorphic temperatures in type 6 ordinary chondrites an evaluation of pyroxene and plagioclase geothermometry. Meteoritics and Planetary Science, 40, 745—754. 

The CV, CO, and CR chondrites are mostly anhydrous and were considered in Chapter 11. However, the CV3oxB chondrites experienced significant aqueous alteration. The matrices of these meteorites are heavily altered and contain phyllosilicates, fayalite, Fe,Ni sulfides and carbides, Ca,Fe pyroxene, and andradite garnet. The CVoxA chondrites were apparently also aqueously altered, but were subsequently dehydrated by thermal metamorphism. The matrices of CR2 chondrites contain alteration minerals that resemble those in Cl chondrites, including phyllosilicates, magnetite (Fig. 12.15d), carbonates and sulfides, although the alteration is not as extensive. Chondrule mesostasis was affected in some CR chondrites. Minor phyllosilicates occur in the matrix of chondrites, but these meteorites contain no carbonates or sulfates. 

McSween, H. Y., Grove, T. L., Lentz, R. C. F. et al. (2001) Geochemical evidence for magmatic water within Mars from pyroxenes in the Shergotty meteorite. Nature, 409, 487-490. 

The occurrence of minerals which show CL is highly dependent on the type of meteorite. Possibly the most common phase which occurs is feldspar. Because this mineral accepts very little Fe into the structure, quenching is not a problem however, because the feldspar structure is quite open, the Na- and K-rich feldspars are easily damaged by electron beams. In contrast anorthite, the Ca rich variety, is quite stable. Pyroxene and olivine are common phases in meteorites but because they both usually contain iron, most do not luminesce. Only in the primitive meteorites do nearly pure enstatite and forsterite occur and both show brilliant CL. Other minerals are rare but include ... 

Figure 4. Photomosaics of the cathodoluminescence of three low petrologic type meteorites (a) Semarkona (type 3.0, top), (b) Bishunpur (type 3.1, middle), and (c) Krymka (type 3.1, bottom). The scale bar shown refers to Semarkona, the scale bar for the others is the same as in Figure 5. In general, red luminescence is produced by Fe-free olivine and pyroxene, and blue and yellow CL is produced by chondrule mesostases of plagioclase composition.

Sheroottites. The shergottite meteorites are a rare class of meteorites which consist essentially of pyroxene and maskelynite. Their composition, petrography, age and gases trapped within the fabric of the meteorite have led to a widespread idea that these meteorites, and the related nakhlites and Chassigny meteorites, were ejected from Mars,... 

Trivalent titanium has been positively identified by optical spectral measurements of a green calcic pyroxene from the meteorite that fell near Pueblo de Allende, Mexico, in 1969. The chemical analysis of this titanian pyroxene (Dowty and Clark, 1973) revealed it to be an iron-free subsilicic diopside (fas-saite) containing coexisting Ti3+ and Ti4+ ions and having the chemical formula Ca1.0lM 0.38,n3+0.34,n4+0.14Alo.87Sil.2606-... 

The polarized spectra of the pyroxene from the Allende meteorite illustrated in fig. 4.2 (Mao and Bell, 1974a) consist of three broad bands centred near 480 nm (20,830 cm-1), 610 nm (16,390 cm-1) and 666 nm (15,000 cm-1). There has been much debate about assignments of these bands (Dowty and Clark, 1973 ... 

Ti3+ fitzroyite (Ti phlogopite), some meteoritic and lunar pyroxenes V3+ goldmanite (garnet), tsavorite (garnet), tanzanite (zoisite)... 

Pyroxenes from extraterrestrial sources provide unequivocal examples of Ti3+ —> Ti4+ IVCT and Fe2+ —> Ti4+ IVCT bands. For example, the iron-free green titanian pyroxene in the Allende meteorite discussed in 4.4.1 is the one irrefutable example of a mineral showing a Ti3+ — > Ti4+ IVCT transition. The position of the band at 666 nm (15,000 cm-1) shown earlier in fig. 4.2 is insensitive to pressure, but it does intensify at high pressures (Mao and Bell, 1974a), consistent with it representing a Ti3+ —> Ti4+IVCT transition between adjacent Ti3+ and Ti4+ ions located in edge-shared Ml octahedra in the pyroxene structure (fig. 5.13). 

On Earth, the Ti(m) oxidation state is unstable. However, Ti3+-bearing minerals are well-characterized in some meteorites and Moon rocks, generally coexisting with Ti4 in such phases as calcic pyroxene, ulvospinel, hibonite and ilmenite. In hibonite, CaAlI20I9, a refractory phase in carbonaceous chondrites, EPR and optical spectral data indicate that Ti3+ ions are present (Hunger and Stolper, 1986 Live et al., 1986). The trivalent Ti ions may be stabilized in the five-coordinated trigonal bipyramidal M5 site of the hibonite structure... 

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