Meteoritic minerals showing

The geochemistry of angrites is characterized by strong silica undersaturation, by which we mean that there is not enough SiC>2 to combine with various cations to form common silicate minerals. The result is the formation of silica-poor minerals like kirschsteinite and nepheline. These meteorites also show strong depletions in moderately volatile elements. They are thought to have formed as partial melts of a chondritic source under oxidizing conditions. 

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). 

Fig. 8.38 (Left) The Mossbauer spectrum of the rock called Heat Shield rock, clearly shows with high intensity the mineral Kamacite, an Fe-Ni alloy with about 6-7% Ni (Right) The iron-nickel meteorite Meridiani Planum (originally called Heat Shield Rock ) at Opportunity landing site, close to the crater Endurance. The meteorite is about 30 cm across (Courtesy NASA, JPL, Cornell University)...

The application of the laser probe to meteorite chronology is illustrated by a study of Ca-Al-rich inclusions from the Allende meteorite [7]. This study was able to show that the K in the inclusions studied mainly concentrated in veins and rims with very little, if any, K in the major minerals. The limit obtained is something of the order of 10 ppm. On the other hand, the major minerals do contain appreciable 40Ar. Individual chondrules and the matrix were also studied in the Allende meteorite from places adjacent to the Ca-Al-rich inclusions. For these samples the ages varied from 3.3 to 4.4 G.y. There appears to be evidence that the Allende meteorite has been subjected to numerous metamorphic events, presumably of a collisional origin. 

Extremely stringent lower limits were reported by Rank (29) in 1968. A spectroscopic detection of the Lyman a(2 p - 1 s) emission line of the quarkonium atom (u-quark plus electron) at 2733 A was expected to be able to show less than 3 108 positive quarks, to be compared with 1010 lithium atoms detected by 2 p - 2 s emission at 6708 A. With certain assumptions (the reader is referred to the original article), less than one quark was found per 1018 nucleons in sea water and 1017 nucleons in seaweed, plankton and oysters. Classical oil-drop experiments (with four kinds of oil light mineral, soya-bean, peanut and cod-liver) were interpreted as less than one quark per 1020 nucleons. Whereas a recent value (18) for deep ocean sediments was below 10 21 per nucleon, much more severe limits were reported (30) in 1966 for sea water (quark/nucleon ratio below 3 10-29) and air (below 5 10-27) with certain assumptions about concentration before entrance in the mass spectrometer. At the same time, the ratio was shown to be below 10 17 for a meteorite. Cook etal. (31) attempted to concentrate quarks by ion-exchange columns in aqueous solution, assuming a position of elution between Na+ and Li+. As discussed in the next section, cations with charge + 2/3 may be more similar to Cs+. Anyhow, values below 10 23 for the quark to nucleon ratio were found for several rocks (e.g., volcanic lava) and minerals. It is clear that if such values below a quark per gramme are accurate, we have a very hard time to find the object but it needs a considerably sophisticated technique to be certain that available quarks are not lost before detection. 

Stable isotope analysis of earth, moon and meteorite samples has provided important information concerning the origin of the solar system. Lunar samples returned to earth during the Apollo missions show 8170 and 8lsO enrichment patterns which are virtually identical to those of earth-bound rocks and minerals. On 3-isotope plots like those in Figs. 9.5 and 14.3, a uniform isotope reservoir is represented by a single... 

A small proportion of natural uranium consists of the isotope This decays not to lead-206 but to lead-207. By measuring the amounts of all these isotopes of uranium and lead in rocks, geologists can date all manner of minerals, and can even reconstruct the history of our planet s formation. Some meteorites are thought to be left-over remnants of the rocky material that aggregated to produce the Earth, and they show us the mixture of elements this material contained. If they contain no uranium, then... 

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. 

Bulk techniques still have a place in the search for presolar components. Although they cannot identify the presolar grain directly, they can measure anomalous isotopic compositions, which can then be used as a tracer for separation procedures to identify the carrier. There are several isotopically anomalous components whose carriers have not been identified. For example, an anomalous chromium component enriched in 54Cr appears in acid residues of the most primitive chondrites. The carrier is soluble in hydrochloric acid and goes with the colloidal fraction of the residue, which means it is likely to be submicron in size (Podosck el al., 1997). Measurements of molybdenum and ruthenium in bulk primitive meteorites and leachates from primitive chondrites show isotopic anomalies that can be attributed to the -process on the one hand and to the r- and /7-processes on the other. The s-process anomalies in molybdenum and ruthenium correlate with one another, while the r- and /7-process anomalies do not. The amounts of -process molybdenum and ruthenium are consistent with their being carried in presolar silicon carbide, but they are released from bulk samples with treatments that should not dissolve that mineral. Thus, additional carriers of s-, r-, and/ -process elements are suggested (Dauphas et al., 2002). 

Natural sources of Si3N4 are extremely rare and are a mineralogical curiosity that has no significance as a raw material. The mineral Nierite is named after the pioneer of mass spectroscopy, A.O.C. Nier, and is observed as an inclusion in meteorites. It consists chiefly of the a modification which is interspersed with inclusions of /i-Si3N4 whiskers. The ratio of a to /I in the different finds can show considerable variance [1, 2]. 

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 ... 

The listed chemical formulae are ideal and most of these minerals contain trace and minor elements which undoubtedly affect the CL. Several of these minerals have polymorphic or compositional varieties which also may, or do, show CL (e.g. the silica polymorphs quartz, cristobalite, tridymite phosphate compositional varieties apatite, whitlockite, farringtonite, buchwaldite carbonate compositional varieties calcite, dolomite, magnesite). Glass and maskelynite (shock modified feldspar), although not strictly minerals, are relatively common. Below are described the CL observations for the most common phases including enstatite, feldspar and forsterite and they are related to their use for interpreting the mineralogy of meteorites. The observations for the other minerals are sporadic and many details have yet to be studied. 

Enstatite The first extensive observations of CL in meteorites were for enstatite (MgSiC>3) probably because it shows particularly brilliant CL colors and it is the major mineral in the enstatite achondrites. The visual CL is commonly described as blue, red or less commonly purple and the early spectra, mainly from powdered samples and using proton irradiation, clearly showed the presence of a blue and red emission (4-6). These emissions were confirmed using electron irradiation and spectra showed a blue peak near 400-420nm... 

The discovery in 1973 that refractory minerals found in meteorites are enriched in the l60 isotope launched a new era of cosmic chemical memory of nucleosynthesis. Though only 5%, the excess showed that not all rocks in the solar system were assembled from well mixed gas of the solar system. It suggested that presolar materials also can be found. The study of isotopes in natural history was accelerated by this pivotal discovery. 

Ca-Al-rich inclusions from meteorites Many of these CAIs reveal excess 41K in the most Ca-rich minerals within them. This shows that 41 Ca was alive in the early solar system, qualifying itas an extinct radioactivity. The amountin the CAIs was small but that small amount causes severe restrictions on the timing of the events that placed 41Ca in the solar system. See 41Ca for more on that extinct radioactivity. 

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